Fun with Facebreaker Photo Face

While the Facebreaker demo gives you the chance to experience the fast-paced fighting in addition to that it provides the ability to try out the Photo Game Face feature. Here is what you need to do after downloading the demo.

• Upload images to your EA Sports World account. You can also take pictures using the Xbox Live Vision camera.

• In the Facebreaker demo go to Create Boxer and select to download front picture. It will pull the front picture from EASW.

• Set the markers to the corresponding places on the face.

• If you have a side picture also download that and set the markers.

• Generate the face (this takes about 20 minutes)

• Then you can mess around with the editing options. For the demo you can only choose a body from the three fighters included. But you can select the hair, costume, and so on. There are a TON of sliders for adjusting the look of the face also.

• Save your creation and then upload it to EA Sports World to show off! When the game releases you’ll be able to download them!

It’ll be real interesting to see what people come up with. Given that some of the different categories that can be uploaded to include robots and aliens it’s fair to expect there will be some very unique entries. Already the most bizarre one seems to be a “fish” creation and the best ones may be of The Joker or Obama.

I ran through a few different creations but with the number of options given to adjust how the face looks there will be people out there who can come up with some great representations…surely better than I did this evening. Continue on to see the first four that I created: Pasta Padre, HHH (really like how this one turned out), Christian Bale, and Mike Holmgren (my personal favorite so far).

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Demo Day Random Madden 09 Topics

• Fred at Sportsgamer has a copy of Madden 09 and is responding to questions and posting info on and videos from the game. Head here to find links to the specific thread topics.

• The EA Sports World page for Madden is now up and videos are being posted from various people who have the game. In general they look to be slightly better quality than the NCAA videos.

• A patch is scheduled to go live for Madden on or around release day and should provide some gameplay improvements. There will almost certainly be at least one more patch to the game as this one could almost be considered a bonus.

• A recent press release stated that the game includes the Cowboys new stadium. However I have confirmed that it does not. The stadium should appear next season to coincide with its opening.

• Phil Frazier has posted pictures of the Collector’s Edition packaging. You can check them out in the forum.

• Feel free to continue leaving your impressions of the demo here or in the forum. I’ve added a video from the new demo as the featured video and will have more late this evening.

Madden 09 and Facebreaker Demos Now Available

The demos for EA Sports Madden NFL 09 and Facebreaker are now available for download for the 360 and should both be coming this afternoon for the PS3. Generally the PSN is updated around 3pm PT. It turns out Madden came one day earlier than expected as it had been advertised for August 1st.

The Madden 09 demo features a run through of the virtual trainer and then the “Madden Moment” controlling the Giants on a last minute drive in the Super Bowl. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or in this forum thread.

The Facebreaker demo offers a minute of action with the choice of three different characters as well as the ability to upload your face into the game for placement on them. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or in this forum thread.

Check back this evening for videos and impressions on the two demos. I’ll be doing a breakdown of the old demo vs the new demo vs the community event build from late May for Madden.

Facebreaker Photo Face Tutorial

EA Sports has released a video detailing the Photo Game Face feature in Facebreaker. Given that the demo releasing tomorrow on XBL and PSN presents the ability to insert your created face (only onto one of the three characters available within the demo) this is a timely look at the process. It then goes further into the feature with the create-a-boxer options and EA Sports World character uploading.

Photo Face and the EASW integration remain the most interesting aspect of Facebreaker. The ability to create yourself (or anyone) is going to make for a lot of fun and unique bouts. Combined with the video uploading and character sharing from EASW there are a lot of entertaining possibilities.

Continue on to view the tutorial video.

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EA Sports Titles Returning to PC Next Year

This year much angst was caused within the PC community when EA Sports announced Madden, NBA Live, and Tiger Woods would not be released. At the time Peter Moore made assurances that the PC was not being abandoned as they needed to take the time and reevaluate their offerings. Piracy, sluggish sales, and lagging quality were at the core of the concerns. During an investor conference call earlier today Moore confirmed that these titles would be returning to the PC next year.

“We are retooling these titles [on the PC] to take advantage of the online connectivity in a bigger and more meaningful way”

Back when the cancelation news was announced I proposed the likelihood of a shift in the focus of the games, possibly to the free model supported by downloadable content and advertising. You could also potentially see a movement toward MMO style representations of the games. The PC releases need be unique instead of just copies of the console versions. So the mention towards importance of online connectivity is something to take note of.

Questions About NFL Head Coach 09?

Do you have any questions about NFL Head Coach 09? Producer Josh Looman has offered to take the time to respond to topics the community would be like to know more about. I’ll be compiling a list of questions to send off within the next day or two so make sure to leave your suggestions in the comments.

It’s hard to believe that not only is Madden 09 two weeks away but so is Head Coach (if purchasing the 20th Anniversary Edition). It’s going to be difficult budgeting time with all the sports titles releasing over the next two plus months.

Pastapadre Online Dynasty Update Weeks 1-3

Once the Pastapadre Online Dynasty was resurrected it was back to concentrating on playing. The non-functioning screenshot uploading feature (which seems to be an isolated problem just occurring with the OD ones) had delayed this first recap in the hopes that it would be fixed. But as it has not I wanted to update on the first three weeks anyway and bring everyone up to speed on where things are at.

The top rated team currently is Clemson at #8 and four other teams are in the top 25. Only two teams have losses on their record but as the schedule progresses and the vastly over-matched FCS teams become no longer a factor the potential to see more teams taking a hit will be there. Week four is already open and you can follow along throughout the dynasty in the forum.

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Madden 09 Site Shows Brett Favre in Buccaneers Uniform

In a curious development the official Madden 09 website is displaying an image of currently retired but likely soon to be active cover athlete Brett Favre in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. As of this afternoon the Favre image has replaced the Clinton Portis screenshot that had been there for quite some time.

Whether this is an indication that EA may know of an imminent development in the Brett Favre saga is not certain, but it is possible that they do have inside information and this screenshot has slipped out on accident. At the very least it shows that they are preparing for different scenarios. Regardless of what team Favre ends up on they’ll likely have screenshots such as this one ready to go when the news breaks. A special edition cover seems like a possibility as the packaging for the initial run of the game has already been completed.

Update: The Favre screenshot has since been pulled from the site where now Braylon Edwards is featured. I did manage to save the full screenshot before it was removed. Now it is clear that this went live on the site in error. Whether it has any meaning other than being a prepared screen in case he is traded to the Bucs I suppose we won’t know until there is news one way or the other on the Favre situation.

Random Topics for Today

• Madden List has put together sortable player ratings for Madden 09. You can check out the ratings by team and display the players in order according to their rating in any category.

• NFL Head Coach 09 has such depth that considering the Prima guide for the game wouldn’t be a crazy idea. There is a sample available of what will be found in the guide (PDF) by downloading from here. There are six pages of the actual guide included covering various topics such as injuries, future prospects, free agency, and playbook breakdowns.

• Should be a busy end of the week as the demo for Facebreaker is set to arrive Thursday and the demo for Madden 09 will come on Friday. There is the possibility the PS3 version of the Madden demo may come as early as Thursday but it won’t be known beforehand if that is what ends up happening.

• There is a community event for NCAA Basketball 09 coming in a few weeks. As always I’ll do a posting beforehand seeking any questions or suggestions to take into consideration. I didn’t find March Madness 08 to be much fun (outside of the post moves) and with 2K shutting down the College Hoops series the pressure is on EA to deliver a great game.

• I’ve uploaded another 11 or so minutes of Madden 09 (early) demo footage. I’m really anticipating the release of the downloadable demo this week since it will be from a near final build. This older demo feels so far behind even the build that was played even in late May at the community event. Continue on to watch the two videos.

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Padre vs Fred Challenge Through Four Games

As Fred took a 3-0 lead with a rout of Georgia by Florida it was absolutely necessary that I come up with a victory in game four to avoid the sweep. We have a history of going on streaks against each other so even though it would be a long shot I wasn’t ready to admit defeat in the series. With Clemson at home against Auburn it took a conservative and efficient effort and one big play to finally break through with the win. Continue on for a short recap, highlight videos, and poll to determine the game five match-up.

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