The latest episode of the Press Row Podcast revealed the Sports Game of the Year winner for 2016 as MLB The Show 16. A panel of nine judges contributed to the voting and The Show appeared on eight of the ballots. This represents the second win for the franchise in the five years of the award being handed out. Madden NFL 17 emerged as a contender for the crown finishing higher than it ever has before while a slip-up by NBA 2K17 prevented the series from being able to capture back-to-back victories. For more on the final rankings and justification that went into them, check out the recent piece on Sporting News.
The next category to open up for voting in the annual Pastapadre Community Awards is for Best Presentation. This is yet another area that the NBA 2K series has dominated. In fact it has won it all six years and no other game has even come close percentage wise to toppling it.
The biggest impact to presentation for NBA 2K17 came with the addition a of rotating set of announcers and sideline reporters. There are now a total of 11 personalities actively contributing to the series during games and for the studio show.
The shift to the Frostbite Engine for FIFA 17 brought with it considerable graphical enhancements while Madden NFL 17 has earned the first nomination for the series in the category with a brand new commentary team and additions like the Pylon Cam.
The 18th commentary update for Madden NFL 17 has gone out with the broadcast team of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis reflecting on the events that took place and storylines that emerged from week 15 of the season. Madden has been receiving these real-world commentary updates regularly throughout the year which apply to Play Now and Online games. The duo has also recorded additional audio for modes like Franchise and Ultimate Team.
Another commentary update is out in Madden NFL 17. Here's just a sampling of what's new coming out of week 15. pic.twitter.com/IQHodIl9j3
— Bryan Wiedey (@pastapadre) December 20, 2016
The first ever Park After Dark held in late November turned out to be a pretty big bust for NBA 2K17. The concept of having music personalities DJ special Park events was intriguing but the servers simply haven’t shown the capability of handling event-type crowds. Needless to say it was a poorly conceived idea by 2K Sports to promote a feature that was specifically designed to draw as many people possible at one time onto the servers.
Despite that the feature moves on to its second of at least three planned events with Future taking on the DJ role on the evening of Friday, December 30. Unlike the last Park After Dark this one appears to be scheduled to take place live across the country at the same time. The first event was locked to specific regions with the west coast only getting their opportunity to play after the live session had already ended on the east coast. However this one is set to begin at 11ET/8PT. Server issues could then potentially be even worse.
2K would be wise to “replay” the Park After Dark sessions regularly after they take place. There wouldn’t be a rush to take part at the only scheduled time, therefore creating servers issues like the inability to actually play during those periods, and more could then enjoy the general experience. 2K may be more concerned however with the publicity the exclusiveness creates and maximizing corporate sponsorship money and microtransaction sales.
The third category to open in the annual Pastapadre Community Awards is for Best Career/Story Mode. This is an area of the games that has seen an evolution in recent years from the traditional career mode of playing through seasons as a single player and improving attributes to one that incorporates an expansive narrative. The award for Career Mode has only ever been won by NBA 2K and MLB The Show and the former is going for a three-peat now. Read more
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦MLB The Show 16 was named Sports Game of the Year by the Press Row Podcast.
♦The latest podcast is also available on Youtube for those who’d prefer to listen there.
♦Put together a Holiday Gift Guide with gaming ideas for sports fans.
♦Some off-screen footage of Super Mega Baseball 2 captured at PlayStation Experience.
♦Eight NFL teams are involved in the Madden NFL Club Series that begins next month.
♦The next sequence of Ultimate Freeze Solo Challenges goes live today in Madden 17.
♦2K Sports released details on the upcoming All-Star Tournament held with NBA 2K17.
♦More stat missions have been added for Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 16.
♦EA Sports detailed the specifics of the FUTmas program for FIFA 17 Ultimate Team.
♦The content schedule for NBA Live Mobile has been laid out for the holidays.
♦NASCAR Heat Evolution latest update adds beer sponsor schemes for age 21+.
♦HB Studios released details on the latest patch to The Golf Club VR.
♦Details were released on the latest update to go out for Franchise Hockey Manager 3.
♦Burnout Paradise with backwards compatibility now free on Xbox One with Gold subs.
♦Blu-ray releases this week headlined by Sully and The Magnificent Seven.
A number of sports games from independent developers have arrived on the scene recently or are planned to release in the months ahead. The latest to be announced is Surf World Series from Climax Studios. It’ll be out in 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Surf World Series will feature arcade-style challenges and online competition. Read more
The latest big promotion to roll out in Madden NFL 17’s Ultimate Team is the ‘Ultimate Freeze’ which features new Solo Challenges, Sets, Chemistry, and even out-of-position player cards.
There are currently eight new Solo Challenges and more will be added over the coming weeks as the program runs until January 6. The next phase of challenges will go up on December 18. Those who complete the first eight that are out now will have received 5,600 Coins, four Frozen Item Packs and an Out-of-Position Player Pack. Read more