NCAA Football 09 hands-on report two
May 29, 2008 by pastapadre · 42 Comments
A lot of the thoughts on my second run-through with NCAA Football 09 was covered in the live blog from Thursday but here are more detailed thoughts after finishing up.
Overall the game feels slightly more restricted than when I played it last month. You still get the sense of the wide-open gameplay but big plays happen less often and scores in general were coming out lower. I would attribute that to a decrease in acceleration which seemed a little extreme at the time for fast players. There is more balance between the offense and defense, though if someone is patient on offense they could be extremely efficient and make it difficult to stop them. Ultimately I do believe that the hardcore community will be more pleased with how it is playing now than how it played back then.
NFL Head Coach 09 hands-on report
May 29, 2008 by pastapadre · 23 Comments
As mentioned in the live blog, NFL Head Coach is a difficult game to assess after a handful of hours. This game is packed full of options to an almost overwhelming degree. The session began with a producer presentation which stretched on for about 45 minutes as they discussed different areas and answered some questions. Even after all that time there was many aspects of the game that hadn’t been touched on. That really is a testament to how much thought went into the making of the game.
MLB 2K series joins NHL 2K in studio move
May 27, 2008 by pastapadre · 29 Comments
The writing was on the wall and 1UP has confirmed that the MLB 2K series will be developed out of the Visual Concepts studio after the closing of 2K LA/Kush. Recently it was announced that the NHL 2K series would be moving to Visual Concepts, though at the time the reasoning behind the move wasn’t clear.
While the departure of Ben Brinkman is a disappointment, a fresh start could be the best way to go for a series that has had major issues over the last few years. It isn’t known yet whether the game will be developed from the ground up as they have stated for NHL 2K9. In the poll posted a few days ago 89% of respondents felt that doing so would be a good step for the future of the franchise.
EA extends offer deadline for Take Two
May 19, 2008 by pastapadre · 10 Comments
The news that was alluded to for today regarding the EA offer for Take Two is that the deadline has been extended yet again. It now is set to expire on June 16th. The actual offer has not changed and still sits at $25.74, the same value (2 billion) as it has been since it was initially revealed back in February. Unfortunately there is no indication of movement one way or the other and the uncertainty will continue for the time being. As of close on Friday over 6.2 million shares had been tendered.
Full details on EA Fantasy Football
May 8, 2008 by pastapadre · 9 Comments
Through an interview with producers Justin Withers and Ronnie Morales I was able to get a good idea of everything involved with the setup/procedures and new features that are being rolled out this year with EA Fantasy Football. The confusion created by the previews that have been released on it should be taken care of thanks to this discussion.
First of all the website based leagues remain. Drafting through the websites will function as normal. They are still completely free including the live web-based drafts and even the live stat tracking. The exporting of teams into Madden 09 will work for all types of leagues regardless of whether they use the website or live console draft.
Fight Night Round 4 officially announced
May 7, 2008 by pastapadre · 36 Comments
Though it was known to be in development, EA Sports has made official that Fight Night Round 4 will be coming to the 360 and PS3 in 2009. They’ve also revealed the first details on what to expect. This is the first time in nearly a decade that Mike Tyson will be featured in a boxing game. You can check out the full press release here. The important info from it can be found below.
Featuring a re-written gameplay engine, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will add a variety of fighting styles and boxer differentiation to authentically emulate the greatest fighters of all time. Pressure your opponent with the brawling inside style of young Mike Tyson, bobbing and weaving to set up powerful hooks and uppercuts. Capitalize on Muhammad Ali’s reach, hand speed and fleetness of foot to bewilder your opponent with lightning fast jabs and straights from the outside. For the first time in history, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 gives you the opportunity to pit these legendary heavyweights against one another and name a true champ.
No fight will be the same with an all-new physics-based animation system that recreates the full spectrum of true-to-life punch impacts, giving boxers a devastating arsenal of punches, blocks and ring movement. The new physics system allows for missed punches, glancing punches, knockout blows and for the first time ever, rough and tumble inside fighting. Fatigue, adrenaline, footwork and timing all come into play as you hammer away at your opponents.
Who will be the NBA Live 09 cover athlete?
May 3, 2008 by pastapadre · 150 Comments
It’s that time of the year when the cover athletes for the upcoming NBA games become a topic of discussion. Given that the NBA Live cover is expected to be announced first and that 2K has shown the tendency to stick with one guy for multiple years (considering the season Chris Paul had that seems likely to continue) this will be a breakdown of the most likely candidates for the NBA Live 09 cover.
Over the past three years the cover of NBA Live has been announced between late April and mid-June. In 06 it was Dwayne Wade (May 9th), in 07 it was Tracy McGrady (June 21st), followed by 08’s Gilbert Arenas (April 28th). Typically they’d like to announce it when interest in the NBA is high and that certainly is never more than during playoff time. It wouldn’t be surprising if the news came out as early as this week.
The Live covers have generally gone to players who have been high profile, successful, and relatively young. With that in mind lets take a look at the top eight possibilities for the cover of NBA Live 09.
NCAA Football 09 hands-on: Part two
May 1, 2008 by pastapadre · 140 Comments
Earlier I posted my general experience and thoughts on things more related directly to the gameplay. Now in part two of my hands-on with NCAA Football 09 I’ll detail some of the new features that have been added. There are some big ones that should be really well received and others that will greatly enhance the overall gameplay experience.
NCAA Football 09 hands-on: Part one
May 1, 2008 by pastapadre · 45 Comments
After getting a significant amount of time with NCAA Football 09 I’ve compiled my initial thoughts on the game and details on features. The games were played on All-American difficulty and five minute quarters and I took part mostly in head-to-head. You can check over at NCAA Strategies and PSU for more hands-on details as well.
Because of the vast amount of info there is to lay out I’ve broken it into two parts the second of which can be found here. Part one goes over things that relate more to the gameplay and part two will concentrate more on the new features (homefield, online dynasty, ect). Keep in mind that this is an early build still very much a work in progress and that some of the issues mentioned can be improved on or fixed by release time and hopefully the feedback will help lead to that happening.
Brett Favre is the Madden 09 cover athlete
April 24, 2008 by pastapadre · 83 Comments
He may be retired but Brett Favre is the cover athlete for Madden NFL 09. This is the first time a non-active player has been selected for the cover. The news comes out of an appearance on the David Letterman show tonight (which tapes earlier in the day) and has been confirmed by GameDaily. There is also a show on the NFL Network scheduled for Saturday at 10am ET that will showcase the history of Brett Favre and the Madden franchise. The official press release is expected Friday morning.
It is fitting that Favre will represent the 20th Anniversary of Madden. His long and storied career can be revisted in the same manner that EA Sports will be doing with the 20th anniversary of Madden.
