EA Sports today officially announced NHL 15 by releasing the first info on new features and accompanied that with a teaser trailer. The game is due out in September for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, 360, and PS3.
The Xbox One/PS4 version of the game will include NBC presentation, new commentary team, enhanced physics, evolved skill stick, and improved player models and crowd. The company did not specify what features, of the new ones listed, will make it to the 360 and PS3. Read more
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦EA Sports will for the first time tease NHL 15 at some point tomorrow.
♦EA will be offering some Android games through the Comcast X1 box.
♦Check out the latest fighter screenshots for EA Sports UFC in the FB album.
♦The PlayStation 4 exclusive DriveClub now has a release date set of October 7.
♦Latest developer blog features the most popular user-created courses in The Golf Club.
♦The Press Row Hangout posted yesterday can be downloaded as an MP3 here.
♦Latest Press Row Podcast discusses The Show anticipation and death of arcade games.
♦The new mobile Tony Hawk game called Shred Session is targeting summer for release.
♦EA soft-launched an arcade golf game King of the Course for iOS in Canada to poor reviews.
♦The unique New Era NFL Draft Caps for this year are now available to order.
♦Check out Robinson Cano surprising Yankee fans who were booing his cardboard cutout.
♦Hollywood is already working on a Yasiel Puig biopic based on LA Magazine’s article.
♦The Xbox One will get some new audio controls in a future update.
News and content that may have been missed from the last week around the site.
♦The only major Blu-ray/DVD release is The Veronica Mars Movie for this coming week.
♦The cast featuring newcomers and originals for Star Wars: Episode VII was announced.
♦An Electro head is the featured piece in the CE Blu-ray for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
♦Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles now has a second trailer in advance of its release on 8/8.
♦Warner Bros. has handed over the keys for Justice League to Zack Snyder.
The latest edition of the Press Row Hangout features discussion on preparations for MLB 14: The Show’s release day on PS4. Make sure to check out the latest Press Row Podcast which too addresses anticipation for The Show in addition to other topics. Also included in the hangout is reaction to EA Sports UFC’s Career mode details and the first news on Madden NFL 25.
That Steve Kerr is going to be strongly considered for head coach of the New York Knicks is beyond just rumor at this point. Should he take a coaching position there or somewhere else he’ll obviously be out as an announcer in the NBA 2K series which he has been a part of since 2K12.
That change could be happening right now or more likely to be a year away but the switch would be inevitable. He would not be available to do additional voiceover work and it would be really awkward to have him calling a game where he’s also on the sideline coaching. Read more
While The Golf Club released for PC through Steam Early Access two weeks ago, it will still be some time before it arrives for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. A tweet from the official account has essentially stated that it won’t be out in May. Read more
Special editions of sports games are rarely worth the extra money. One of the few exceptions was last year when the Anniversary Edition of Madden NFL 25 offered up a subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket. It’s extremely unlikely that EA Sports and DirecTV will offer that same promo again but something may be in the works for Madden NFL 15.
Amazon has added listings of the game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS3. Interestingly they’ve gone out of their way to note them as “Standard Edition” which is unusual to say the least. So there appears to be a plan for a special edition of the game but with details on that not being announced until a later date.
Last year’s popular Anniversary Edition followed a Hall of Fame Edition for Madden NFL 12 which was far less desirable. That one featured a special cover, Marshall Faulk autographed card, and an Ultimate Team pack for the extra $30.
The listings have also confirmed that the $15 in Ultimate Team content being offered as a pre-order incentive is retailer wide.
EA Sports today released details on the Career and Online modes for the upcoming launch of the UFC franchise on June 17. For the first time ever in a UFC video game, The Ultimate Fighter is featured, with that being how a career begins. In the past including TUF hasn’t been possible due to an extreme royalty fee that would have been required. Online will include an “Online Seasons” format and rivalry system but unfortunately not the Fight Cards feature that was brilliantly introduced in EA MMA. Read more
[Update 5/5] At this point it doesn’t look good for pre-downloading to be offered for The Show. Sony has refused to give a definitive yes, or no, to the matter for some inexplicable reason and the process has not started if it will be.
A significant system update arrived today for the PlayStation 4 with new features like ShareFactory, HD quality streaming and archiving through Twitch or UStream, and USB exporting of gameplay and screenshots among others. One of the features that will come into play right away is that of automatic pre-downloads of digital games.
MLB 14: The Show of course releases next Tuesday and normally purchasing the digital copy would mean waiting until midnight to begin the 47 GB download that would likely stretch into the morning or beyond. Now for those who pre-order, the console will download it prior to then (possibly several days in advance) so that it’s ready to go and play at midnight instead.
Unfortunately there is still no price break in buying digitally to account for the removal of manufacturing costs and the inability to sell the game and recoup some of the initial investment when done with it. Consumers instead are paying for the convenience and now especially with the ability to pre-download the immediacy of access.