Madden 09 Final Roster Update Is Out

As posted last week roster update #18 for Madden 09 is the final one of the year. That means injured players come off the IR. But EA has also put a lot of effort into providing an extensive update that better represents the performances of the players this season. Hopefully this is a sign of how the updates will be produced next year as the vast majority of the community (88% according to the poll) wanted to see more of a slant towards current performance than was being offered.

Unfortunately there is no detailed list of the changes that were made this time around. Feel free to post anything you notice in the comments along with your thoughts on how good of an update it turned out to be. A few of the names checked on so far are Joe Flacco going up to an 84, Chad Johnson dropping to 92, Kurt Warner raised to 95, LaDainian Tomlinson down to a 95, and Michael Turner up to 95. Its also nice to see John Carlson get some credit after having such a great year and never receiving a boost as he goes from 79 to now being an 89.

The Show Community Preview Report #2

Another long day with MLB 09 The Show is complete. This time around my time was split between exhibition games, Road To The Show, practice drills, and grabbing screenshots and some video highlights. I’m not sure when I’ll have those screens and clips back from SCEA but I’m hopeful that will happen by the end of the weekend.

Out of those things about all I can discuss right now is the gameplay. The others will have to wait for another day. If you missed the first report from the event make sure to check that out here. Continue on for some more general thoughts and attempts at answering a few more questions.

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The Show Community Preview Report #1

After about five hours with the game today and more than that to come tomorrow there will be plenty to discuss about MLB 09 The Show. I wanted to get some initial thoughts up now and follow that up with one that will probably be more extensive tomorrow night.

First, there are some restrictions to what I am able to talk about. Those basically amount to the topics that are slated for coverage in the upcoming weekly Playstation Blog postings. I’ll be able to go over those areas a day after they are released. So if it seems like I am leaving out certain areas of the game or not answering certain questions that could be why. Or it might be that I just don’t have an answer or opinion on it based on what I’ve gotten through.

We have been cleared to snap screenshots using the built-in feature in the PS3 as well as save highlight clips. I’m hoping to have a bunch of those to post up tomorrow or over the weekend. Thanks to those who left some requests on Twitter. I was able to get a few of them and will look at grabbing more as I go.

The build being used is near final as there is still some final bug fixing going on even as I write this. I spent all of the time today playing exhibition games with tomorrow being when I’ll dive into Road to the Show and possibly Franchise. So at this point I can only offer up some general thoughts and observations.

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EA Sports Launches Community Blog

In another initiative that is intended to connect fans of the games with the developers EA Sports has launched a community focused blog. You can check it out here. The majority of the updates on the first day were done live from the Madden Bowl in Tampa. In the future it will be used to provide a behind the scenes look at the studios and the people that work on the games along with event coverage and more to come.

EA also used the occasion to announce that the first info for Madden 2010 will be posted on the blog during halftime of the Super Bowl. You can read about that as well as profiles of some Madden producers here.

Off To See MLB 09 The Show

I’m heading out now to begin the relatively short trip down the coast to San Diego for the MLB 09 The Show Community Preview Event at SCEA. The current plan is to get a handful of hours in with the game today and then spend the majority of tomorrow playing as well.

As of now I’m still somewhat uncertain of what I’ll be able to do at the event. If the circumstances present themselves I’ll do a running live blog from the studio for a short period of time such as I did while at the NCAA Football/NFL Head Coach/Madden event last year. Otherwise I’m expecting to do a write-up each evening (probably after 10pm PT). I should be free to discuss most everything about the game, however we are not allowed to take pictures or videos while there.

Remember to follow me on Twitter. Not only will I be updating throughout my time there but I’ll also have some pictures tied in (again not of the game but of various surroundings or people). Being that I’ll be preoccupied by the event I may only be able to update the site in the mornings/evenings so keeping track on Twitter is the best way to know what is going on at a given time as well as what I have planned to come later.

Further Impressions of MLB FOM

I posted up my initial reaction to MLB Front Office Manager last night where I was encouraged by the manager mode and that the online fantasy mode appears to have the potential to be enjoyable. After putting some more time in with the game I can discuss some other areas and whether my overall feeling has changed at all. Continue on for further thoughts on the game, some screens, and a couple videos videos of managing a game.

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More MLB 2K9 Previews

Following the first hands-on preview two more have arrived. The big concern from these previews is that every one is mentioning issues with the framerate. After last year that is disconcerting and also bodes poorly for the prospects of online play improving.

GAMESPY: Like last year, 2K Sports is boasting a framerate of 60 frames per second for its lead baseball sim. Also like last year, MLB 2K9 didn’t back up that promise — at least in the demo we saw. As the camera panned across the field before the first game started the view was rather choppy, the playing field lacked the texture we would expect from a new baseball title, and facial renderings weren’t extremely accurate.

IGN: Unsurprisingly, 2K Sports is making some of the requisite changes and refinements that we’ve seen from so many of the sports franchises out there. Accessibility is a big part of MLB 2K9 and that means the simplification of some of the more headache inducing mechanics.

In some cases the framerate could be one of the last things to be cleaned up, but if it hasn’t been by now it is probably too late. The key will be whether 2K holds back on the videos and demo as they did last year. If they provide those then there will be some reason for confidence.

MLB FOM May Be A Gem

I’ve only had my copy of MLB Front Office manager for a couple hours but my initial impression is that the game is clearly better than reviews have led on and that it will be much more accessible than NFL Head Coach. It makes it all the more unfortunate that 2K Sports didn’t fully support it prerelease.

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MLB 09 The Show RTTS Enhancements

Another entry in the weekly blog series from SCEA, this time concentrating on Road to the Show mode. You can read the blog in its entirety here. There doesn’t appear to have been any huge changes but instead several issues that people had with the mode have been addressed or improved upon.

With the new Sounds Of The Show feature, we’ve been able to support audio customizations that will allow you to pick not only your batter walkup music, but also your reliever entry music and a home run celebration song. In addition to editing custom music, you can also create custom fan chants, cheers, and jeers to assign to your player (or any other player using the Edit Player feature). The player accessories have also seen upgrades to support a variety of new items including: wrist tape, batting gloves in pockets, glasses, eye black, baggy pants, and stirrup socks for your old schoolers.

Despite the changes to baserunning I don’t anticipate that area of the game being more interesting, I’ll probably continue to play as a pitcher primarily because of it though I much appreciate being able to skip baserunning all together. RTTS is something I plan on spending a good amount of time with at the end of the week. So if you have any questions in relation to it that I may be able to get to make sure to leave them here.

First Preview of MLB 2K9

Gamespot has posted up a hands-on preview for MLB 2K9, though the hands-on part encompassed only a single inning. They also have four new screenshots for the game.

There’s no jaw-dropping feature in MLB 2K9 that looks to reinvent baseball games entirely. What the development team has done, instead, is pay attention to the complaints about MLB 2K8 and directly address them. While the preview code we played still looked and felt early (with graphical hitches aplenty), producers told us the development aims to deliver a smooth gameplay experience running at a full 60 frames per second.

At the very least it is encouraging that 2K has been more open about this title than most of the games they produce. We have the features list, some screenshots, and now some semblance of a hands-on.  But as was discovered last year there is the potential for disinformation (such as the frame rate) until people get watch videos or get their hands on the game for themselves. Hopefully this year they won’t hold the demo back and get it out before release as that would surely increase everyone’s confidence about the game.