TheXboxLife

Alright all you 2k series fans, prepare yourself for the 2k Insider, because he’s going to have a lot to do with this next release. The 2k Inside, who is an employed individual by the 2k Series, has the job of realistically updating player attributes as the season goes on. This will work with the “Living Rosters” idea, which is similar to the DNA attribute in NBA Live 09. The “Living Rosters” will involve all rosters and players being updated throughout the season. That way, if a player isn’t playing so hot in real life, he won’t be stepping his game up on the game either. This is a wonderful feature because it will prevent players with good ratings whom are having busted years from playing like All-Stars in the game, when their season is below par. Now, the difference between Live and 2k9 is the “human touch” factor. Considering the 2k Insider is a real-life human being, instead of the PC controlled DNA feature in Live 09, the new 2k9 release will have a much more realistic feel because the players will be as good as we think they are, not how good a computer does.



Don’t be expecting everyday roster updates though. Rather then having updates every day, they will be released when warranted. Of course when there is a big time injury or trade the updates will be made immediately, but don’t think after King James has a few bad games there going to immediately update the roster. The changes will be made when they will have an effect on the gaming experience.



The 2k Insider comes into play when your able to read his online blog, as well as view the new updates to players he gives on a regular basic. Another cool feature of the 2k Insider is his ability to add new animations to players who are excelling throughout the year. For instance, if O.J. Mayo begins to dominate during the season, NBA 2k9 Development Workers will work on new animations for him for the game. That’s right, you won’t be unlocking new animations, you’ll be downloading brand spanking new ones. In the case that O.J. Mayo reveals his NBA signature move, you’ll be downloading it in a roster update during the season.



Besides the addition of the 2k Insider, the biggest change will be a remodeled version of the Franchise Mode, dubbed Association 2.0. This new Franchise Mode will mimic the NBA.com design with a front page full of NBA news. From big trades, to injuries, and even news that is true to real life, and true to your personal league. Overall, it will be filled with tons of new content, and viewed upon as a giant NBA.com blog spot. A big new addition to Franchise mode will be the Ambition player attribute. This will measure 3 things: financial security, loyalty and player for winner. These 3 factors will create the level of ambition a certain player has. For instance, a younger player will probably be more concerned about money then winning games. A veteran, on the other hand, will be much more concerned with winning a championship.



The player ambitions will be an important aspect of the game because it will relate to how they handle free agency. In past versions, you were able to re-sign any of your players at any time. In the case of the new game, you will only be able to sign players who have been with you for 3-straight seasons, otherwise you will be competing with every other team and let the player decide which team/option is best for them. This really adds to the realism factor of the game that the 2k series Developers have been working on.



My favorite new feature to the game is the 5 on 5 online play, which every avid XBOX Live player has been waiting for. The Oklahoma City Thunder will also be renamed from the original Seattle Supersonics (to be Seattle fans — you had your chance). Along with this will come smaller changes involving new crowd animations and a much cleaner, less confusing, player profiles and menu interfaces.



Overall, NBA 2k9 seems to be the future for console basketball games by introducing brand new, never before seen features, and a new, slick menu interface. Look for NBA 2k9 to hit stores October 7, 2008.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Alright all you collegiate basketball lovers out there, EA is making a name change from the tenured “March Madness” title, to the new and improved “NCAA Basketball 2009″. The reasoning for this name change comes in part by the fact that there is much more to the college basketball season then just March Madness. It takes a lot more hard work through a long, physical, as well as academic, season to reach the Big Dance. The goal of the new game, which is to be released in the late fall, is to promote the rivalries, home-court advantage, loud arenas, mascots and overall setting for collegiate basketball games.



EA has announced that the cover design for this years release will include UCLA Alum, and Timberwolves Rookie Forward, Kevin Love. Love, who led the Bruins to a Final Four birth, along with being crowned Pac-10’s Player of the Year, will be the spokesperson and celebrity promoter for the release.

The new game will offer some much improved tweaks to the only college basketball game being released this year, including improved ball-physics, 1,000+ new sequences and animations, accompanied by Division I Coach advice.

The game will be running on the same engine being used for NBA Live 09, which will allow for smoother body movements and sequences, better ball physics, and an overall improvement to the rhythm and feel of the game. A new “tempo setter” feature will also be included. At the beginning of the game you will choose the type of “tempo” you want your team to run at. Whether it be half-court balanced, up and down offense, or a slow, low energy game, you choose how you want your team to play the game. The feature will allow you to play “your schools” tempo of basketball, which will lead to more strategic game plans, and overall enjoyment with victory.

Along with the tempo feature comes something never before seen in any NCAA game release: coach advice. During the game you will have the option to take coaching advice from your sideline instructor. From improvements on your sloppy play, to taking advantage of opportunities, coach’s will chime in and give you their 2cents on how you should improve.

Of course the commentating will be handled by none other then Brad Nessler and Dick Vitale, leading you through your exciting and “sensational” season. As for Online play, you probably won’t see it until 2010, when “more then 2 player” online play will be guaranteed. Sorry all you XBOX Live fans, you’ll have to wait one more season.

Look for the Canadian EA Developer Team to ship to the US in late Fall, 2008.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

So are you as psyched as the rest of the world for the August 12th release of Madden 09? Considering the game was technically finished in June, but the release isn’t until mid August, there are not to many new features to talk about, but rather, figure out who will and won’t be in the game.





The question on many gamers mind is: “Why isn’t Brett Favre in the game?”. Well, technically he is in the game, but instead of being on any of the NFL Team Rosters, he’s included on the Madden Legends Roster, with a rating of 99 (everyone on Legends is 99). The reason why Favre isn’t currently on any roster is really Favre’s fault, because in 2 seperate interviews asking whether or not he was going to come out of retirement, he declined, stating that he would stay retired. Don’t be to worried though, because from the looks of it, Brett Favre will be a Tampa Bay Buccaneer at the earliest Wednesday (today), which would allow for a simple roster update to get him on the game. When asking EA about what Favre’s possible ranking would be, the answer was “probably mid-nineties”. Not to bad for a guy who does Wrangler commercials, has white hair and sponsors drugs for 40+ year old men.





Other then the Favre questions, one very cool new feature to the game will be the custom Touchdown Dance. Yes, it took until Madden 09, but finally users will be able to decide how their players celebrate their touchdown. Whether it be LaDanians football flip, or the ever popular Lambeou Leap, players will run into the “hot spot” and simply push the corresponding button to the celebration. Apparently there are over 85 celebrations, and each one can be added to any player. Pretty cool huh?





Overall, Madden 09 looks to be the best in the 20th anniversary of the Madden series. Who knows though, considering it’s EA, it’s always possible to be dissapointed. NCAA Football 09 was released 1-2 months ago, and right now that’s easily the best football game out.

So far from the looks of it, Gears of War 2 has a chance at becoming one of the greatest titled games of all time for the XBOX console. For one, the graphics are amazing, as you can see from the images below (thank you http://xbox360.ign.com). Also, the new version is offering a few new maps, guns, game modes and a whole bunch of new enemies to destroy.





From what I’ve read, there are going to be 2 new maps added, which will only add to the blood, violence, gore and destruction of the enemy, and the landscape. One of the maps is called Day One, which resembles a city-type landscape filled with buildings, movie theaters, and other places built for strategic sniping operations. Another new map is called Avalanche, which is exactly what you think, a giant map of snow.





Following these new maps is a brand new game play mode that without question will better your gaming experience. The mode is called Horde, and it allows for 5 human players to join up against wave after wave of AI-controlled enemies. Of course there is still going to be a featured campaign mode for you and a friend to fight through, but the new Horde mode is definitely something that all players of the game will greatly enjoy. With each successful wave destroyed, a new one will emerge with more and more enemies coming your way. It’ll get to the point that once you kill something, another enemy is breathing down your back ready to revenge it’s buddies death. The game play will surely keep gamers at the edge of their seats (and controllers), with more and more bad guys coming your way.





One of the new enemies that your sure to enjoy is called the Ticker, which looks like a funny little white dog with stubby legs, which as it gets closer and closer, by the time it’s at your feet, you hear “tick, tick, BOOM!”. That’s right, this little sucker has a time bomb strapped to it’s back, and when it gets close enough you’ll hear the “tick, tick”, and then it blows. Once you hear it, you’ll be looking all over on the ground to shoot the little sucker before it brings you down with it.


Horde also entertains players with a variety of new Boomers with new armor and weapons. Some feature flamethrowers with gas tanks, others have a shield with an explosive flail, and the last kind are the Mulchers, who carries “Mulcher” guns similar to the gatling gun.





Beyond that there are even more new enemies that are yet to be scene, along with plenty of other features that Epic is keeping under wraps. Good for them, but even better for the gamer, because GoW2 will definitely blow away GoW. Besides, how terrifying do you think it’ll be when you have 20 some odd random enemies coming right at you? Spawning in all different directions, and your only option is blow them all away.


Happy Gaming!

2007 will be a year to remember with all the fantastic game releases including Halo 3, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, etc…but sadly GTA IV will not be included, as Rockstar has pushed the release date back to 2008. With all the hype revolving around this game, it may not be a bad thing for a later release date around Easter, because the developers have gone all out in the latest addition to this epic series.





The character you will live under is Nikolai “Niko” Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant who comes to the USA seeking the American Dream under the guidance of Niko’s cousin (who’s actually a dead-beat cab driver with massive debt — Niko was unaware of this).





GTA IV features the new world of Liberty City (NYC), and includes the 4 sections of Algonquin (Manhattan), Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), and Bohan (Bronx). This is supposed to be the largest city in any of the games, and offers the best graphics seen so far in any of the previous versions. Still, there are some changes to the game.





First, the RPG style that was offered in San Andreas has changed dramatically. You won’t be able to waste your days working out or doing other useless things like getting haircuts and becoming fat. Instead, the developers paid more attention to the actual control and realism of the game. Your car will be supplied with a GPS, allowing for much easier navigation, and hopes that players will actually learn there way around the city, because every street has a unique name. Along with the GPS addition, your character will now be able to hail cab drivers to get around the city faster (yes, cabbies get you there faster!). Though you’ll have to dish out some money, you won’t mind once you complete your missions faster. Of course you’ll still have the option to steal cars, but smashing the window, breaking the steering column and then hot wiring the car will take longer then in the past. This will give more of a chance to you getting BUSTED!





As for the police, the developers really want the player to make use of the radar, and when trying to escape from police this will be especially important. In order to get your wanted level down you will have to get out of the red perimeter shown in your radar. This red circle represents where the police are searching for you. Even when you are within the red circle you won’t always be seen. Now there is more of a “cat and mouse” option to the game, where if the police are not looking directly at you, they will not be able to see you. The high speed chases will prove to be more intense (as usual), because the amount of damage your car can take has definitely dropped to a more realistic level. You will still be able to have those massive gun battles (though they are much more limited now), but be careful because your enemies feature much more accuracy in this game. Accompanied by this you now have the option to cover and “blind fire”, though it will be interesting to see this in action.





For your ammunition you will no longer be able to go see your favorite gun dealers in the city. Instead, you make a phone call to your Rastafarian gun dealer who drops off your weaponry at whatever location you desire. With this, you will also have a cell phone, being able to contact anyone by the touch of a button. There is a high level of technology used in this game, where missions include using the internet is some way or another.


The violence, of course, was improved in all areas. There is much more realism in the game, and the cock-backing of the head from a point blank bullet was proof enough. Not to mention the amount of blood squirting from the wound, the graphics are very realistic.


Overall, I’m extremely excited to see this game, and am not surprised by some of the changes made. Especially in regards to the RPG style of the game, I was never a big fan of it.

If people thought Guitar Hero was fun and addicting, just wait until the new Rockband is released in November 2007. Accompanied by not only a guitar, you and your friends will have the ability to actually create a full-fledged Rockband with the additions of the Drum Pad, Microphone and Bass (maybe). Yes, Rockband will be available for up to 4 players, which will bring the level of gaming enjoyment to a new high. No longer will you have the ‘one person’ in your group of friends who’s the ultimate Guitar Hero player. Instead, you and your posse will be able to have your own Rockband. The only thing to fight about will be who plays what.





The game is also featuring downloadable tracks, which was an addition the public often waited for from Guitar Hero (but never came). Users will be faced with up to 4 lanes on the screen, each assigned to a different instrument. Yes, you will actually have someone on vocals, as long as you have the microphone.





In short, Rockband is going to revolutionize parts of the gaming world, especially ones in relation to reality. Not only is the game-play extremely fun and entertaining, but the song lineup is unbeatable:



* “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” – Jet[4]
* “Black Hole Sun” - Soundgarden[26]
* “Blitzkrieg Bop” – Ramones[27]
* “Brainpower” – Freezepop[28]
* “Celebrity Skin” – Hole[16]
* “Cherub Rock” – Smashing Pumpkins[4]
* “Creep” – Radiohead[4]
* “Dani California” - Red Hot Chili Peppers[26]
* “Detroit Rock City” - Kiss[26]
* “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” – Blue Öyster Cult[13]
* “Enter Sandman” – Metallica[29]
* “Epic” – Faith No More[4]
* “Gimme Shelter” – Rolling Stones[4]
* “Go with the Flow” – Queens of the Stone Age[29]
* “The Hand That Feeds” – Nine Inch Nails[4]
* “Here It Goes Again” – OK Go[4]
* “Highway Star” – Deep Purple[4]
* “I Think I’m Paranoid” – Garbage[16]
* “In Bloom” – Nirvana[17]
* “Learn to Fly” – Foo Fighters[29]
* “Main Offender” – The Hives[13]
* “Maps” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs[16]
* “Mississippi Queen” – Mountain[13]
* “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath[17]
* “Reptilia” – The Strokes[29]
* “Sabotage” – Beastie Boys[4]
* “Say It Ain’t So” – Weezer[17]
* “Should I Stay or Should I Go” – The Clash[4]
* “Suffragette City” – David Bowie[13]
* “Tom Sawyer” – Rush[29]
* “Vasoline” – Stone Temple Pilots[29]
* “Wanted Dead or Alive” – Bon Jovi[29]
* “Wave of Mutilation” – Pixies[16]
* “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – The Who[17]





Considering The Who, The Clash, Beastie Boys, Sabbath and Weezer (love that song) are all listed on the game, Rockband seems to be extremely promising and far better then Guitar Hero.