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Thursday,
June 8th, 2011
The Last Great Hope?????

With
the news of Terrelle Pryor leaving Ohio State amid
the allegations I got to wondering. Is Ohio State
the last team from the north in the near future
to challenge the mighty SEC? It has been widely
known about the SEC’s dominance over the past five
years and honestly before that. Sure you will have
the USC’s, Texas’s and yes the Ohio State’s rise
up every now and then but for the most part the
SEC is getting the dominating teams and showcasing
them on Saturday’s in the fall. My reasoning for
this is simple; Recruiting. It’s obviously what
makes the College Football world go around. Kids
these days don’t want to go to a north college where
it’s cold and snowy when playing games late in the
season. Kids, when given the choice have proven
that the beach, sun, and beautiful girls is the
biggest recruiter that there is, and when you talk
about beautiful girls there is no better place to
go than the SEC.
Now
I am not a SEC guy, I do live in the center of SEC
country but I am definitely not a SEC guy; I am
a ACC guy actually but even though you cheer for
one you have to acknowledge the dominance of the
other. Ohio State cheated, Jim Tressel is a Cheater,
and Terrelle Pryor believes he is bigger than he
actually is because people had him believe as such.
USC is or was full of cheaters, but if you think
that Lane Kiffin is squeaky clean than I have some
land I would like to sell you. Now I am not here
to say that the SEC doesn’t cheat because everyone
knows they do. In my opinion only Vanderbilt is
clean in that conference, but in that conference
cheating gets you to National Championships and
getting caught will knock you down for a couple
of years but you can get back in four to five years
because you are in the SEC. In my opinion Ohio State
is looking at becoming Notre Dame here soon.
The
north over the last many years in College Football
has really had only one constant team; THE Ohio
State Buckeyes. Now that they will no doubt take
a step back who’s the team in the north? The Notre
Dame Fighting Irish was the team in College Football
pretty much since the start of football to 1993.
After that though they just became another school
who would be ok every now and then but when they
were bad they were really bad. Ohio State I believe
is going that route and every now and then will
be good and win Big Ten titles but they will not
be what we thought Ohio State was anymore. Michigan
has taken a significant step back, Notre Dame has
taken a significant step back, and Ohio State is
soon going to join them.
It’s
is simply much harder to get good football players
to play in the north these days. Iowa is good, and
Wisconsin is good but neither has challenged for
National Titles really in the past decade. As Ohio
State though has proven in the past, all you have
to do is go undefeated and you will be given the
benefit of the doubt and placed in the National
Championship Game, so it is not to say a north team
can’t make it to the National Championship Game,
but the south, and west mostly the south’s dominance
in College Football is going to continue for the
foreseeable future.
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Thursday,
June 2nd, 2011
A Release date and info has been released for
UFC Undisputed 3

UFC®
UNDISPUTED™ 3 RETURNS TO VIRTUAL OCTAGON™ ACTION
IN JANUARY 2012 WITH INTENSE TOE-TO-TOE COMBAT AND
INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY
Critically Acclaimed and Best-Selling Mixed Martial
Arts Videogame Franchise Set to Bring Players Closer
to the Action with PRIDE® Mode, New Weight Classes
and Extensive Roster
THQ
Inc. and Zuffa, LLC today announced the first gameplay
details surrounding UFC® Undisputed™ 3, the new
installment in the critically acclaimed and best-selling
mixed martial arts (MMA) videogame franchise based
on the Ultimate Fighting Championship®. Poised to
take players inside the virtual Octagon® with extensive
focus on intense toe-to-toe combat, impressive visual
presentation and significantly increased accessibility,
including the introduction of PRIDE® Mode, two new
weight classes and an impressive playable roster
of more than 150 UFC fighters, UFC Undisputed 3
is currently in development for the Xbox 360® video
game and entertainment system and PlayStation®3
computer entertainment system, with a scheduled
release timing of January 2012.
“UFC
Undisputed 3 is on track to deliver an incredible
virtual MMA experience unlike any other,” said Danny
Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ.
“This product is intense, engaging and highly competitive
while still being extremely accessible, making it
a must-have for millions of UFC fans, traditional
fighting game enthusiasts and more casual sports
fans around the world.”
“We
are excited to launch UFC Undisputed 3 in January
2012 and expect it to be the best version yet,”
UFC President Dana White said. “We’ve added two
new weight classes and several new features to the
game that will bring UFC fans closer to the Octagon
than ever before.”
About
UFC Undisputed 3
UFC Undisputed 3 will mark the debut of PRIDE Mode,
enabling players to fight for the first time in
the renowned Japanese MMA organization. The mode
will include official commentators Bas Rutten and
Stephen Quadros, authentic environments and notorious
MMA rules, including the ability to execute soccer-style
kicks, head stomps and ground knees to the head.
Finishing an opponent will be more important than
ever through devastating new moves, responsive striking
controls, refined visual presentation and the introduction
of a brand new submission system. In addition, players
will now enter the Octagon with a choice between
traditional and simplified gameplay control options,
enabling them, regardless of skill level, to experience
the intensity of UFC and nuances of MMA combat while
executing simple standing strikes or more complex
ground and transition mechanics.
Players
will also experience the excitement of a live UFC
event through significant visual improvements, including
the introduction of much-anticipated fighter entrances,
new camera positions, improved facial animations
and a gritty, high contrast appearance. They will
enter into battle with an unparalleled choice of
more than 150 playable UFC fighters, including talent
from the newly added featherweight and bantamweight
divisions. Rounding out the virtual UFC experience
with a significantly revamped online experience,
as well as a variety of new and returning gameplay
modes, UFC Undisputed 3 lets players have their
fights – their way – to deliver the most intense,
competitive and engaging experience to date for
the franchise.
For
more information on UFC Undisputed 3, please visit
http://www.ufcundisputed.com,
http://www.facebook.com/UFCUndisputed
and http://www.twitter.com/UFC_Undisputed.
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Thursday,
June 2nd, 2011
NHL 12 Producer Blog #1

EA
Sports have posted their first NHL 12 Producer blog,
discussing goalies.
Gameplay
Producer Nate Ng here to kick off the first blog
for NHL 12 with some goalie info. I just want to
prefix the rest of the info with a few things. This
is by no means ALL the new goalie info as things
will change up until the game gets into your hands.
This is also not the last time we will talk about
goalies. If my blog doesn’t answer some of the questions
you have, post your questions here and stay tuned!
Without further ado, let’s dig into some goalie
info for NHL 12.
Goalie V-H Technique – what does V-H stand for?
Well I’m glad you asked. It stands for vertical-horizontal.
It is a technique used by goalies similar to the
hug post. Goalie V-H is something you see many NHL
goalies do throughout the game but something we’ve
been missing in the title. The purpose of this technique
is to put goalies in better position for passes
behind the goal line and also allows for them to
more easily push off the post into butterfly. How
does this affect your goalie in NHL 12? From the
goalie V-H, you will be able to make saves, poke
check, and cover the puck. You will also be able
to push off the post from this stance and right
into butterfly or into the desperation saves.
Updated
goalie saves – Goalies are always a work in progress.
The thing with goalies is that we have to make them
balanced. Any tweaks to shooting or AI, and we have
to rebalance goalies. They are what one might call
a house of cards. Tune a shot this way, and you
have the potential to unleash ‘always goals’. Much
like every other year, we go in and look at all
the saves we have in the game and try to tune goalie
behavior to allow for goal scoring, yet still have
goalies feel natural. We have also improved the
puck tracking for goalies this year. What this means
for goalies is that they will be better at fighting
through the screens and battles in front of the
net, and be more agile when skaters are pulling
dekes on breakaways and in close.
Goalies
are LIVE – Yes, you read correctly. Skating hard
to the net, players will have the ability to crash
the crease, jostle for position in the crease, bump
or even run the goalie over. Don’t worry though
goalies, we will call goalie interference penalties.
Have a pest in front of your net that you want to
clear out? We got you covered. Goalies can shove
back this year. Both AI goalies and user goalies
can and will clear out the front of their nets.
For AI goalies, it will be based on their ratings,
and for user goalies we will give you a button.
Goalie
behavior this year will also be affected by traits.
A more aggressive goalie will shove and fight to
clear his crease. A good puck handling goalie will
be brave and come out and challenge for loose pucks.
Goalie
fights – Goalies can fight! You asked for it, you
got it! When you run the goalie, you can expect
a tough guy to stand up for his goalie. At times,
the goalie will stand up for himself by dropping
the gloves and there’ll also be times where the
opposing goalie will want a piece of the action
too. We saw it happen a couple times this year in
the real NHL…if it’s in the game, it’s gotta be
in the game!
There
you have it folks, the first little teaser to goalies
in NHL 12.
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Tuesday,
May 3rd, 2011
WWE '12 Debut's, Smackdown vs. Raw is no more

Every
champion must reinvent himself, and every Superstar
has an evolution. Reinvented with each challenge,
always primed and ready to strike with more edge
and intensity than ever before, he is reborn - bigger,
badder and better.
FINALLY...the WWE experience you've been demanding
has arrived! THQ's flagship franchise in the company's
WWE videogame portfolio is reborn, delivering the
best and most realistic WWE action ever. With new
Predator Technology, an overhauled gameplay experience
and new broadcast TV presentation that promises
the most fluid, dynamic, authentic and action-packed
WWE simulation experience to date, WWE '12 gives
you more control over WWE than ever before.
GAME
FEATURES:
EXPERIENCE
THE NEW WWE! - WWE Action is redefined with
new Predator Technology! This new system delivers
a fresh and strategic gameplay experience that looks,
feels and plays better than ever before. the gameplay
you have demanded is finally here with the most
fluid WWE action and realistic animations to date
in a WWE videogame, improved A.I. and an all-new
Breaking Point submission system!
DYNAMIC
TV PRESENTATION - Witness the most electrifying
presenation in all of sports entertainment. A dynamic
new broadcast camera system and badder visual presentation
replicate everything you see on WWE's television
broadcasts. New rendering and lighting technologies
will provide the most realistic WWE Superstars,
WWE Divas and WWE Legends and best-looking in-ring
action to date.
CREATE
AND SHARE YOUR WWE - WWE '12's best-in-class
creation suite gives you the ability to create Superstars,
entrances, finishing moves, storylines, Highlight
Reels and all-new capabilities never before seen
in a WWE videogame! Go online and upload your creations
to share them with the WWE Universe and download
creations from others to add to your own experience.
WWE
UNIVERSE 2.0 - Take control of your WWE career
in a bigger, badder and better WWE universe. Your
actions determine your destiny and shape your experience,
as storylines, matches, alliances and rivalries
are built based on your decisions.
ROAD
TO WRESTLEMANIA - The Road to WrestleMania is
fraught with action, drama, challenges, storyline
twists and truns, and surprises. Which road will
you pick, and what story will you tell, on your
way to the biggest spectacle in sports entertainment?
READ
THE Q&A WITH THE DEVELOPER
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Tuesday,
May 31st, 2011
Madden '12 Cover Art: Two different Covers
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Sunday,
May 29th, 2011
NCAA '12 Screenshot: Pro Comabt Uniforms

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Sunday,
May 29th, 2011
Madden '12 Interview with Michael Young

"Getting back to Madden, we asked Mike about what
he thought the biggest single improvement from last
year’s game to this one, and he answered in a way
that you would expect. He said that from his perspective,
there are several great improvements, but he would
say the camera work. To understand why he would
say this lets us give you the skinny on the improved
broadcast style camera shots you will see in this
year’s game. In previous installments, they hand
animated all of the camera angles, but this year
they did something unique. The majority of camera
work in this year’s game was done by cinematographers
from NFL Films. They used a new technology that
allowed them to show the folks from NFL Films action
from Madden NFL 12, and the NFL Film folks actually
shot the action the way they would do it in real
life. That means, when you see a guy running down
the sideline in Madden 12, more than likely the
camera angle is just how you would see it on TV,
because the guys who shoot it in real life, shot
it in Madden NFL 12. In addition to that, the cameras
in this year’s game are in the same position that
they are in real life. So when you play a game with
your favorite team it should look and feel eerily
familiar, because the same angles you see on TV
will be the same ones you see in Madden. Madden
12 will feature over 700 new cameras with 16 broadcast
cameras per stadium." READ
MORE
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Sunday,
May 29th, 2011
Madden '12 Screenshot: Cowboys vs. Redskins

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-
With the allegations against Ohio State building up, one
asks the question. How much of a rating's hit will the Buckeyes
take in NCAA '12 if they don't have any good players left?????
- With the Custom Conferences details coming out this past
week there has been discussion of making 5 super conferences
with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, and the SEC to have
16 teams represented in each conference.
- With NCAA 12 only a month and a
half away the NCAA Football site is being worked on to be
ready for the upcoming season.
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Release
Dates
NCAA
Football 12 - July 12th 2011
Madden 12 - August 30th 2011
NHL
12 - September 13th 2011
UFC Undisputed 3 - January 31st 2012
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