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MLB The Show 17 video puts the spotlight on Road to the Show
Yesterday developer Sony San Diego went into some detail on the new story-like interactions that will debut in Road to the Show with MLB The Show 17. Interactions and choices will be made over the course of a career that could change its trajectory. Now a video has been released that walks through RTTS as a whole, acting as both an introduction for those unfamiliar and a preview of what’s new this year that’ll interest returning players. It’s also noted that new content will be added through post-release support which would be a first for the series.
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Madden NFL 17 patch addresses some final issues with the game
In mid-February a major update heavy on gameplay improvements was released for Madden NFL 17 and now the game has received a followup patch that cleans up a few remaining issues.
♦Addressed a bug that caused the gameplay speed inside of Gauntlet, Skills Trainer, and Franchise Game Planning Drills to be extremely slow.
♦Fixed a bug where the offensive tackle would play a blocking animation without engaging with a defensive player.
♦Addressed a bug where a user’s profile settings weren’t being honored in Play-a-Friend games.
♦For online MUT and Draft Champions games, the 3-letter team name shown in the score hud will now represent the first 3 letters of your team name just as it does in Solo Challenges. To update this go to the “Team” tab and choose the Rename Team tile.
♦Addressed the issue where declining a Live Commentary Update (LCU) and powering on from rest mode could cause significant lag in the menus and in-game.
♦Other minor stability improvements.
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Road to the Show gets some story-like interactions in MLB The Show 17
While Road to the Show mode will likely never become a full-on story mode similar to those in NBA 2K and FIFA, with MLB The Show 17 it’s integrating at least some narrative elements and critical choices to be made. That was hinted at with the tagline ‘Pave Your Path’ and now further details have been released on what to expect out of RTTS. Read more
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Another unique form of play coming to Rocket League in free update
Rocket League has remained incredibly popular nearly two years after release due in large part to fantastic post-release support, led by the new spins that have been put on the game as various mode of play. The next to join that group is called Dropshot and will be out March 22 for free.
Dropshot will introduce ‘Damage’ as a statistic, as the objective of the mode is to break the floor panels and drop the ball in to score goals in a new hexagonal arena. The floor of the arena is separated into panels which are activated with one hit of the ball and then broken with the next.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video“The new ball has three different phases, each more powerful than the last, that determine how much damage is done when the ball smashes into the floor panels. The second and third phases are activated by multiple Battle-Car hits, so the longer the ball stays off the ground, the more powerful it becomes. While the first phase of the new ball only damages one tile upon impact, the second and third phases can damage up to seven and 19 panels, respectively.”
The update will also have more including an eSports button to watch events live, spectator mode improvements, six new achievements, new car ‘Endo’ as a limited-drop in new Turbo Crates and other unlockable crate items.
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The Line Drive for March 12
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Make sure to get in on the MLB The Show 17 MVP Edition giveaway!
♦Game reviews published this week: Disc Jam and 3on3 Freestyle.
♦Unfortunately Konami has completely wasted the license for the World Baseball Classic.
♦New update has added another Journey and more sets to Madden NFL 17 Ultimate Team.
♦The MCCS has the two individuals embroiled in controversy at the top of the standings.
♦MLB The Show 17 is back available for pre-order on Amazon and 20% off with Prime.
♦Details on the changes made with the first patch that went out for Disc Jam.
♦Disc Jam looks to be doing well on Twitch which is a good sign for the game.
♦Developer blog goes over the new Challenge Mode in Out of the Park Baseball 18.
♦Long-awaited sequel to Fire Pro Wrestling has been announced for PS4 and PC.
♦New screenshot has been released from the upcoming sequel to The Golf Club.
♦Rocket League has surpassed 10.5 million sales and 29 million total players.
♦Closed beta for Gran Turismo Sport will begin on March 17th.
♦Details on the system update that released last week for PlayStation 4.
♦Blu-ray releases this week headlined by Passengers and Fences. -
MLB The Show 17 archived live stream focused on Franchise Mode
Compared to other areas of the game the reveal of Franchise Mode improvements for MLB The Show 17 has proven underwhelming. One new feature, Player Quirks, will affect team construction and gameplay, while most of the other work has gone into features that assist people who want to get through games and seasons faster. Critical Situations and Quick Manage join Player Lock and Quick Counts as optional methods that can be utilized to speed through games while still having at least some influence on their outcomes.
The lengthy developer stream archived from the live broadcast goes further into the features (but nothing about Online Franchise)Â while also presenting even more gameplay footage.
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Reviews of Disc Jam and 3on3 Freestyle
Two untraditional sports games have recently arrived in Disc Jam and 3on3 Freestyle. The former a tennis and air hockey mashup generating great word-of-mouth while the latter the first street basketball game for a console in 10 years and free-to-play but gone largely unnoticed.
With Disc Jam free to PlayStation Plus members (it’s also available on PC where it’s on sale for its first week) both of the games offer the opportunity to play without any initial investment. Disc Jam will be free as long as its downloaded this month while the PS4 exclusive 3on3 Freestyle has brought over the model so successful on mobile that has also been utilized on PC with this series even as Freestyle is a sequel to a game released released in 2015.
With natural comparisons being made to Rocket League, in how it has caught on early and has the potential to reach a wide audience and establish itself as an eSport, Disc Jam has proven itself already to be a winner. It’s facing some matchmaking issues in its early days and will need far more content added over time but its high fun factor is proving undeniable. Check out the full review of the game at Sporting News.
3on3 Freestyle feels like a throwback to a much earlier generation as it does not have the fluidity or responsiveness of an NBA Street or NBA Jam. There’s some fun to be had but that’s almost entirely reliant on quality of teammates which makes each game a total crapshoot. Check out the full review of the game at Sporting News.
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Press Row Podcast: Racing into 2017
Racing games have had a fantastic resurgence in the past year, and looking forward into 2017 that great trend looks to continue. The newest episode of the Press Row Podcast gathers our Hit The Pass racing experts together for a really fun discussion on all the titles that we have to look forward to – which games have the most potential, which ones we’re concerned about, and a whole host of questions and answers from the people that know this space best.
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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