The Blog for the Sports Gamer

- Run… Run as far away as you can from Madden.  For those of you that haven’t had a chance to try out the demo here’s what you get.

You are presented with a “test” to determine your skill level for Madden.

The first series of tests that you are presented with determine your ability to run the ball.  You begin with two blockers and have to score a touchdown from about 40 yards out.  As you succeed with each “level,” you have to deal with more CPU defenders.  Out of the 20 tests, I failed one.  It is INCREDIBLY easy to avoid these defenders, as your blockers will do almost everything for you.  Just use the juke stick to the left or right and you will find it very difficult to be caught as you score a TD on every play.

My rating for the Running game put me right at the top of the All Madden category.

Next up was the Passing test.  If you complete a pass, you succeed each level.  I had a few tipped passes by the defensive backs, so I ended up at the All Pro difficulty for this one.

Onto the defensive side.  Here’s where you can see that the AI totally falls apart in Madden… but still manages to give the advantages to the CPU.  The rushing defensive test gives you one of two defenders as you attempt to tackle a ball carrier.  They have 2 blockers running in front of them, but here’s the best part… only one of them cares to block for the running back.

The play begins and the back runs to the left (or right, it didn’t really matter.)  The blocker to his left would run with him for a bit, playing the part of the lead blocker, while the other blocker seemed like he wanted to be a second lead blocker before he just ran straight downfield.  The CPU controlled defender would then either run into the lead blocker that stuck with the runner or attempt (and never succeed) to tackle the runner.  If you guessed the direction that the play was going as the runner started, you then may have a chance to tackle the runner…. but it seemed to be primarily luck that would govern whether you might be able to get yourself into position to make a play.  Even when I did get to the runner though he would, without fail, spin away from my tackle attempt and run on into the end zone.

At this point, I was actually laughing out loud.  The actions of the secondary blocker for the running back show you that the CPU AI for the game is broken… before you actually get to play it.  Talk about a time saver.

Next up was the passing defense test.  They put you in the role of a LB or a DB in order to try and force an incompletion.  The funny thing is that I saw at least one instance where I allowed an 8 yard completion, but still got a passing grade for that particular test.  Then on the next play, they made a 2 yard completion where I knocked them out of bounds… and failed the test.

I tried to play the Madden situation (as Dan mentioned before, it’s the Giants versus the Pats with less than 2:00 to go in the Superbowl) mode a couple times after the test, but I just couldn’t top the enjoyment of the Madden IQ test.  Seriously, that’s the most I’ve laughed at a football game.

- Next up was the Facebreaker demo.

I’d love to try and be witty and give a colorful description of this demo.  I would try to write about how the various fighters are all kinds of nutty stereotypes or how they have interesting locales to fight in such as, “The Trailerpark,” but I think we’re all better served to just avoid EA’s attempt to try and make a horribly simplified fighting game with an absolutely awful control scheme.

Seriously, if this is the company that we have to rely on for the future of sports games… the genre is doomed.  The genre that we loved, while growing up, has hit an all time low.  I just hope that somehow it will be able to recover.

It’s just so funny to me that games like MLB Power Pros get so many things right, but are discarded by the masses because of their appearance.  Where as games like Madden sell millions of copies and don’t provide anything other than total and complete exasperation to a sports gaming fan.

I just don’t know what else to say…

1. Bill Abner got Madden early. Basically, the verdict: it’s complete shit.

2. Have you tried the demo? All I can say is what the HELL was EA thinking? A HOLOGRAPHIC JOHN MADDEN? I’m sorry, is this 1991…I think we’re beyond that in the technology curve. And the “Madden Test” thing? WTF? So how I run against one defender on a few plays determines my ingame ability and ‘rating’ for all to see? Whe the hell thought this was a good idea? 

I don’t think I’ve ever been so turned off with a game before. Add into that Bill Abner’s comments that in the full game, there are NO CPU Sliders, because hey EA knows your difficultly level, and I just cancelled my preorder. 

I just don’t think there’s another company out there that treats it’s buying public like crap. I got burned on NCAA, and I’m done.

3. Oh yeah, remember how Peter Moore said that Facebreaker was EA’s attempt at bringing fun games like Ready To Rumble over to the next gen? Well they have done it — except it’s without the fun. My god, it’s like play that Rap fighting Icon game where you just beat up on buttons and do nothing else. Completely unfun if you ask me. I wanted both of these games to be enjoyable, but I will say I just saved $120..now if I could only get the $40 trade in even if I don’t buy Madden……

PS. These birthday presents really suck, EA.

- It’s a good thing that I haven’t been watching any of the Brewer games, due to other commitments.  Seeing a team NEVER get a hit with a runner in scoring position would get pretty damn old, pretty quick.  Thankfully, I haven’t been listening to sports radio around here either…I’m sure that people pushed the panic button already.  It’s only July.  Hopefully things will get better.

- Another thing that I’ve managed to avoid for the last few days is the whole Favre thing.  While I might have cared, even a week ago, I don’t give a tinkers cuss at this point.  The whole thing is souring me on Favre and the Packers organization.  I just hate the whole story and want it all to go away, so that I can think about enjoying watching some football.  Right now, I just can’t see that.

- I spent a bit of time with the success mode in Power Pros 2008 last night.  I don’t know why someone else hasn’t tried to make the same sort of quirky story mode in a sports game before.  Marvin rules.

- As Dan mentioned earlier, the Facebreaker and Madden demos are out.  Considering how pro-EA we are around here, I’m sure that they’ll be stellar titles and will redefine the football and boxing genres respectively.  Seriously though, I’m going to have my wife try to kick off the downloads and I’ll try them out tonight and post my impressions.

Memo to Microsoft: Get remote downloading working on the 360.  I’ve heard that the feature is on the way, and I love that I can use my PSP and use Remote play to kick off Playstation Store downloads before I get home.

Today the Madden NFL 09 demo showed up as well as one for their upcoming boxing game Facebreaker. I’m very, very curious but won’t have time to play this morning….

What do you think?

Broken?

I got hit in the blocker when playing hockey the other day, and since it’s the back of my hand, I hadn’t really noticed much in the way of pain.

Probably going to the doctor in a few days, but was just curious as to what other people thought.

- Thanks to JimC for pointing out the idiot that Ned Yost is.  20 bucks says that we see Rickie Weeks at 2nd base today against the Cubs.   Ned is nothing, if not consistent.

- Both Dan and I got our copies of MLB Power Pros ‘08.  I didn’t get a chance to try out my copy, but I’ll be all over that today.

- Favre is probably going to show up at Packers training camp this week.  Dogs and Cats… Living together… Mass Hysteria…  Currently, Mark Murphy is trying to head to Brett’s house to talk him out of coming up.  Fun, fun, fun….

- Ok… Crazy late… talk to you all in the a.m.

Picked up the game today..quick thoughts:

* On the bright side graphics are a step up from NCAA All-Play, but in the same way that the Atari 5200 is better than the 2600…it’s still looking dated.

* Same announcer as last year. Funny to hear him call strikes at the knees when the players have no knees.

* You can use GCN conroller, classic controller, or wiimote & nunchuck

* Contrary to rumors there’s still a Wii remote mode a la Wii Sports (conf call said wii mote was relegated to home run derby, which is nOT TRUE).

* No online. Boo!

* Rosters are better than last year but Luis Hernandez is still an Oriole, who’s last game was 5/27 before being sent down to AAA. Um, that was like two months ago. Still better than opening day, so that’s a plus.

* MLB Life mode is probably where you’ll spend some quality time — however, one big caveat — you don’t play defense unless you are a pitcher — so in that way it’s not like MLB The Show’s RTTS mode. You do however, get to chat up ladies and befriend your coaches…so there’s that.

So far, i’m enjoying it, and haven’t noticed anything broken (then again there is no online. Did I mention that?)

How come I can buy Soul Calibur IV on release day, go to my Xbox 360, and there’s an auto update waiting, while OTOH we can be told by EA Sports that “a patch has been sent to certification” but 2-3 weeks later, we’re still waiting?

Funny the same thing happened with MLB 2K as well this year. Who runs this certification department? Why are the QA standards bigger for the QA departement then they are for the game being released in the first place. Sure you can release buggy crap, but if you put out a patch for it, then we have to test it…WTF?

Wow the EA Conference Call had some real gems…taken from Kotaku:

“Preorders are down for EA Sports titles, the company said during its quarterly call to investors. CEO John Riccitiello and EA Sports honcho Peter Moore were discussing how they expected Electronic Arts’ sports portfolio to perform in the year, and both seemed to say that prejudging a game’s performance by the number of its preorders might be a relic of another time.”

Yeah, because it sure wouldn’t have anything to do with the games sucking ass and gamers taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude, would it?

“Quality…that’s up,” Riccitiello said. “We expect this trend to continue as we launch the rest of our sports slate… Madden is looking particularly strong.”

OMG, don’t even go there. What a complete load of shit this is….

“A video game of this caliber teaches you how to play and teaches you to get better. i think its going to… be the kind of innovation that puts Madden back on top after a few years. Because it’s sort of an open door, versus a velvet rope over the door, to get into the franchise.”"

On top of what? Other NFL licensed football games? All none of them?

Seriously, I’ve heard better lies from the Iraqi Foreign Minister.

- Good baseball game tonight.  Should make for a great series.

- Got Burnout Paradise and GT5 Prologue from Toys R Us, during an online glitch that gave me a Buy 1, Get 1 free for the PS3.  $40 for both was a great deal.  Burnout Paradise has been a ton of fun even after a few short races.  I love the camera feature that lets you take a picture to update your drivers license after every event.

- Pixeljunk Eden is… very odd.  I do have to say that the music made me feel like I was at a late night rave.  Ah… the early 90’s….

It is very addictive though.   20 or 30 minutes seemed to disappear while playing the demo.  Good stuff.

1. Suck it, Mussina.

2. Srudoff, thanks for the thoughts on OOTP but no one here reviewed that game :).

3. Like Glen said, MLB Power Pros tomorrow. The funny thing is that it’s instores tomorrow rather than ships tomorrow. I’m not complaining. It’s funny though my girlfriend Ashley from GameStop (hmm, I wonder where Yaris or whatever the hell her name is went) called about MLB, she didn’t call about Soul Calibur IV….

4. Speaking of SC, Glen mentioned Gamefly. What can I say, he just has the problems. I got two gamefly games today : Order Up! for the Wii and New International Track & Field for the DS. Order Up has some potential….

5. And in the Why bother category, Toshiba sent me HD-DVD version 3.0 update on CD. Um….great. Not only that but it takes 15 minutes to upgrade. Unless it magically turns my HDDVD player into a Blu-Ray, I don’t think I’m interested.

- Quite a Brewers/Cubs game already.  3-2, at the end of the 6th, after back-to-back homeruns by Hardy and Braun (a monster shot.)  This is pretty much exactly the type of game that I wanted to see.  I’d be happy if the Brewers split the series.  Of course, I’d be happier if they took 3 or 4… heh.

- MLB Power Pros ‘08 comes out tomorrow and I can’t wait.  Of course, I won’t be home tomorrow night to play it… but I’ll spend all Wednesday night messing around with it and let you know what I think.  (Wii version, if you’re curious.)

- Here’s my Gamefly story for the day… I mailed in a game to them last Tuesday… Fast Return got it on Friday, Soul Calibur IV shipped today.

Dan dropped off a game at his post office today, Fast Return got it at Noon.

Dan lives in F’n Petticoat Junction and gets the fast return service to work instantly.  I drop off something at the Madison post office, the freakin’ state capitol, and it takes 4 days.  I just don’t get this service at all.

- Well, the Brewers winning streak has finally ended.  Just couldn’t get anything going tonight against the Astros.  Such things will happen.  Cubs lost in the 9th today as well, so the two teams are still only seperated by a single game.  Can’t wait for the series next week.

- For those of you that listened to the conference call for MLB Power Pros 2008, there were a few things that were conveyed in that weren’t accurate.

You can only use your Mii characters in the Exhibition mode of the game.  You cannot use your Mii characters in the Success or MLB Life modes of the game.

Lastly, you can play 20 years in the MLB Life mode.  The Season mode lasts for 10 years.  There was some confusion as to if the MLB Life or the Season modes were 10 or 20 years.  This should settle that.

Either way, the game looks very solid.  Can’t wait to play it next week.

- Here’s the newest NBA Live 09 video clip.  I’m curious to hear what people here think.

- And finally, the news around here is centered about how Brett Favre is planning on reporting to Green Bay for training camp on Sunday. It’s not all about you, is it Brett? You’re all about making the Packers better, aren’t you? Considering your personal website has removed all references to the fact that, when you file your paper work, that you are still a member of the Green Bay Packers, the team you are currently under contract with.  I just hope they trade him as soon as possible and he can deal with the wonderful New York media as a member of the Jets, or just move on to Tampa.  I wouldn’t mind watching the highlights from camp on Sunday if he does show up in Green Bay, to see the first team run out with Rodgers instead of him.  That would be worth a laugh…

You guys asked for it, so I’ve added the ability for you to be able to edit your comments.

Let me know if you have any problems.

Thanks to everyone for their comments.  I really mean that.  Dan and I write for the blog and don’t make a cent off of this site… we do this because it’s what we like to do, so I’m always happy that people are here reading what we have to say.

The lesson to be learned from the comments is that you need to be sober to post sometimes.  heh.