Something I’ve done in that past that has been popular is taking a look at the differences in games on the 360 when played from disc vs the hard drive. Installing to the HDD has shown performance improvements in the games as well as cutting down on the stress to and noise from the console. Here is a look at the difference being seen in Fight Night Round 4.

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with The BIGS 2 producer Rob Nelson along with being able to send in a few questions beforehand. Given that the original BIGS remains one of my favorite sports games this generation and with the demo out and well received I’m really looking forward to it. What I was most hoping to get out of the call was an idea of additional elements of strategy and details on the online co-op mode.

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With the NBA Draft taking place this evening many teams looked to position themselves for the future by making trades in the last few days. Here is a look at some of the bigger names that have moved and how they may impact the video games this year. Leave your thoughts on the trades in the comments!

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Through a few of the EA Sports titles the Photo Game Face feature has been evolving and improving. For Fight Night Round 4 this is a selling point in being able to add to the stable of fighters through creations of your own or by downloading others. I decided to look through the boxer gallery and found some that looked quite good and others that showed little resemblance to who it was supposed to represent.

What are your thoughts on the feature? Have you created a fighter through Photo Face that is worth checking out and downloading? Link to it in the comments!

Returning from last year is the Gamestop weekly blog for Madden 10 which apparently will offer a new posting each Monday until release. At this point it is uncertain whether they will be replacing the Inside EA blogs and given that most of the info on the game is already out there the value of the Gamestop offerings will likely be limited.

The first blog reveals the intro video for the game which you can check out here. It features the cover athletes Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald and highlights of theirs courtesy of NFL Films.

The press releases that accompany cover announcements generally include a brief description of the game. For announcing Blake Griffin as the cover athlete of NCAA Basketball 10, EA Sports has included some details on what to expect this year. Nothing in the way of new modes have been revealed but it does present some of what has been worked on and enhanced for 10.

NCAA Basketball 10 brings the emotion, intensity, and spirit of college basketball by capturing every detail in the stadium, from cheerleaders and mascots to wild crowds and real NCAA Basketball announcers. NCAA Basketball 10 builds on a new game engine introduced last year, refining and improving core gameplay functions, and adding more depth to the popular ‘styles of play’ and ‘set your tempo’ features, making NCAA Basketball 10 a strategic and entirely unique basketball gameplay experience.

I’ve added the first two screenshots for NCAA Basketball 10 which feature Griffin. You can check them out along with the cover art in the screenshot gallery.

Announced at E3, EA Sports MMA is set to release in 2010 and from then on alternate years with the Fight Night series. The game has been in development for quite some time so while it will be a while before details start to come out there is still discussion on the direction of the game and some early fighter signings.

In an interview with Gamastura, EA Sports President Peter Moore discussed the game and how they are targeting individual fighter rights. Given that THQ holds the exclusive license for UFC that makes it much more difficult to fill out a roster with fighters who are well known to the public. The UFC 2009 Undisputed fighters were forced into lifetime agreements with THQ so none of them will be a possibility.

We are looking obviously at every fighter that we can, that we feel is applicable from a quality level and then analyzing their image rights, and if they’re available and we want them — then we’ll get them. If they’re not then we’ll move on to the next fighter.

So far confirmed for the EA MMA game are Tim Sylvia and Randy Couture and likely Fedor Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi. That is a pretty good start but it remains to be seen if a roster could be built based off non-UFC fighters that will be appealing. Eventually the game may end up having to be more about created fighters and offering a high level of customization.

Since the launch of Teambuilder for NCAA Football 10 members in the forum have been working on the potential community team for the site. I’ve brought out 10 of the best creations for them to be voted on. The winner will become the official Pastapadre team and will be available for anyone to download and use at their discretion. I will also be giving the creator of the winning team a copy of NCAA Football 10.

Continue on to check out the best of the teams and vote on your favorite. You can vote for more than one if you can’t come to a decision. Click on the links to see the full postings including all the uniform combos and logos.

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USA Today has revealed that Blake Griffin will be the cover athlete for EA Sports NCAA Basketball 10. Griffin is expected to be taken first in the NBA Draft this week by the LA Clippers and was considered to be the clear cut best college player in the nation. In my preview article I had Griffin listed as the third most likely candidate. Along with Dwight Howard on NBA Live 10 they represent a big step up over the covers from 09.

The cover athlete for NCAA Basketball 10 is set to be announced on Tuesday June 23rd, just one day before the NBA Draft. Last year EA clearly didn’t put much importance into their cover, likely because there was no need to once 2K dropped out as competition. The selection was Kevin Love making for one of the most boring and uninspired cover choices in recent years.

This year there are a handful of names that could make sense as the potential cover athletes. Continue on to check out the top cover candidates.

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