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The Line Drive for March 24
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Some of the new legends and flashbacks for Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 19.
♦Make sure to claim the free rewards for MLB The Show 19 by Tuesday night.
♦The PlayStation Plus deal which has a year subscription for $45 ends Tuesday.
♦NBA Live 19 is currently on sale for just $4 on the PlayStation 4.
♦The NBA 2K League revealed its full schedule for the upcoming season.
♦OOTP Baseball XX is still being offered for 10% off the $40 price until March 29.
♦OOTP Baseball XX won’t be available on Origin Access Premier until April 9.
♦The most recent patch for FIFA 19 has now reached all platforms.
♦New patch for NHL 19 has removed voice chat from competitive online modes.
♦Details on the latest patch to have gone out for Super Mega Baseball 2.
♦RBI Baseball 19 for iOS and Android released for $6 this past week.
♦New PGA licensed golf game is coming to mobile devices with release April 17.
♦Leaked image shows EA Access may be coming to PS4 in the near future.
♦Google revealed their new streaming game platform to be called Stadia.
♦Blu-ray releases out this week are headlined by Aquaman. -
Get free rewards ahead of MLB The Show 19’s launch next week
For the third straight year Sony is giving away free content in advance of the latest MLB The Show’s release. In those past instances it was 1,000 Stubs and a free Standard Pack for Diamond Dynasty mode. This time however it includes quite a few more packs and a PS4 theme.
The official PlayStation Network page for MLB The Show 19 includes the ability to claim the following rewards with the offers expiring on Tuesday night:
♦1,000 Stubs
♦10 Standard Packs
♦Dynamic MLB The Show 19 Theme
♦Raffle entry for 67,500 StubsYou’ll need to log into your PSN account in order to secure those items and apply them to the game once it’s out and dashboard respectively.
The packs and Stubs come to about $11 in value, with Sony benefiting by nudging more activity towards Diamond Dynasty, and is a pretty decent way to get things going out of the gate in building up a new team for the mode or selling off the pulls for more Stubs.
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Rocket League getting licensed MLB tie-ins next week
Whether it’s through new game modes, new features, esports events, or licensed partnerships Rocket League has managed to continue making news regularly through its now nearly four years of thoroughly successful release.
The latest comes alongside the start of the MLB season as the game will offer up new customization options with its downloadable add-on MLB Team Pack. The DLC is scheduled to arrive on March 25 and will be sold for $3. Read more
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Proposed legislation would assist in the return of college sports video games
It has been nearly six years since the release of NCAA Football 14. That game was the last of its kind – a college sports video game featuring all of the necessary licensed properties along with fully editable and shareable rosters. All these years later and there remains no imminent return of a college football game from EA Sports or any other publisher/developer.
The Ed O’Bannon case ended in favor of active and retired athletes but with nothing resolved on the front of being able to compensate current and future student-athletes. Until that time comes there is virtually no chance that a legitimate game featuring licensed schools and/or real players will go into development. The Kessler v. NCAA case that goes to trial in December looked to be the next best hope until a new development occurred this week.
The ‘Student-Athlete Equity Act’ is being introduced to congress today and just so happens to coincide with the start of March Madness. The bill would allow for athletes to pursue deals with outside parties rather than being compensated by the university beyond their scholarship. The most prominent ways in which to profit off name and likeness is from signing commercial and merchandising deals – or of course agreeing to appear in a potential high-profile video game.
“It’s just odd that in our free market system that this is the one area where we say, ‘No. We’ll let you make money for the university, but you can’t have any access to your name or likeness. This is an earning opportunity for 99 percent of these student athletes who will never have another access to do something like this. It’s in that moment that your earning opportunity is prime.”
The prospects for the bill are unclear at this time and it could change in shape and form through negotiations and the committee process before any vote would actually take place. The majority of bills die before ever even getting that far, so it’s important to keep perspective and recognize that this remains yet another long shot on the road to the return of college sports video games.
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The Line Drive for March 17
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Four teams stand out as the biggest free agency/trade winners for Madden NFL 20.
♦Madden NFL 19 received emergency patch to address players falling forward issue.
♦Remarkably two recent Madden cover athletes were traded within days of each other.
♦Details on the latest update out for FIFA 19 which addresses online responsiveness.
♦Details on the latest roster update with ratings changes out for NBA 2K19.
♦Lots of participants have been suspended from FIFA’s esports event for cheating.
♦OOTP Baseball 20 can still be pre-ordered as discount and start playing tomorrow.
♦FiveThirtyEight used OOTP 19 to examine what the NL would be like with the DH.
♦Details on the Signature Series cards being introduced in MLB The Show 19.
♦Details on the Team of the Year HUT program now live in NHL 19.
♦NBA Live 19 is currently on sale for just $4 on the PlayStation 4.
♦Details on the latest content update released in NBA Live 19.
♦Latest update added new features and fixed some issues in Forza Horizon 4.
♦Full year of PlayStation Plus subscription is on sale at Amazon for just $45.
♦MLB will have some major rules changes coming this season and next.
♦Digital video releases this week headlined by Bumblebee.
♦Blu-ray releases this week headlined by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. -
More on what’s new for Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 19
Late last month the new “Moments” mode within Diamond Dynasty was revealed. Now this week the developers are back to break down the rest of the additions and improvements to the team-building mode as a whole, which includes revamped Conquest, changes to rewards structure, new legends and various customization options. Read more
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The Line Drive for March 10
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Issue with players falling forward following Madden NFL 19 patch being investigated.
♦New ruling on collegiate athlete compensation won’t help video games return.
♦Archived live stream going over new mode March to October in MLB The Show 19.
♦EA will not be holding a traditional press briefing at E3/EA Play this year.
♦Details on a patch that has added a Court Editor feature to NBA Playgrounds 2.
♦EA Access subscribers get some bonus content with NBA Live 19 now in the Vault.
♦Details on the latest roster update and new content added for NBA Live 19.
♦Results from the NBA 2K League’s second draft which occurred last week.
♦NBA 2K18 has been added to the PS Now subscription service on PlayStation 4.
♦F1 2018 is being added to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service next week.
♦Carniball content program is now underway in FIFA 19 Ultimate Team.
♦A look at what’s in the latest free update to go out for Gran Turismo Sport.
♦Details on the latest patch to have gone out for Rocket League.
♦Blu-ray releases this week headlined by Fantastic Beasts 2 and Green Book. -
NBA Live 19 added to the EA Access Vault on Xbox One
The third EA Sports game from 2018 has reached the Vault in EA Access. NBA Live 19 is now available in full to all subscribers. This follows the temporary drop in price last month to just $6 on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
EA Access is currently exclusive to Xbox One with Sony declining to offer the service on PS4 despite its remarkable value. EA executives have hinted that could change possibly this year however. For $30 a year or $5 month-to-month, members get unlimited access to the back library of EA games on the console which in addition to NBA Live 19 now includes Madden NFL 19, EA Sports UFC 3, and 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 arrival of NBA Live to the Vault comes three weeks later than it did last year. In addition to potential new subs and hoping to pull in some new fans to buy the (presumably still coming) NBA Live 20, those introduced to the game for the first time without having to pay for it may be more inclined to invest in its Ultimate Team mode. FIFA 19 (both XB1 and PC with Access Premier) and NHL 19 are likely to make their way to the Vault in April.
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