Tutorials – Page 3

Making Your CFM Last For Decades – Team Building House Rules In Madden 17

In the words of Aaron Lewis (from Staind), It’s Been Awhile.

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In the spirit of not only updating NoobTubeTV with new and fresh things for the secular Holiday Season of Capitalism and video games during the winter snow and vortex. I am presenting a new way to play a part of your Madden 17 Connected Franchise Mode from the Owner/Coach perspective!

This will focus on house rules I have implemented over the course of playing multiple seasons with multiple teams in CFM. Before we get into the details of how to make a great experience more challenging and entertaining I have to give you the ‘why’.

Madden has improved in many regards as far as CFM goes. They really have made strides and complete jumps to another level in some cases. That said, they also have a lot of work to do with figuring out how teams deal with the salary cap and such. By the time you reach season 4 and 5 in your CFM (2019-2020) you will start to see that almost every team is in a dire situation with salary caps and such.

One easy fix is to turn off salary caps. I suggest not doing this simply because it’s nice to have a limitation placed on yourself during the offseason.

The other issue is that it is still way too easy to accumulated tons of first round picks and later picks as well. On top of that part being easy it is also relatively simple to scout for players that you can draft with assurance that they will be rated 75+ OVR. In order to preserve an ongoing CFM that will not only keep your team competitive, but also honest – here is my Madden 17 method of Team Management House Rules.

During The Season

Re-Signing Players – Because you get a chance to make three offers during the season before you have one final chance after the season and then into free agency this rule is easy.
NOTE – This doesn’t mean you are limited to having certain OVR players on your team. This is strictly a limit on re-signing players during the season. This is meant to make your team stay within the same general competitive level as others and give other teams a shot at signing great players as well.

Any player rated 90+ is permitted ONE offer at any point during the season and you can only re-sign ONE of these players during the season. If you have multiple 90+ rated players you must choose who you place the most value in keeping. If they decline you then have to wait until the final re-sign chance after your season is over.
Any player rated 80-89 is permitted TWO offers at any point during the season. The difference here is that you get to re-sign up to SEVEN players rated 80-89 during the season.
Players rated 79 and lower don’t have limits on offers. Do what you want to here.

Scouting and The Draft

Here’s the deal. You get to scout any players you want. Feel free to go bonkers and even get the Scouting Perk for your coach. The catch is that you are limited once the draft arrives.

Using the ‘Watch’ function is key to this rule and it will make the draft a hell of a lot more fun for you. Not to mention more challenging from the perspective of adding some realism.

First, your draft picks will have limitations (This will also help you avoid weird salary cap penalties if you want to cut a rookie with guaranteed money – this can and does happen).

Scouting and Watching –

Each draft pick you own will allow you to watch a certain number of players projected in that round (prior to drafting them)

1^st Round – 6 Watchable Players (2 Picks = 12 Watchable Players)

2^nd & 3^rd Round – 7 Watchable Players (two picks = 14 watchable players per round)

4^th – 7^th Round – 8 Watchable Players (three picks = 24 watchable players per round)

HERE IS THE CATCH!

You must select your watched players before the draft begins.
You only get to manually draft a player that you have watched.
You may draft any player from any projected round at any time.
If none of your watched players are available you have two options
- Simulate the pick (you get to keep any draft pick obtained if it is traded and you must keep the player drafted for at least one season, if only on the practice squad.)
- Trade the pick
  - You may trade this for any pick or set of picks. However, you need to even out your pick numbers prior to Week 9 of the regular season.

You get a maximum of 12 picks in any one draft each year.

1^st Round – Maximum of two picks in one draft (Never two years in a row). If you have two picks in one year you only get one the next year. If you find that a team wants to trade up and give you a pick you can only do it for lower round picks OR must trade the new First Round Pick to a team with one of the ten WORST records without giving them more than two picks as well.

If you make an Washington/St. Louis for RG3 kind of deal with a team you must count your 1^st Round Picks as two picks each. This means you lose two picks extra picks that year. You must trade two picks two another team.

2^nd Round – Maximum of two picks

3^rdRound – Maximum of two picks

4^th Round – Maximum of three picks

5^th Round – Maximum of three picks

6^th Round – Maximum of three picks

7^th Round – Maximum of three picks

These rules are meant to keep your CFM fair for the CPU and fun for your own benefit.

I have had to make tough decisions and even gamble on re-signing a few players because of weak draft classes. Usually, I roll with my Browns in Madden CFM and this year I made it through five seasons before realizing that building such a dominant team with multiple draft picks made the actual experience less enjoyable. I had to start a new one just to keep my interest in Madden (as I don’t particularly enjoy the lag fest and arcade feel of Madden Online).

Now that these new rules have fixed my CFM experience, it’s time to start fresh and this time I will be starting with the Bills.

Happy Holiday Gaming!

Taking Your Draft To The Next Level – Madden 16

Now that the order of the first twenty teams of the 2016 NFL Draft have been determined it is officially draft season for many fans. This includes yours truly… the constantly disappointed by my Browns ‘in real life’ Dawg Pound faithful Cleveland fan.

What makes it all better for me is knowing that I can at least build my team effectively in the draft on Madden 16. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an analytics wiz like Paul DePodesta to do this either. Here is a quick-ish guide to scouting and drafting better players in Madden 16.

Scouting…It Matters
It took me awhile to realize that the most valuable moment in Madden 16 scouting is the first and cheapest ‘letter grade’ for each player. This is because it only get worse after that first grade… seriously, once you realize that the best grade they have is the first one you find you can quickly determine who to cast away as a waste of resources.

Scout Needs and Schemes First
Now that we know that letter grades will be a good guide for investing more points we can eventually scout all of the players that fit our scheme first.

C+ Is Not Average, It’s Bad
When scouting any players you should never be excited to see a ‘C’ rating. This is never a good sign and should tell you to move on. If you want to take a chance on some WR with ‘A’ SPD and ‘C+’ catching, that’s on you.

Combine ‘Final Litmus Test’
Never judge your prospects solely by their combine score. Always check out where they ranked in the important categories. If your LT prospect was 12th in the 40 yd dash, who cares? If he is the strongest Bench Press LT you might be happy to take him. The combine scores aren’t as important as the rankings for each workout. Do the extra button press and judge your prospects accordingly.

Don’t Be Afraid To Trade Down
If you don’t believe there is a ‘must have’ player for your team where you are picking you should always look to trade for other picks. If you have a Top 5 or 10 pick and want to trade, you could find a lot of great offers. Don’t take a player in the Top 10 if he doesn’t have at least an ‘A’ or an ‘A-‘ Grade in one category with ‘B+’ after… otherwise, you will find you drafted too high.

Take A Chance In Rounds 3-7
You will find that some players projected well (green projections) will be worth taking in the round before their projection at times, especially in later rounds.

While I wouldn’t suggest taking a projected 5th Round player in the 2nd or 3rd round, they might actually be worth it if their combine and grades check out. Take your time and be picky with this as you learn what your team needs.

Don’t Forget Position Changes
What many people might forget is that some players that might not fit schemes as they are listed for the draft but they would be perfect if they changed positions. That 3-4 DE might be too fat and slow to be a DE for your Attacking 4-3, but that doesn’t mean you can ‘ draft him and edit his position to DT just after the draft. This is the only time you can do it for any player, so don’t forget. Also, take a look at changing CB to SS or FS as it may fit them better. You can always mess with these things to see which ratings will be the best for OVR.

You should now be on track to have a top draft every single year.

Metal Gear Solid 5 And The Nuclear Quest(ion)

After beating the known storylines in Metal Gear Solid 5 there are still so many small things to do and accomplish as far as side-ops and further development go. The biggest sticking point for many MGS players is the building/disarming of nuclear weapons in the FOB Resource section of their game.

I have yet to develop a nuke on my own to this point, but that didn’t keep me from reaching 150,000+ Heroism (unlocking the Hero Trophy and therefore making it possible to infiltrate other FOBs that already developed or stole a nuke for their own base). After breaking into the rival FOB last night and stealing their nuke while completing my infiltration I realized a couple things about my status when in possession of a nuke in MGS 5 – I am a huge target when I have a nuke. Now that this game has been out for nearly two months and gamers have been pouring over the details after completing the storyline there are really only two things left to accomplish.

Develop A Nuke/Disarm A Nuke
Develop the remaining items for Venom Snake (I refuse to call our character Big Boss) and the Buddys

This is where the entire basis of the FOB started to make me think that it really becomes meaningless after you have developed every item (including a nuke).

By the time most MGS gamers have earned enough heroism to break into an FOB and steal a nuke they won’t have any reason to break into a non-nuclear FOB. This means that having a nuke isn’t so much a deterrent as it is an invitation to have your FOB jacked with constantly (as long as you possess a nuke that is). The only reason I have been bothering to break into rival FOBs is to steal their minor metal and fuel resources… why? To develop a nuke, get the trophy and dismantle it.

Why dismantle it? Because if someone has played the game enough and is able to break into FOBs – your nuke is as good as gone and your resources have been wasted as a false deterrent. Also, there is no actual use for the nuke other than making it impossible for non-hero rated gamers to raid your FOB. Again, if you have all your weapons developed and have already developed/disarmed a nuke – who cares if someone breaks in and steals the resources you are basically done with?

It would be different if you could use your nuke against someone that has been trolling your FOB (I’m looking at you Crimson157). If we were able to unleash our nuke and totally destroy another user’s FOB this game would become total anarchy and probably lose even more gamers to the coming nuclear aftermath of Fallout 4.

So, to answer the nuclear question as far as MGS 5 goes – Develop and dismantle a nuke to get the trophy. Then focus on developing the rest of your FOB, weapons and such. After that, you can basically focus on trolling the CPU in single player and wasting more time with Metal Gear Online.

Speaking for myself – I plan on getting every trophy for this game and setting it aside for Fallout 4. It really is too bad that Kojima and Co. jacked with our minds and the end of a great franchise so much as to make it downright trivial to develop nukes.

Earning and Spending XP In Madden 15

Just like any other sort of currency, you need to save, invest and spend your XP properly if you want your players to develop into juggernauts. In some ways you may also want to spend XP differently on players you know you won’t keep or can’t keep.

Earning XP – You will want to look at each player’s development trait in the ‘Progress Player’ screen before spending lots of points on them. This will largely determine whether or not they will earn more points by performing extraordinarily. Also, there is the ‘Consistency’ rating – this is key in helping players progress if they don’t get a lot of playing time or targets in games. There is something you need to consider and determine on multiple levels before you spend your allotted hours on certain players – Do their expensive ratings warrant future investment?

If you are wanting to upgrade a WR, do you really want to spend XP on one that has 85 SPD? Will it be cost effective to spend money on increasing his SPD? Some may say that it is totally worth it – and that is fair and good. Go for it. However, if you really want to make the process easier you will want to check and upgrade their ‘Development and ‘Consistency’ ratings, respectively.

Upgrading development will increase the amount of XP a player earns for achieving goals in game – this includes obtaining awards, reaching milestones and other performance objectives. Development costs 15,000 XP for each rating (from Slow to Normal to Quick to Superstar) – so keep in mind that it might take a season or two to build your favorite player into a Quick or Superstar Development rating. However, once they are there – they will stay there and that is why it is worth upgrading quickly.

Upgrading consistency will increase the amount of XP your players will earn during weekly training in Game Prep.

Finally, earning XP is as simple (and difficult) as performing well in each game. Once you have the necessary prerequisites (Development and Consistency) upgraded to your liking you will notice far more XP for each player you upgrade.

(Note: I argue that the confidence rating doesn’t matter nearly as much as the actual long-term ratings of players. It could be because confidence simply needs tuned or patched to have a more dramatic effect – but with EA’s track record – I doubt it.)

Spending XP – This is one of the easier things to do once you follow the guide in earning XP. It is entirely dependent on the player’s position and what type of player they are. Here are the best ways to increase the OVR ratings or performance for each position (outside of ‘Consistency’).

(Note – I rarely/never increase player SPD or ACC ratings. They are often too expensive to consider upgrading – and it helps with what little can remain simulation about picking ratings to increase for players in Madden.)

QB – Awareness, Short, Medium and Deep Accuracy, Play Action, Injury and Toughness.

HB – Awareness, Truck, Juke, Stiff Arm, Elusive, Agility, Strength, Injury and Toughness.

FB – Awareness, Run Block, Pass Block, Strength, Injury and Toughness.

WR – Awareness, Catch, Catch In Traffic, Release, Agility, Spectacular Catch, Jump, Injury and Toughness.

TE – Awareness, Catch, Catch In Traffic, Run Block, Release, Spectacular Catch, Jump, Pass Block, Injury and Toughness.

OL – Awareness, Strength, Run Block, Pass Block, Impact Block, Injury and Toughness.

DL – Awareness, Tackle, Pursuit, Finesse and Power Moves, Agility, Injury and Toughness.

LB – Awareness, Tackle, Pursuit, Play Recognition, Finesse and Power Moves, Hit Power, Zone Coverage, Man Coverage, Agility, Injury and Toughness.

CB – Awareness, Man Coverage, Zone Coverage, Play Recognition, Tackle, Agility, Catch, Agility, Injury and Toughness.

S – Awareness, Zone Coverage, Man Coverage, Play Recognition, Tackle, Hit Power, Agility, Catch, Agility, Injury and Toughness.

K/P – Awareness, Kick Power, Kick Accuracy. (Note – Kickers and Punters can’t get injured in Madden… Because EA – well, you know.)

Battlefield 4 – Choosing Your Class

It is that time of year again; when the first person shooters (FPS) games come out of the woodwork just in time for you to add them to your Christmas list or kill people while eating Halloween candy and drinking energy drinks. Maybe it is now a Thanksgiving tradition at this point for some people to chase killstreaks over left-over turkey and stuffing when Turkey Day rolls around.

Either way you slice it, it is time to play some Battlefield 4 this weekend before Call of Duty Ghosts tries to take your attention on November 5. The best part about Battlefield is that you get to assume the role of a class rather than simply choosing weapons in Call of Duty. Sure, COD has its own twist on this, but right now the focus is on BF4.

Assault – This isn’t just some wimpy ‘Medic Class’. You have the power to revive teammates if they are downed in the field, sure. You also start out with the ability to throw first-aid packs to bring up the health of yourself or teammates if they are getting hti by enemy fire. However, you are also equipped with a slew of weapons that can kick some ass in the process. Don’t think that the ability to revive teammates is your specialty, you can also have (by default, I might add) a grenade launcher as a secondary weapon instead of a defibrillator. Depending on the map and your play-style – this might be one of the most popular classes early in the BF4 play-cycle.

Engineer – This class isn’t just some sort of ‘Repair Man’ ability for teams that use vehicles. You are also in the business of destroying tanks, shooting down helicopters and sure, on occasion – fixing your team’s vehicles. The nice part about this class is that you get to build up from having a simple rocket launcher to do damage to enemy vehicles to having laser guided rockets and even the often overlooked anti-tank mines.

Support – One of the classes that is most useful if you are in a squad that communicates. The support class is best used with an engineer when trying to deal with enemy vehicles such as helicopters, jets and tanks. Why? Simply put, it is easy for an engineer to run out of ammo (rockets, etc) to deal with vehicles. However, if you are there as a support class you can re-up their arsenal and use any number of weapons to light up the enemies as they run for cover. You start out with a heavy machine gun but eventually you will have the ability and choice to switch it up to something lighter. All that said, this is the ultimate ‘team first, victory first’ class.

Recon – The most misunderstood class in Battlefield. This is NOT a Call of Duty ‘quick scoping’ class. This is a class designed around providing an eye from a distance and letting your teammates know where there are enemies and other important factors on the battlefield. This doesn’t mean that you can’t kill enemies, it just means that you shouldn’t expect to end up with 30 kills every match if you are actually being a ‘recon’ class. The nice change from Battlefield 3 is that this class isn’t without protection from heavy enemy vehicles. You actually start with C4 as an auxiliary weapon that you can place on or around enemy vehicles to destroy or disable them. Also, keep in mind that there is ‘bullet-drop’ and ‘gravity’ in Battlefield… this means that you have to aim above the head of an enemy if they are far away and you are trying to snipe them from a distance.

There will be much more to come in NoobTubeTV’s coverage of Battlefield 4. Stay tuned to our YouTube Channel as well.

Happy Hunting

GAME OVR – The Strange Obsession With OVR Ratings In Sports Games

In gaming all ‘ability’ levels are based around number ratings and scales. The only difference in ratings comes in how they are presented (or not presented) to the user. Everything from guns in Call of Duty to Spin Ratings for Defensive Tackles in Madden have some sort of numerical value – even if they aren’t presented to you in that fashion, the ratings are numerically based once you dig into the guts and binary code of the game. That said, there is one rating in-particular that seems to be an obsession with sports gamers… the Overall (OVR) rating.

In Madden NFL, NBA 2K, NHL, FIFA, NCAA Football (RIP), etc. the primary measure of a player’s worth is in his OVR rating. While the determining factors for a player’s OVR may differ between games it seems that it is the only thing that matters to most sports gamers in determining a player’s value/talent in the given game. Granted, in Madden and NCAA the other rating of almost equal importance over the last 10+ years has been Speed (SPD) ratings for ‘skill’ positions – OVR is still king when it comes to determining the success and worth of a player. In fact, it should be changed to a ‘Physical’ (PHY) rating as we develop a totally new rating.

How Do You Increase OVR In Madden?

To get this out of the way, there have been many people asking how to increase the OVR of their players in Madden 25. This is rather simple as long as you are earning enough XP for the player during your Franchise/Career mode. Always start with the Awareness Rating (AWR) of the player and you will soon see the OVR jump substantially. After that, it is all about investing in the position specific categories for the player. So, if you have a QB – start with AWR and then move to Throwing Accuracy, Throwing Power and so-forth. If you have a HB, I suggest starting again with AWR and then moving onto Spin, Juke, Stiff Arm, etc. Hopefully this helps – but when in doubt you should always start with the mysterious AWR Rating.

How To Best Rate Players?

This is a question that often creeps up in sports gaming forums. While there is a necessity to depend on numerical ratings for players (at least in the ‘hidden guts’ of the game, as stated above) there seems to be a growing divide among sports gamers as to how these ratings should be shown to the gamer – or if they should be at all.

Madden NFL’s rating system is vast and sometimes confusing (or simply meaningless in some cases). With Donny Moore being the primary focus of players getting weekly boosts or reductions in ratings based on their real-life performance for online roster updates there are many gamers and fans out there that question his ability to make the right changes. I have been critical of his rating changes in the past and I am not about to retract my remarks or references. However, it is feeling more and more like the best way to rate players in Franchise/Association/Career/Owner modes should be determined by more than some sort of absolute numerical value on an interactive in-game spreadsheet.

Every team and franchise values players differently. Every owner, coach, scout and fan places different values on players as well. This is where I believe the best rating system should include a mix of numbers, letters and gold stars (yeah, I said it – gold stars).

The grade of a player’s SPD should be determined by multiple factors – including game/season fatigue to start. Also, this all important rating should also be determined by weather conditions (including high heat) and agility if necessary.

As for ‘Overall’ (OVR) I am of the strong opinion that it should be changed to ‘Value’ (VAL). This might seem just as arbitrary as OVR but if we changed the rating to VAL and based it around the play-style/coaching style of the gamer and the resulting ‘fan value’ of a player it would make for a far more realistic experience in career modes and in the game.

Explaining The “Value Rating” In Detail With Examples

My suggested value rating would require an extremely ‘organic’ and amoeba-like rating system that changes from week to week and moment to moment. This would also likely be extremely difficult to develop without serious bugs in code, etc. – but why not consider it anyway?

It all starts with creating an initial philosophy. This will differ depending on at which level you are assuming control of your team (Owner, Coach, etc.). Some owners are all about making money first and having a great team second (think Randy Lerner in Cleveland). Other owners like to think they are the best judges of talent in the league (think Jerry Jones and the late Al Davis). Then you have owners like Robert Craft that support a coach that they trust and watch the victories (and the money) pour into their franchise.

Madden has started to make this type of change recently with Coaching Schemes playing a role in the ratings of players. However, this hasn’t translated to any real changes in the gameplay (which is a different discussion altogether). The downfall in this is that the players are still being judged on their scheme type and ratings in their OVR rather than their production and value to the franchise, team and fans.

The VAL rating would consider the percentage of time that player is on the field. How many times the player touched the ball and perhaps how often the gamer controls that player on defense. If you start taking into consideration the value you place on some players in terms of actually using them it becomes a much more involved and introspective gaming experience.

My Madden 13 CCM with the Cleveland Browns has reached the 2020 season and I have developed some of my players into some of the statistically best players that have ever played. My 2013 Draft Pick was a 2nd Rd QB, Mark Mallett out of Oregon State. He has developed into the best QB in the league averaging over 43 TDs and 5000 yards a season. He has also won four Super Bowls (with 4 MVPs to go with them). I decided that in his contract renewal process that I would reward him for being the franchise player that he is and I did this with a 6-Year $132 million deal. I followed that up with a deal for Joe Haden to stay with my team through the 2026 season. The moral of the story is that even if Mallett hadn’t progressed with his physical ratings he would still warrant a huge contract no matter what and this is because of his value… not his skills.

Tom Brady doesn’t exactly run like the wind… neither does Peyton Manning. Somehow they are still considered the two best QBs in the NFL. Sure, they have good arms and are accurate passers – but they are also smart/intelligent leaders. This is where the performance of players under ‘user/gamer’ control should start to develop this same Value as games and seasons progress.

What do you think? How should ratings be decided in sports gaming?

Madden 13 Roster Update – Top Rookies Included

The Madden 13 Roster Update 4-14-13 is available now! – Download Here

The time has come to get your fix of updated rosters. There have been some moves around the league lately and those moves have been accounted for (Cleveland’s recent trade for Dion Lewis being one of them). While some of the rookies have been re-rated due to prior creation having them too high for their projections in the original roster file.

If you don’t know how to transfer rosters here is a walkthrough for you.

If you would like fresh links for the USB Re-Hasher or Modio click the links below.

USB Re-Hasher

Modio

I cannot take full credit for these rosters as the base roster can be found here.

Stop Pulling The Trigger On Madden 13

Having trouble running the ball or making plays on defense? Your problem could be as simple as putting your finger on the RT or R2 button. If you tend to play Madden at a high speed or simply try to run down your opposition using the ‘turbo’ button you will notice that taking your foot off the gas a little will actually make the game play a bit better for you.

When you are trying to run the ball on offense take a little time to devote to not pressing the sprint button until you are well past your line of blockers. This is all due to the way the game has been programmed from the AI/CPU perspective. You will notice that every player on the opposing team will actually increase their speed once you hit that sprint button. This means that when you are early in your running plays and try to sprint through an open hole, you are actually inviting the other team to get there faster and stuff your play.

The same occurs on defense, but in a slightly different manner. When you see the CPU pitch the ball outside and try to get a running play to go around the edge and you move with your MLB to stomp it with the sprint button, you will almost always notice that the play will end up going for bigger yards than it should have. This is because the same principle exists on the other side of the ball. Keep your finger off the sprint button and you will notice your team will play much better.

Increasing The Longevity of Your Franchise Mode In Sports Games

In any sports game it is often the most desired game mode but it is also one of the hardest to have any sort of real longevity with – Franchise/Association/Connected Careers Mode.

Sports gamers often have to deal with a few different issues that keep them from playing more than one season (or even just one season). If you are one of the many gamers that suffer from these issues we will supply you with a few different solutions for giving you a more successful and longer lasting personal career/franchise mode.

Winning Too Much, Too Fast – Most of the typical elitists out there will get on your case if you are winning ‘too much’ and tell you that you need to turn your sliders up a few notches. While this might be the case (and often is) there are other means of making your game a bit more challenging.

The first is playing the game in a manner that takes your superior decision-making out of the equation and allowing the game to provide a decent challenge. In football games you will often see either an ‘Ask Madden’ or ‘Suggested Play/Pitch’ option – use that to the utmost and avoid making any changes to that play in order to keep the AI functioning. You will often notice that the CPU ‘cheats’ as you change plays on the fly. This is often a function of the game trying to challenge you. The AI doesn’t have the complex decision functions that you have in your head (yet), so be sure to let the game give you the challenge it is trying to give you.

Secondly, you may want to stop turning off the system before you lose a game. Losing sucks but you know what sucks more? Playing and winning every game, every season and then losing interest because your team is ‘so amazing’ that it is boring now. Do yourself a favor and be honest about your infatuation with winning every game. No NFL team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins has gone undefeated and one the Super Bowl. No Major League Baseball team has ever gone undefeated and the same can be said for pretty much every other league and sport around. Build your team and allow for the game to challenge you.

Thirdly, turn up the difficulty (there I said it). If this means turning the human sliders to ‘0’ because you are the greatest Madden gamer of all time, do it. Really the only person you have to answer to is yourself and it is mind-boggling to me how many people will say the game is too easy when they really aren’t challenging their gaming abilities past what they feel is ‘fair’.

Broken Progression – This was and is an issue with the hardcore Madden community as well as every other sports game. No one is ever happy with the way players grow in sports gaming – ever. It is much like anything else with people – you can’t make everyone happy all of the time. The best approach can be found in 2K Sports games and Madden 12 where you can go and edit the ratings of any and every player in the game to your heart’s content. Yet, there are still people out there that want to complain about that even being an option because they expect some sort of magic progression system for players.

Sadly, outside of the option to edit every rating for every player you will have to take it upon yourself to learn how the progression system ‘works’ and make it work for you. Madden 13 is largely dependent on production and XP growth based on what your players are doing on the field. While this makes a lot of sense to people it is totally wrong in the eyes of others that think some sort of mythological ‘potential’ rating is the way to go.

Too Easy To Build Team – Do yourself a favor and unleash your inner Billy Beane. Start building your team as if you’re on the strictest of budgets. Limit your potential contract offers to a set amount and you will quickly find that quality players are much harder to come by.

Another direction is to build in the exact opposite manner – spend big money on big players. A good starting point is to determine/find a franchise player. Whether it is a quarterback in football or a cornerstone like Albert Pujols in baseball, put your money where your hopes are and make it a big contract. This will help limit your spending in other parts of your roster.

Can’t Pick A Team – This is something that most people find to be a common problem and it is often the primary reason why a single-player career mode/franchise mode ends within the first three seasons. You have a few options that can help you in this journey to finding longevity in franchise mode.

The first option is finding a team that needs a lot of work. Often you will find the most fun in building one of the worst teams in the game. In Madden, you will often find that a team like the Browns needs quite a bit of help. In that same breath, you can use teams like the Indians, Marlins or Astros in a baseball game or a team like the Sacramento Kings in basketball games.

The second option is changing your team after a few seasons. Thankfully, in most sports games this is an option after every season. If you win a few championships with a team and you want a change of pace, quit that team in the off-season and take the worst team in the league and try to build them into a contender that will last long after you leave. The best way to see if you have truly built a great team is to build them up and then find a new job. Track the progress of your old team and it will be like watching a Chia Pet grow wild.

Yet another direction you can go with a team in franchise mode is setting up an online story for people to follow. This will allow you to have a deeper connection to the team you are using and a bit of ownership to keep other people updated on what’s going on. In many cases, you will find that it gives you the ability to become a better storyteller. Also, you should take this as an opportunity to completely change the team to your liking. While this is certainly something that most people think when going into their career mode they usually let their interest go by the wayside.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 – Multiplayer Impressions

If you weren’t among the millions of people that were waiting outside of your local gaming store last night at midnight – do not fret. The Black Ops 2 multiplayer is something that isn’t going to surprise anyone that has played Call of Duty before. The game handles just like the games of the past. However, there are a few things outside of the ‘new’ score-streaks that make Black Ops 2 a bit different from other COD games.

The first Black Ops game suffered from major problems with lag and hit detection. Black Ops 2 is noticeably better in this aspect because it seems to handle a bit smoother and simply feels more fluid when either aiming or simply moving around the map. This doesn’t mean that everything is great and wonderful in the COD universe though. Many things seem like they will never change and that is almost always the case with Call of Duty games.

Quick-Scoping Is Still There

Perhaps one of the most annoying aspects of Call of Duty games is the persistent presence of quick-scoping in the game that takes advantage of what feels like a more and more simplified shooter game. Another issue that follows this is aim-assist, if a player walks past or near your cross hairs you can expect to see your weapon movie with them slightly. This, once again is another reason for people that hate Call of Duty to stay away from it and play Battlefield 3 or Halo 4 (a fantastic accomplishment for 343 Industries).

Recoil Is Still Minimal

When aiming down sight you will notice that firing your weapon is still relatively simple to do without a lot of movement from the firing (recoil). Some of the weapons (especially the MP7) are slightly more unstable than their Modern Warfare counter-parts, but that doesn’t mean they have a lot of recoil issues. This is yet again another factor that many people simply don’t need to ask about. Call of Duty has never had any issues or dedication to being a simulation experience. This game is about jumping in and shooting up your enemies – everything else is out the window… including recoil.

Class Customization

This can either be the great equalizer or the worst part of a COD game. If you look at the problems that were in MW2 (Danger Close with Scavenger coupled with RPGs and NoobTubes (grenade launchers)) you will see that the new approach to perks and class customization are going to be key in making your experience something that is not only all your own, but also something that is practical, tactical and effective.

We will be devoting the coming months to some of the newest games. Christmas lists are starting to fill up with dreams of putting digital bullets through digital skulls in our favorite shooter games. NoobTubeTV will be there all the way through to help you become a better and more informed gamer.
Happy Hunting