Suggestions – Page 8

Will Games Change Their Digital Approach Next Generation?

Now that we are firmly into the high speed internet age and online functionality has become almost synonymous with every game on the market (including the ubiquitous ‘patching’ of games). The issue many sports gamers are running into is that they are pouring $60+ into games that come out every year with minor improvements/changes and roster updates. This has caused sports gamers to generally ask on occasion why developers like EA and 2K won’t simply release a cheaper update to the game every other year or so instead of requiring the purchase of new software every single year.

The most obvious responses are ‘…because people are buying the games in droves” and “Why would you stop milking your cash cow when it is obviously still producing results?”

The issue at hand in the coming generation of consoles is that they will be largely focused on digital content more-so than even these current consoles seem to be. While the PlayStation Store and XBox Marketplace are doing well and provide services to subscribers/gamers it seems like only a matter of time before you will have to start buying certain content by sections rather than a full-fledged title.

Some games like Call of Duty, Battlefield and Halo could potentially be sold in three different ways.

Online Multiplayer
Offline Story Mode/Campaign
Full Game (Online and Offline Content)

This isn’t the first time that something like this has been suggested. You can go to virtually any rumor mill site for gaming and read about an industry analyst talking about the likelihood of a game like Call of Duty charging people to play online. The issue that gamers should be considering is whether or not they are happy with the current state of games. Whether or not you are paying extra for maps, add-ons or even avatar clothing you have to appreciate how smooth the transition has been between the PS2/XBox to the PS3 and 360 in terms of online interactivity and microtransactions like coins for Madden Ultimate Team.

We will soon be entering a new realm of digital content distribution. Considering the actions of developers in the last 18 months, you shouldn’t be surprised if you will have options to buy games by piecemeal or some sort of full-game combo.

If you disagree about the outlook or attitude towards some aspects of games (such as story mode/campaign) you should ask Battlefield or Call of Duty gamers if they have played more than 45 minutes of the campaign mode.

The fact that Battlefield has a disc for campaign mode on 360 says a lot (even if it is simply due to space)… my campaign disc has been in the system for less than two hours – total.

Get ready for some big changes next gen.

Q1 of 2013 Is Going To Make It Feel Like Christmas Again

One of the best parts about the holiday season is the release of new games. From Halo to Call of Duty and through the gauntlet of other adventure games like Assassin’s Creed and Hitman we are usually spoiled with a treasure trove of games to sink our free time into. Typically, you will see a dramatic slowdown in the summertime because most people are on vacation or outside getting in shape for the beach (PS – You should be starting that now).

The second best time of the year for gamers is March. March is the typical month where you will find that games have been pushed to in order to avoid competing with big-money/big-name titles like the Call of Duties of the world. This year we have quite a few games coming out that should prove to excite almost every genre of gamer from late January through March.

The first game we have to look forward to is Company of Heroes 2. CoH2 is continuing the franchise that puts real-time strategy into World War 2. Real-time strategy is a simple concept that can (and does) get rather involved as you get further into the
game. The general way of looking at this is from the base understanding that you are a commander telling troops where to go and what to do rather than just pointing and shooting. Company of Heroes is a great game for anyone that is a fan of WW2 history or simply a fan of RTS games. This game is for the PC, so be sure that you take a look into the system requirements before jumping into this title. If you need a game that will give you the ability to play online against others or simply go against the CPU and try to work on your decision-making and strategic abilities you will get that and more with Company of Heroes 2.

The best part about strategic games is that they aren’t always some sort of battlefield commander genre. One of the best franchises ever has a new direction coming this February in Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance. Revengeance is taking the Metal Gear franchise in a new direction with an old face for fans of the series. Raiden made his presence known in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The downfall to this was that many fans (especially American fans) of the series were let down that Solid Snake was only present for the first part of the game before making a cameo in Raiden’s portion of MGS2.

Why was Raiden disliked by American gamers? He was designed as a long-haired blonde twenty-something (already sounds a bit feminine, right?). Not to mention the fact that he didn’t have much of a personality. Even Solid Snake (the ultimate non-emotional ‘Mr. Mission’) had something more to him than Raiden’s almost whiny persona.

That all changed in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns 0f the Patriots where Raiden came back as a cyborg ninja that resembled Grey Fox from the first MGS game. Raiden suddenly became a character that people wanted to utilize and get to know. He developed some sword play in MGS 2 but MGS 4 took it to new heights and now that he is the featured protagonist in MGS Rising: Revengeance – you know more people will want to check this game out.

Now that we are getting closer to March at this point – why not focus on the most anticipated title of 2013 – Grand Theft Auto 5.

GTAV is going to blow the minds of gamers everywhere when it releases (or rather – if it still releases) in March should break almost every sales record. This is going to continue the trend for free-roaming violence with a decent storyline for people itching to get out and enjoy the chaos brought on by warmer weather. If this game is delayed yet again, you should expect it to release in May. This would simply continue the same trend that other Rockstar games have created over the last few years – namely Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire.

Quick Tips For A Happy Christmas of Gaming

You just got it! The game you have been waiting for for months (or years). Now the time has come to go into your gaming realm and avoid the family on this joyous day! There are a few things to consider quickly before we let you go bury yourself in gaming bliss.

It is Christmas Day and you are a noob. It doesn’t have to suck… but you have some things you have to do first.

MAKE SURE IT IS THE RIGHT GAME! – Did you get the game for the correct system? Is it the right version (Battlefield 3 or Battlefield 3 Premium)? Is it brand new?… If it is, don’t be too immediate taking off that plastic wrap and use the 10 seconds you have to read the game and make sure it is the right one!
Is there an installation necessary? – If there is some sort of time involved to install the game before you even get a chance to play it (Metal Gear Solid 4… or any game you want to put on your 360 HDD to prevent unnecessary spinning of the disc) you should go get it started and then find something else to do/open.
Give yourself a moment to learn the feel of the game if it is an FPS. This is primarily for online shooters like Call of Duty or Halo. (Don’t let yourself be the ‘Christmas Noob’)
If you are getting Madden or any other sports game make sure you give yourself a challenge and get some sliders before you jump into a career mode. This can often be key in having strong longevity in your games.
If there is DLC you want/need make sure you buy the points first and give yourself the time needed to download and install.

Happy Holidays and Happy Gaming

Crossing The Anger Bridge and Enjoying Games Again

Over the last seven years or so something happened to my overall enjoyment of games. It went from a fun-filled hobby and past-time to some sort of hardcore, anger filled, ‘if you ain’t first you’re last’, no holds barred, screaming at my TV, stress-filled and slightly enjoyable time to myself.

I had to find out what was going on in my head. It wasn’t until I read a couple articles on Kotaku and was put on ‘probation’ by Call of Duty Black Ops 2 for rage quitting out of matches that I figured it out. I was caring way too much about winning. Winning what?… who knows. There aren’t any prizes for having a positive KDr in any game. There isn’t any reason to think (or desire) some sort of pro-gaming status (considering I am currently employed and I’m just not that dedicated to become ‘pro’ at something so trivial) besides the fact that I’m also not among the best in the world (at any game). Why was I getting so angry? That is the first question I had to ask before I came to a solution.

The primary reason I was getting angry with FPS games was due to the online component. Whether it was network lag, my own lack of skill, my team’s lack of skill or people camping like cowards – there was always something pushing my buttons. It wasn’t until the other day that I simply stopped caring about all of it. My KDr in Black Ops 2 is currently 1.02. I am going even almost every time out and that isn’t terrible but it also isn’t amazing. The real question is why do I really care about it anyway?

A lot of the reasons why people rage quit is because they hold pride in their KDr. Let go, my friends…. let go. When you start playing the game for fun you will find something even more important than your KDr is doing better – your stress level. No one wants to be in a room where you are cussing and screaming about getting killed by some quick scoping camper. If they are the type of person that wants to use a cheap way to get kills, let them do that and stop going the same direction. Or… you can also hit the power button and do something else.

Another point of frustration in my gaming came from Madden 13. I have only played one online game (and my opponent quit in the second quarter) but that isn’t where my stress came from. It came from the dumbest AI in all of gaming. In Madden in All-Madden difficulty you are going to watch the CPU cheat – blatantly. I have seen my team go up 21-0 and somehow stop moving the ball or doing anything right. I have been fully aware of EA putting in (and denying) CPU comeback AI (aka cheating CPU teams to make for a ‘better game’) but it wasn’t until I lost a couple key games that I started to get annoyed. Then all it started to take was one bogus interception or terrible throw from my up-to-that-point perfect throwing QB and I would quit out of the game.

Stop worrying about the losses. No one is watching you and if something is watching you – you should be ashamed to simply back out of a game that might have been on its way to being somewhat entertaining for them to watch. (Pro Tip – many people hate watching sports games, so game with care when you have company)

Before you start screaming at your TV (or at the heavens) when you get killed in Halo, COD, BF3 or lose at any game – ask yourself this question.

WHY AM I PLAYING VIDEO GAMES RIGHT NOW?

If your answer is anything other than ‘To win tons of money and further my bogus pro-gaming career.” you should have a much easier time having fun again and walking away with a little less stress in your life.

Scouting In Madden 13 – Your Guide To Scouting Every Player Effectively

Madden 13 has the new scouting system that essentially allows you to ‘buy’ information on each prospect. There are a few ways you can go about scouting, but we are going to give you the most efficient way to use your points and find potential talent in the draft.

Aren’t you glad they changed some of the costs of the scouting categories?…. 3000 for scheme?!

The first thing you have to do is determine your teams needs. This will help the allocation go a bit more smoothly when it comes to scouting points. Once you determine your team needs and your coach’s schemes (offense and defense) you can start looking at the players. I am of the opinion that OVR is the most overrated and un-sim rating in gaming. We will give you a quick way to look for the best OVR players and then a quick way to find the best players in general (depending on your play-style) and we will assume that your coach gets 2000 points as a motivator for scouting.

FOR BEST OVR RATINGS

Scout These Categories ($cost)

Awareness ($100)– If they have a ‘B’ it means they will have a closer OVR to 80 or maybe even mid-80s if they fit your scheme (you should be able to scout at least 20 players’ AWR each week with this.
Scheme ($25)– This is a key for a higher OVR for a player once they are on your team. If you go after a player that isn’t going to fit your scheme, expect his rating to drop once he is on your team.
Position Specific Ratings ($50-100)– These are pretty obvious things to scout for some player – we will give you a full run-down later.

FINDING THE BEST PLAYERS

I’m not much for finding the highest OVRs in the draft. I like to find players that come in with raw talent that needs to be built in some way. With that said, if you are more of a realistic team-builder or just want to possibly find that hidden gem in the draft that has the best OVR anyway – use these tips:

Position Specific Ratings ($50-100)– For some reason there are a ton of CBs and WRs that are amazing and are projected to be 3rd-7th Rd picks. Look up the CTH and RLS Ratings for WRs and if you can find someone with a 90+ RLS, snag him as late as you can. With a CB, a lot will depend on your preferred defense, but look up their MCV and ZCV first to find out if they are decent at covering anyone first. If the coverage ratings are low, you should stay away from them as they will be useless on the field.
Speed ($100)- This is unfortunately still the most important rating in many ways. The only position this should rarely (almost never) be used on is OLinemen. Otherwise, you should look this up for your WRs and HBs every time. If they have a B or lower, you should think twice about drafting them high or at all. (This might change if you need a possession WR or a power HB though)
Strength ($100)- Check this out as it does tend to matter a little bit more in this Madden. Find a stronger lineman later in the draft and you might have a decent player to build in the future.

The best part about knowing what to look for first is that once you see a rating that is low in an important category, you don’t have to waste anymore time or points on that prospect. This is what will allow you to scout almost every player out there and have a great draft board from your first pick to your last pick!

My Favorite Ratings To Scout For Each Position

QBs – Throw Power, Throw Accuracy, Throw On Run, Injury, Toughness

HBs – Speed, Elusiveness, Trucking, Spin, Juke, Injury, Toughness

WRs – Catching, Release, Catch In Traffic, Speed, Injury, Toughness

OLs – Run Block, Pass Block, Strength, Impact Block, Awareness

DEs – Tackle, Hit Power, Speed

DTs – Tackle, Hit Power, Power Moves

LBs – Tackle, Hit Power, Speed, Play Recognition, Awareness, Zone Coverage, Injury, Toughness

CBs – Speed, Man Coverage, Zone Coverage, Awareness

FSs – Speed, Tackle, Hit Power, Zone Coverage, Man Coverage

SSs – Speed, Tackle, Hit Power, Zone Coverage, Man Coverage

Are Shooter Games Starting To Lose Their Appeal?

You can only re-hash the same thing so many times before it is no longer desired. This goes for movies (see – Saw, Rocky, Rambo, Star Wars (the new crappy ones) as much as it goes for music and video games. In gaming we are starting to experience something that isn’t too dissimilar. Every November we expect a new Call of Duty game. While COD is the most common direction people look when it comes to games being the same every year, it is also a trend that is getting (or has gotten) old very fast.

I am almost to my second prestige in Black Ops 2. While this isn’t shocking to the many people that have already reached the 5th or 10th prestige it is something relatively new to me. I didn’t prestige in Modern Warfare 3 and I thought I would give it a chance in Black Ops 2. The problem with this is the fact that I am playing games and leveling up in their second and third iterations. There have been some changes along the way, but the one thing that remains a constant is the move towards an almost exclusively multiplayer focused game that revolves around leveling, leaderboards and people trying to make it big on YouTube.

While there are other games that are being milked as a franchise (Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear, Angry Birds and let’s not forget sports games and their wonderful annual roster updates) – it seems that shooters are still the cash-cow that get most of the development attention. There have been some reports/rumors that Call of Duty is starting to see a slight decline in sales. Does this really surprise you? Madden and NCAA have also both started to see a decline in sales over the last few years. While there have been some fluctuations to these numbers in some cases, it should tell the gaming industry from production company to developer that gamers want new games with new ideas.

If you want to look for hope in gaming, take a look at what some of the indie game developers are putting out. Support their cause, but please… demand creativity instead of sequels. That is so… Michael Bay.

The Best of The Worst – Teams to Turn Around In Sports Gaming

Now that we are well over half-way through the NFL season and the NBA season has already put some fans in the mind of ‘maybe next year’ there are quite a few teams to choose from when it comes to wanting a challenge or simply some sort of revival story to build a team around in a sports game.

Madden 13 –

Kansas City – Romeo Crennel has made Brady Quinn the starting QB in KC. Can you take this team of terribad from laughing stock to the playoffs? You will have plenty of youth to build around such as Eric Berry, Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe and even Glenn Dorsey. Your first goal should be finding a decent QB to help this team achieve greatness.

Cleveland – The Browns are a perennial sad sack. While this is a team that has consistently under-performed there are multiple ways for you to take Cleveland to the next level. There are a lot of great young players on this team, but you will need to make a quick decision on whether to keep Brandon Weeden or move on in one of the upcoming drafts.

Arizona – Once again, you are getting ready to take a team that needs a QB answer (and fast)… see a theme here? The Cardinals have a couple decent players to build around, but you will have to take your time and figure out how to answer some tough questions – including whether or not you want to keep Larry Fitzgerald around if you don’t have a QB to throw him the ball. That could result in a lot of decent trade offers if you decide to put him on the trade block as well. While it may sound crazy, it is something to consider.

New York Jets – The Jets are a mess. One of the best things that could happen to this team is to get rid of their QBs… all of them. Then make a few decisions about how you want to build this franchise from the ground up. There are some players like Stephen Hill at WR that could be nice projects to build around, but then you have players like Darrelle Revis, Santonio Holmes and Shonn Greene that could be moved for draft picks so that you can build a team made to last rather than a team built to make headlines for publicity stunts (see Tim Tebow).

Jacksonville – More than just a team that has no real talent, they are constantly a threat to be moved to Los Angeles. Since EA Tiburon took the option to move your team to another city out of the game (they enjoy taking features away) you have to make moves and stay in Jacksonville to make this team better. If you win three games in your first season you can consider it a somewhat successful year. Get a new QB, trade away MJD and do your best to find some talent for this team that seems to be the biggest laughing stock of the NFL.

Carolina – The Panthers are one of the few teams on this list that have a QB in Cam Newton. On the other hand, they have a lot of other places on their team that need vast improvement. While they have a great MLB in Luke Kuechly they are pretty much limited to having just those players to build around. Make use of the trade block and build this team around future picks that you can get from trading away players like DeAngelo Williams, Steve Smith, Jonathan Stewart, Chris Gamble and any other player you can do without.

Dallas – Talk about a team that makes you scratch your head. The Cowboys are consistently picked to be a playoff team but in the end it is their egotistical owner that really makes the worst decisions for the future of this team. Make a new story for the Cowboys that will allow them to make smart personnel decisions. This means getting rid of the most overrated QB in the NFL – Tony Romo. Also, you may want to consider getting what you can for DeMarcus Ware.

Oakland – The first step in this team growing was the death of the Crypt Keeper, Al Davis. The next step is building this franchise to be more than glorified Speed Ratings. Make a decision on how you want to build the offense and defense – that means possibly taking a chance on Terrelle Pryor or going in a totally new direction. Then start building the defense into something to be feared like it was in the 1970s.

NBA 2K13 –

Cleveland – The Cavs are a young team that has a cornerstone in Kyrie Irving but that isn’t enough as they need to work on getting this talent to be more than potential prospects. They need to grow up fast and that could mean a lot of work for you in Association Mode.

Washington – The Wizards are laughingly bad. Sure, John Wall is amazing – but really they are flatout awful. Get ready to trade a lot of your best players like Okafor just to get some prospects.

Detroit – Only a few years ago the Pistons were powerful and feared. Now they are hilarious to watch on the court. They look more like a team getting ready to face the Globetrotters than an NBA team at times. This is a team built around unwanted journeymen and bad trades. It will take you a few seasons to turn them around – but it will be worth it.

Sacramento – Considering the fact that the Maloofs are looking to move this team to Las Vegas, you can tell that they are in need for some improvement. The Kings were once one of the best teams in the west, but now they are often forgotten when people talk about NBA teams. I forget they exist half of the time. I call them the Wizards of the west.

New Orleans – This team got the equivalent of a bailout from the NBA. Chris Paul said bye-bye and now they are being built around the unibrow of Anthony Davis. New Orleans needs more than yet another Kentucky product with an IQ less than his scoring average to turn this team around.

Orlando – Dwight Howard is gone. This move was similar to that of LeBron James leaving Cleveland. How will you bring the magic back to Orlando?

MLB 12 –

Cleveland – Talk about a team with a chance to make big strides with a new manager. Terry Francona is the new skipper and you will have to make a few moves to bring some pitching and power to this lineup.

Houston – Do something… anything. Even if it means creating a steroid infused Roger Clemens to come back and pitch this team to at least 20 wins. It is a bad time to be an Astros fan, but now that they are moving to the American League it could make for a fun journey… albeit – a long and tough one.

Colorado – They made an incredible run a few years ago, but this team needs pitching in the worst way. Take it upon yourself to manage the thin air and find a way to make Denver cheer for a team not called the Broncos.

Miami – They just fired Ozzie Guillen and now they are selling off their players. This is a team that will take a lot of patience to build into more than a one-year wonder. Do it the right way and you will have something to be proud of in the end.

Pittsburgh – This team was on the cusp of making the playoffs in 2012. Take the power in the steel city and bring this team back to their past glory. They have a great ballpark and with players like McCutchen to build around it could be a lot of fun.

Oakland – One of my favorite movies of the last few years was Moneyball. Billy Beane took a chance in using stats and fantasy baseball type of projections to build his team. Take it to the next step and help them win it all.

Seattle – My favorite player of all-time is Ken Griffey Jr. When I saw him go back to Seattle to finish his career it was bitter-sweet. I would love to see this team be more than just a great pitcher like Felix Henandez – they need better players and that starts with you making the moves to bring the talent back to Seattle.

NHL 13 –

Who cares? The NHL season is dead and the sport of hockey on its way out of almost every person’s consciousness.

Pick any team you want – but the best of the worst would be the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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.

Developing Players In Madden 13

We recently talked about building your team in Madden 13. There are many different ways to do this strictly by picking up talented players that

SaraMccrop — You can help save these players without a team. Please just make sure you take the time to play with them!

are rated as such. On the flip-side, there are also many other players out there that are diamonds in the rough. You can make it your mission to take some players out of the late rounds of the draft or even pick them up during the preseason as other teams give up on them because of low overall ratings.

You need to take some chances on players you might not know about and that will often mean scouring the free agent market during the pre-season for a player that could make all the difference for you in the current season or simply develop him into a future star.

There are a few different ways to look for a player that might ‘fly under the radar’. The first is to look at position specific ratings and determine if they are what you are looking for in a player at that position. Assuming you even need someone at that position.

Quarterbacks are some of the easier ones to look for as far as ratings go, but they will often be the first ones to go during the preseason. Look at their Throw Power and Throwing Accuracy ratings. If you run a West Coast offense you don’t need a QB with 95+ THP, but you do need them to have good-to-great accuracy when throwing short and medium routes. If you prefer a more vertical passing attack, you will want someone with a higher THP (like 95+) and a better accuracy for deep passes. The moral of the story is – If the shoe fits, pick up the QB you need. As you develop a QB you should focus on improving their passing ratings first rather than some sort of speed increases.

Runningbacks are a different breed when it comes to determining what is a ‘steal’ (assuming you need one). The first thing you will notice is that developing a runningback will be costly if you want to increase their SPD rating. If you want a ‘fast’ HB, make sure he is fast before you pick him up. As well, pay close attention to his ratings in Carrying and Injury/Toughness. A decent HB can have his season and career derailed if he takes a shot from a powerful MLB or Safety. The ratings for a HB that need to be increased in order to develop their market value are the AWR and Carrying ratings. Use your XP on these and your HB will be a force to be reckoned with… or traded in his late 20’s.

Receivers are among the most common diamonds in the rough. They are also the easiest to stock up on and never use… therefore, losing a roster spot just to carry a potential talent. Receivers need to have the obvious CTH (catch) rating, but they also need to have a few others that you can easily build up if you get them enough playing time and touches. The AWR rating is something that can effect a WR as he needs to be able to know when the ball is thrown and where to run his routes. Also, there is an issue of getting your potential diva WR the ball often enough to build him up. I am currently in a situation where I have eight (8) WRs on my team. I have turned the Browns into a pass first team, but in the process I have also over-stocked my team with WRs. Here are a few of my current project players –

Offensive Line is another easy place to upgrade players, but you should really make sure you draft them with great ratings first. It isn’t often you will put an under-rated O-Lineman on the field to protect your QB. On the other side of this argument, you can always grab a lineman with great strength and size, put him on the line and try to dominate with the running or passing game (whichever is his focus for XP) and develop him in that fashion.

The hardest players to develop are Defensive Linemen and Linebackers. The reason being that they develop most of their XP through tackling statistics. The issue is that tackling stats are broken in Madden 13 and the interactions between defensive players and offensive blockers is shaky at best. You will want to increase the Tackle ratings first and then move on to increase every player to ‘Big Hitter’ status so they cause more fumbles as well as increasing their Hit Power ratings.

Depending on what type of coverage you run for your defensive backs you will want to focus on their coverage ratings as well as their press ratings. If you are running a lot of man-coverage with your CBs you will want to increase their MCV ratings first as well as their Press rating if they are a physical type of player. Their XP is generally determined by how many INTs they get during the course of the year and if you can develop a talented defensive backfield you will be almost unstoppable.

When it comes to safeties you will want to look at how you have them playing as well. I have a defense made up of ‘enforcers’ like Laron Landry and TJ Ward… if you come across the middle you will end up with a broken jaw because these are like Honey Badgers… they don’t give a s**t! Make sure you up their Zone Coverage ratings as well as their tackling and hit power as they are often the last line of defense if someone does get past your front-seven. The last thing you want are a bunch of DBs trying to ‘tackle’ like Deion Sanders.

Kickers require a lot of field goals in order to increase their stats. The bad thing about this is that most people want to score touchdowns rather than kicking a lot of FGs. Whenever you want to increase your kick power you will notice that it starts to get really expensive after awhile. Your best bet is to pick up a kicker with a high kick power rating starting off.

Punters are along the same lines as kickers. How many teams really ‘want’ to punt? Try to pick up these players as you go and hope that they have the high kick power ratings that you need rather than try to build them up.