-
The Line Drive for April 16
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦NBA 2K17 predicts there will be a major upset in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
♦Looking at my early season Diamond Dynasty heroes in MLB The Show 17.
♦Leaked image shows the WNBA will be included in the theoretical NBA Live 18.
♦The Start Today feature broken since end of regular season in NBA 2K17 is still not fixed.
♦Yet another adjustment was made this last week to the shooting in NBA 2K17.
♦2K seeking suggestions of new signature rituals and celebrations for NBA 2K18.
♦The latest roster update for NBA 2K18 has removed injuries from non-playoff teams.
♦Mutant Football League showed off screenshot of a stadium earned with KS stretch goal.
♦James Paxton’s hot start has his Diamond Dynasty value rising from upgrade anticipation.
♦OOTP Baseball announced a working partnership with the AA club Trenton Thunder.
♦Details on the latest patch to have gone out for Out of the Park Baseball 18.
♦Rocket League blog spotlights a number of suggested custom training sequences.
♦Microsoft now has the Porche license for the next six years for use in Forza franchise.
♦Digital Foundry with a video on how the Forza engine runs on upcoming XB1 Scorpio.
♦Xbox One spring sale includes discounts on Forza, FIFA 17, NBA 2K17 until Tuesday.
♦Blu-ray releases are headlined by Split and Sleepless for this coming week. -
Server trouble continues to plague MLB The Show 17
MLB The Show 17 is an excellent game of baseball that is unfortunately dragged down by its server issues. That sums up my review of the game that published nearly two weeks ago and remains true to this day.
On Thursday night the servers for MLB 17 went down completely for a considerable period of time and it appears that was just the start of a wave of trouble that would continue throughout Friday. Server outages were extensive, occurring both before the rollout of new content to Diamond Dynasty and after stretching on for hours at a time.
Besides the servers simply being unavailable making Diamond Dynasty and other features inaccessible they’ve cost users hours of wasted time, with games being played when the servers were believed to be up and then after completion finding they were then down – the results and stats never to register. Even those playing ‘offline’ with Franchise and RTTS are affected following completed games, when they can’t reach the menu to save progress due to the server check-in failing. There shouldn’t be constant dread these outcomes could happen.
With MLB The Show 16 it was several weeks before crippling server drag cleared up. Overloaded servers caused slowdown not just in the online-connected modes but even simply getting the main menu to load. That hasn’t been as much of a problem with MLB 17 but keeping the servers up consistently and recording results without them getting lost to the “queue” remains a major challenge. Eventually compensation in the form of Stubs and card packs – which cost the company nothing to give away – won’t be enough to quash consumer frustration.
-
Press Row Podcast: Community Uproar
In many ways these are great days to be a sports video game fan. However, certain segments of popular games have experienced significant problems, causing enormous issues within each of those games’ communities. The way titles are marketed at fans, persistent problems with certain modes, and perceived lack of communication between game makers players have embroiled fans and developers alike.
This week Rich Grisham talks with Operation Sports community canager Millennium – a man in the middle of a number of these conversations – about the overall situation, how fans should be approaching these issues, and what people on all sides can and should do.
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.
-
First MLB The Show 17 roster update pushed back; new content added to Diamond Dynasty
The wait will continue for MLB The Show 17’s first roster update. Developer Sony San Diego has announced a delay to the initially planned rollout of today and now state they’re expecting to release it Friday, April 21. That first roster update will primarily focus on adding rookies that have made their MLB debut this season and will have few if any attribute changes.
Still it’s Friday which means Diamond Dynasty has been updated with some new content. First are the special “Bases Loaded” packs which come with three players and one stadium. Those go for 3,500 Stubs each with a purchase limit in place of four packs. The claim is that they offer double the chance of getting a Diamond, Legend, or Flashback player card, and triple the chance of receiving a Diamond classic stadium.
There’s also a new Rookie Program featuring Chipper Jones that involves reaching a number of statistical and collection goals while earning Program card packs, XP and tickets along the way. The rookie 84-rated Chipper Jones card is earned upon completion of the program.
-
ARMS gets official release date and new character reveal
Outside of the new Zelda there hasn’t been much to play on the Nintendo Switch since it launched in early March. That will be changing in the coming months and among anticipated titles on the way is a promising new IP from the company called ARMS. The boxing-like game can be played with either motion controls or standard control schemes and features a number of unique characters, arenas, and weaponized arms.
Nintendo just held one of their Direct presentations and included news on ARMS which now has an official release date of June 16. A new character for the game was introduced and it was revealed that there will also be 2-vs-2 play. Read more
-
NBA Playgrounds new extended trailer and gameplay details
With a reveal announcement having occurred just a month before its planned release the next several weeks should offer a lot of news and media on NBA Playgrounds, the new league-licensed 2-on-2 street basketball game from developer Saber Interactive. NBA Playgrounds will release as a $20 digital download in May on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC and features over 200 current and retired players. A new gameplay trailer went out today along with details on the basics regarding the strategy behind how to play. Read more
-
Old Time Hockey is being updated at an unprecedented rate
At the time it was reviewed Old Time Hockey was too frustrating of a gameplay experience and too lacking in content to even come near recommending. Two weeks and 10 patches later (yes, really) and the game is starting to come together as something that should get a second look considering its reasonable $12 price tag.
To the credit of the independent development team at V7 Entertainment, the feedback they received from reviewers and consumers has been heard and is being acted upon. Most notably the mandatory objectives for games in Story Mode have been removed and the advanced control scheme is no longer locked away in the mode, but other options have been opened up and adjustments made to gameplay and presentation as well. What hasn’t been dealt with – certainly more difficult to improve than those things – is the AI which is awful on defense and at goalie. It stands to reason the AI will see an upgrade at some point down the line.
Besides attempting to make the game better for those who’ve bought it and more appealing for anyone who may consider picking up an arcade-style hockey game on PC or PS4, more motivation for doing so is surely tied to delivering a more complete product for future releases on Xbox One and and Nintendo Switch. It remains to be seen whether it’ll be enough for Old Time Hockey to overcome its early struggles but it’s worth recognizing the effort to do so.
-
First MLB The Show 17 patch delivers online fixes and uniform correction
The first post-release update for MLB The Show 17Â went live this morning and among the work that’s been done are fixes to online gameplay and names added to the back of the road uniforms for the Detroit Tigers. This appears to be a patch that was pushed out quickly to address some issues identified very early on, while a bigger one taking into account community feedback is still a ways off. There’s likely more to be detailed here with today’s update than just what is listed below and that information will be added when provided.
♦Detroit Tigers road uniform fixed.
♦Year-to-Year save fixes and message handling.Online Gameplay
♦Timeouts, bullpen, substitution menus.
♦Pausing/unpausing at the same time as opponent.
♦Double switching and pinch hitters/runners.
by