The Line Drive

• 2K Sports has announced a new game for the Wii coming out this fall (likely coinciding with the playoffs) called MLB Superstars and will be a collection of mini-games. This follows EA’s announcement a few weeks ago of Celebrity Sports Showdown for the Wii which is also a collection of mini-games. Is there more appeal in controlling MLB players or people who could barely qualify as being described as celebs?

• This just makes me wonder even more though 2K…where is The BIGS 2???

• Currently there are 119 people in the Pastapadre NFL Pick’em. Make sure to sign up and get your pick in for the Redskins vs Giants opener by Thursday evening! All others lock at kickoff on the first game Sunday. The info you need can be found here.

• The achievements for NBA Live 09 are now known and can be found here. Looks like a good mix of realistic achievements that include some of the new game modes such as NBA Academy and OTP Clubs.

• EA Sports Fantasy Football has announced that the grand prize will be a trip to the Tiburon studio where (among other things) the winner will be scanned in as a free agent that will be included in Madden 2010.

• Tiger Woods 09 released this last week and appears to have been received very well. While I don’t have a 360 copy yet I did just get one for the Wii and will have impressions and videos over the next few days.

• After asking for clarification on what is being done with progression in Madden 09’s second patch I received the following information back:

1) The Edit Player Progression Bug.  So now edited players and created players will progress like normal.  Before, anytime you edited a player’s ratings, he would then never progress in your franchise.

2) Fixed a major bug that stopped awarding progression points after the top 2-3 players at a position.  So before, only 2-3 players per position were getting awarded the proper progression points.  That has been fixed now, all players are now being assigned the proper progression points.

EA Sports World Top Highlight Reel

EA Sports World is starting to materialize with some unique content, one feature just began on Friday and is definitely worth checking out. Each and every week the top 10 highlights will be chosen and presented in a similar fashion to what you would get on Sportscenter along with commentary from the Thompson Brothers. The first top 10 for Madden 09 can now be found on the main page of the site with the other titles that have the video uploading feature getting top 10s of their own in the near future.

A positive development for EASW is that they have retained some of the talent that made EA Gameshow entertaining in Rob and Jason aka the Thompson Brothers and Nate Lundy. That is going to lead to features such as we’re seeing with the top highlight rundown and much more to come.

One thing that made Gameshow intriguing was the connection that was made with the community of players. It looks some of those ideals are shifting to what is being done with EASW as they’re now offering the chance to be recognized through your highlights which is pretty neat.

What are your thoughts on this week’s top 10? The #1 highlight must have been played on a low difficulty but still I wouldn’t have expected to see that.

NHL 09 Demo Impressions and Videos

The game running away with the most anticipated for September poll now has a its demo available for the PS3 and the 360 will likely receive it next week. The demo features the 3rd period of Play Now or Be A Pro with the Penguins @ Red Wings. It also includes a few basic tutorials (shooting, skating, defense).

In a pleasant surprise there are a few settings that can be changed. The difficulty level can be set to either Pro or All-Star and the cameras can be set to Ice, Classic, Overhead, Broadcast, Action (Play Now) or Low/High (Be a Pro). The period length is locked in for five minutes. In Be a Pro you take over Sidney Crosby of the Penguins or Henrik Zetterberg of the Red Wings.

Basically I’ve spent all my time thus far in the Be a Pro and my immediate thought was this mode would appeal to both fans of the sport as well as those who aren’t or don’t have as good an understanding of it. I liked the directional line giving me an idea of where I should be at a given time and found that I prefer the high camera. While the low camera takes you closer into the action it can be disorienting and difficult to know what is happening at times. When playing the game the standard way I’d feel like I was trapped in a back and forth mess of action, but in Be a Pro I can concentrate and play that specific role instead of worrying about controlling everything that happens.

With Be a Pro, Online Team Play, the EA Sports Hockey League and uploading of screenshots and videos to EA Sports World I can actually see NHL 09 offering a longevity that has been difficult to come by with most sports games as of late. The exception to that has been Online Dynasty in NCAA Football and Online Team Play in NBA Live. The common tie really seems to be the freedom teamed with interactivity as well as the more realistic and enjoyable focus that can be had by controlling a single player which to me seems far more rewarding an experience.

What are your thoughts on the demo and the Be a Pro mode? Leave them in the comments and continue on to view two Be a Pro videos from the demo as Crosby (high camera, pro difficulty) and Zetterberg (low camera, all-star difficulty).

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NBA Live 09 Quickstrike and Lockdown Video

IGN has a interview and video with NBA Live 09 producer Jeff Antwi on two of the new features to the game this year in Quickstrike Ball Handling and Lockdown Defense.

Back at the community event I struggled to find much success with quickstrike but felt that lockdown defense was a very valuable addition by adding motivation to play good defense as it could be rewarded.

You can find both of them here or watch the video here by continuing on.

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Which Game is Most Anticipated for September?

Facebreaker (9/4): EA Sports Freestyle kicks off with the arcade style fighting game Facebreaker. The biggest appeal may come from the use of Photo Face and the uploading of videos to EA Sports World.

NFL Head Coach (9/4): Though it comes out in standalone form the first week of September, the game was essentially released alongside Madden in the collector’s edition. It is getting high praise from those who enjoy the management style that is offered due to the great amount of depth.

NHL 2K9 (9/9): 2K9 is bringing the first hockey game to the Wii as well as revamping their 360 and PS3 versions. The franchise moved to be developed out of the highly regarded Visual Concepts studio. Gameplay was a big focus however they have added a 6 on 6 online mode as well as made some big improvements to online leagues.

NHL 09 (9/10): Last year many regarded this as the best sports game released and it appears they’re just making it all that much better. The EA Sports Hockey League could revolutionize the way gamers approach a sports game, much in the way that Online Team Play established last year and Online Dynasty in NCAA Football 09 has done this year.

So there is a bit of a lull here with September for me but that is really picked up for by a few other games that I’ve been looking forward to. Viva Pinata was one of my favorite games of this generation and the sequel sounds like it’ll be even more fun, Lego Batman joins the lego franchise which I’ve really enjoyed and Spore will be an interesting experience on the PC.

So what sports game are you most looking forward to for the month and what other games are you going to pick up? Vote in the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Pastapadre NFL Pick’em

With the NFL season fast approaching it was time for me to set up the annual pickem. This is something I always enjoy especially since I’ve won two out of the last four years. The competition should be stronger though with an even larger group involved.

This will be a straight pick’em and not factor in the spread. The low week for each person will not be dropped so it is important that you get your picks in every week. Missing one would potentially eliminate you from contention.

Click here to go to the Pick’em website and it is of course free to join. Once you have registered you can join the group.

Group: Pastapadre
Password: qwest

NBA Live 09 Gameplay Video

A new video of NBA Live 09 in action from Microsoft’s recent X08 event has been posted on Youtube. While it isn’t the greatest quality it would arguably be the best representation currently available of how the game plays. No, it isn’t highlight footage cut together that makes it appear you can score at will on offense as many have griped about.

Continue on to view the video which features Oklahoma City @ Toronto and runs for nearly five minutes.

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Full Details on Patch #2 for Madden 09

Details on items that have been fixed with the second patch for Madden 09 are the topic of a brand new blog posted by producer Ian Cummings on the Madden 09 website. Included are the disconnects that have been plaguing online, franchise progression, fixed exploits including the WR Direct Snap and Deep Ball glitches, field degradation, and gameplay improvements. Most of the gripes consumers have had with the game look as though they’ll be addressed in the coming patch. Not sure there is much more you can ask for out of this.

The work on the patch has been completed and is being submitted to MS and Sony on Tuesday. This puts the time frame to expect it to arrive still at least a few weeks out. Continue on to read the full list of issues and workarounds.

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Madden 09 All-Play Impressions

Although NCAA Football 09 began the All Play line of games for the Wii, the first true game to actually represent the ideals is Madden 09. In stark contrast to NCAA, Madden is a fully featured game and is being received well by consumers along with reviewers.

Continue on to read my full thoughts on the game including several videos showing off gameplay from the various modes.

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PP Online Dynasty Update Weeks 7-10

With the new patch out the hope was that the ability to view dynasties on EA Sports World would be ready to go, but alas that appears to still be a few weeks off from happening. For anyone who will be interested there may be a couple slots opening up once the first season is completed. Make sure to monitor the forum for any news on that.

There are now only a few weeks to go until the Conference Championships, Bowl games, and the awards being handed out. Things are shaping up for an exciting conclusion to the season. So here is the latest on where the teams stand in the Pastapadre Online Dynasty.

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