UFC 2009 unveiled
June 21, 2008 by pastapadre · 38 Comments
The debut trailer and preview for UFC 2009 have just made their way out. The game, which has been in the works for quite some time, is set to release next spring.
The operative phrase that came up during discussion of the game was “Constant Control”, the idea being that a UFC fighter must constantly be aware of his surroundings and situation, and must be ready to act at a moment’s notice with a specific, contextual move, countermove, or defense.
I’ve always seen initial appeal in wrestling games but they’ve rarely kept my interest and usually been more frustrating than fun. UFC’s action could present a more enjoyable experience as long as everything flows together naturally. Continue on to watch the trailer which seems to show a lot of potential that could be realized.
NCAA Football 09 demo videos
June 20, 2008 by pastapadre · 64 Comments
I went ahead and put together two videos from the NCAA Football 09 demo. The first is essentially a mash-up of some of the better plays in the first couple runs through the demo. The second is a full game start to finish. In both I am controlling LSU so I plan to add a user vs user video in the near future.
It is somewhat tough to compare the demo to the builds I played at the community events, mostly because I never played a single time on Varsity difficulty. As I get more time in I may be able to put some thoughts together. The general sentiment out there so far seems to be positive which despite the issues myself and others pointed out was the feeling of those who had the opportunity to play it at those events. You can continue leaving your impressions here or in the forum.
Continue on to watch the highlight video and head into the forums to watch the full game. If you have any videos of your own feel free to add them to that forum thread!
NBA Live 09 features trailer
June 18, 2008 by pastapadre · 30 Comments
The first trailer for NBA Live 09 has made its way out continuing what has been a busy few days around the game. Next week brings the community event so I’ll be able to report back on my experience with everything…well except for the secret feature that is.
The trailer focuses on some of the new features in the game this year which includes the NBA Academy, signature play-calling, pick & roll control, and expanded FIBA mode among others. I watched this and to me it screamed point guard cover athlete (Deron Williams?). Continue on to watch the video and leave your thoughts in the comments.
First preview and videos of Madden 09 for the Wii
June 13, 2008 by pastapadre · 9 Comments
IGN has posted the first full preview of the Wii version of Madden 09. Until now all that was known was the game would feature the new “All-Play” ideals while being designed from the ground up for the Wii, have a five on five mode, online play, and the ability to design plays on the fly by drawing routes. In the new preview IGN adds that the game will have Superstar mode and more mini-games, while going into greater detail on the previously known aspects of the game.
Next up on the must-know list of Madden 09 is Call Your Shot mode, which is hands-down the best gameplay feature we’ve seen from Madden in years, and that includes any version of the game. Call Your Shot works as an active audible situation, so any time pre-snap when you’re on offense you can hit A, and then initiate Call Your Shot mode. From here, it’s up to you to make your own plays similar to Pro Evolution Soccer’s pointer-based control, so you’ll tap on any eligible receiver with the A button, move your cursor anywhere on the field to make another point for them to run directly to, and repeat until hitting the minus key on the Wii-mote.
The reaction to the make-up and videos of NCAA Football on the Wii has varied from apathy to hate. There seems to be a lot more potential with how Madden is shaping up. Specifically the inclusion of a superstar mode is intriguing. I envision it being easier to utilize the controls of the Wii when concentrating on what you are doing with an individual player instead of controlling the whole team. In a way it takes the ideals of “All-Play” but without presenting what many might consider to be a cheaper overall experience. “Call Your Shot” looks pretty good in the video for what it is intended to do, which isn’t to match the depth that the hardcore crowd will find with the play creator in NFL Head Coach 09.
Continue on to view videos which focus mainly on displaying “Call Your Shot” and the five on five mode.
Facebreaker in action
June 9, 2008 by pastapadre · 12 Comments
Facebreaker has seemingly gone from an intriguing concept to uncertainty as of late. The interest in an arcade style boxing game is out there, but the character profile videos have been somewhat offputting. In this video Peter Moore goes up against Geoff Keighley as themselves, in the process displaying the first realtime gameplay footage.
From this video I definitely feel more encouraged about the game in general. The photo face feature is going to be especially fun to use along with the ability to download created fighters that have been made by other people. This video seems to demonstrate how that will enhance the enjoyment of the game compared to just using the characters that have been supplied.
Continue on to watch the video.
More Football Community Event Videos
June 1, 2008 by pastapadre · 97 Comments
I went through and pulled out some of the better clips that I had taken over the two days with Madden 09, NFL Head Coach 09, and NCAA Football 09. With Madden there is a lengthy superstar mode one which displays from the perspective of a RB, QB, CB, and DE, along with a few gameplay sequences. Head Coach has a short gameplay clip, a lengthy one displaying the play creator (which you can actually put together plays much faster than I show in that), and one that flips through all of the NFL’s coaches. Finally with NCAA there are a couple highlight videos which I liked a lot.
Previous videos can be found in the hands-on reports over the past few days. Continue on to view the videos.
Madden 09 gang tackling
May 27, 2008 by pastapadre · 58 Comments
Madden 09 producer Ian Cummings has a new in-depth discussion going on over at Operation Sports which you can check out here. He started it off by displaying some highlights and lowlights of the game’s tackling engine.
Among what is mentioned is how the community has directly led to the improvement of gang tackling for this year, that there will continue to be no more than two players making up a gang tackle, and why motion capture has been shown to be more beneficial than the NaturalMotion tackles in the game. A follow-up video may be posted on Wednesday displaying what has been adjusted since this particular video was produced.
While it is great to have this level of dialogue and input it certainly would be natural to wonder about these developments. Given the confidence and apparent level of improvement that is said to have been made in such a short period of time (less than a day) why has the gang tackling been so slow to progress?
Overall the “good” tackles looked really natural while the “poor” ones were all too familiar for anyone who has played the game the last two years. Continue on to watch the video in high quality.
Prizefighter X-Play preview
May 27, 2008 by pastapadre · 19 Comments
A new video preview of Don King Presents: Prizefighter has been posted as it was featured on G4’s X-Play. I’m going to withhold my personal thoughts on the gameplay footage, so go ahead and watch it and leave your thoughts in the comments. I’ve also added a quote from the Prizefighter producer below which came out of a preview today and was pretty interesting to see.
At this point if the game is going to make its release it is at least in the certification process, if not already having gone gold. Continue on to view the video.
Facebreaker character video: Kiriko
May 26, 2008 by pastapadre · 7 Comments
EA Sports has released another trailer featuring a character from Facebreaker. This one puts the spotlight on the first female character who previously was only seen in the background of some of the other videos. Kirkio joins Ice, Molotov, Romeo, Voodoo, and Steve as the ones that have been featured to date. It appears that every Monday will bring a new character video.
So far I’m not really caring much for these characters. Luckily the photo face feature should fill in nicely if that remains to be the case as more are shown. Continue on to view the video.
NCAA Football 09 full game through videos
May 26, 2008 by pastapadre · 82 Comments
Five videos making up an entire game of NCAA Football 09 have been posted by Vetzballin. Some quick impressions can also be found at the link. West Virginia takes on Penn State in a game that goes into OT. This is easily the best representation of the 09 to date as it is played realistically and on All-American difficulty. Continue on to view the videos.
