Blake Griffin Gets NCAA Basketball 10 Cover

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.

NCAA Football 10 Demo Now Available

The demo for NCAA Football 10 is now out on the XBL Marketplace and will go up with the PSN update this afternoon. Featured is a National Championship rematch of the Florida Gators against the Oklahoma Sooners with two minute quarters. The difficulty level is adjustable which is probably a factor in its large size of 1.57 GB.

Leave your thoughts and impressions of the demo in the comments! I’ll get some videos to go up this evening and maybe some observations based on what may be different in the version I played at E3 which was likely a slightly more recent build than what the demo was built off of.

Madden 10 Player Ratings

Update: EA has requested I take the ratings down.

After responding to a ton of Madden NFL 10 player ratings requests in the previous posting I took on the task of putting them all together in a document. Included are the full rosters, overall ratings, and at many positions the speed and acceleration ratings.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the spread out ratings affect the game. It makes the strengths and weaknesses of each team apparent and depth becomes more important. Users will have to strategically consider each team’s personnel. It should really open things up with the games better resembling what would be seen in the NFL.

UFC 2009 Dominates May Sales

UFC 2009 Undisputed was expected to be a strong seller. The sport is on the rise, reviews and buzz were good, and the marketing was heavy. However I’m not sure if many would’ve predicted that UFC would sell over one million copies in just the 12 days it was on the market in May.

With the NPD releasing sales numbers today we found out that the 360 version moved 679,600 copies with the PS3 selling 334,400. The game obliterated everything else for the month. To put it in perspective the 1.14 million sold falls just about in the middle of what NCAA Football 09 (640K) and Madden 09 (1.64 million) sold on the 360/PS3 in their respective first months last year. So this is a significant consumer response to the UFC product.

This isn’t a game that will see a huge drop-off either because of the strong word of mouth and as the marketing push continues more consumers will take a chance on it. THQ is already working on the sequel as it appears support from UFC and the success of the game have turned it into what will now be a yearly franchise.

Dwight Howard NBA Live 10 Cover Athlete

Dwight Howard has been chosen as the cover athlete for EA Sports NBA Live 10. Howard put up over 20ppg and nearly 14rpg during the regular season and in the postseason has averaged 21ppg and 15rpg. He has helped lead the Magic to an unlikely Eastern Conference Championship and is now fighting for the NBA title.

Featuring several innovations to the core gameplay experience and online game modes, NBA LIVE 10 is bringing a renewed focus to the long-running EA SPORTS basketball franchise. The groundbreaking Dynamic DNA service, driven by Synergy Sports Technology, will make a return in NBA LIVE 10, with significant improvements that will allow players to connect their game to the NBA season like never before.

After a year where EA went with boring basketball cover athletes in Tony Parker and Kevin Love, Howard brings back some of the excitement that used to be had with Live’s cover. In recent years Live has featured marketable and on-the-rise superstars such as Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and Dwayne Wade. Continue on for the announcement trailer and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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E3: Backbreaker Preview

Originally announced back in August of 2007 Backbreaker wowed with early displays of its tackling engine known as Euphoria. Since then it has pretty much been in hibernation. Now though the game appears to be gearing up and intends to prove that it is still around to make an impact.

While at E3 I had the chance to sit down with Rob Donald and Torstein Reil of Backbreaker for a look at the game and to talk about some of the thinking behind it. The meeting actually went for nearly an hour and a half so the time commitment was appreciated.

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Madden 10 Team and Player Ratings

While at E3 I was able to grab the team overall ratings for Madden 10. I also have access to the player ratings. These may not necessarily be final however they will provide at the very least a good idea of what to expect. A while back Donny Moore stated that the Pats, Steelers, and Eagles were the top three teams however in this build the Giants have overtaken the Eagles.

Continue on to check out the team ratings. Leave any requests for specific player ratings in the comments and I’ll reply there. Please limit it to no more than two players per comment. Users with Intense Debate comment accounts or utilizing Facebook Connect will receive priority in response.

Update: EA has requested I take the ratings down.

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E3: Madden NFL 10 Impressions

The improvements to Madden 10 were quickly evident at E3. Many of them are visual which means you’re immediately exposed to them and they are impossible to miss. Others such as the game speed are readily apparent as well. That suited it well to the environment that E3 offers where time with the game can be limited and the crowds can affect the experience. Reaction to Madden has been overwhelmingly positive for the most part and it received multiple “Game of E3″ nominations while there. Continue on for my impressions from the event.

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E3: NCAA Football 10 Impressions

During the first day of E3 I played NCAA Football 10 on the default Varsity difficulty. I made the statement in my brief recap that the game had a very similar feel to 09 and it seems people ran with that as though it meant it wasn’t changed or improved which is not the case. The differences are just not as obvious as the ones Madden received. After bumping it up to All-American the improvements made to the game became more evident.

The adaptive AI has a strong presence and I’ll describe an example of that from the defensive side later in the article. Going up against the CPU offense there were instances of them throwing deep and mixing up the play calling better than seen in recent editions.

As witnessed in the UW-WSU video the CPU RB had a play where he probably would’ve run out of bounds last year but instead caught me off guard by pulling off a sharp cut and going up-field for about 15 more yards. There is more inaccuracy from QBs and a great deal of that is dependent on ratings. There is a pass rush and I actually encountered a CPU Missouri blitzing the crap out of me over a series of plays and I was not prepared for that to happen. Also a factor is if the QB waits too long and gets hit during the throw the potential is there for those waffling passes to be picked off.

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Kobe Bryant NBA 2K10 Cover Athlete

The cover of NBA 2K10 is set to be announced tonight with Kobe Bryant taking the honors. Bryant has been on the cover of numerous other NBA games in the past most recently on SCEA’s NBA series. He averaged 26.8 ppg this season and nearly 30 ppg in the playoffs and has helped to lead the Lakers to the NBA Finals.

There is another angle to the cover announcement. There are four different versions of the cover to choose from and 2K Sports is going to let the public vote to decide which one ultimately becomes the cover beginning tomorrow. While that is a nice way to get people involved with the game it does go a step further with the options.

Recently Spike Lee did the Kobe Doin’ Work documentary and they are together again here as he will help to promote the game. However that also means that Kobe as a Knick is one of the options. If I was a Lakers fan the idea of that would probably be offensive and I suspect they won’t be happy to find out he signed off on this idea even though it has no shot of being used. Even if it were to win the vote 2K would undoubtably go with the runner-up.

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