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The Line Drive for April 23
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦All of 2016’s EA Sports games can now be found in the EA Access Vault on Xbox One.
♦NBA 2K17’s playoff predictions are looking pretty good at this point of the first round.
♦Player review of the legend Juan Marichal found in MLB The Show 17.
♦Free tickets to the EA Play event held June 10-12 in Hollywood are now available.
♦Look for incoming rookie additions to Madden NFL 17 Ultimate Team late this week.
♦New Program rolled out in MUT with the NFL Draft Predictor to earn bonus coins.
♦Reminder that those wanting bonus NBA 2K17 VC can do free month of Amazon Prime.
♦Hassan Whiteside continues to complain about his rating in the NBA 2K series.
♦Devs continue to gauge feedback on shooting in NBA 2K with polls: 1 – 2 – 3
♦Starling Marte’s price dropped sharply in MLB 17 after news of 80 game suspension.
♦Roster update recently released includes some new players for NHL 17.
♦Rocket League has now surpassed an astonishing mark of 30 million players.
♦Hot Shots Golf will now be known as Everybody’s Golf and release August 29 on PS4.
♦Preorders are open for Everybody’s Golf the price $32 after 20% off with Amazon Prime.
♦Still no official release date but the price has been dropped to $40 for The Golf Club 2.
♦This week La La Land and Underworld: Blood Wars lead the way in Blu-ray releases. -
Press Row Podcast: Spring Break(down)
In this week’s episode of the Press Row Podcast, host Bryan Wiedey and Rich Grisham have a follow-up discussion on last week’s topic regarding consumer unrest before moving on to address other subjects. Those include whether it’s a good or bad idea to continually tinker with fundamental elements of games such as the constant changes being made to shooting in NBA 2K17, the potential of the upcoming arcade-style game NBA Playgrounds, what the WNBA could mean for NBA Live 18, and a handful of listener questions.
Check out the podcast through iTunes for iOS, on Android with the Stitcher app, or with Pocket Casts on iOS, Android, and Windows. The show can also now be found on the recently launched Google Play Music for podcasts. Subscribe and review to help support the show! You can also listen with the streaming player below.
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Details on the first roster update for MLB The Show 17
After having its release delayed a week the first roster update for MLB The Show 17 is now available to download. This update primarily focused on adding new players who have made their major league debuts this season. Once a player makes their first appearance in the big leagues they become part of the MLBPA and eligible for inclusion in the game. Read more
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FIFA 17 added to the EA Access Vault
The final EA Sports game from 2016 has now reached the Vault in the EA Access subscription service. FIFA 17 was added today making it available in full to all subscribers through EA Access on Xbox One and Origin Access for PC.
EA Access is currently exclusive to Xbox One with Sony declining to offer the service on PS4 despite its remarkable value. For $30 a year or $5 month-to-month, members get unlimited access to the back library of EA games on the console which in addition to FIFA 17 now includes Madden NFL 17, EA Sports UFC 2, NHL 17, and all earlier XB1 sports titles plus the likes of Skate 3, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Star Wars Battlefront, and many others. There’s also the 10 hour trials with every EA game that begin five days before release and 10% savings on all digital purchases whether it be the actual games or microtransactions within them.
The arrival of the latest FIFA to the Vault comes at basically the exact same point as it did last year. In addition to potential new subs and hoping to pull in some new fans to buy FIFA 18 this fall, those introduced to the game for the first time without having to pay for it may be more inclined to invest in its Ultimate Team mode.
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Full roster for NBA Playgrounds
Developer Saber Interactive has revealed the entire NBA Playgrounds roster through Gamespot which is made up of 44 players from the league’s past and 3-6 players representing each team. I’ve broken that complete list out into the legends and for the current players with their respective teams.
Surprisingly there are some great present day players that have been left off the game including Isaiah Thomas, Klay Thompson, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kemba Walker. A tweet from the company makes it sound like the roster will be expanding, but it’s not clear why these players may have been omitted in the first place and if they’ll be among those added at a later date. NBA Playgrounds will release in May for $20 on PS4, XB1, PC, and Switch. Read more
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Amazon Prime members will get free NBA 2K17 bonuses next week
When Amazon purchased Twitch in 2014 it was only a matter of time before the two websites became linked and that happened last year. One of the lesser-known benefits of the Prime subscription service is what’s referred to as ‘Twitch Prime’ which eliminates advertisements when watching streams and provides a free channel subscription each month. It’ll now also offer something extra for those with NBA 2K17.
Beginning Tuesday, April 25 those with Prime will receive 75,000 VC and a MyTeam pack with a guaranteed Sapphire or Moments card. That amount of VC alone would cost $20 to buy.
In order to activate Twitch Prime the two accounts (Amazon and Twitch) must be connected. That’s done here. Based on the wording it appears that even those who sign-up for an Amazon Prime free 30 day trial will get the 2K17 bonuses.
Amazon Prime goes for $99 a year and offers free 2-day shipping, 20% off all video game pre-orders, a library of streaming movies, television, and music plus more.
As the relevance of 2K17 begins to wane after seven months this is one way to regenerate interest and involve new consumers in the revenue-generating MyTeam. With that same idea in mind NBA 2K16 was given away for free to PlayStation Plus members last June and something along those lines could happen again this summer.
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All the players already confirmed for the NBA Playgrounds roster
When NBA Playgrounds releases next month it’ll feature over 200 current and former players. Some of those on the roster have been seen in the two trailers and handful of screenshots that have been released and even more now are known thanks to the image above.
Legends confirmed thus far are Ray Allen, Shawn Kemp, Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Grant Hill, Maurice Cheeks, Chris Webber, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, Alex English, Spud Webb, Chauncey Billups, Dell Curry, James Worthy, Dominique Wilkins, and Billy Cunningham.
It should be fully expected that the best present day players from every team will make it into the game given that the license gives them free reign to them all. Those seen to this point: James Harden, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kristaps Porzingis, Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, C.J. McCollum, Monta Ellis, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, John Wall, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, Elfrid Payton, Andre Drummond, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Brandon Ingram, Anthony Davis, Buddy Hield, Jrue Holiday, Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Love, Paul Millsap, Rudy Gobert, Miles Plumlee, Rajon Rondo, Blake Griffin, Trey Burke, Damian Lillard, Gordon Hayward, George Hill, and Thon Maker.
The 2-on-2 arcade style game NBA Playgrounds will be sold for $20 as a digital download for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
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Playoffs begin with three-way tie for second best player in NBA 2K17
A major roster update went out earlier today in NBA 2K17 that includes significant ratings movement. It was just last month that James Harden was able to climb his way to the second best rating in NBA 2K17. A year ago at this time Harden was rated 89 and he began this season at 90. His main competition for MVP have now joined him at 96 Overall.
Both Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard have gone up a point to match him at 96. LeBron James remains the highest rated player with an Overall of 97.
Other notables on the rise include the reigning back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry (+2 to 95), Paul George (+2 to 91), Chris Paul (+1 to 91), Jimmy Butler (+1 to 90), Giannis Antetokounmpo (+1 to 90), Marc Gasol (+1 to 89), Rudy Gobert (+2 to 88), Nikola Jokic (+1 to 88), Bradley Beal (+1 to 87), Kemba Walker (+1 to 86), Draymond Green (+1 to 86), and Devin Booker (+2 to 83).
Among those falling as the regular season came to a close are Isaiah Thomas (-1 to 90), Klay Thompson (-1 to 88), Kyle Lowry (-1 to 88), Carmelo Anthony (-1 to 84), Andrew Wiggins (-1 to 84), Dwyane Wade (-2 to 82), and Avery Bradley (-3 to 81).
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