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NHL 15 Exits E3 In Strengthened Position; PGA Tour Sunk By Its Appearance
While E3 last week predictably offered no bombshells EA Sports rolled out the first looks at four upcoming titles and offered some additional information on each. Nearly 4,000 voters chimed in on each poll that was posted following the event regarding the games that most and least impressed them with their showings. Read more
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EA Sports Hopes To Make College Football and Basketball Games in the Future
In testimony earlier this week in the Ed O’Bannon case vs the NCAA, an Electronic Arts representative expressed the desire the company has to develop college-based video games in the future. Joel Linzner, EVP of Business & Legal, stated EA would be “very interested in acquiring the rights” of players to use in the games.
Of course this would require the NCAA to remove most if not all restrictions on the “amateur” status of athletes which is what the class action suit is attempting to force. The testimony was highlighted by the plaintiffs to demonstrate that there is a legitimate marketplace for the names and likenesses of college athletes – which everyone knows is true but the NCAA contests.
At this point it appears likely the O’Bannon class will win, with some experts noting that it seems the NCAA is building arguments for appeals more so than to win at this stage.
The appeals process could stretch on for a number of years so regardless of the upcoming outcome – even if it opens up the possibility of college games returning – it won’t be soon and there is no guarantee it will make fiscal sense to develop and publish them.
What would the rights to each player be worth? Would they be negotiating on their own, opening up the possibility of some asking for excessively lucrative deals or sitting out of the game, or would there be a union similar to the NFL and other professional sports? In the end it will always come down to whether the game can be produced and generate a profit when considering potential increased sales from spending that money to acquire player rights. Â Read more
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Guest Review: EA Sports UFC
by Dylan Favorite
I have been eagerly anticipating the release of EA Sports UFC since it was officially announced two years ago. Unfortunately, after spending a good chunk of time with it, I can say that it is considerably flawed. I have enjoyed all of the past UFC games from Undisputed 2009 to EA MMA. I would consider myself well versed in both the games and the sport. This version just falls flat in some key areas. Read more -
RBI Baseball 14 Releasing Next Week on Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Few will care at this point but the Xbox One is about to get its only baseball game. RBI Baseball 14 is set to go out next Tuesday, June 24, on XB1 as well as PS4 for $20. What has been long advertised for spring release will fall outside that window but by only a few days.
While RBI initially generated some excitement when announced early this year that quickly dissipated when the game was essentially never promoted (no information or video) and then released overpriced and to extremely poor reviews on consoles and technical issues on mobile. It’ll be even harder to convince anyone the game is worth $20 on the new systems given it looks nothing like a next-generation game and offers nothing of note over the other versions.
A patch released by the end of July is said to deliver online multiplayer functionality and updated rosters to the XB1, PS4, 360, and PS3.
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Unique Fighter Abilities in EA Sports UFC
One aspect of EA Sports UFC that was never really discussed relates to the various special abilities held by the fighters which in theory would highlight their strengths and traits in fights while also adding a larger sense of personalization for created fighters.
Unfortunately one of the biggest complaints with the game is that the individuals all tend to fight the same rather than in the different manners they actually do in real fights (strategically and relating to personal skills). Remember MMAi? Apparently neither does EA. However it’s still interesting to look at what the company has tried to do to differentiate them in concept at least.
Each individual has been assigned up to five of the following abilities and they can be selected to aid in crafting fighters as they go through Career mode. Read more
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EA Sports UFC Release Day Stream
The Twitch stream below will show the gameplay broadcast of EA Sports UFC when live, which will be at different points this evening, and when off-the-air the archived segments prior will be included as well. Various aspects will be streamed including the tutorials, some career mode, and online fights. Feel free to ask questions and comment through the chat when the action is live and make sure to subscribe to the Twitch channel!
[Update] First archive is below. Includes some tutorial challenges (boring and frustrating) followed by a couple CPU fights and then eight mostly entertaining online fights. I broke out two of them from the long stream. Will be back live later with Career mode and some more online.
[Update #2] Second full stream includes start of career mode and online fights against a buddy. It’s evident the game might be fun online, I’ve experienced that much, but realism is not a factor in the experience.
Watch live video from Pastapadre on TwitchTV -
EA Sports UFC Reviews Trending Behind Past THQ and EA MMA Efforts
EA Sports UFC is out today and the reviews coming in early peg it as the weakest of the major games representing the sport in recent years. Lack of content and an arcade rather than sim approach are being considered – though fun factor regardless of that has been widely identified and online play appears to offer much more enjoyment than taking on the CPU.
Metacritic Scores
EA Sports UFC (2014) 69/77
UFC Undisputed 3 (2012) 85/86
EA Sports MMA (2010) 79/77
UFC Undisputed 2010 85/84
UFC Undisputed 2009 83/84Though only a small percentage of the total reviews that will come in over the course of the coming weeks have been posted, it’s safe to expect the overall score to float in the same general vicinity of the mid-70s. Even if it rose slightly higher than that it has to be considered a disappointment that UFC, built for the new consoles with the might of the organization behind it, would struggle to top the critical reception of the Strikeforce-branded MMA game which was unable to reach a wide audience four years ago.
The reasons behind the mediocre reviews will be examined on Friday’s Press Row Hangout along with complete impressions of the game. However the questionable decision to market and design the game with casual consumers most in mind – the same group that would find the controls too complicated among other barriers – would have to be one of the biggest mistakes EA made.
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Limited Game Sharing Could Be A Realistic Option for Sports Franchises
One of the biggest surprise announcements of E3 came out of the Sony press conference relating to Far Cry 4. Those who own the game will be able to invite friends to play co-op along with them, even when they don’t own the game themselves. Remembering back to the initial PlayStation 4 announcement Sony raised the idea of a feature where friends could not just spectate but participate without owning the games and that is starting to come to fruition now.
The thinking behind this feature could stretch to sports games in a way that makes a lot of sense. Inaccessibility is often cited as a significant barrier to picking up new consumers and implementing this could allow novices a chance to learn with someone who is more experienced as a teaching tool of sorts. It’s asking a lot for those who aren’t comfortable with these games to spend $60 on them just to find out almost immediately that they’re overwhelming and too hard to grasp. Those people may be lost for good after that. Read more
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