Tag: Football

Beware of Slider Nazis – Madden 13

We are only a few days from the release of NCAA 13 and just over a month from Madden 13.  That being said, you can almost smell the football in the air.  Unfortunately, you can also smell  the elitist sports gamers over the internet.  Readying their little fingers to type angry messages in response to your excited Franchise Mode Connected Career performance updates that may or may not include winning a Super Bowl with the Cleveland Browns in 2013.

Usually your success with a ‘weaker’ team is going to be attributed to your Slider Settings.  These wonderful additions to sports games have been around for awhile.  They are meant to act as a way for you (the end user) to tune the gameplay in order for you to either make the game play like your opinion of simulation (or Arcade – which Madden is usually a fine example of every year).  It then becomes a war of words and Slider Settings in the messageboards and sports gaming communities.

Your typical interaction with a slider nazi could sound (read) like this.

———

You – I just won the Super Bowl with the Browns!  It was amazing!  We managed to sweep the AFC North behind the amazing play of Trent Richardson (led the league in rushing and TDs) and our under-rated defense!  We beat the Cowboys 24-10 as Brandon Weeden connected with Josh Cribbs on a screen pass that ended up sealing the deal late in the game!

Responding (Hater) Slider Nazi – You obviously have to change your sliders!  There is no way the Browns will EVER win a Super Bowl, let alone this year.  You need to make sure your run blocking is tuned down if Trent Richardson is leading the league as a rookie.  Not to mention the fact that the Browns are terrible… wow.  big props to you on beating the weak CPU to a pulp.  Did you have the difficulty set to Rookie?

———

There are two ways to look at this conversation and neither of them is necessarily wrong.

1 – If you enjoy your game, no one should be able to tell you how to enjoy it otherwise.  If you truly have a good time winning the Super Bowl with ANY team, let alone a team like the Browns, Cavaliers,  Kansas City Royals, Western Michigan or Columbus Blue Jackets… more power to you.

2 – There is something to be said for a game giving you a challenge.  While the reactions of many sports gamers (such as the example above) are blown out of proportion, you should often consider if your sliders are providing you with the best challenge while still being fair to both sides.  I have played 18 Collective Seasons in Madden 12’s Franchise Mode with teams such as the Browns, Bears and Jaguars.  I won a few Super Bowls with the Browns and decided I wanted a new challenge so I switched teams and tweaked my sliders.  It was three seasons before I won a Super Bowl with the Bears and the Jaguars team I inherited after leaving the Bears is going to be rough to work with.

College Football Playoffs – The Nail In NCAA Football 13’s Coffin

It is starting to look rather bleak to be a football gaming fan this year.  Between the debacle with Madden’s limitations to the user and the growing distaste for EA’s monopoly on football gaming in-general.

Now that the NCAA has finally approved a playoff for college football to find a true champion it is a curious situation for EA’s yet-to-be released college title this year.  While this year and even next year’s titles will technically be correct in the bowls and the fact that the BCS will still exist… it does leave us to wonder what is the point of playing a game that will soon see it’s career/dynasty mode become pre-obsolete as gamers want nothing more than the ability to create the playoff system they have always wanted.

EA can’t catch a break.

What are your thoughts on NCAA 13 at this point?

NCAA Football 13 – The Lame Duck Term

The first day for E3 was an amazing one for Madden fans (more on that to come).  However, the same cannot be said for NCAA Football fans.

You have heard of lame duck terms in politics… get ready to see one in sports gaming (again).

It was announced that NCAA Football 13 will not have Real Time Physics like it’s pro counter-part.  On top of that, you have bigger issues facing NCAA Football (the game and the actual real-life money hungry institution).  There will also be no way to import draft classes between the two games.  Granted, this ‘feature’ has been broken for years and with the new intensely improved rookie classes and draft for Madden… who really needs to import the same broken logic players?

If you consider the issues of an impending Playoff format and everything else with teams flip-flopping, this could be a lame duck year for NCAA Football 13.  This is going to render NCAA Football into a bit of a dead-zone for gamers that aren’t die hard fans of the series. How much fun or longevity will there be for your Dynasty Mode if you aren’t able to institute the coming Playoff Format?  What about the idea of 20-Team Super Conferences?  Right now you are limited to 16 teams per conference.

It isn’t really a game killer, but EA really needs to step it up next season on the college football front if they hope to have sales even close to what they were for NCAA 11 and 12.

NCAA Football and Madden will have the same control scheme this year (for the first time ever in this generation of gaming consoles) but that is where the similarities seem to die.  Much like NCAA 10, NCAA 13 is going to be a game that many people will skip because it won’t have the same advances that people were/are hoping for that will make the game more realistic in the actual guts of moving players around the field.  Now with the news that NCAA Football doesn’t have the same Real Time Physics Engine that Madden 13 has… it could be a rough year for college football gaming fans.

Are you passing on NCAA Football this season?  Post your comments below!

Da Bears Franchise – Finishing Season 1

The Bears managed to run off a 5-Game winning streak and make it into the Playoffs!  We pushed through and made it to the NFC Title Game!

Unfortunately, the Packers were waiting at Lambeau Field with a chip on their shoulder from losing to us on our way to the playoffs.

Here is the highlight/lowlight of the final game of our first season in Chicago!