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More Vague Madden NFL 15 Features and First Pre-Order Incentive
Yesterday EA Sports officially announced Madden NFL 15 with a teaser trailer and mention of “immersive defensive gameplay controls” and new broadcast presentation. Another cover vote was also announced to begin along with the NFL Draft in May.
Now a summary provided to retailers has revealed a few other details to be expanded upon later:
♦New player lock camera angles.
♦New pass rush tools.
♦New open-field tackling mechanics.
♦Smarter AI.
♦Enhanced on-field graphics.
♦In-depth player profiles.
♦New crowd-sourced play calling system (coach suggestions, community picks, concept plays).
♦Dynamic pre-game and halftime shows.Gamestop has also posted a pre-order bonus for the game offering $15 in Ultimate Team content. It’s unclear if this will be a retailer-wide incentive but it very well could be as Gamestop has not stated it as an exclusive. This has become a more common tactic from EA in the last two years, providing credit for use in Ultimate Team, with the hopes of hooking in more consumers by getting them started with the mode that they may have not stuck with for long or bothered with at all.
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MLB 14: The Show PS4 Features Video
SCEA has released a new video promoting the release of MLB 14: The Show for the PlayStation 4 which is now just one week away. The video is a run-through of a few features of note for this year. That includes Quick Counts, Player Lock, Manager mode, and Sportscast Manager. All of them are present with the already released PS3 version but here accompanied by PS4 footage. For a look at what worked for MLB 14: The Show and what didn’t make sure to check out the earlier Hits & Misses review.
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Troy Daniels Added to NBA 2K14 Roster
Arguably the most fascinating story of the NBA Playoffs to this point is the emergence of Troy Daniels. Signed by the Houston Rockets in February, Daniels spent most of the time since in the D-League. He was called back up to the Rockets on April 9th and played in three late season games. Daniels was named to the playoff roster for the team, was the hero in winning game three of the series against Portland, and was a huge contributor in game four.
Despite having been on the Rockets earlier in the season and for the more recent stretch Daniels had not been added to the NBA 2K14 roster. Last year 2K faced a similarly embarrassing situation when Kent Bazemore scored a would-be game winner in the playoffs. He wasn’t on the Warriors roster despite having appeared in 61 regular season games.
Today a roster update was released to address the oversight by adding Daniels. He comes in rated 67 overall with B+ outside shooting.
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Teaser Trailer for Madden NFL 15
EA Sports today released the first form of official promotion for Madden NFL 15 with a teaser trailer. It features Luke Kuechly transforming from himself to video game character but the substance comes in the form of information.
By now many consumers recognize early trailers for Madden display visuals that can’t be trusted to represent what the actual product will look like. So instead of focusing on Kuechly the important details within are the release date and the pointing towards June for a big reveal.
Madden NFL 15 will release on August 26. That date is in line with the past three releases as the last Tuesday in August. There had been some thought given to moving the release up now that there is no NCAA Football that would present a conflict in doing so but ultimately the company decided against it and stuck closer to the start of the regular season.
There’s also the tease to “see the transformation this June”. That is pointing to the Electronic Arts press conference at E3 that will take place on Monday, June 9 at 1PM PT. It could relate solely to visuals – with the company actively scanning player faces to improve likenesses – or something more radically different on the way for the series.
For Madden NFL 15 the company is touting “the most immersive defensive gameplay control in franchise history” and an “entirely new broadcast presentation that delivers Madden NFL game day like never before with dramatic all-new camera angles, as well as dynamic pre-game and halftime features.”
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There Will Be a Cover Vote for Madden NFL 15
EA Sports is about two months behind the typical marketing schedule for the upcoming Madden. To date the only real news relating to the Madden NFL 15 has been the competition to create logos and uniforms for relocated teams in Connected Franchise mode and that they’re scanning player faces to improve likenesses. That changed today when ESPN tweeted the news that there will be a cover vote. It will begin on May 8th but no further details have been provided.
When March Madness passed without the typical cover vote for Madden it appeared the company had possibly decided to go away from the marketing strategy which has provided dwindling returns over the years. Consumers have gotten fatigued of these cover votes and EA accelerated that process by overextending them. These competitions jumped the shark when they were made to last months and involved in the hundreds of participants. Consumers just don’t get engaged by them they way they did several years ago.
EA could have made a bigger splash simply by announcing Richard Sherman as the cover athlete. It would have been covered everywhere, debated on ESPN, and argued about by fans and non-fans of his on social media. Instead the company will turn to the cover vote which they have increasingly milked for all it was worth over a much longer span. ESPN can be expected to promote the cover vote excessively including another hour long show to announce the winner. That’s cheap exposure for the game that they apparently feel can’t be replaced.
Favorites for the cover would have to include Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, A.J. Green, Josh Gordon, Alshon Jeffery, J.J. Watt, Luke Kuechly, and Richard Sherman.
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The Line Drive for April 27
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦Make sure to get entries in for the MLB 14: The Show PS4 giveaway drawing this week!
♦Troy Daniels, the Rockets game three hero, is not even on the NBA 2K14 roster.
♦There will not be a demo offered for the PS4 version of MLB 14: The Show.
♦EA Sports was in scanning Seahawks player heads for Madden NFL 15.
♦Operation Sports looks at how online play has not improved for MLB 14: The Show.
♦Out of The Park 15 is now available on Steam and for a limited time for 10% off.
♦An attempt at a simulation baseball game for mobile devices is in development.
♦Developer blog takes a look at what has gone on during early release of The Golf Club.
♦Latest tutorial video demonstrates editing tee attributes in The Golf Club.
♦Polygon examines why arcade sports games have gone largely extinct.
♦SCEA posted images of controller skins to choose from w/MLB 14 Amazon pre-orders.
♦PES 2014 will be offered as a free PS+ game in May for PS3.
♦Game Informer posted an extensive wish list of improvements for NHL 15.
♦Business Week looks at the smartest and dumbest spending franchises in sports.
♦Check out a video of the best videobombs of the season put together by the NBA.
♦Amazon Instant Video will be adding HBO content for the Prime streaming service.
♦Not much, just Legend of Hercules and Labor Day, as DVD/Blu-ray releases this week. -
Press Row Podcast: Examining The FIFA Franchise and Out of the Park Baseball
This somewhat unique episode of the Press Row Podcast features three distinct segments and some special guests. Jeremy Stein and Corey Andress join Rich and I to discuss FIFA in two of them. Up first is a review roundtable for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. That is followed by bringing on PR Manager for Out of the Park Baseball, Brad Cook, to talk about OOTP 15 and iOOTP ’14. Finally another FIFA segment which includes extensive discussion on the EA Sports series as a whole and where it should go in the future.
Check out the 140 minute podcast through iTunes, for Android devices with the Stitcher app, or listen to it in the streaming player below!
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How Important is the EA Sports UFC Demo?
EA Sports recently publicized that a demo for the launch of their new UFC series on June 17 will be out prior to release. With the stigma of the THQ series still lingering to an extent it will be a significant moment in determining how well the title will end up being received. Though EA has been actively promoting it going all the way back to last year’s E3 they’ve yet to show any gameplay footage or even explain the controls.
It has become difficult to determine how demos for yearly sports games influence sales and consumers are often looking for different things. Veterans may want the differences demonstrated from the prior iteration and novices may be gauging accessibility. UFC is not a yearly franchise though and it faces the difficulty of selling every couple years without the benefit of dramatically different rosters which help drive sales with other sports.
THQ capitalized on a spectacular demo when they launched their UFC series back in 2009. That catapulted it to huge sales that well exceeded the top end of their expectations. Unfortunately missteps later would result in the loss of 70% of those consumers by the time the third one released. Like that first THQ demo, EA will be hoping for something that satisfies the hardcore fight fans but also draws in the more casual crowd.
How important is the demo for EA Sports UFC to you – will it affect whether you buy the game? Vote in the poll and leave any thoughts in the comments!
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