In addition to the earlier post announcing the upcoming MLB 09 The Show community event, a new set of screenshots for the game have been released. They can be found in the screenshot gallery and feature the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.

I’ll have a posting within the next week or so to begin taking suggestions on things to look for at the community event. Also make sure to sign up and follow me on Twitter as I’ll be doing quick updates throughout the trip.

The end of the month will bring the first ever community event hosted by SCEA as myself and a select few others head down to San Diego to check out MLB 09 The Show. While the event takes place at a point in development where the game is already complete, this does provide an opportunity not only to collect information and impressions for 09 but also to begin offering invaluable feedback and suggestions to be considered going forward.

*Inaugural San Diego Studios “MLB09 The Show” Community Preview Event

With the holidays over we would like to take this time and announce our first Community Preview Event for the “MLB The Show” franchise.  The event will be held on the 29th and 30th of January.  Our Community Day will allow regular consumers of the franchise and members of the community unprecedented access to the development team and the game before its release in March.

There will be six total attendees at the event.  These individuals where chosen from the pool of selected Community Leaders months ago.  The attendees are mlblover15, jim416, nemesis04, Knight165, Pared, and Pastapadre from the community sites Operation Sports and Pastapadre.com.

The event is a major part of our Community Initiative here at the San Diego Studios.

I’m sure you have many questions about the event and what this all means for you as a member of our community/consumer base.  Feel free to ask these questions on the message boards and the Community Manager will be around to answer them.

Gamestop has adjusted the release date for Fight Night Round 4 to what appears as though it could be the official one. Previously it was in the system with a placeholder date but it has now been changed to Tuesday June 30th. Generally Gamestop would not make a change such as that without having specific reason to do so.

Looking at some of the releases already slated for around that time FNR4 separates itself from UFC 2009 Undisputed (May 19th) by six weeks and NCAA Football 2010 (July 14th) by two weeks. That seems like it might be a little tight being that close to NCAA so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it eventually bumped up to June 23rd. The game has been advertised as coming in summer which begins June 21st so either date would work.

Much has been made as to what changes are needed for MLB 2K9 to improve on last years disappointing effort. While we still have no details on what 2K has in store this year, NHL 2K9 probably provides the blueprint of what to expect considering the similar circumstances. Hopefully we will get more insight into MLB 2K9 in early-mid January, though because of the release of MLB Front Office Manager the bulk of the promotion may not come until February.

What I was wondering about right now though is the overall perception of the trading card feature. This is something I was very intrigued by in MLB 2K8 but found it to be frustrating and flawed.

You couldn’t earn many cards in franchise mode because you were playing with just your team and the cards were mainly obtained by playing with a mix of teams. They were too individually based meaning you changed your strategy in attempts to earn them instead of trying to win the games naturally. You could also purchase packs of cards but they were far too “expensive” meaning very few ever were able to take advantage of that. And while a big pull was being able to put together a full team with your cards and even playing with them online, I never came even close to getting that many players and the horrible online experience would’ve ruined it anyway.

What I did like was that they attempted to implement something along the lines of 360 achievements. In theory it would encourage you to play more and reward you for doing so. It was added value that could have really taken off if the game was better and if the card system had been properly implemented and thought out.

So vote in the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments. Are you hoping the trading card feature will be in MLB 2K9? And what improvements would you hope for if it is?

The latest OXM has the first review for MLB Front Office Manager. They gave it a 5/10 citing awful menus and a worthless manager mode though they did state the game was very in depth. Thanks to Jesse Behr from The ‘Burgh Blues for sending the tip in.

While the review would seem discouraging it sounds awful familiar to some of the ones that were handed out to NFL Head Coach 09. While I just couldn’t get into that game, it did deliver the deep and very detailed experience that crowd was looking for. Both games released at less than the standard price and it seems like reviews don’t take that into consideration either. It’s unfortunate that 2K doesn’t do more to get this game out in the community where it will be given a fair shake.

So I’m not sure if my opinion of FOM’s potential has changed at all. What they need to do is get more info out there ASAP. It is a little over three weeks away and they still have only revealed  some vague details from a few interviews along with the single producer video and a couple screenshots. I’ve been extremely intrigued by the Online Fantasy mode but we know next to nothing about how it will be structured. This type of game isn’t the easiest to market, but Head Coach did an excellent job of laying out pretty much everything there was to know about it leading up to its release.

Retailers have started taking pre-orders for Madden 10 (cringing writing that) which has brought about the potential release date for the game being Tuesday August 11th. While this isn’t confirmed it does seem to be the likely. The second Tuesday in August has been the date for Madden 08 and 07. Prior to those it used to vary between the second or third week of the month. The game will be coming to the 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS and PS2.

Some more details on the upcoming 3 on 3 NHL Arcade have come out through an interview with producers David Littman and Matt Mahar. Some of the topics discussed include why the game was created and the decision to make it downloadable only, the player types, power-ups, and how it could be a bridge to the yearly sim NHL title. The game is set to release sometime in February for $10 through XBL and PSN.

The player types play into the overall feel of the game, and that’s super fast. We also wanted them to play into how the power-ups work. You actually get power-ups (Super Shot, Big Player, Freeze, Banana, Super Speed, Double Score, Small Goalie, Big Goalie) by hitting guys and knocking them down. So the super strong guys help you get power-ups, while the super fast guys and the all-around guys fit more into the fast pace of the game.

It is also interesting to find out through the interview that nearly 60% of NHL 09 owners play online. Just a couple years ago the lack of effort with online play was attributed to the relatively low numbers that played online. Through modes such as Online Team Play, EASHL, and Online Dynasty along with improved performance it has been proven that what they had to do was provide a premium experience for people to have the desire to head online.

The original Skate released to high praise with gamers really catching on to the realistic representation as well as the video uploading feature. It surprised the industry by passing the long entrenched Tony Hawk series in both sales and quality forcing them to go into reinvent mode.

Xbox.com is now featuring details of a sweepstakes that requires the download of the demo for Skate 2 between January 8-15. The 8th seems like the best bet for it to arrive given it is a Thursday and the demo could be out at the same time for the 360 and PS3.

So I want to know…do you think Skate is a franchise that I should cover on the site? I’ve never really considered it to be a sports game, especially since EA doesn’t even classify it as one. But given its popularity and potential ties to the community I’ve opened myself up to reconsidering that decision.

In his latest blog entry EA Sports president Peter Moore wonders aloud WTF (where the hell is FIFA) when it comes to Eurogamer’s top 50 list of 2008. FIFA 09 was left completely off the list despite incredible sales, great reviews, and being held in high esteem with gamers.

For a site like Eurogamer it is curious that a soccer game wouldn’t make the list, especially one as highly regarded as FIFA 09 or even PES 09 which remains popular. This is the case especially since Europe is where the sport is intensely popular and FIFA has sold like crazy on its way to over 10 million. To put it in perspective Madden won’t sell near that much here in the US.

Obviously the blog isn’t meant to be taken too seriously and it is refreshing to get an honest reaction on a subject such as top “whatever” lists which always illicit strong reactions. It does bring up the subject of whether sports games get enough credit or if they aren’t thought of as highly simply because they release a new version every year. Games like FIFA 09 and NHL 09 have done enough and deserve to be viewed as more than just rehashes.

It remains clear that the direction EA Sports is supposedly heading with the names for this year’s crop of games and beyond is not well liked. Current plans are to label them with 10. Madden 10, NCAA Football 10, NBA Live 10, and so on.

With over 5000 unique visitors having voted 57% have gone for using 2010, while only 7% have chosen 10. It is so disliked that the other two more off-the-wall suggestions of Madden using roman numerals and 20-10 even beat out 10, with them combining for 35%.

I really have trouble taking the 10 thing seriously and at this point don’t even want to identify them with that. There is still plenty of time for them to change their mind given that the next release that would use that title is Nascar which will be out in June. If they do make a change it would likely be to 2010 and for marketing purposes they’ll want to keep it uniform across all their yearly titles.

Obviously this isn’t the biggest concern in the world but given that they’ll likely be sticking with whatever choice they make for years going forward here’s to hoping they reconsider.