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The Line Drive for October 19
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Madden NFL 15 is still available for $40 on Xbox One and $45 on PS4.
♦Details on a new gameplay tuner update that has gone out for NHL 15.
♦The first roster update since release has finally arrived for NHL 15.
♦EA Sports released a video showing some defensive improvements for NBA Live 15.
♦EA Sports detailed what to expect from Synergy Sports integration in NBA Live 15.
♦Madden NFL 15 (#2) and FIFA 15 (#3) trailed only Destiny in NA September sales.
♦The soundtrack for WWE 2K15 has been announced as put together by John Cena.
♦The latest Press Row Podcast is all about the racing games.
♦Check out the latest episode of Breaking Madden.
♦Yahoo Fantasy Football has finally been added to the Xbox One NFL app.
♦Check out the soundboard for every NHL arena’s goal horn at this website.
♦Check out details on the upcoming PS4 system update.
♦Continue to support ThatSportsGamer’s Extra Life charity drive!
♦Blu-ray releases this week include The Purge: Anarchy and Sex Tape. -
NBA 2K15 Server Problems Continue
NBA 2K15 has been out for nearly two weeks now but the troublesome servers continue to disrupt the game for many. Not only has access to the various modes been denied due to the servers being down but consumers are finding themselves with Virtual Currency that has vanished (which is essentially money stolen away by 2K Sports), MyTeam progress/purchases that have been lost, and MyPlayers that have disappeared (some of which have been replaced with someone else’s created player).
Not everyone is having trouble but enough people are to warrant some response from 2K about action they are taking. Operation Sports wrote about it all today as well.
It’s distressing for everyone and as evidenced by the recent poll results, which saw more people deem their experience with 2K15 as “negative” than “positive”, the achilles’ heel of the series is no longer something 2K can ignore. It was one thing when online play was poor but became a completely different deal when they designed NBA 2K to essentially be an “always-online” game with almost all modes tied into the servers due to Virtual Currency.
The patch that is coming soon will address among other things being booted from MyPark. However patches generally aren’t used to address server issues, those are handled internally, unless there is a bug of sorts that required fixing first. 2K has struggled to fix server issues in the past and post-release support in general has been insufficient. So it would be misguided to expect that everything will suddenly start working properly once that patch arrives.
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The Daily Dish for 10/17/14
Closing out the week in The Daily Dish is an examination of the NBA 2K15 poll results which show there’s a fair level of dissatisfaction due to issues with the game, the latest Madden NFL 15 roster update, and a preview of tonight’s live Press Row Hangout.
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♦NBA 2K15 Poll Results
♦Madden NFL 15 Roster Update
♦Tonight’s Press Row Hangout Event Page -
Madden NFL 15 Roster Update #8 Details
The Cowboys are the biggest beneficiary of the latest Madden NFL 15 roster update which follows week six of the season. 16 players move up at least a point for the now 5-1 team. Check out the spreadsheet with the full list of details here.
Players receiving a significant boost in ratings include Darrelle Revis (+1 to 97), Rob Gronkowski (+1 to 96), Trent Williams (+1 to 96), Marshal Yanda (+1 to 96), Demaryius Thomas (+1 to 95), DeMarco Murray (+1 to 95), Brandon Marshall (+1 to 95), Devin McCourty (+1 to 95), Philip Rivers (+1 to 95), Matt Forte (+1 to 95), LeSean McCoy (+1 to 94), Andrew Luck (+2 to 93), Arian Foster (+1 to 93), Tom Brady (+1 to 92), Cam Newton (+1 to 92), T.Y. Hilton (+3 to 89), Joe Flacco (+2 to 88), DeAndre Levy (+2 to 88), Ezekiel Ansah (+4 to 84), Rolando McClain (+3 to 84), and Mohamed Sanu (+5 to 81).
Among those sliding after this week’s performances are Gerald McCoy (-1 to 96), Earl Thomas (-1 to 95), Robert Quinn (-1 to 94), Lavonte David (-1 to 93), Julio Jones (-1 to 93), Vernon Davis (-2 to 92), Matt Prater (-3 to 90), Russell Wilson (-1 to 92), Troy Polamalu (-1 to 92), Patrick Peterson (-1 to 89), Brian Cushing (-3 to 87), and Nate Solder (-3 to 85).
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Issues Having Large Impact on Experiences With NBA 2K15
Just how many people feel their enjoyment of NBA 2K15 has been damaged by issues primarily related to the servers? It turns out it’s a large amount based on the poll posted earlier this week which helped to quantify the distress being shown on social media and forums.
From over 5K respondents those describing their experience with NBA 2K15 as a negative one (30%) outnumbered those that feel it has been a positive one (27%). That’s a serious concern for 2K Sports coming off 2K14 which generated similar reaction. Read more
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The Daily Dish for 10/16/14
Two central topics in this Daily Dish episode as EA Sports decides against offering a pre-release demo for NBA Live 15 and the mobile version of NBA 2K15 goes out for iOS and Amazon Fire devices – but otherwise not yet available for Android. Also a preview of the next Press Row Hangout which is scheduled for Friday night at 11ET/8PT.
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♦Friday Night’s Press Row Hangout Event Page
♦No Pre-Release Demo for NBA Live 15
♦NBA 2K15 for Mobile Released -
Mobile NBA 2K15 Game Available Now
The mobile version of NBA 2K15 released today for iOS devices and Amazon Fire devices. It’s unclear when, or even if, it will be brought to Google Play for all other Android devices. There may be some sort of timed exclusivity for Amazon here. Last year though NBA 2K14 did go out several weeks after iOS.
This is not to be confused with the free MyNBA2K15 companion app which offers up the ability to get daily bonus VC, chat while in MyPark, and play a card battle game. NBA 2K15 offers traditional on-court gameplay and a new MyCareer mode.
♦Enjoy Quick Game mode with improved gameplay.
♦Full MyCAREER mode with expanded features and options.
♦New controller support and virtual controller sizing.
♦Significantly improved graphics including updates to arenas, player models, player animations, and more!2K continues to offer premium mobile apps as opposed to going the free-to-play route. Some will prefer this though user-reviews of the mobile NBA 2K’s in recent years have been poor-to-mediocre, which makes shelling out $8 a bit of a risk that wouldn’t be required with the other model. NHL 2K which returns to mobile later this fall will also be $8.
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No Pre-Release Demo for NBA Live 15
Multiple reports have now surfaced that a demo for NBA Live 15 will not be out prior to release and instead will go out on the game’s release day of October 28. This is the case despite EA Sports having implied over the summer that not only would there be a demo but it would go out super early and that the company had other various ways planned for people to get their hands on the game. Whether EA was intentionally misleading (quite possible considering their PR tactics with the franchise in the last five years) or things changed when they decided to delay the game three weeks – it’s another potential nail in the coffin for the series. Read more
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