Riding the Pines – Grand Slam Tennis 2 interview
Joining us today on the Riding the Pines podcast is Thomas Singleton, the Producer of EA Sports, Grand Slam Tennis 2 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Here's a bit of what we covered in the interview.
- How the new control scheme (Total Racquet Control) works alongside the other "standard" controls as well as the Playstation Move controls
- How the legendary players compare to today's players as far as styles of play and how that is handled in the game
- What classic matches are included in the game and whether or not new classics will be able to be added
- How fun it was to deal with working with John McEnroe for his various parts in the game
- How realistic the career mode is (whether or not you will be able to jump right into playing the Grand Slam tournaments with your created player)
- Which players can be used in the online modes
- The details of all of the online modes that are available
Click on either of the following links to download the new episode either via direct MP3 or via iTunes.
Enjoy!
Thursday night notes
-Man, it's Thursday night and this is the first time I've had a chance to get to the PC since Monday. Work has been incredibly crazy this week. I've had about 1 hour to play Skyrim this week and that about sums up all of the gaming time I've had. Weekend is coming up soon, hopefully that'll mean some time for relaxation.
- One of the things that you have to worry about when a new platform is released is that the titles on older platforms will start to get neglected. That certainly looks to be the case with MLB12: The Show for the PS3. Removing franchise features from the console version so that you can spend more time working on the PSVita version? Um.. yeah, that's not a big win for the rest of us.
Considering the fact that online play for The Show has been terrible for the last few years and they're still not really addressing all of the issues there, it's just hard to look for much improvements in this years game.
- I have to agree with Bill Harris in his feelings about the rumor of Microsoft eliminating the ability to play used games in games for their new console. As much as I would like to see Gamestop reigned in... I don't want retail markets being the only ones that control the pricing for games. You could look at titles only dropping $10 to $20 each year after release. That would absolutely suck for gamers on a budget. If Microsoft tries this, they will kill their next console before it even gets off the ground.
- Congratulations to Prince Fielder (and sadly, Scott Boras) for making the deal that they did to send him to Detroit. He gave Brewers fans some great years and some absolutely terrific memories. I really hope that he plays incredibly well there.
- Lastly, don't know if you saw this, but the play made by the ballboy at the Australian Open today definitely deserves a look from everyone. Crazy reflexes there.
NFL Blitz first impressions
- You have to give EA credit for going out and grabbing the old Midway licenses and trying to revive the old NBA Jam and NFL Blitz franchises. With Madden and Backbreaker being the only two football titles released in the last 2 years, we're really in need of a bit more variety in the football gaming genre.
Does NFL Blitz provide enough of a change of pace? I guess that remains to be seen.
Be ready when you purchase the game, it is a rather large download, coming in at 1.8 GB. That definitely makes it one of the larger arcade games that I've seen in recent memory.
First off, the online component was completely empty last night. I'm sure that's due to the fact that the game does not release until 10:00 a.m. today, so that's not something that I can hold against them. What I do wonder, based on the configuration of the online, is how easy it will be to actually play online games.
The first thing that it asks you when you connect to the servers is to choose a state that you are in. Once, I did that, I never had the option to connect to any sort of lobby to match up against any other players. All of the online games seem to be done through automatic matchmaking.
Again, with no one available for the matchmaking, I'm not sure if that's the case or the fact that all of the online features are not configured yet.
If there are no lobbies and the only options that you have are to play against friends or against a random opponent that the server finds for you, that would be disappointing. Not being able to see an opponents record or gameplay status (whether their a late game quitter etc.) would be a real drag on the online component.
- Online aside, I spent a few hours last night with the Gauntlet mode, the single player mode for the game. The Gauntlet consists of a series of matchups against CPU teams, then a matchup against a "boss" team, then 3 more CPU's, another boss, another 3 CPU, then a "final" boss battle.
After playing through the first boss battle (a matchup against a team of Cowboy players, not the Dallas teams... 1800's Western guys,) I can see why they didn't implement any sort of season mode. The game, while fun (in spurts) against the CPU, just doesn't have any long term appeal. As you beat the bosses, you unlock new codes for the game that unlock the teams that you play against, but the experience just isn't as much fun as playing against a real person.
Within a few games, I was able to find formations that were very difficult for the CPU to stop on offense, and on the defensive side of the ball, putting quick pressure on the QB prevented the computer from gaining more than 5 to 10 yards on any given play on most occasions.
As the developers mentioned in our interview, the fact that you can no longer make late hits in the game is certainly noticeable, but it doesn't really detract from the game. It's just.... not there. You really want to be able to move your guys after they've knocked a guy to a ground... and you can't. I know that eventually that feeling will go away, but it won't stop me from continuing to hit a button after the whistle to try and give that offensive player another hit.
- Graphically, the game is very nice to look at. One of the cheat codes that I stumbled on (a single press of X, Y, and B at the code entry screen) unlocked the NFL Blitz team ball. On the ball it consisted of the signatures of all of the members of the team that took part in the making of the game. In an instant replay, I was able to zoom in and clearly see Mark Turmell's signature on the ball. That to me was a sign of the quality of the graphic fidelity on the field.
Player models are, seemingly, bulkier versions of the Madden gameplay models and they look as good as you would want them to for an arcade style of game like this.
- As far as the audio is concerned, Tim Kitzrow seems to have taken his typical enthusiasm down a notch. Maybe it's due to the fact that, comedian, Brian Haley is taking part in some of the commentary with him, but he just doesn't seem to have that "BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA" type punch to him this time around.
Again, not a bad thing... just different than you would have expected.
- Well, that was certainly a long winded first impression, but hopefully in the coming days, I'll be able to play the game against people on my Xbox friends list (Dan? Any other takers?) and we'll be able to see how well the co-op and other online modes will work.
Riding the Pines – NFL Blitz interview
Recently, I had the chance to interview NFL Blitz project lead, Dave Ross and designer Yuri Bialoskursky and talk about the upcoming release of NFL Blitz for Xbox 360 Arcade and Playstation Network.
Here are a few of the topics that we covered in the interview.
- How does the game compare to the recent EA arcade football games?
- The decision to have an in-game market where you unlock things by gameplay, but not via money.
- The removal of late hits from the game and how that impacts gameplay.
- How the Elite League feature compares to the Ultimate team modes in other EA Sports games.
- If you can play couch co-op against other people online
Click on either of the following links to listen to the interview
Saturday notes
- Congrats to UW: Whitewater as they won their 3rd consecutive Division III football title over Mount Union last night. Crazy to think that the football program there has gone so far since I was there in the early 90's but there you have it.
- I'll be posting my interview with EA's NFL Blitz developers on Monday morning. Hope you'll enjoy hearing what they have to say. (I had a pretty bad cold, so I hope that my voice is strong enough throughout the interview.)
- Dan is right about the Ambassador program for the 3DS being great. The 10 games that they gave out to the early adopters are terrific titles. Funny thing is that I have almost all of them sitting down in game storage area. Oh, well. Not all that likely to bring out the GBA SP again to play them. Although... the GB player for the Gamecube.... hmm....
- I was supposed to receive my new Galaxy Nexus phone yesterday... but for some reason Fedex didn't deliver. It's going to be tough using my Blackberry Torch for a few more days until I get that Ice Cream Sandwich phone goodness.
- Have a great weekend!
Thursday notes
So, now that the site is all upgraded and looking much prettier... I'm still working on other ways to improve it. Nothing set in stone yet, but I'd like to keep things moving.
And from there... let's go to something that has been annoying the hell out of me.
- Kotaku's Gut Check. In theory, it's a great idea. Get all the editors together and recommend games based on their feelings for them. The problem is the fact that they're recommending that you buy every game. At this point, I think there has only been 3 games or DLC packs that they have looked at that they don't recommend.
You devalue your process when you say that everything is good. It's like Jeanne Wolf's Hollywood reviews for movies. If you say that everything is great, no one can really trust your opinion.
Oh, and one of the titles that they didn't recommend was Rocksmith, which is absolutely awesome.
Ok, that's my gripe for the day.
- Don't forget to set your fantasy lineups before tonight's game, if you have any Falcons or Jaguars players.
Even if you were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, there are still games to play to determine who finishes in 5th through 8th in the league. (Feel free to post those rankings everywhere on the internet if you obtain them.)
Glen W. Haag
6th place finisher in the 2011-12 Sports Gamer Blog Fantasy Football league, is an incredible title to have.
- Don't know how many people saw this, but with the new CBA being approved for Major League Baseball, there will be more replay in baseball, possibly for the opening day games. Fair/Foul calls, Trapped ball catches, and fan interference could all be reviewed under the new rules.
I'll still keep railing on the league to state that they need to go with the NHL approach. Have a room in New York, or wherever, where every single game is being watched and recorded. Have a replay official there that makes all of the calls. I believe that it's the fastest way to get it done and if the person watching the replays knows all the rules, there is no reason that the on-field umpires should have to look at a video to come to the same conclusion that an umpire sitting in New York would.
- Lastly, I'm going to be doing an interview with some of the people behind the new NFL Blitz for the PS3 and 360. Any concerns about the game or questions that you would want me to pass on?
- Have a great day.
MLB 11: The Show – $12.99 and MLB 2K12 – $9.99 at Gamefly.
MLB11: The Show (PS3) - $12.99
Speaking from experience, PS3 games from Gamefly are usually in terrific shape when they arrive.
They are this price until tomorrow afternoon, so act now if interested.
Tuesday notes
- The Blog Fantasy Football playoff pairings have been set. Check the league site out to see who you will be matching up against. I hope for the best for Joe D. as there isn't a single person out there that wants Dan to win the league. Of course, if he loses, he'll complain about the fact about fractional points or the fact that we don't get backup QB's or some other BS.
My team is self destructing before my eyes, so I don't hold out much hope for a playoff run. You never know... but this time I know. My team sucks. heh.
- Last night I found myself alternating between Rocksmith, Justinguitar.com, and playing on my amp. The combination of all three things gave me a much better 'feel' for playing the guitar.
Having played the drums in the past, I never actually felt as though I was really playing the song, if that makes any sense to you, but last night when I was playing 'Last Girl' by the Black Keys, it really felt like I was playing the song. Then, when I was using my amp to play it, and following along with Rocksmith (on mute) on the screen, it actually sounded a good bit like the song as well.
That was an amazing moment for me. Feeling like I was playing the guitar after just a few days. I know my sound sucked and I was screwing up all the time, but when I hit the notes right, it was a hell of a lot of fun.
- I guess that's all for today. Have a good night.
Monday night notes
- Let's deal with the BCS first.
They may have gotten two of the best teams in a game, but it's certainly not a game I want to watch. I only wish that most people would stay away from seeing it. It was a re-match that was pretty much destined to be replayed and that just seems wrong.
We do get some must read material out of the bowl game picture courtesy of EDSBS.com.
- Speaking of a highly anticipated bowl game, the Badgers did come away with a win in an incredibly entertaining Big Ten championship game on Saturday night. The ending wasn't nearly as exciting, winning on a running into the kicker call, as the end of the first game, but still it was a fun game to watch.
That sets us up for Oregon versus Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and the over/under in that game should be like 80 or so. Both teams have great offenses and suspect defenses. Easily the best bowl matchup of them all.
- In other Wisconsin football news, Montee Ball was named as a finalist for the Heisman trophy and he was definitely a deserving candidate. Anyone in Wisconsin who thinks he's going to win is kidding themselves, but I'm glad that he got a chance to go. He was one of the top 5 players at the end of the year and earned his trip to New York.
- The last thing I have to say about Wisconsin today is in regards to the game against Marquette the other day. I said it a few weeks ago, they're too reliant on the outside shot. When they go cold, they'll lose. I have no idea how this team could pull out a game where they make 5 of 19 three pointers. They just don't have their offense really worked out yet. Thankfully they have almost a month until the Big Ten season starts.
- Back to football, I don't know that I could say anything about the Packers play this year that hasn't already been said. Watching the game last night, you just never get the feeling that they're going to lose. I'm sure this is how Patriots fans felt in '07, as it just doesn't seem like defenses have any answers for what the offense is doing.
The defense played a pretty poor game, but by the end they were missing 3 starters. If Woodson, Hawk, and Bishop come back this week, hopefully they can start playing better for the playoff run.
It was nice that they won the NFC North last night, but they need three more wins to clinch home field advantage throughout. Plenty more meaningful games to play.
- Rocksmith arrived late last week and I spent a good deal of time with it on Friday and Saturday. I don't feel like I'm on the way to becoming a rock god, but it sure as hell is fun to play. Although I do have to say that power chords are pretty much my undoing at this point. I just don't have the ability to move my fingers that much yet. I'll keep at it though.
Kinect Sports: Season 2 impressions
When I got home last night I tried out Kinect Sports: Season 2 which had just arrived via Gamefly. If I had to sum up the game in one word it would be 'Ugh.'
The game consists of 6 different sports (Football, Golf, Baseball, Darts, Skiing, and Tennis.)
Golf and Skiing were probably the only two of the sports that were actually enjoyable to play though, although Golf seemed to be very easy, as I hit a 160 yard chip in eagle on my first shot. As for Skiing, you tuck for speed and shift side to side to make it through your gates. Both did a decent job of motion detection and could have been fun to play with others.
Now let's move onto the rest...
Football - Pick your play from 1 of 8, either by hand gesture or by saying the name of the play, then duck under center (by squatting in front of the TV with your hands out,) and say "Ready, Hike" (or wait 5 seconds.) Then once the ball is snapped, you stand up and wait for a green icon to appear above any one of your three receivers. Once the receivers is open, then you making a throwing motion that points towards who you want to throw to. After that you run in place until he is tackled or scores. Basically the game involves talking, waiting, making a throwing motion, and then running in place. You don't do anything on the defensive side of the ball, instead you watch a drive summary for the other team.
Darts - This game had the potential to be a lot of fun, and could have been a great multiplayer game, but I had terrible control issues in the game that caused it to be more frustrating than anything else. You hold your arm up in front of you like you are aiming a dart, then pull your hand back and mime a throwing motion. When it worked, it was fun. The problem that I ran into was that the aiming marker on the screen kept jumped all over the place. My initial aim would be at the 20's, then all of a sudden the reticle would be in the bottom left of the board, then it would jump back to the 20's, then to another part of the board. After 1 match, it became too frustrating to want to continue with.
Tennis - If you haven't seen this video from Kotaku, you don't need to do anything other than to hold your hand out to hit the ball. Sure you can step into a shot and swing to generate more power, but for the most part, you can just wait for the CPU to make a mistake. I also had some issues with Tennis due to the fact that my character would swing when I didn't move my arm or it wouldn't detect my foot moving forward to provide power for a shot. This game mode alternated between frustrating and just plain boring, once you find that you don't even have to move your arm to hit the ball.
Baseball - Batting involves making a baseball swinging motion at the screen and timing your swing to hit the pitch. If you hit early, you can pull the ball to left field, or wait to hit to right. After you hit the ball, if the fielder doesn't have a play on the ball, your player will automatically run to 2nd or 3rd. If the fielder is closer to the ball he (or she) will either make the catch or you will have to race to the base to beat the throw. With this game (or football, for that matter,) was I able to determine the appropriate speed at which to run in place to run faster. It seemed that no matter how fast I ran, I was never able to really alter the speed at which they ran.
As far as pitching is concerned for Baseball, you choose which arm you throw with for each batter by sticking out a right arm to be right handed, or the left arm to be left handed. Then the catcher will prompt you with information such as, Joe doesn't like fast throwing left handers. From that information, you try to mimic the instructions in order to best the batter. Multiple problems came into play with this due to the fact that sometimes when you would stick out your arm to determine which arm you were going to throw with and it would detect that as a throwing motion and the game would then make a pitch. Also, the detection of arm angle and speed seemed to be very erratic as I could never get the game to detect the same pitch consistently even if I used the exact same motion.
Before you say something about whether or not there might have been an issue with my Kinect that was causing all of the erratic movements, I spent time with the tuning application in between a few of the games and found that the system was detecting my body frame and, for lack of a better term, skeletal grid without any issues. I was in a room that was lit from overhead without any back lighting behind me that could have skewed the camera.
Every minute that I played the game became a minute that I was more and more frustrated with the controls.
The only really redeeming aspect of the game was how well the voice controls seemed to work. There were a few issues now and again, but for the most part, if you saw it on the screen, you could do it. Although if you have all these voice controls, it would be nice to be able to say "Xbox: Go to Dashboard" to exit a game.
If you have young kids, they may enjoy this take on some of our favorite sports games, but my advice for adults would be to stay away from this title.
Thursday notes
- Very important note! Beavis and Butthead returns to TV this evening. Set those DVR's.
- Yesterday was a fun day as I spent 6 hours with my wife in various Urgent Care and Emergency Room areas while they tried to treat her migraine that she was dealing with.
Really wish they could figure out the cause of things like that. Seeing the look on my wife's face, I wouldn't wish those on anyone.
- Here's another weekly update to take a look at the demo for Fairway: Collector's Edition over at Big Fish Games. Seriously, if you don't have this game by now... I just don't know what to think. Unless you're waiting for the mobile versions, which would be totally understandable, as I can't wait for a version of the game on my Android tablet.
- In just a bit, I'll be posting my impressions of Kinect Sports: Season 2. I'm sure that's something you've all been looking forward to. heh.
- Have a great day
Monday notes
- Moving on to the Michigan State/Wisconsin game on Saturday, I hadn't seen this until this morning.
For the link impared, William Gholston for Michigan State jumped on a pile late against Michigan and wrenched Denard Robinson's head around, then punched another player in the head later. Both events caught on camera. Not really sure how he managed to not be ejected from the game, but it will be interesting to see how the Big Ten handles something like this.
In the past when players have been caught doing stuff like this, the team usually suspended them (like in the case of when OSU's Robert Reynolds choked Jim Sorgi of Wisconsin in 2003.) Hopefully Mark Dantonio does the right thing and suspends him before the Big Ten has to get involved.
This is a huge game for both teams, and is the first big road test for the UW as they try to prove that they are one of the top teams in the country.
Should be a fun one on Saturday night.
- I've decided against picking up the NHL Gamecenter package. While it would be awesome to see the Islanders, especially when they're playing as well as they have to start the year, spending $160 to do so just seems like too much at the moment. Also, my wife said that it would be my Christmas present if I bought the package... and I guess I want to hold off for something better than that.
I can always catch the highlights later, I guess.
- Yesterday, I started to play Madden again after listening to Dan and Craig talk about it on the latest podcast and found that I was enjoying the game, with the major exception being the fact that I still get so tired of seeing linebackers jump up and knock so many passes out of the air.
I really tried to get out of the mindset of trying to run slant routes, but what I found is that running an offense, like the Packers do, is nearly impossible in the game play.
We'll see if things change all that much with the upcoming patch for the game. Usually things don't get tweaked too much, but we might be surprised.
- There is a demo out on the Xbox marketplace for Kinect Sports Season 2. I haven't seen which sports are included in the demo, but for those of you out there with a Kinect, give it a go.
- I think I've finally caved and have decided to purchase Batman: Arkham City tomorrow. I have a $10 reward cert and $35 gift card to spend at Best Buy, so being able to pick up the sequel to a game that I absolutely loved (Arkham Asylum) seems like a win/win for me.
- Fairway Collector's Edition is still the game that is absorbing the majority of my gaming time right now though. Simple, yet incredibly addictive gameplay with a sports feel. Just a terrific game.
- Oh, and I am partial to Nelson Cruz of the Rangers due to the fact that he came up through the Brewers system, but my dislike for the Cardinals and Tony La Russa wins out as the main reason to pull for Texas this year. As every sports fan should know, you never cheer for a team in your division to win the championship, other than your own. (And that's my last baseball post for this season. I'm sure that will make everyone happy. heh.)
Riding the Pines – Episode 74
Well, we got the whole band together tonight.
Dan, Craig, and Glen get together to discuss all of the recent sports games.
Dan rants about the scoring system in Fantasy Football
Craig rants about Glen not buying NHL 12 after he did
Glen rants about the Brewers.
Another classic episode.
Here are the links to grab the episode
Enjoy!
Wednesday notes
- Oh, well. Brewers lost due to Marcum's inbility to throw strikes and when he did.... he threw them on counts where he was ahead and should have been throwing to avoid contact.
Here's hoping Wolf (and players like Morgan and Weeks) can finish off the D-Backs tonight.
- I already have 4 hours into Fairway Collector's Edition. Man, that game is crazy addictive. It does seem to be quite a bit harder than the last game, if that sort of thing interests you.
- My early time with NBA2K12 has been spent in the MyPlayer mode so far and I've been a bit frustrated with the goals that have been given to my player.
Just to let you know how my player started up, he finished with a A- rating in the rookie challenge game that defines where you will be drafted.
Once you're in the regular season (I was drafted by Golden State at number 11) you get goals for each game. The goals, in my case, weren't all that difficult... but they didn't give me enough time to actually complete them all. For example, they'd give me a goal of 'get one defensive rebound,' but then only leave me in the game for 2 minutes before pulling me for the remainder of the game.
My hope is that my playing time will increase as the season goes on and that will take care of the issue. Otherwise it's going to be pretty damn hard to find a spot in the lineup.
- The downloadable edition of NBA Jam was released yesterday by EA, anyone pick it up?
- Lastly, there is a HUGE Gran Turismo 5 update coming out in the next few weeks that will be adding in-car views for all cars, new cars, new tracks, game loading, in race saves, and support for Logitech's top two wheels (the G25 and G27, which I happen to own.)
What's crazy about the update is that it will be totally free. They've added a ton of features since the game came out and they've done it all without adding any additional cost to the user.
Developers such as Polyphony Digital should be lauded when they support their games for as long as they have.
The game just dropped to $39.99, so if you've been at all interested in the game, now is a great time to pick it up.
- Have a great rest of the day.
Done with NCAA Football 12
So, I went from in love with NCAA and my online dynasty, to quitting the whole thing at the BCS championship game.
Here's what happened.
Last night, I got home from hockey and decided to play the BCS championship game between my Utah State Aggies and Boise State. The game was incredible. Throughout the whole year, I was squeaking out wins and had really leaned on my incredibly average running backs to carry me from game to game, but for the championship I felt like I needed to put the ball into the air and my QB didn't let me down for one second. In the game he threw for 414 yards and 4 TD's and only one interception. The game was still in doubt though, because of the fact that my defense could not stop Boise either. Back and forth the game went until Boise scored with 2:15 left in the 4th to pull to within 2, at 35 to 33. (I had held them to 2 short chip shot field goals, which is why I was up by 2 at that point.)
On the 2 point conversion my defensive back jumped a slant route and picked off the conversion and ran it back 102 yards for 2 points for my Aggies.
On the ensuing kickoff, I recovered the onside kick and amazingly bust a 45 yard run for the game clinching score and I won the BCS championship game, 44-33. I couldn't recall playing a game that I enjoyed more or felt as tense playing throughout, it was an incredible matchup and the game played out as perfectly as I could have possibly hoped.
I saved a few highlights and then left the game ready to see how my recruiting would pan out for the next season, but once I exited the game, it told me that it couldn't contact the online server. I checked the webpage and found that the dynasty server seemed to be online... so I went to retry to save my game. No go.
Fine, I thought... I'll wait for a half hour and come back and try to connect again. No luck.
Ok, last resort... I'll leave my 360 on overnight and try it again in the morning. The game locked up in the middle of the night and I lost the whole thing.
Normally one lockup wouldn't cause me this much stress, but this was the 5th game lockup with NCAA that I had this week. I've never had that many lockups with a game before... (even when my first 360 red ringed on me.)
I've had it... I'm done with the game and my dynasty. Before you ask, I've done all of the patches and tuning updates for the game. I just can't believe how frustrated that I am to lose the results of the game because it couldn't talk to the server. Why it couldn't allow me to save the franchise locally and then try to re-upload again when the connection is re-established is beyond me. So, there's my warning to you all. If you have any sort of internet issues, you can lose whatever you're doing in your NCAA Football 12 online season.
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