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MADDEN

Madden 24 Beta Early Impressions

Madden 24 Beta

On June 8 EA Sports revealed the first trailer for Madden 24 along with this year’s cover athlete, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on a beta code and have been checking this years installment out.

There’s still a lot EA has promised to add to the beta, but here are our early impressions on franchise mode and the return of mini-games.

Franchise Mode

One of the most critical game modes for any sports video game is its franchise mode. If you’ve been following Madden for the last few years, you know that Franchise Mode has arguably been one of the titles biggest disappointments for the series.

One of the most frustrating things, but not a deal breaker, is the lack of customization options for coaches and players. For decades, there have been the same generic faces for coaches and created players. Madden 24 doesn’t seem much different. With how powerful systems are nowadays, there’s no reason why Madden can’t implement face scans for one of its most popular game modes. A minor change like this would make being a coach or GM even more rewarding.

The layout of Connected Franchise is similar to last season. It essentially looks copy and paste.

More options are now available if you’re into trading and improving your team. There are now six trade slots instead of three, and teams can trade draft picks up to three years down the road. It also appears that the trade logic has improved, computer teams seem much more eager to send trade offers. For example, I started my franchise as the Miami Dolphins and had trade offers from three teams for veteran defensive end Malik Reed. Each trade is similar but adds some depth to the experience.

Weekly strategies are back and that also looks to be essentially copy and paste.

EA has added a ton of new locations and team names for gamers to choose from. Each place has a unique market size and personality that could sway owners on where to relocate to. A ranking system also shows your fan interest in that area. In addition to the laundry list of new locations, EA has added several new team names to this year’s game.

Other changes to franchise mode include contract restructures and a feature that fans have been asking for over the last few years, the ability for all players, not just quarterbacks, to have up to four X-Factor abilities. The NFL Draft still feels underwhelming, but EA promises that draft classes will be more dynamic, with many superstar players drafted out of college. Some may even debut with key stats maxed out. Besides more superstar-quality talent, EA has promised that some players may need to switch positions to maximize their potential. For example, taking a quarterback and moving them to wide receiver could unlock an entirely different set of skills.

Mini Games Are Back!

Mini-games like rushing and passing attacks were part of the reason a lot of us loved the series in the first place.

The good news for those of us who feel that way is that EA not only brought back a bunch of the classics, but have added a bunch of new options that are sure to make some people very happy. This year, there are 14 mini-games ranging from the classic rushing attack to WR/DB battles and everything in between.

More to come!

 

 

 

 

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Categories
MADDEN

Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen Named Cover Athlete For ‘Madden NFL 24’

Madden NFL 24 Cover

As we speculated last week, Josh Allen is your Madden NFL 24 cover athlete. EA Sports announced the move on Wednesday. This is the 35th anniversary of the franchise.

“It’s such a small group of people who have ever been the face of Madden, so now to be on that list, it’s very surreal. It’s very humbling,” Allen told ESPN. “To think about where I was not too long ago and coming out of high school with zero offers, going to junior college and have one offer, University of Wyoming of all places, and then fast-forward to now.

“I don’t know if I would have believed you at that point, if you were to tell me in high school. It’s so surreal. Madden has such a special place in my heart.”

Allen has over 40 combined touchdowns (passing and rushing) in three consecutive seasons, and has passed for 18,397 yards in his first five years in the league. The Bills are 52-24 when Allen starts.

In addition to Allen being the first Bills player featured, this is the first time fans are featured prominently.

Last season, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes graced the cover. In 2021, it was Lamar Jackson. Mahomes was on the front of “Madden 20,” Antonio Brown on “Madden 19,” and Brady was on “Madden 18.”

“Madden NFL 24” is set to be released worldwide on Aug. 18.

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NBA 2K

NBA 2K23 Heatwave Pack: New Players Released In MyTeam

NBA 2K23 Heatwave

The new set of Heatwave cards went live on Friday June 2nd for NBA 2K23 MyTeam, and introduced some high end items for players.

Developers 2K Sports also introduced a new pack that has boosted the chance of finding these items, including the Dark Matter variant.

MyTeam has got plenty of special additions in the last month and a half. Some cards can even be called “broken” in their respective positions due to how well they play in the game.

The 2K community has another opportunity to get the new cards and solidify their team as the Championship Finals gain steam between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets.

Complete list of all NBA 2K23 Heatwave promo cards available in MyTeam

2K Sports has introduced a special pack with 20% odds of finding a Heatwave card. While this is the best way of obtaining the new cards, let’s first look at which superstars are part of the promotion:

  • Mikal Bridges – SG/SF
  • Allen Iverson – SG/PG
  • Klay Thompson – SG/SF
  • Jermaine O’Neal – PF/SF
  • Lance Stephenson – SG/PG
  • Ralph Sampson – C
  • Paul Pierce – SF/SG
  • Chris Paul – SG/PG
  • Tyrese Haliburton – PG/SG

There are four Invincible Inserts players can find from the pack as well:

  • Anthony Davis – PF/C
  • Lebron James – SF/SG
  • Stephen Curry – PG/SG
  • Carmelo Anthony – SF/SG

All the cards have an overall of 99.

Ralph Samson could be high on the wish list for players as he’s the only one who can play as a center (Anthony Davis is the only exception, but he’s an Invincible Insert).

The new Lebron James card also appears to be an great item that will be pretty high on peoples wish lists.

 

 

 

 

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Categories
MADDEN

Josh Allen Rumored As Madden 24 Cover Athlete

Josh Allen on cover of Madden 24

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is rumored to be the cover athlete for Madden NFL 24.

In his first five seasons, Allen has led the Bills back to prominence, finished as an MVP finalist twice and emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

If a new rumor is true, Allen may soon be able to add another feat to his resume. He would become the first Bills player in franchise history to grace the cover of the iconic gaming franchise.

A quarterback has graced the Madden cover in four of the last six years, with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes both doing so twice after sharing it for Madden NFL 22.

There was no cover athlete for Madden NFL 23, as the cover instead featured the late John Madden, the game’s namesake, to honor him after his passing in December 2021.

Many cover athletes have gone on to have poor seasons after being on the cover, be it due to injury, under-performance or something else. The “Madden Curse” has noticeably been less prevalent recently, though. Most notably, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV in the same season he appeared on the cover for Madden NFL 20.

The Madden cover athlete will be revealed sometime in June. Stay tuned.

 

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Categories
MADDEN

Madden 24 Rumors

Madden 24 Rumors

Regardless of the time of year (and the quality of Madden itself), OS folks are always looking ahead. This year, there is a lot of talk about a lack of news and rumors about Madden 24.

When June hits, that’s when the Madden news really begins. But returning to the point about the lack of rumors, there’s not a lot to talk about as of now. Before official news started to hit last year, there were a lot of rumors about franchise mode, crossplay, how EA would honor John Madden, Madden coming to the Nintendo Switch, and Madden maybe replicating some tech that came to FIFA (HyperSense). We did end up getting franchise updates (albeit not as massive as maybe hoped), John Madden was on the cover of the game he pioneered, and FieldSense was a stand in for HyperMotion. It was a pretty standard year for being about 50 percent on the biggest rumors coming to fruition.

This year we haven’t heard anything about the development of Madden 24 beyond EA’s announcement of the closed beta and how those impacted by the cloud franchise issue in Madden 23 are getting an invite to that beta and half off Madden 24 (if they choose to purchase it).

EA is definitely in another transition period. New tech isn’t on the horizon but EA Sports College Football is a year out. It did get delayed a full year but development is in full swing now and how EA as a company is going to get back to handling two football games a year is going to be interesting. If one or both are bad, it’s going to ask a lot from consumers to support both year after year. The college football game will have that grace period where people buy it simply because they’re just excited to have it back in their lives, but that is fleeting.

While the lack of Madden 24 rumors is curious on some level, quality does seem like it’s going to matter more here because time is running out for Madden in some ways, even if those ways are just internal pressures.

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Categories
NBA 2K

NBA 2K23 Season 7 Rewards, Patch Notes and New Content

NBA 2K23 Season 7

NBA 2K23 Season 7 launched May 19, and we have all the details. Read on for the complete NBA 2K23 Season 7 rewards, patch notes and new content.

The new season will feature new MyCAREER apparel rewards and a LEGO 2K Drive bundle, new Galaxy Opal and Invincible cards in MyTEAM, new storylines and rewards for The W Online, new music for 2K Beats as well as an exclusive single debut from Jay Millian, and more.

To celebrate the upcoming release of LEGO 2K Drive tomorrow, Season 7 will bring a special Level 1 LEGO 2K Drive Bundle reward, consisting of two hoodies, three t-shirts, and a basketball. The Season 7 MyCAREER reward ladder will include additional rewards such as as the Level 30 Affiliation Mascot, Level 37 NASA Race Suit, Level 39 Badge Point, and Level 40 NBA Mascot outfit. To make it easier for players to level up through the ladder, The City will be host to numerous special events during the Conference and NBA finals, with players able to earn 2XP for all games played while wearing NBA apparel during these events.

MyTEAM:

Season 7 will begin with the Level 1 Galaxy Opal Josh Giddey card as the first reward. Five other Galaxy Opal players will be available as rewards through the Season 7 ladder, as well as a new 99 overall Dark Matter player. The Level 40 reward will be an Invincible Zion Williamson card. Additional Dark Matter players will be available as mode rewards in the Vault, Triple Threat Online Ball Drops, Clutch Time Wheel, Season Ascension, and the Draft. Each NBA franchise’s All-Time players are being added as a new collection during Season 7, and evolved Playoff cards based on real-life performances will be offered throughout the season.

The W Online:

The following Weekly Goal and Season Rewards are being added to The W Online during Season 7:

  • Weekly Goal:
    • Sue Bird Heroine Jersey
    • Storm Heroine Shorts
    • Slam Kicks Tee
    • Team Resilience Boosts
    • Team Extender Boosts
    • Kyrie 4 Low
  • Season Rewards:
    • Kelsey Mitchell Jersey
    • Sheryl Swoopes Tee
    • WNBA Ball Card
    • Lisa Leslie Coach Card
    • Mystics Logo Card
    • 2K Breakthrough Skin

2K Beats:

Curated by Blxst and EVGLE. the Season 7 soundtrack features the following new tracks:

  • Blxst – Passionate ft. Roddy Ricch
  • Blxst – Keep Calling ft. Larry June
  • Jay Millian – Baby 
  • Babyface Ray, Blxst, Nija – Spend It
  • Roddy Ricch – Stop Breathing
  • Jordan Ward & Joony – IDC
  • Benny The Butcher – Trade It All
  • Westside Webb – Progress ft. Polyester the Saint
  • Action Bronson – Zambezi ft. Roc Marciano
  • MASN – Crush
  • Jay Park – MOMMAE ft. Ugly Duck
  • Nav – Lately
  • Larry June – Private Valet

NBA 2K23 Season 7 Patch Notes:

[NEW GEN] :PS5: :XBS:

GENERAL

  • • New WNBA uniform sponsor patches for the 2023 season have been added
  • • The following players have had general likeness updates or adjustments made:
    • Paolo Banchero (dynamic hair update)
    • Justin Holiday (dynamic hair update)
    • Trendon Watford (dynamic hair update)
    • Delon Wright (dynamic hair update)

MyCAREER/CITY

  • • Continued improvements to performance and stability have been made to enhance the overall experience in the City
  • • Resolved an issue in REC and Pro-Am games that could cause an errant screen wipe to occur during gameplay
  • • Addressed an issue where Blackout Bingo cards could have spots with no objectives

MyTEAM

  • • Fixed a rare hang that could occur when two player cards from the same pack receive walkout reveals

MyNBA/THE W

  • • Continued stability fixes and improvements have been made for MyNBA, MyNBA Online, and The W
  • • Fixed a logic issue preventing playoff progression from occurring when using Start Today in MyNBA.

Season 7 Start: Friday, May 19th, at 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM BST

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Categories
Uncategorized

GTA VI Will Reportedly Be the Most Expensive Video Game Ever Made

GTA VI

According to a report from Dexerto, GTA VI, which is currently being developed by Rockstar, is on track to be the most expensive game ever produced with a budget of “$1-2 billion dollars.”

The most expensive game ever made is currently Cyberpunk 2077 which cost $174 million USD to make. While no official figures were published, Grand Theft Auto V reportedly cost around 137.5 million to develop. With a budget several times that of past titles, rumors suggest that GTA VI is set to dwarf the GTA V map with leaks confirming the return of Vice City as one of the locations.

GTA VI is currently expected to release in late 2024 or early 2025.

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Categories
FIFA

FIFA 23 On PS5 May Break if You Have Too Many Friends

FIFA 23 PS5 May Break if You Have Too Many Friends

There’s never been a better time to cut down on your friends list – and if anyone asks you can just blame EA!

EA Sports released a statement earlier this week confirming that it’s exploring stability issues introduced in it’s recent title update. The recommended solution? “Reduce your PS5 friends list to 100 or less friends and re-launch the game.”

Why the issue is occurring is unclear, but apparently it’s not something the development team at EA Sports accounted for.

Have you had any issues with FIFA 23 since the latest update? Are you a social butterfly with hundreds of PlayStation friends? You can read all the latest on the known bugs in EA Sports’ football franchise on the publisher’s Trello page.

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Categories
Uncategorized

‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Wii Sports’ join the World Video Game Hall of Fame

Video Game HOF

The Strong National Museum of Play has revealed this year’s inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. There are four games in the class of 2023: The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Barbie Fashion Designer and Computer Space. 

The Last of Us is the most recent one of the bunch. Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action adventure has rarely been out of the limelight over the last 10 years. A TV series based on the game debuted on HBO in January and it was a huge hit. A remake of the original game hit PS5 in September and PC in March.

Wii Sports arrived in 2006. Partly because it was bundled in with the massively successful Wii and partly because EVERYONE was playing it, the sports sim went on to become one of the biggest-selling games of all time.

The four titles are well-deserving inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. This year’s other finalists were Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, FIFA International Soccer, Goldeneye 007, NBA 2K, Quake and Wizardry. The Strong, located in Rochester, New York, will showcase the 2023 inductees on a permanent basis in a new World Video Game Hall of Fame space, which will open on June 30th.

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Categories
MLB The Show

MLB The Show 23 Review

MLB The Show Review

Being that this was year 3 for The Show on next-generation consoles and Microsoft systems, the expectations was a clear step forward.

While constantly improving on what has been the best sports game running for a while is a big ask, The Show 23 developers put their best foot forward.

The Show 23 doesn’t change much of the tried-and-true gameplay experience, but the impact is meaningfully positive where tweaks happen.

The Little Things

Players can now properly assign a designated hitter, permitting things like one star serving as both pitcher and designated hitter.

This year the disparity between players on opposite ends of the Fielding rating spectrum feels more dramatic than ever. Fielders on the lower end are clearly slower to react off contact.

The green section of the throwing matter remaining static for years let seasoned players auto-pilot even difficult throws. Now that the green section moves, playing defense is more engaging.

The subtle little things keep the game feeling fresh.

It’s hard to poke a hole in the gameplay loop when so many different varieties of control options, settings and styles of difficulty present themselves to players.

Graphics and Presentation

The first next-generation effort didn’t present a big gap between versions, but last year’s was a massive leap.

This year’s game isn’t as big of a leap, but players will notice a bunch of new animations, especially with dives and trying to pluck foul balls that would otherwise land out of play.

Player facial expressions, jersey details such as accumulation of dirt, reflections of lights, shadows and arguably the densest crowds seen in sports gaming strengthen immersion in a way that properly matches the simulation style the series hopes to achieve.

The tandem of John ‘Boog’ Sciambi and Chris Singleton in the commentary booth for the second year isn’t stale yet, thankfully, and it feels like a ton of new lines make the cut.

Conclusion

As always, The Show shines with its presentation and simulation gameplay. The Show 23 is simply one of the best in the series.

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