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The Line Drive for May 26
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦NBA 2K19 correctly predicted Warriors-Raptors Finals before the season began.
♦Legislation has been introduced to ban essentially all forms of in-game monetization.
♦New podcast coming this week will cover ramifications of such a law on the industry.
♦Amazon has Madden NFL 20 pre-orders with price guarantee listed for just $50.94.
♦Archived live stream on RPOs and Playbook improvements for Madden NFL 20.
♦More questions on that work done to gameplay in Madden NFL 20 are answered.
♦Details on the latest content added to Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 19.
♦Details on the new roster update with minimal ratings changes for MLB The Show 19.
♦NHL 19 managed to get one Stanley Cup participant right but whiffed big on the other.
♦Amazon has NBA 2K19 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on sale for under $20.
♦Franchise Hockey Manager 5 is on sale for just $10 through the Stanley Cup Finals.
♦The Golf Club 2019 remains a free offering to XBL Gold subscribers on Xbox One.
♦Microsoft is offering three months of Xbox Game Pass for $1 to new subscribers.
♦Many backwards compatible games are currently heavily discounted for the Xbox One.
♦PlayStation store sale through 5/28 includes some sports games and digital content.
♦The big movie release this week is Captain Marvel making it to digital video. -
How the new RPOs work in Madden NFL 20
Two weeks ago EA Sports went into detail on a variety of gameplay improvements for Madden NFL 20. Now the developers have laid out the work done to playbooks and specifically centered that on the introduction of RPOs. Read more
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The Line Drive for May 19
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦The NCAA is forming a group to explore compensation for names and likenesses.
♦While it could that realistically is unlikely to lead to the return of NCAA Football.
♦Developer blog details additions and improvements for MUT in Madden NFL 20.
♦Archived dev stream going over what’s new for Ultimate Team in Madden NFL 20.
♦Closed beta being run for Madden NFL 20 similar to the one held w/last year’s game.
♦Another patch made more adjustments to hitting and fielding in MLB The Show 19.
♦Details on all the new content released into Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 19.
♦Details on the latest roster update w/ratings changes out for MLB The Show 19.
♦Details on the latest update for NBA Live 19 which includes some ratings changes.
♦Steep is being given away for free until May 21 through Ubisoft’s uPlay.
♦Amazon has NBA 2K19 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on sale for under $20.
♦Microsoft is offering three months of Xbox Game Pass for $1 to new subscribers.
♦PlayStation store sale through 5/28 includes some sports games and digital content.
♦Steam store sale through 5/20 includes a number of sports games and digital content. -
The Golf Club 2019 now free with Gold sub on Xbox One
Subscribers to Xbox Live Gold can now get The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA Tour for free on Xbox One. The game is part of the Games with Gold promotion which offers up a handful of titles every month. The Golf Club 2019 is available to download by June 15 to keep for good as long as the Gold membership remains active.
The third game in the series is the first to feature PGA Tour licensing with a Career Mode and seven real-life courses to go with the endless number of created courses. 2K Sports is now on board as publisher coinciding with the introduction of microtransactions. Reviews were solid averaging out to about a 76 on Metacritic. That was not much higher than The Golf Club 2 and the gap of just a year between releases probably factored into that.
The Golf Club 2019 released at a price point of $50 but can now be readily found for under $30. Fans of the sport have multiple options on Xbox One as just last month The Golf Club 2 was added to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
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Latest patch for MLB The Show 19 works on fielding, hitting, framerate
MLB The Show 19 has received a handful of patches that were put out to quickly address issues with the game identified following its launch in late March. Yet another update has gone live and it tackles more areas of concern and takes into account for the first time some consumer feedback about how the game is playing.
Some critical changes are being made to fielding and hitting while for the first time the framerate problems being experienced by many have been acknowledged. Read more
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The Line Drive for May 12
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦New legislation being introduced would bring an end to microtransactions in video games.
♦Archived developer stream going over various gameplay improvements for Madden NFL 20.
♦A look at the new signature animations for Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers in Madden NFL 20.
♦Full look at the Zone and Superstar Abilities for Patrick Mahomes in Madden NFL 20.
♦More rookies beyond just first rounders were added into Madden NFL 19 Ultimate Team.
♦Details on the latest content released into Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 19.
♦Amazon has NBA 2K19 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on sale for $20.
♦The Golf Club 2019 will be made free later this month to XBL Gold subs on Xbox One.
♦Details on the latest content update with roster and ratings changes for NBA Live 19.
♦Details on the latest patch update to have gone out for OOTP Baseball 19.
♦Demo has launched for Cricket 19 on PC which includes ability to create teams and players.
♦Latest update to Forza Horizon 4 adds a new online mode and more including fixes.
♦Blu-ray releases this week Cold Pursuit, Happy Death Day 2U, Fighting With My Family. -
More on Madden NFL 20’s Superstar Abilities and various gameplay improvements
Madden NFL 20 recently kicked off its promotional cycle with the reveal of its new Career Mode and also the introduction of a new element to gameplay intended to better differentiate the superstars of the league from everyone else. That’s the biggest gameplay-specific initiative, at least on the surface and in terms of marketing, known as ‘Superstar X-Factors.’
The just-released developer blog is comprehensive on how these special abilities are distributed, how they play a role in Franchise and Ultimate Team modes, and also touches on other gameplay improvements to anticipate. Read more
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EA Access finally confirmed coming to PlayStation 4
Nearly five years after launching on Xbox One EA Access will make its way onto PlayStation 4 this July. The subscription service, which has helped to pave the way for others since, became a hit in that time and for some even became the edge making Xbox One their preferred console of choice. Sony has all along blocked EA Access from being available on PS4 due to what they claimed wasn’t good value for their consumers when it was instead obvious they were just trying to protect their own subscription plans from being eaten into by a third party.
Unfortunately a single subscription will not carry over across platforms. Those already with EA Access on Xbox One or Origin would have to pay for another sub to get the benefits on PlayStation 4. Also, due to the PS4 not having backwards compatibility, the Xbox One Vault will have some games from the previous generation that it will not.
For $30 a year or $5 month-to-month, members get unlimited access to the back library of EA games on the console which now includes Madden NFL 19, NHL 19, NBA Live 19, EA Sports UFC 3, all pre-2018 EA Sports games plus the likes of Star Wars Battlefront II, Need for Speed Payback, Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, Skate 3, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst 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 next step will likely see EA Access go the ‘Premier’ route on the consoles like it has on PC where brand new games are included right at release at a higher price (it’s $100 a year for Origin Access Premier). That may still be a year or two away from happening however. Currently Microsoft’s Game Pass on Xbox One offers all first party titles with a subscription but PlayStation Now on PS4 does not do the same.
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