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Surprising moves made heading into the season that will affect Madden NFL 17
The first roster update for Madden NFL 17 is expected late this coming week (Wed-Fri) and will include all the transactions made by teams to trim down to their final 53 man rosters and possibly some ratings adjustments.
The Vikings, desperate to find a QB following the devastating Teddy Bridgewater injury, sent next year’s 1st rounder and 2018 4th rounder to the Eagles for Sam Bradford. This is a deal that the CPU would not make in Madden NFL 17. Bradford is only rated 78 Overall and has the worst Injury Rating of all 133 QBs in the game. Chase Daniel now becomes a serviceable starter for the Eagles or rookie Carson Wentz could be thrown into the fire.
Josh Sitton was cut by the Packers and is now a free agent. A Pro Bowler and 2nd Team All-Pro three times he’s the highest rated left guard in Madden 17 at 91 Overall. Other notable transactions today include the Ravens cutting Justin Forsett (82 OVR) and the Broncos letting Mark Sanchez (72 OVR) go and him immediately agreeing to a deal with the Cowboys.
Of course there have been recent developments like Dak Prescott taking over at QB due to Tony Romo’s injury and Trevor Siemian having won the starting job in Denver. Those changes and much more will be in place with the roster update.
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NBA 2K17 MyCareer story focuses more on basketball and co-stars Michael B. Jordan
Last year the story mode in NBA 2K16 that was written and directed by Spike Lee lacked interactivity as the user was essentially just a passenger observing a movie. Almost everyone agreed that MyCareer got significantly better once that story actually ended following the rookie season. One fundamental change is being made with the mode for 2K17 with that in mind.
The focuses shifts back more to basketball rather than dealing with unrelated personalities. The theme of the “dynamic duo” is present with the character of Justice Young being that player alongside you. He’s played by Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Chronicle, Fruitvale Station) and the story is written/directed by one of the writers of Creed Aaron Covington. Read more
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First patch out now for Madden NFL 17
While Madden NFL 17 launched relatively cleanly there was one significant bug which gave users the ability to tell whether the opposing offense was in a run or a pass play. That provided an edge against the CPU while severely affecting the online play experience.
The first patch for Madden NFL 17 went live today and it fixes that issue. Pulling up the play art will no longer provide an indication of whether the offense will be running or passing.
Other changes made include fixing a bug that would cause the quarterback to be unable to move or pass on a playaction, attempts to strip the ball by the CPU have been reduced, and the force defender has been tuned to lower the effectiveness of outside runs. Read more
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Madden NFL 17 has its commentary update for week three of the preseason
The updates being made to the commentary in Madden NFL 17 now reflect storylines out of the third week of the preseason. Play Now and Online Head-to-Head will receive relevant commentary about NFL happenings regularly throughout the season. The new announcing duo of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis will additionally be recording more audio for other modes like Franchise and Ultimate Team at certain points during the year.
The additions this week include discussion about Dak Prescott taking over in Dallas due to Tony Romo’s injury, Trevor Siemian being named the starter in Denver, Joey Bosa finally signing a contract with the Chargers, observations from the third week of the preseason, and looking ahead to what the fourth week will mean for teams as cuts are made. After nine hours of searching no references have been found about the Colin Kaepernick situation.
Another commentary update is live in Madden NFL 17. Here's some of what's new coming out of preseason week 3 pic.twitter.com/y1BEKjYJoS
— Bryan Wiedey (@pastapadre) September 1, 2016
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Breakdown of gameplay improvements for NBA 2K17
One week from tomorrow consumers will be playing The Prelude, a collegiate-portion of the MyCareer story mode, and two weeks out is the full release of NBA 2K17. 2K Sports has finally started to reveal the actual improvements made for the game, and today Mike Wang (gameplay director for the NBA 2K series) posted an incredibly extensive blog detailing everything that’s been done to gameplay in 2K17 and the logic behind it all.
The key themes found in the the work that has gone into gameplay are that skill should determine outcomes, everything should flow and look natural, physicality should play a bigger role, and AI should continue to evolve and become smarter. Read more
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DDoS attacks have taken down EA servers
Those hoping to log in and play Madden NFL 17, or any game from publisher Electronic Arts, are finding that online services are unavailable. An ongoing DDoS attack has proven problematic for the publisher to overcome. The group responsible is notorious for this sort of action, having in the past affected other games and even the entirety of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
The attacks coincide with the launch of the Battlefield 1 open beta and began last night. The servers went offline intermittently yesterday but today’s outage is an extended one with them having been down for over three hours as of publish time.
[Update]Â The servers briefly returned online but again are back down. It’s possible this will be a cycle repeating throughout the day.
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NBA 2K17 feature details starting to leak out
The release of NBA 2K17 is just two weeks and a few days away – the MyCareer Prelude even a week sooner – yet many of the improvements to the game have yet to be officially revealed. Some major ones have surfaced today however thanks to the tweets of German basketball writer AndrĂ© Voigt.
Among the stream of tweets are details on the commentary, which is said to include 11 different personalities that will vary depending on location of the broadcast, and MyLeague Online becoming a true multi-year franchise mode. Some of those commentary changes were noted with leaked footage revealing Doris Burke and Brent Barry joining play-by-play man Kevin Harlan on different broadcast teams but it sounds more expansive than previously imagined.
More info
♦Over 300 different shoes are in the game
♦Arena audio and sounds recorded for all 30 venues
♦MyTeam redesigned cards, 6 new gem levels, historic franchise, theme packs
♦MyTeam bonus for “dynamic duos” like Steph and Klay
♦MyLeague Online runs 80 seasons, players develop, massive offseason decisions
♦MyTeam/MyLeague can start before offseason transactions were made
♦Advanced Rotation feature to determine what players are on the floor together
♦Jersey retirements and offseason trades possible
♦All shot types except dunks are timing-based
♦New system for steals make them more skill-based
♦Team offenses and defenses will be updated throughout the season
♦Stats will be kept for Pro-Am players
♦Three-tier ranking system in place for Pro-Am -
Trailer and more details on the Draft Champions mode for NHL 17
EA Sports introduced competitive draft-style modes last year in Madden and FIFA. Draft Champions now will be making its debut in the NHL series and today the publisher went into further details on what to expect along with a trailer showcasing the mode.
The NHL version of Draft Champions involves 12 rounds with 4 players to choose from in each, followed by a series of games played against either the CPU or online opponents. Read more
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