Not So PC
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Is the Universe a Friendly Place?
Dr. Peter Jensen talked about a lot of things, many of which can help your personal life. He talked about eliminating stress. He talked about how to get the most out of your abilities. He talked about learning more about yourself. Einstein once asked the question, “Is the universe a friendly place?” The truth is that each of us will answer this question differently. Some will say yes, others no and some maybe. There is no wrong answer. You just have to know how you answer it and how that can affect your decision making. Peter joked that his wife asked him, “Why are you always so defensive when students question you?” He replied, “I’m not being defensive!” Knowing that you may behave like this can help you make the changes necessary to improve. A person can’t change from being a negative person to a positive person. But if you truly recognize the areas that you are weak in, you can adjust.
Managing Stress
There are many ways to deal with stress. One of the best ways to deal with it is only worrying about the things we can control. Worrying about things we can’t control does no good. Peter joked that we shouldn’t worry about the problems in this world. His mother-in-law does that for everyone. The old expression, "Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference” is a truly great one.
The other ways to deal with stress are to maintain relationships and discuss our problems. Women live at least five years longer than men. And a significant portion of that is due to men’s inability to discuss their problems and deal with stress. Studies have shown that the best support group for a cancer patient is other cancer patients. Shocking! Talking with people that can understand your problems is a tremendous benefit.
The Power of Visualization
People do not realize the power of visualization. It can have a significantly positive or negative affect on your body and your ability to deal with adversity. Constantly beating yourself up over mistakes only creates more stress and problems. There was a study where athletes had their brain patterns analyzed when committing a mistake. They studied the neurological affects from a physical error and then had the athlete visualize the same mistake. They found it had the same effect on the body. So when an infielder boots a ground ball and then relives it in his head another four times, he’s actually committed that error five times. He needs to let it go much like a cornerback who got beat on a touchdown pass. Noted speaker Ben Zander has stated that after every mistake we should say, “How fascinating!” We learn through mistakes. Taking risks and aspiring to be great are positive things so don’t dwell on the screw-ups.
A post-Olympic study of Canadian athletes showed clearly that those who did their personal best at the 1984 Olympics used mental imagery two and a half to three times as frequently as those who did not perform up to their expectations. The four minute mile was once a psychological barrier. Nobody thought it was possible until Roger Bannister did it in 1954. But as soon as he did, that barrier was broken. Within 46 days someone else broke four minutes. By the end of 1957, 16 runners had done it. You can’t do it if you can’t imagine yourself doing it.
Change Your Perspective
Sometimes we allow ourselves to get frustrated. We get angry or stressed and our body and mind tenses up. When our adrenaline kicks in, our mind can lose the ability to process a lot of information. Ever got into a heated argument with someone and minutes later wished you could have remembered some key points that seemed to go blank in your mind? It’s because you were too hyped up to process things properly. There are times when we need adrenaline to have key focus and there are other times where we need to use techniques such as breathing or refocusing to regain our composure so we can perform at a high level.
Dr. Peter Jensen told a good joke.
One day a mother was driving her seven year old daughter to school. The daughter turned to the mom and asked, “Where are all the bastards mommy? I don’t see any bastards.” The mother replied, “They only come out when your father drives.”
The father viewed every driver on the road as an annoyance which raised his stress level. The mother chose to remain calm. Instead of allowing some things to annoy us, we need to relax and refocus. Allow ourselves to become an observer rather than just viewing a tough situation in a first person perspective. “Act as if” you know what you are doing. Some guys have a tough time approaching girls as a teenager. When approaching a girl you can act like the no-confidence dork you feel like. Or you can act as if you are cool like some other guys you have seen. Act as though you know what you are doing. Visualize success. After winning a major Johnny Miller once said that it wasn’t just him that won it. Whenever he was looking at a tough shot, he visualized another great golfer making a similar shot from memory. Everyone gets nervous. You are not your feelings. Even though you may be nervous, you don’t have to act like it or let it govern your actions.
How We Deal with Challenges
When Bell was declared a monopoly and broken up into smaller companies, many middle management employees had their livelihoods threatened. A total of 207 of these managers were studied over the course of seven years to see how they handled it. They examined the differences between those that ended up getting promoted and being successful versus those that languished behind. They found the floundering managers had seven times the amount of sick time used as the successful ones. This wasn’t a case of the lousy employees dogging it. This was an example of how negative energy and worrying actually affects your physical well being. The mind and body are connected.
When faced with challenges, you can choose regressive coping or transformational coping. Regressive coping is negative. “Why me?” “Why can’t it go back to the way it was?” These types of questions do not help deal with your problems. The successful managers took a more positive attitude. “What skills do I need to learn to be successful?” “How can I use this opportunity to better myself?” We can choose how we deal with challenges.
Conclusion
This experience was great. Dr. Peter Jensen told quite a few good stories and provided some great examples of how we can challenge ourselves to better deal with the issues we face. Hopefully some of these comments will be useful for anyone struggling with stress or problems either on the court or off of it.
Friday, November 6, 2009
I own a PS3 and my family does have a Wii which largely collects dust. The party types of games are hits for parties but that’s about it. A good first party game with poor graphics comes out once in awhile to keep people interested but there really isn’t much to like for a sports gamer other than Tiger Woods. This machine feels like it was entirely created by hype and somehow Nintendo has ridden this propaganda into massive profits that Microsoft and Sony will never come close to matching. Nintendo can make all kinds of claims about the Wii. It’s a great party system! It’s a workout machine! It’s unique since you have to shake your wrist at the screen! Their commercials even show grandparents joining in on the fun. And every time I see that crap I just shake my head. People get suckered into an idea that the Wii is great fun and then this overpriced console gets used once a week and pads Nintendo’s profit margins.
Call me a bitter fanboy and you will be right. I take delight in seeing Wii sales down 40% from last year and I hope they continue to fall. I want the gaming industry to focus on making high quality games with high quality graphics for myself and not some glorified stick figure game for a seven year old. Nintendo is innovative and creative. Nobody can dispute that. Nintendo is also the next gen console leader without question. And that makes no sense to me.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The original Uncharted was a sleeper hit that eventually sold well over two million games. It was a third person shooter that featured a good shoot and cover system and solid gameplay. But what really sold people on the game was the story and character development throughout. This game felt like you were playing a movie rather than a video game. The musical score was fantastic and the graphics were solid. Throw in some platforming, treasure hunting and a little puzzle solving and you had one of my favourite games of all time. You were Indiana Jones without being Indiana Jones and who doesn’t love Indy? Or should I say who doesn’t love Nathan Drake?
How Does the Sequel Compare?
Uncharted 2 has many similarities to the original game. We still have the same cover and shoot system that worked well in the original. There are still many different guns you encounter over the campaign to keep things interesting as well as provide strategy options. The game forces you to choose between short range, long range and clip capacity and you can only hold two guns at once (a hand gun and a large gun). Thankfully the game removed the six-axis controls for grenades making them easier to use.
There are a few improvements to the game from the first one. First, the graphics and locations look great. You can be fighting in the jungle, a burning city or find yourself in the middle of a snow storm. Each environment feels unique, looks great and often has different objectives. The original Uncharted seemed to bog down a little near the halfway point due to excessive fighting in the jungle. The sequel does a better job of mixing up the locations and it keeps the game feeling fresh throughout rather than repetitive.
Second, stealth is now a true option and occasionally a necessary one in gameplay. You can sneak up on a bad guy and take him down without causing a scene. This certainly helps level the playing field when facing numerous enemies. You can still choose to shoot first and ask questions later but it’s a subtle improvement to the game. I personally like throwing a guy off a ledge without using my gun.
Third, the hand to hand combat got a bit of an upgrade. While still using only a single attack button (square), you do have a counter move button (triangle) that can make hand to hand combat more fun. While the game still centers on gun play, hand to hand combat is used a little more than the original which rarely required it.
Game of the Year?
So with all these improvements, is Uncharted 2 better than the original? As with all sequels, they face a challenge when trying to out perform an original that was loved by many. I loved the original and there are a few things with this game that held me back from stating that it was better than the first.
Too Linear
Parts of this game were simply too restrictive for my tastes, particularly the first half which I found slightly disappointing. The original Uncharted was linear but not to this extent in my opinion. The Uncharted series is not a sandbox environment but this game featured so many cut scenes and animations that it sometimes felt scripted. In the opening sequence alone, climbing the train was full of animations of the train falling apart. You have to wait for an event to play out before regaining control of Drake. Is this great story telling or an example of the lack of control over your character and outcome? Another example of this is a fight that the game requires you to use hand-to-hand combat. Never mind that I’ve pumped a few rounds in a guy that has no armour – this has zero effect. I have to wait for him to charge me and then engage in hand to hand combat. Often these cut scenes and animations are great but the scripted feeling did bother me at times.
While I praised the new locations as being more varied and less repetitive, they are also smaller and more restrictive in design for the first half of the game. Exploration seems to be an afterthought. There is always a burning bus or a closed gate preventing you from checking other areas out. The original game also restricted access but you could usually backtrack to where you came from after a gun fight to fully explore for treasures. The sequel pushes you forward constantly. Often times a leap from a building results in the platform falling down preventing you from jumping back. Many times a door gets closed, the floor caves in or the previous path seems to get cut off somehow. Keep it moving is what the game is screaming at me! You have to get to the next cut scene to advance the story! The first game certainly had elements of this but not to this degree. There is a more frantic pace in this game than the original. Some may like that while others may not.
Furthermore, the smaller environments of the first half lead to more cramped fighting areas. We get a bunch of quick gun battles in tiny spaces that don’t require a lot of strategy simply because you can’t move anywhere. The second half of the game was much better for my gaming habits. The environments were bigger, we got some epic gun battles over large areas and the pacing seemed to be a little less hectic. I just wish they would have spread these areas out over the entire game a little better.
Treasure Hunting
Treasure hunting is frustrating in this game. Normally I am not much of a trophy or treasure hunting nerd. But I found myself searching like crazy for them in the original. I would spend all kinds of time looking for them and got 38 out of 60 in the original (41 the second time). It was fun. The sequel made it frustrating as they were too hard to find. I felt like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Uncharted 2 has 100 treasures but I was only able to find 34 on my initial play through. And that was mainly due to a few chapters leaving out some easy treasures to pad the stats.
Overall Thoughts
Uncharted 2 is a very good game that every PS3 owner should experience. It’s similar to the first one and the story and development of the characters is second to none. If you loved the first game you will probably love the second game. The graphics are outstanding and the varied locations add to the overall enjoyment. However, the first half of the game was just too linear and scripted for my tastes to consider one of the greatest PS3 games ever made. The original Uncharted still has a special place in my heart as my favourite PS3 game of all time.
86/100
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
So why were TV networks in such a rush to hire this guy? He WAS a great announcer. But that was because people trusted and valued his input as a former player and talking football head. The credibility he once had with viewers is gone. While Millen may still make relevant points while working on college of NFL games, how can anyone take him seriously? When he talks about how great a player is should I believe him or laugh since he proved in his time in Detroit that he knew nothing about what makes a player great? When he talks about what a team needs to do in order to win, should I take that advice as better than mine or just hit the mute button as his dismal winning percentage with the Lions proved he doesn’t know what it takes to win?
SI’s Peter King feels Millen’s past reputation as a great announcer should be maintained despite what he did in Detroit but that’s foolish. If you thought your financial advisor was great and he went bankrupt, would you keep listening to his advice? Absolutely not. You’d pull your money and move on. Matt Millen is a not a football genius. He’s just another talking head without a shred of credibility. I can no longer stand listening to him.
Monday, October 12, 2009
The guy chose OhioState while I had Miami. I had no problem with that and he seemed like a better player than me. If he would have just played real football, he probably would have won. I knew he wouldn’t do that from his first possession when he ran a fake punt on 4th and 10 and tried to convert with a pass from the punter (he failed). He then went for it on 4th down twice on his next possession to score a TD. This guy just didn’t believe in a punter. I was down 14-7 at the half as I struggled on offence.
In the second half I return a pick 80 yards for a TD to tie it at 14-14. On his next possession he tries to no huddle me on 4th and 16 from his own side of the 50. He fails to convert the first down and then promptly quits. What a douschebag.
There are so many advantages to playing offline only. You can tweak sliders, play whenever you want and don’t have to worry about cheese. The only advantage to playing online is to hopefully get a smarter opponent. Instead I get an annoying one. So it’s back to my offline cave for another couple years.
Monday, September 21, 2009
There seems to be this level of anger against the Wildcat that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It’s as though proponents of the NFL feel their sport is denigrated by anything other than a pro-style attack. People laughed at Mouse Davis for trying to bring the run n’ shoot to the NFL and they hoped he would fail. It didn’t work out that well but at least the Lions offense scored points and moved the ball. Could you imagine if a college coach like Urban Meyer moved to the NFL and tried to implement his version of the spread? Whether or not that would work as a full time offence is certainly questionable but the amount of hatred and ridicule he would face would be high.
Urban Meyer had this to say about the NFL and it’s aversion to the spread. "I think it (the spread) would have worked years ago," Meyer said. "No one has had enough - I don't want to say courage - no one has wanted to step across that line. Everyone runs the same offense in the NFL. A lot of those coaches are retreads. They get fired in Minnesota, they go to St. Louis. They get fired in St. Louis and go to San Diego. I guess what gets lost in the shuffle is your objective is to go win the game. If it's going to help you win the game, then you should run the spread."
Andy Reid faced criticism for throwing the ball a lot with Brian Westbrook in the backfield years ago. Those criticisms faded because his offense worked. Any different offense that doesn’t work will get crucified. If you run a standard offense and suck, that’s fine. At least you are doing the status quo. It’s similar to the basketball coach that gets fired for losing too many games 125-120. The basketball coach that loses all his games 85-80 is much smarter because he played good defense. But both coaches lost by 5. Does that argument really make sense?
The NFL once thought the forward pass was terrible. Running the ball was the way the sport was meant to be played. But times and rules have changed. Fans want to see more passing and the rules were changed to allow receivers greater separation. You started seeing shotgun formations, situational substitutions and multiple receiver sets become standard. College football was slow to change but now seems to have overtaken the NFL as leaders in innovation. There are a ton of ways colleges attack on offense. From a standard pro set to the triple option to a variety of spread attacks by the likes of Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriguez. They have shown that using extra quarterbacks with a different skill set can be a positive and not an afterthought.
The NFL shouldn’t dismiss the tremendous variety of offenses in college football as a fluke or a fad. They aren’t going anywhere. Rather than lament how these non pro-style attacks affect draft projections, maybe they should look at using them in the NFL. The spread, triple-option or Wildcat may never be full time offenses in the NFL. But there is no reason those concepts can’t work on a part time basis. The Wildcat may not surprise anybody anymore but neither does a dive play out of the I-formation. Both require people to block and tackle. The only difference is one set of plays is accepted by NFL snobs and the other isn’t.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The graphics are a lot better than the first game although I find the audio seems to jump volume between stuff (too quiet and too loud depending on cut scenes). I do turn up the character voices and turn down everything else a bit to hear the characters easier during the fights.
The sequel is largely the same as the first game plus fusion powers so if you like the first game, you should like this game as well. I must say the Fusion powers do add quite a bit to the game. Quite often the bad guys will swarm you and it's great to use a Fusion power to wipe them out. For those that don't know, there are 3 fusion powers: clearing, guided and target. I don't use guided too often which is a decent fusion but I stick to clearing which does a smaller amount of damage but a large area. Perfect for clearing out the ton of drones that can overwhelm you at times. The target is good for bosses to isolate one person and do a lot of damage. Lots of different combos between characters but it can be hard to pick the one you want since the action is usually nuts and I hit the L2 button and quickly scan my teammates to see which fusion effect I can use (it will show Target = circle, Clearing = X, etc. over the guy's heads). You can load up to two fusions in your meter at a time from beating up bad guys so it's definitely something you need to save when you really need it since you can't just do them whenever you want.
The story is done well too. They really did spend a lot of time on cutscenes, the characters and voice overs. I'm still early in the game but this looks to be a nice improvement over the original game.
My team is usually a flying guy, two medium guys and a slow but strong guy. Thing is perfect for my strong guy and I will gladly use the Hulk there when I unlock him legitimately (he's very similar to the Thing if you use the Hulk cheat). Wolverine is always a favourite for a medium guy but I will also be using Deadpool when I unlock him soon (my son has him already - did that part legitimately twice due to corrupt save). Captain America is good but I'm souring on him as I'm leaning pro-registration.
Gambit is OK but I barely know him. I love Spiderman from the comics but I don't really like his powers that much. A little too quick and not quite enough of a basher.For flying guys, there are quite a few to pick from. From the first game to this one I like the Human Torch and IronMan. Both are very similar in this game although Iron Man gets the nod because he's stronger and can pick up cars. But both have shooting powers and a radius power move where they can knock down anyone around them. Storm is cool but I don't quite like her powers as much. She has lighting strike down which is OK. She doesn't have a radius move but does have a powerful wind move where anyone in front of her gets blown away. That is a better move IF you can ensure all the bad guys are in front of you. Ice Man is pretty cool too. I'm going to have to use him more. He has a fusion with Wolverine that leaves ice all over him.
Ms. Marvel looks good and is pretty cool to use. You automatically get three powers with her. Both the Hulk and the Thing have a couple strong smash moves to use right away. Thing's third move is a rampage/charge move. Definitely better than Luke Cage who I know nothing about and isn't as easy/good to use. Wolverine was sweet last time and sweet this time. Quick and very powerful strikes.
I would agree that the difficulty is too easy. I do think Super Heroic is perfect for me right now. That's the hardest difficulty available until you beat the game. I've had one or two people die on me quite a bit but I usually can revive them right away because there are constant heal/revive tokens you pick up along the way (can only hold two at one time). I like the challenge of a harder difficulty set.
Tried the basic simulator today and that was good for teaching me the different combos available in the game. One of my favourite moves is just grabbing a drone, then giving him two light shots and a heavy shot while holding him. That easily kills them on the lower difficulty levels but doesn't usually finish the job on Super Heroic. Luckily a quick (light attack) foot stomp on them after you toss them will take them out.
Definitely liking this game so far. If you liked the first game you should own this one. It's a nice change of pace from sports games and I love the freedom of playing 20 minutes or 2 hours. It's not a strategy game or anything like that. It's a full on arcade game full of action that is just fun to play. CFav worked on this game and has also made some comments in the OS forums here: http://www.operationsports.com/forum...iance-2-a.html . Join the party!
Monday, September 14, 2009
I do miss the old days where you had truly great teams and great matchups. The old 49er and Cowboy teams with Montana, Young, Elway, Watters/Craig, Emmitt, Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin were great. And that's just on offense. On defense you had Haley, Deion, Lott, etc. The salary cap era has deluted every team to the point where you will NEVER see a collection of talent like that again. Today's teams all have weaknesses. It's very rare to find a team that is truly good on both sides of the ball.
Teams bash baseball for the lack of revenue sharing and how some franchises suck year after year. There is a lot of truth to that. The NFL's revenue sharing is what has made it successful and the #1 sport today. But I think it goes a bit too far. I want dynasties to stay together longer before the cap breaks it up. I wish the NFL would have some sort of Larry Bird rule where teams could sign their own free agents at a discount against the cap and keep the great teams together.
New England would have never traded away Richard Seymour to the Raiders if it weren't for the hard cap. Why isn't Marvin Harrison still a Colt? Competitive balance can be fun but dynasties and flagship franchises are still important imo. I'd love it if the Cowboys were great every year. People could love them or hate them year round. It's far better than apathy which is what I felt looking at my TV Guide this Sunday.
Friday, September 4, 2009
There are three different groups of buyers for video games. The first group is the guy that buys the game day one. It doesn’t matter when you release the demo as these sales are unaffected.
A second smaller group are the guys who are probably not going to buy the game regardless unless you knock his socks off. How does a bad demo boost these sales numbers? Only a great demo can pull these sales in.
Lastly and most importantly, there is a large group of gamers sitting on the fence trying to decide if they should buy, rent or pass on a particular game. Does it really matter if these guys get a demo two or three weeks before the game comes out? I don’t think so. What really matters is getting a good demo in their hands and generating strong word of mouth. That’s why a later demo based off the final and largely bug free code would help the most. A bad demo that annoys this consumer will largely hurt sales so why release them so soon?
A side benefit is that valuable development time before a game's release isn't spent on creating the demo - it's spent on the actual game! When the game is done, then you have time to create the demo disc properly. Other than pleasing the impatient gamer, myself included, I see too many negatives of early and crappy demos.
Most sports games are released weeks ahead of the actual season they represent. Having a fully functioning demo come out after the retail release but still before the actual season starts would be best. This would give the fence sitters a much better demo to judge and probably boost sales. Seriously, how on earth does an early but crappy demo help sales at all?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
When a team has two good running backs like Miami has with Javarris James and Graig Cooper (or Clemson last year), the cpu should try to make sure the second running back gets on the field more often through packages and substitutions. Both backs need to get more touches. When you only have one great back, he should get all the touches.
If a quarterback like Bradford got hurt, shouldn’t Oklahoma try to run the ball more? Or if a scrambling quarterback like Tyrod Taylor got hurt, the cpu shouldn’t run the same plays with the backup if he’s a pocket passer. Even better, if two quarterbacks are evenly rated but one is a scrambler, would the cpu ever bring him in for a series or two to run a different offense?
Whenever we do get formation subs back in NCAA, pass rushers should be subbed in on obvious passing situations if warranted. The MLB should not always be the default LB in the dime package. Put the best player there and for the best situation.
The computer needs to recognize and utilize all the talent on the team properly. In other words, I want the cpu to play and think more like a human. Play to your strengths in every way. Make the appropriate play calling adjustments when injuries happen. I wonder how much longer this will take?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
I’ve run my own league for 14 years but the end of the road has come. I just don’t care anymore. I still love draft night, although we have tried an auction the last two years, since it’s a great time to get your friends together and talk smack while picking players. It’s the rest of the year that falls flat.
I’m certain my lack of interest in the NFL is hurting my enjoyment. Family life has also played a role. I hate rooting for or against players just because of how it might affect my fantasy team. Running to check the latest update on the fantasy scores or watching the ticker during games just to see how my guys are doing feels dumb now. Anyone else giving up on fantasy football?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
But is this just football games are all sports games next gen? Are people tired of video game sports with all the other options out there, have they been annoyed at the quality so far or have sports games gotten to the point where people are buying every couple years because they aren't making a huge improvement? The Show on the PS3 has sold 07 (260,000 but a late release and first edition) , 08 (640,000) and 09 (490,000 and counting). So it's sales haven't skyrocketted either. Is this a trend for all sports games? NBA 2K8 went from 920,000 on the 360 to 1,050,000 for 2K9 on the 360. On the PS3, sales also increased 480,000 to 510,000. But this could be because Live sales dropped from 570,000 to 440,000 on the PS3 and dropped 560,000 to 540,000 on the 360 from 08 to 09. Overall basketball numbers were pretty flat from 08 to 09.
The NHL 2K series saw it's numbers from 2k8 to 2k9 stay very similar. On the 360 it went from 120,000 to 140,000 but stayed the same on the PS3 at 50,000. The EA NHL series improved nicely from 08 to 09 on the PS3 seeing sales rise from 160,000 to 270,000. On the 360 it went from 250,000 to 520,000. Those are huge gains on both systems and on a sidenote, I didn't realize 2K hockey was getting it's butt kicked. But many feel the EA hockey series have improved a lot. Is that what warranted the gains?
Madden sales from 08 to 09 went from 2.41 to 2.32 million on the 360. The PS3 went from 0.93 to 1.61 million. It did seen an increase in total sales although the 360 sales did drop. With a big change this year, I will be curious to see how it fares.
Conclusion: I'm not sure. I think if a series does innovate and improve, we see big sales improvements like EA hockey has seen. The Show didn't change a lot from 08 to 09 and we haven't seen a big sales increase either. The NCAA series has seen steady declines and that series still hasn't gotten all of the features from last gen either. People who may have been disappointed with one game may tend to stay away on the next one. Either way, EA's profits aren't going up with the NCAA series on a year by year basis.
Friday, July 24, 2009
This year I feel as though I am clearly in the minority. After renting NCAA 10 for a week I like NCAA 09 better. I know many love NCAA 10 and I’m a little envious. So I thought I would just do a quick breakdown of my thoughts. Yes I’m anal and overly critical at times. Can’t help myself. So here’s my tale of the tape between NCAA 09 and 10. Again, just my personal opinion and I only had a week with NCAA 10.
Areas Where NCAA 10 is Better
q Better sliders. These work great and really let the user tweak the game well.
q Better cpu running game. Partially due to the sliders, the cpu can mount a very effective ground game. Probably the biggest improvement imo.
q CPU QB Play. They throw the deep ball far more than the rarity in 09. And the cpu QBs doesn’t toss the amount of interceptions, primarily the game killing red zone ones that 09 had.
q Over the shoulder catches. These are really well done and also make the fade route relevant.
q OL movement in the running game. They get a better push in 10 and the added movement makes it more fun to read the holes while running.
q Game plays better out of the box on default settings.
Areas Where NCAA 09 is Better
q Camera. This is definitely user preference but I really like the old camera in 09. The feel and look of the game are much better. I can see downfield easier and it’s easier to defend. I hate the constant panning around in 10. This is easily my biggest beef and something I simply could not adjust to. Some will consider the new camera and player lock as positives but I don’t like those angles.
q Graphics and sound. Another personal opinion and it may be related to the camera angle but I feel the players look better in 09. They also seem more detailed and have better colours. The band and crowd sounds seem better in 09 as well. Some of the crowd chants, particularly the defense chant, are embarrassingly bad in 10.
q Pass speeds. I really like the passing speeds in 09. Feels just right. In 10, some passes can be zipped in at lightning speeds off the back foot and the overall speed feels too fast. I feel useless trying to manually defend the pass in 10 because the passing speeds are too fast.
q There is no menu lag in 09. For some reason the clunky and laggy menu system of 08 reappears in 10 to annoy us.
q I think some of the strategy elements of 10 are overdone. Asking your defense to strip the ball should not result in vastly increased fumbles or facemask penalties. Yes there is risk/reward but some of the new stuff feels gimmicky or overdone.
q Injuries. This is a bit of a crapshoot. There may not have been enough in 09 but there are too many to the skill position guys in 10. Minor complaint although this may be a bigger issue on Heisman this year.
Overall there are a lot of areas where I see improvement in 10. But the damn camera just pisses me off. When I pop 09 back in, the game just seems more fun to me despite its flaws. Too bad the NCAA team didn’t consider user options and customization when creating 10. Give us more camera options, a true accelerated clock, more sliders like Madden (game speed, fatigue, injury, stamina) and you might have a truly great game next year. But for now my NCAA posting has dwindled and I have essentially moved on. I’m enjoying a Miami Hurricane dynasty in 09 right now and hope Madden 10 will be great on August 14th.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Why you may like it and others may not
I think this game plays a lot better out of the box than ’09. So if you never liked playing with sliders you will like ’10 better right away. Non-slider guys probably will feel much better about ’09 than guys who adjusted ’09 a lot (I tweaked ’09 to extremes). This could also be a big plus for online guys forced to play on default settings. But I’m only an offline gamer so this isn’t the big plus to me as it is to some others. I’ll talk more about sliders later which are greatly improved after the patch.
I do think your enjoyment of this game will also be tied to your view on the camera angle. I don’t like it and it hurts my enjoyment. The NCAA team really screwed over a good portion of us by not leaving the old camera in as an option. I think the new camera is perfectly fine on running plays. But on passing plays I can’t see as well downfield as I like. My biggest problem with the new camera occurs when I’m attempting to play pass defence. I feel completely disconnected when trying to defend the pass in coverage. I usually suck in pass coverage anyways but I REALLY suck now. If you are someone who only plays as a DL this is a moot point. But I like to play as a LB and I really don’t like it. I just feel helpless and useless out there when trying to defend the pass. The player lock camera moves around way too much for me too and I won’t use this feature. Again – something some people will love but it’s not for me.
Feel of the game, Graphics, Sound
The game does feel a little different. The players look a bit smaller than ’09 and the camera is different. I think the game might even be faster than ’09. Players have slightly more weight but the momentum is still far from where I’d like it to be and where Madden ’10 will be. You still have overly twitchy players and the running animation is still poor in the open field. There are new animations to the game that do make it feel different than ’09 and these are a nice upgrades that you really see in the running game.
The graphics aren’t quite as sharp as ’09. I played a game as Miami @ LSU and then popped in ’09 and played a quarter just to confirm what I was seeing. Not a big deal to me but the players do seem smaller and not quite as crisp. What I found took a bigger step back was the sound in this game. It’s not good. The crowd chants are lousy – especially the “defence” chant, which almost pauses before it comes on to remind you that this is a video game with terrible audio. The surround sound took a step back too. The bands and crowd played through all my speakers well in ’09 but in ’10 they don’t come out very loud in the rear mounted speakers on my wall. Most of the sound tends to come from the front speakers. For those with a decent surround sound setup, I think ’09 was better.
Sliders
The patch made the sliders work a LOT better. I played my games with some tweaks based on early OS impressions (boost pass rush, I dropped my run defence to 0 to see if the cpu can run on AA, and dropped my FG accuracy to 0) and I notice a huge improvement over ’09. Honestly, if ’09 had sliders that worked this well, I wouldn’t think twice about buying ’10 – I’d stick with ’09.
I missed two FGs in my Miami game including a game tying 49 yarder with 10 seconds left against LSU. I thought I hit the last one good and it still went wide left. Setting FG accuracy to 0 does make a bigger difference. I had the cpu FG accuracy at 25 and I saw them hit the post on a 32 yarder. I still don’t like the analog stick kicking since kicks from the middle tend to be easy (dare I say perfect) compared to kicks from the hash but it’s better. I’m boosting human FG accuracy up a bit for my future games since I was bad with it at 0.
Running Game
I now see why everyone likes the running game this year. OL get much more movement on their blocks and it’s more fun to read the OL as you hit the hole. The game still plays on the fast side so you have to be quick but I think this area is the biggest improvement in ’10. Not only do you get good OL movement but the break tackle mechanic (from Madden ’09 but my first experience) is a lot of fun. Reminds me of the PS2 days. It also makes power backs more effective. I played against LSU and Charles Scott ran all over my Miami defence. He had 26 carries for 174 yards and 0 TDs. This was on AA with human run defence at 0, cpu run block at 50, cpu RBA at 60 and human tackling at 40. Only one run was a longer one. He just pounded the rock at me, broke tackles and got consistent yards. It was beautiful. Never saw this happen with ’09 as the cpu OL never got a push. They get a push with the good sliders in this game. I saw one OL drive blocking a guy 5 yards down the field. I still see some guys getting sucked into tackles and suction blocking among the OL/DL but the running game was easily my favourite part of the game. I see the biggest improvement in the game in this area.
Passing Game
I don’t see a big improvement here. Offensive playbooks are largely the same (defensive ones appear untouched) and I found myself calling similar plays and doing similar things. I did see some nice over the shoulder catches, which I like. The cpu went deep only once but I know from the demo this is improved over ’09. But for all those that are saying, “Yes, no more super leaping LBs!” this was really fixed in ’09 with slider adjustments. As someone that only plays on tweaked settings, this wasn’t an improvement for me. A couple times a game you will see a QB just rocket a ball out of his hand off his back foot at crazy speeds. Not sure why they did that.
There are more overthrows and under throws which are nice. You don’t see them too often but seem good. I do see some WRs getting bumped around and some jams can be really effective. I didn’t see a ton of this but it was an improvement over ’09. I never sacked the cpu once as the pass blocking is way too good on default and I have to boost the pass rush slider some more. Some of the zone coverages seem to get busted really bad. The cover 2 can be bad and I think more guys will run with man to man this year. The cpu QBs seemed better and only threw one pick in the 1.5 games I played (a bad one near the goalline) so this may be another nice improvement. Overall though, I just didn’t find a big upgrade in the passing game when I combine my dislike for attempting to defend passes with the new camera angle. I might like this more over time but I certainly wasn’t blown away by it last night.
Odds and Ends
I do like the halftime highlights and the EASW videos load much faster (is it because the quality is downgraded?). I lost two fumbles inside my opponents 5 last night. I never tried any of the strategy settings but did the cpu switch to aggressive to cause this? I have some concern over how effective defenders can strip the ball on aggressive. I’ve read about too many fumbles or facemask penalties on this setting but I can’t really comment first hand.
I had 3 injuries half way through the second quarter of my first game. While not big injuries I do get the feeling that the starting RB is going to miss time every single game with something. I had my starting RB, WR and TE all get hurt in my first game. Game #1 was a 31-28 loss @ LSU and great game score over 600. Too bad I blew the tying field goal. Game #2 I was down 17-13 after one half to Oregon with Cal. Best (Cal RB – me) was great as I had 17 carries for 168 yards. But I did have a 67-yard TD run where a defender completely whiffed on me – the new greased pig animation?
The menus do suffer from lag. I don't like this but what can you do?
Overall
I think the presentation took a step backward rather than forward with the lousy crowd chants and downgraded sounds. I saw my first stat overlay in the fourth quarter of a 7-minute game – not nearly enough. I don’t like the new camera as it really gives me a complete disconnect in terms of defending the pass. Makes me feel like I’m not even a part of the play, which isn’t good. I shouldn’t have to be a DL all game to feel like I’m doing something when the cpu is passing. I like the new camera in the running game but I really wish they had left the old camera in as an option. For those that love it then I’m happy for you. But there are going to be a lot of people where this change significantly hurts the fun factor.
Again, I’m not comparing default ’09 to default ’10. From what the settings I used last year, the biggest improvement is in the sliders and running game. I don’t see a big difference in the defence. The pursuit angles may be better but I’m still getting similar end results when looking at stats. That’s not a bad thing but I definitely don’t have the “Wow! This game is awesome feeling!” others have. Just a difference of opinion here. The game does have a different feel and look so I think there is certainly a new car smell going on for some. The running game is very nice and I love that we can finally get a consistent cpu running game. That is huge and a big upgrade imo. That alone is the real selling point for me on this game.
It’s early (1.5 game is far too little play time) and I will play all week but I don’t see this game being worth a $60 upgrade. I liked ’09 and will stick with that until Madden comes out. I will then decide on what game to get as I’m only going to get one football game this year.
Friday, July 3, 2009
There are many types of gamers out there and it’s not just the casual gamer vs. the hardcore gamer. The hardcore gamer may know more about the sport they are playing and are certainly a better gamer than the guy who only plays a couple hours a week. But there are core differences within the hardcore and casual community as well. Not every hardcore gamer wants their football game to be a defensive slugfest. And not every casual gamer wants to throw up 50+ points every time they pop the game in. Those assumptions are simply false.
Time for Preset Game Types
The developers have given us difficulty levels but that just makes the games easier or harder. They have given us sliders, which are great, but many don’t understand them or like them. There are many among the hardcore group on OS that hate sliders and refuse to use them. The Madden team tried adaptive sliders so the game would change on how you play but that still brings you back to a style of gameplay the developer wants and not what the gamer wants.
It’s time for the developers to institute built in Game Style options that will automatically adjust the sliders based on your desires. There needs to be three options: Offensive, Balanced and Defensive. An Offensive set in a football game might boost QB accuracy, RB ability, and downgrade defensive awareness. A Defensive set might do the exact opposite. In a baseball game an Offensive set might automatically boost sliders for home run power and contact. A Defensive set in basketball would automatically reduce shooting sliders and boost rebounding and steal sliders.
Everyone Wins – Online Too
With game difficulty settings and automatic pre-set slider options, gamers would have an easier time of getting the game to fit their style of play and skills. This could be used for online gaming as well. Looking to play a more defensive football game online? Choose the defensive lobby (All-Pro Defence). Want to play an offensive NCAA game where you get great pass protection and throw bombs all day? Choose the All-American Offence Lobby. Either way, pre-set slider options would be extremely easy to implement and would give both offline and online gamers more options.
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