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!
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
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!
Riding the Pines – Episode 73
Well, well, well... guess who's back with another episode.. only two weeks removed from our last one.
Dan, Craig, and I all got together tonight to talk about the following.
- What game Glen just abandoned playing (NCAA Football 12)
- What game Dan and Craig are currently playing (Madden NFL 12)
- What game Dan has convinced Craig and Glen to buy (NHL 12)
We also cover a bit on the new Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA demos.
You can find the show at all the regular places
Enjoy!
Riding the Pines – Episode 72
Dan and Glen get together tonight to talk about the following
- Their thoughts on Madden NFL 12
- What year Glen thinks was the pinnacle of sports gaming
- Why everyone hates Activision... but not EA anymore.
Here are the links for the show.
Enjoy the show and have a great weekend.
Wednesday notes
- Wish I knew what to say about the Madden interview. You can hear the turn signal for the car that he was either driving in or was riding in and there are more than a few questions where he doesn't know the answer or guesses at what I was asking about.
Typically, my interviews that I have done with EA Sports people have been at least a bit informative, but this one really didn't get us all that much.
Sorry about that.
- With the demo for NHL 12 coming out last night, I gave that game a look as well and I'm constantly impressed by how well the game plays and how much it feels like real hockey.
Scoring was not coming easily for me though with my time in the demo. Maybe it's just my being rusty though. Yeah... that must be it.
I did see a few really cool shots and saves in my games last night though. On one save, Luongo made a sprawling splits save where his left leg just kicked out in the nick of time to prevent a nice one-timer.
I'm working on efforting an interview with the EA guys and hope to have something before the release of the game in the 2nd week of September.
- If anyone has some great diet advice, I'm struggling here. For the first time in my life, I'm eating small meals and exercising and still gaining weight and it's driving me nuts. Maybe I'm not doing enough exercise, but I'm just getting frustrated here as I really want to lose 10 to 15 pounds before my race next month. Grr.
- Lastly, I started watching the Fritz Lang classic, Metropolis last night and I have to say that I'm amazed at the visuals that they were able to pull off on a movie made in 1927.
I've never watched the movie before (and am watching the fully restored version recently released on Blu-Ray,) so I'm really enjoying getting to watch this classic for the first time.
Riding the Pines – Episode 70
Well, it's a Friday night and the gang is all here.
Here's what Dan, Craig, and Glen talk about tonight.
- Netflix changes
- NCAA Football 12
- Various DVR setups
- Spotify
- Fantasy Baseball and Football
- The NFL lockout issues
Definitely one of the more entertaining shows this year.
Here are the links to the show.
Enjoy!
Riding the Pines – Episode 69
Last Friday night, Dan and I got together to record the 69th episode of Riding the Pines.
Here's what we covered.
- Our NCAA Football 12 interview
- MLB Bobblehead Pros for the Xbox 360
- Dan's new headphone issues
- Ocarina of Time for the 3DS thoughts
- My vents about last Friday nights Brewer game
Here are the links to the show.
Enjoy!
Riding the Pines: NCAA Football 12 interview with Ben Haumiller
Today we bring you an interview that we conducted with NCAA Football 12 Associate Producer, Ben Haumiller.
In the interview, here are a list of some of the topics that we covered.
- What he feels is the most important change to the game for this year.
- How suction tackling has been removed and how animations have been changed as a result of that.
- Adjustments that have been made in relation to how some sorts of animations can have a greater impact on fumbles and other aspects of play.
- Issues with clock management and how they struggle with them and what they are trying to do to correct them
- How the weather effects are implemented and the limitations that you may see in the game with them
- The large amount of changes included in the Road to Glory mode, how the experience points are handled, and if it's really possible to lose a position or "benefit" once you gain it.
- The decision process for charging an additional amount for SuperSim online capabilities
- Talking about the Coaching Carousel component to the dynasty feature, what it offers and the limitations of the new feature
- What small changes have been made to the recruiting aspect of the dynasty mode
- How the conference customization is handled and what you can and cannot do with it.
- What they do to balance out things such as new presentation elements versus requested gameplay fixes that people have noticed.
You can listen to the podcast via either of the following links.
Enjoy!
Riding the Pines: Episode 67
Here's what we covered this time around
- Craig and Glen cover how disappointing E3 has become
- We then discuss the strange pricing for the new Xbox Live Arcade version of Backbreaker
- Dan joins us a half hour late and adds his thoughts about the Gameboy classic Tennis on the 3DS store
- and the show tails off from there.
Here are the links to the show.
Enjoy!
Riding the Pines – Episode 66
Today I had the chance to interview Matt Small and Ralf Knoesel of Vector Unit.
In the past year, they've been responsible for making Hydro Thunder Hurricane for Xbox Live and their most recent title is Riptide GT for Android phones and tablets with the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset.
Here's what we covered in the interview...
- How digital platform development takes them back to the 'old days' of software development with 5 or 6 people working together to make a quality product in less time than the huge AAA titles.
- Their history with Vector Unit and how they got to where they are with their careers.
- The challenges of creating a game where you really have buttons or control sticks, but still providing good input control.
- How different it is to market and promote a game for a digital platform
- What their plans are for Riptide GT and future titles
Here are the links to the interview.
Riding the Pines – Episode 65 (w/ ESPN.com’s Patrick Hruby)
Hello, all.
Joining me today on the podcast is ESPN.com's Patrick Hruby, and here's what we covered in our most recent episode.
- What the recent departures at EA Sports might mean for some of the titles at Tiburon?
- Why people aren't paying as much attention to the upcoming labor issues in the NBA as they have been in the NFL?
- Where NBA2K11 can go after putting MJ on the cover this year, and where Tiger Woods 12 can go after putting Augusta in the game?
- Patrick's upcoming article about some of the more interesting halftime shows that appear at an arena near you.
Here are the links to the shows
Enjoy!
Wednesday notes
- I'll be recording an interview tomorrow for the podcast, and will be heading out of town shortly after that, so there won't be a group Riding the Pines episode, but we will at least have something out there for all of you to enjoy over the weekend.
I'm heading up to Minnesota for their fishing opener. It's also my birthday on Saturday so it should be a good time.
- Outside of that I've just been watching the Brewers (seriously? Giving up 8 runs in an inning?) and trying to get ready for my surgery, which takes place next Wednesday.
More than anything with the surgery, I'm just tired of thinking about it. I just want to get it over with so I can start rehab and try to get back into everything I want to do by the end of the summer.
I'm planning on being a g0od deal more aggressive with my rehab than my wife would like me to, but I'd just like to work hard and get my shoulder strong and ready for trying to complete a triathlon before the end of the year. Also, it would be nice to not miss the entire golf season as my game keeps feeling better and better. (Which, isn't that hard to do considering how bad my game was when I picked it back up again last year.)
I'm not planning on over-doing it, just don't want to feel like I'm going to "not do enough." I'm sure you can understand.
- For those of you paying close attention to the baseball season, you'll have noticed that there is a tremendously higher rate of shutouts this season so far.
An interesting article over at CNNSI seems to think that the reason behind it is the fact that teams are specializing so much more on defense rather than on hitting as they have in the past.
Definitely an interesting look at the lack of run production this year (outside of the Brewers and Padres game today) and what could be causing it.
Friday morning notes
- Sorry for taking a few days off. I was pretty busy with work activities and general life craziness, but I have a day off today and figured I could catch up.
- The Brewers have gone in the tank much faster than I thought they could. They already have a 4 and 5 game losing streak for the season and it's the first week of May. Also, they've scored 6 runs in the 5 games that they have lost in a row.
Add to that, they lost Nyjer Morgan with a broken finger last night. Nothing can go right for this team at the moment.
- I went out and hit my first round of the year today and posted a 57. For most people, that would be a terrible round, but I had 4 bogeys and a par in there. Two holes prevented me from carding my best round in a decade. Halfway through the round I started thinking to myself... maybe I should put off my surgery. heh.
Now it's just a matter of getting in as many rounds as I can in the next 12 days. If everything works out, I think I can get 3 or 4 in. Hopefully that'll be enough to carry me until August.
- Still trying to find an Asus Transformer tablet. Damn thing is usually only in stock at most sites for a matter of seconds before selling out again.
I'd like to have it post surgery since using a mouse will be difficult with my right arm in a sling for 6 weeks. Grr.
- Not sure if we'll have a podcast tonight. Craig is off taking pictures at an AFL game and then is shooting the Nationwide tour over the weekend. As for Dan? You can never tell when he'll show up. heh.
- Have a great day, all!
Riding the Pines – Episode 64
In a very special episode of Riding the Pines, here's what we cover...
- A brief history of the early years of Operation Sports
- Games that we've been playing
- and some Golf and Baseball talk.
Here are the links to the show.
Enjoy!
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