NCAA Football 09 news coming this week

I have been informed that there will be a substantial amount of NCAA Football 09 info coming this week. Up to now we’ve heard a little about the breakaway animations and goal of wide open gameplay along with getting to see a couple screenshots and some short clips of the game from early in development.

It sounds as though this is the week that things will really start to heat up for NCAA Football. EA is likely looking to put the spotlight on the new features and improvements heading up to the NFL Draft with the PS3 cover announcement taking place the Thursday before.

MLB 08: The Show roster update 3/31

This week’s roster update for MLB 08: The Show contains 195 player movements with a handful of them being highlighted below. The Red Sox, A’s, Braves, and Nationals have played regular season games but the rest of the league starts up today so look for next week’s update to be even more significant.

LF Paul McAnulty moved from Padres Minors to Padres Bench.
3B Chase Headley moved from Padres Bench to Padres Minors.
RP Kip Wells moved from Rockies Starting to Rockies Relief.
3B Scott Rolen moved from Blue Jays Position to Blue Jays Minors.
LF Shannon Stewart moved from Blue Jays Bench to Blue Jays Position.
RP Justin Hampson moved from Padres Relief to Padres Minors.
RP Tim Stauffer moved from Padres Minors to Padres Relief.
C Johnny Estrada moved from Nationals bench to Nationals minors.
RF Jeff Baker moved from Rockies Minors to Rockies Bench.
DH Scott Podsednik moved from Rockies Bench to Rockies Position.
2B Marcus Giles moved from Rockies Position to Free Agent.
CP Brad Lidge moved from Phillies Closer to Phillies Minors.
2B Nick Punto moved from Twins Position to Twins Bench.
RP Greg Jones moved from Dodgers Minors to Dodgers Relief.
3B Tony Abreu moved from Dodgers Position to Dodgers Minors.

Adding to the impressiveness of the updates is that SCEA is actively seeking feedback for future ones. Whether it is errors in the rosters, batting stances, or even details as minuscule as the equipment the players use they’d like to hear about it. You can send in feedback in to sceamlbfeedback@gmail.com

Analyzing the MLB game sales

After a couple weeks of sales it seems like a good opportunity to look at how the two MLB games have fared and what it could mean for the future. With the EA purchase of Take Two still looming largely ahead that could certainly change perceptions going into next year. However we’ll just look at it from the current standpoint of 2K vs SCEA.

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Madden Mock Draft picks 3-5

After the selections of Jake Long and Chris Long as the first players to go in the Madden Mock Draft it brings up the Falcons, Raiders, and Chiefs. While the first two picks were relatively easy to make it now starts to get a little more cloudy as to who would make the biggest impact on each team for this year.

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Should Head Coach remain exclusive to Madden CE?

Tucked away near the end of the press release announcing the 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Madden 09 was a statement proclaiming that NFL Head Coach 09 would be exclusive to the CE. The news was followed by confirmation from Madden marketing director Chris Erb in an interview with 1UP.

For the most part the reaction to the Collectors Edition has been very positive. The main detraction seems to be regarding the Head Coach decision. Packing it in with Madden for what amounts to $30 was a pleasant surprise however forcing consumers potentially interested in just Head Coach to buy it along with Madden is a questionable decision.

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Madden 09 Mock Draft Picks 1-2

There are certain types of players that are more valuable than others in Madden. There are also specific rookies or positions which would offer the most immediate help to a team in the game. I’ll be detailing some of those considerations throughout the Pastapadre Madden 09 Mock Draft.

Leading up to the actual NFL Draft on April 26th-27th I’ll be posting selections for each team in the first round on a semi-regular basis that represent the players who would be chosen to most help the team immediately and over the course of the season in the game.

To start it all off we have the first and second selections in the Madden 09 Mock Draft.

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Pastapadre celebrates 1st anniversary

Today marks the one year anniversary of the site. It began as a side project and after about two months become my main sports gaming focus. It has been pretty remarkable to me the growth that has occurred in such a short period of time and the increased influence that has come with it for the community. I thought I’d leave a few statistics about the first year for your enjoyment!

802 articles
9,593 comments
884,000 visits
2,702,000 page views
In just the last month 176,000 visits and 507,000 page views

Thanks for your continued support by visiting the site and feel free to make suggestions for how it could be even better this year!

Madden 09 website launches; new Head Coach videos and features

The official website for Madden 09 went live earlier today following the announcement that the 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition would include NFL Head Coach 09. From the main page of the site you can access the press release containing details of the collectors edition along with links to new Head Coach videos and features. It also notes that “the countdown begins 4/5/08″. Whether that countdown will lead into the NFL Draft or something else (cover announcement?) isn’t immediately clear.

Previously the Head Coach website listed some features of the game. However several new ones have been added and the entire list can be found here. It’s a pretty intensive list that would be too difficult to for me to recap so check it out in its entirety there.

One interesting thing of note is that with the new play creator and ability to export them to Madden they’ve also added Gamernet which will allow for you to upload created plays where they’ll available for anyone to rate, view and download for their own use.

There are also two new videos for Head Coach. One is a general overview of the game while the other focuses on the play creator. You can check those out in HD by visiting the media section of the Head Coach website.

Madden 09 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition Details

EA Sports has announced details of the 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Madden 09. It will include NFL Head Coach 09, exclusive classic Madden gameplay, and bonus video content. The price of the set will be $89.99 and the release date has been set for August 12th.

Whether you prefer to make your moves on the field, from the sidelines or in the front office, the Madden NFL 09 20^th Anniversary Collector’s Edition has something for every football fan. Madden NFL 09 will feature the most immersive gameplay, the richest online offerings and the most comprehensive feature depth in the history of the franchise, while NFL Head Coach 09 has been reinvented to provide a unique new NFL experience by allowing fans to be in total control of their favorite franchises. The two games offer unique experiences and then can even interact with one another with gamers being able to import their user-designed plays from NFL Head Coach 09 and put them into Madden NFL 09 to create customized playbooks for complete control on the field.

Great to hear about interaction between the two titles. A lot of people will enjoy creating the plays in Head Coach and then being able to use them in Madden.

Sounds like a pretty good deal and one of the few times I would want to purchase a collector’s edition. No word on how much Head Coach will cost if purchased separately (I have doubts that it will end up being exclusive to the Madden CE) but getting it for essentially $30 presents great value and that isn’t even considering the other extras. The biggest problem will be finding time to play both games with them coming on the same day.

Madden 09 20th Anniversary announcement coming soon

In his latest blog entry EA Sports president Peter Moore has stated that the first of many announcements regarding the 20th Anniversary Edition of Madden 09 will be coming in “the next day or two”. That would mean Thursday or Friday of this week we should be hearing some info.

Any guesses as to what this first news could be? I would think that it would relate to a special edition package like we’ve seen with other high profile games, an event around the release date, or the cover athlete (although usually that comes closer to NFL Draft time). Especially considering the timing I wouldn’t expect an announcement such as this to have anything to do with gameplay specifics or features.