ShaneHaven.com

Last week I commented on the one minute quarter demo that was avaliable for download by anyone who has a Xbox Live Gold Membership. You can click here to view that post. This is the commentary on the other demo that you could have gotten if you had reserved the game at Gamestop. This game features five minute quarters (instead of one) and two playable teams in the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. The game is not much different than the other demo in terms of the technical specs. There are no additional features, and there is still no gameplay announcing. This version of the demo only allows you to get a better overall feel for the game because you are not trying to throw hail marys every play because you only have about a minute per half with the ball.

After playing a couple games, one with the Steelers and one with the Cards, I got some new impressions about the game. Here they are:

Running the ball is still going to be hard but possible. I said this in the last post but playing with five minute quarters gave more insight. You are going to have to know your RB. A power runner isn’t going to run well on the outside and a speed runner is going to get smashed on the inside. I suppose that is fair. With the game being slowed down considerably it is easier to run because you can see the blockers where they are going and you can see the holes open up but it is still difficult because since the game is slowed down the RB is slow. An example can be seen when I tried to run the ball with Chris Wells on the inside. He is a faster runner and I would just get tackled by a linebacker to D-lineman if I ran up the middle. If I ran on the outside it was a bit easier. It was also hard to run on the outside with Willie Parker but if I used him on the inside he did better. Still the RBs averaged closed to 4.0 ypc.

Authentic Throws look odd. On my previous post I liked the authentic throws but now playing two full games I don’t know if I do. It is true they look authentic but if you throw a bullet pass that generally means the QB is throwing the ball harder and quicker. However there is no animation for a quicker throw. So bullet passes look pretty close to a 10 yard lob pass. It seems a bit odd to see Kurt Warner bring the ball up slow for a throw to only throw a bullet pass. It doesn’t look quite right. Could this be due to the slow down of the speed of the game? If so that will be adjustable and possibly fixable.

OL is a lot smarter. Not all the time but most of the time they will try to accuratley block for the ball carrier. Previously they may block a guy who would be two or three guys down on the list of defenders that needed to be blocked. With that said, you don’t have forever to throw the ball, and the defender can still get to you. Thus it seems like a nice mixture.

That is all I had to say on the 5 minute per quarter demo that I hadn’t already said in Part I. Overall I think this game is going to be about an 8.5/10 when the game is released on August 14, 2009. I hope this helps some people in making a decision. I will be buying it for sure.

no comments

I have yet to announce my opinion to the world on Mike Vick’s situation. Today the NFL has released their guideline for letting Vick back into the league and I felt this was the right time to do so. If you do not know who Michael Vick is, I suppose you do not watch a whole lot of news. He was one of the more popular Quarterbacks in the NFL because he was an electric player who could make make plays with his great running ability. In 2006 he became the first quarterback to ever rush for 1000 yards. After that season his image took a drastic downward spiral. He as charged with dog fighting allegations after neglected dogs had been found at his house. He eventually pleaded into a deal admitting that he fought dogs. He was sentenced to roughly two years in prison and it came to an end on July 20, 2009.

Today the commissioner of the NFL released a statement reinstating Michael Vick on a conditional basis. He can’t play in the first six games of the NFL regular season, but he can play in the last two preseason games and participate in all other team activities. That is provided that Vick is a good sport (no pun intended) and doesn’t do anything outlandish in nature. All this actually rides on the variable of Vick actually being signed to an NFL team this season.

Now that you know the back story as well as today’s development I will get to my view of the whole situation. I admit I was a huge Michael Vick fan before the allegations hit. Although as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan I was supposed to hate Mike Vick and the Atlanta Falcons. Instead I had a Mike Vick bobblehead, jersey, and pennant. It is fair to say I was a big fan of his. After the accusation and eventual addmitance of Vick for what he did made me feel horrible. I am a dog lover. My family has four labador retrivers and I just kept picturing Mike Vick making my dogs fight to the death. That is horrible. He fell off his pedastal in my mind.

Now that he served his time people are saying we should forgive him. People do make mistakes and some are forgivable. What he did I don’t feel was forgivable however.He took animals and made them fight. This is whether the animals wanted to or not. Can you imagine a person putting two guys in a ring to fight to the death and it wasn’t their decision to do so? The outrage would be horrendous and no one would forgive him for the people he killed. Sure dogs are not on the same level as people, but we all share one simple thing – dogs and humans are both LIVING beings.

Personally, I do not like the idea of Vick plaing in the NFL again. Lets take Vick’s situation and apply it to a non-sport profession. Lets say Vick was a high school teacher. He would be fired and never allowed to get his job back. Heck he probably wouldn’t be allowed to get a job with any school district in the country after that. His only hope would be in a place that would desperate for teachers. After teacher in a place such as that and hte person proving themsleves they could have a shot at teaching at a more coveted institution. Lucky for Vick there just happens to be a football league that is desperate for talent in the UFL. He could play there for a year or two and prove that he is a changed man. If he is then I wouldn’t have a problem with the NFL taking him back.

Before I get criticized for not mentioning the likes of Leonard Little, or Donte Stallworth? I think the same above punishment shoud have happened to them. They should not have been allowed to EVER play their sport again. Do you think a teacher, construction worker, or taxi driver would be given their jobs back once they committed those horrendeous acts? No, they would not nor should they.  Justice doesn’t often come to professional atheletes and they all to often get their jobs back. It appears society has a double standard for atheletes and it’s other citizens.

In conclusion, Vick should only be given a second chance if he proves himself somewhere else. Just as any other United Statesian would. People like Little or Stallworth should be banned from the game – plain and simple. Its just too bad that ratings are getting in the way of justice being served.

no comments

In the video game world, reviews generally do not come along for a demo. However, Madden 10 is one of the biggest anticipated games of the year. Madden 09 was a fairly horrible game for the popular franchise. If I am not mistaken people were fired and replaced at the head of EA sports for those who worked on the 09 title. Madden 10 being under new control has caused fans to be giddy and anxious over the August 14th release – so much so that this demo has been highly anticipated. There are a lot of fans who are waiting for this years title to see how it holds up. Madden COULD get a lot of losses if they don’t put up a quality title.So I think it would be a good idea to take a look at the demo to see how it faired when compared to the complete Madden 09 title.

Now unlike most modern demos Madden 10 is not close to the final product. Honestly most demos released these days are the final product but one can only play a few minutes of the game. I did reserve Madden 10 at Gamestop however at the time of me downloading the demo, playing it, and writing this review I have yet to pick up my code to make the quarters 5 minutes long. Instead I decided to try out the 1 minute quarters to try and get this review out at soon as possible. The only game able to be played it between the Dallas Cowboys agasint the New York Giants in Giant stadium in the snow. You can change the difficulty – which I tried playing on most difficulty levels. I played a total of four games – two with Dallas, and two with New York.

So what did I think? What is different? What did I like? Well, here we go:

(?) Madden 10 has no in-game audio from the announcers. That may be a good thing.In the August 14th release will have the in-game audio commentary. I hope it is good and not horrible like the EA Tiger Woods 10 title. Seriously one has to mute Scott Van Pelt to play that game. It is bloody awful in that game. Nothing can be said about the demo though.

(+) Real players and coaches on the sidelines – REFS TOO! One thing oddly which was missing from last years title was coaches on the sideline and the referees. There are real player models on the sidelines which is something that I am really happy about. Before you wouldn’t see them when you looked at the sideline and it was annoying. Glad to see they are added this year.

(+) Cool cut scenes – QB showing talking on the phone to the offensive coordinator in between plays is just one example. They show players on the sideline celebrating or even after a big play on the field between two players. There is also an on the field intro reminiscent to the MLB09 intro to each game you play.

(+) Animations are a LOT better. This has a lot to do with the next section but overall the graphics and player models seem to be a lot better. The way the players move, for the most part, seem realistic. I don’t like how after an interception the defensive back doesn’t tuck the ball into his body – instead he goes Deion Sanders style. That is just asking for a fumble in my opinion.

(+) Authentic QB throws. As said earlier this section sort of combines with the last paragraph. The first time I played the game I was the Cowboys. Every time I first play a new football game I analyze the QB throwing animation. It is a big part of the game to me because QB happens to be my favorite position and I want it to look authentic. This year is another step towards that. Tony Romo does that little weird windup before his throw. Eli Manning doesn’t do it – he has his own which I am not sure if it is correct because I know that most QBs don’t do that windup. Manning’s windup seems faster though, so it isn’t that noticeable. The Quarterback also seems to LOOK where he is throwing, something that EA hasn’t been able to get right for a while ever.

(+) You CAN run the ball. In the previous edition of Madden it was nearly impossible to run the ball. This what turned away most fans from the 09 title. You could have LT, or AP, and only average 2.8 yards per carry with an ALL pro-bowler offensive line. Now running the ball didn’t seem easy (mainly due to the speed of the game – mentioned later) but it is possible to gain a good amount of yardage as an average. I was able to use Marion Barber fairly effectively.

(+) Big plays are more difficult to make. Nothing infuriates me more than cheesers in the online competition. I am sure the plays still exist and people will find a way to practically cheat but it appears that big plays are much more difficult to make. People seem to be forced to have a  game plan and set things up. As I stated earlier I played 4 games before writing this and I only had one big play of about a 30-40 yard pass. I tried probably a good 10 times for a long ball. The only one I got completed I actually was not looking for the deep pass but it was there and I took it. The cpu cornerback caught up and if forced my receiver to have to make a better play on the ball.

(+) Fumble/dogpile mini game is not annoying. When I first read about this addition I said that that feature was totally going to be annoying. Although I only played 4 games w/ 1 minute quarters and there was only two fumbles where there was a dog pile it seemed like a good addition that allowed for a more realistic feature. Football can change hand in a dog pile and I like that feature being thrown in. Basically it is a meter and you have to try to keep the bar in the middle of the grid by tapping one of four buttons repeatedly (and the button does change). Sometimes it is hard, and sometimes it is easy. I think it depends if your team initially falls on the ball or not.

(+) The Music is good! It is not music from a band or a rapper but it is instrumental music. The music reminds me of Pirates of the Carribean for some reason – don’t worry it is NOT the same music – but it does get you pumped up.

(-) The game has slowed down quite considerably. Apparently this was done in an attempt to be “more realistic,” however, I find it so slow that it is not realistic at all. I know many quaterbacks when interviewed have said when you take a 3 step drop you need to get rid of that ball generally right then and there. In the demo they can take about two or three 3-step drops if they needed to. There seems to be NO speed what so ever in the game. Football is more fast paced than that.

(-) Offensive line is very too good. As I eluded to in the paragraph above, a quaterback has a long time in the pocket. Too long if you ask me. It was quite difficult to get to the quarterback when I was the Cowboys. I did seem to get to the quarterback better when I was the Giants and the Giants do have a better defensive line. Still there was one time that Eli stood in the pocket for about 10 to 15 seconds. However, the human team’s offensive line seems to be a bit more vulnerable. I fumbled the ball because I got sacked so hard a couple times.

Overall this game pretty much met my expectations. I am not disappointed at all. The game speed can be changed to be faster (at least that is what the demo says) so I have to give my expectations for this game a 9/10. I had over hyped it a bit in my head but I STILL think this will be a game with a rating of about an 8.5 to a 9.0. I think this will be a great year for Madden. I just hope the game is a bit better than this and the announcing is not disappointing.

Any questions? Please feel free to ask (via the comment section) and I will try my best to answer. I am going to go by gamestop later today to pick up my demo code to get 5 minute quarters. That way I will get a better feel for the game. I will post an update after I play a few rounds with 5 minute quarters.

1 comment

Often I hear people say how some sports star or musician are their hero. Everytime I hear that I shake my head a little bit. Truly they are not heroes – heroes save peoples lives when risking their own. People like cops, firefighters, soldiers, and even doctors – although they don’t risk their own lives when saving a patient. I sometimes wonder why people don’t feel that true heroes are worthy of recognition while Alex Rodriguez and his 100+ millions in cold green cash are. I figure it comes down to the media exposing atheletes more and more. So I want to do my part today – I came across this video on CNN where two off-duty firefighters were recorded pulling a family out of a burning car. Warning the video is a little scary. There is a feeling that the vehicle could blow up at any second.

no comments

I often ponder the actions of humanity and its place in the world. It is the nautre of a history major to contemplate such phenomena. Unfortunatley, I often see the dark side of the subject as it is what society seems to focus on. For a moment yesterday that did not happen. I quickly visited the CNN.com homepage to scan the headlines to see what was happening in the world when my eyes came accross the headline which read: “what is man’s greatest achievement?” This quick moment made me change the subject of my thinking for a good amount of time. I began to ponder the good that humanity has done throughout history instead of the wretched. I ended up clicking on the headline to read the short article – which turned out to be nothing but a report on a poll. The article never answered it’s own question so I figured that I could make a case for a particular accomplishment in the attempt to answer the question.

So what do I see as man’s greatest accomplishment? I am going to take the safe answer – the conquering of math, algebra, and geometry. It is hard to give credit to a particular group of humanity because it seems that each civilization developed their math off of other works from previous civilizations such as the Egyptions or the ancient Greeks. I feel that math is so important to the accomplishments of humanity because without it, many of the accomplishments would not have been possible. Whether it was the building of the pyramids in Egypt, the invention of flight by the Wright brothers, landing on the moon, or the invention of any product. Math works hand in hand with the sciences to develop things like the refridgerator, or the steam engine. The development of math throughout the years have brought on many of the fancy things that man has achieved. It is easy to name many of the fancy inventions of man but it is easy to forget the building blocks that allowed humanity’s accomplishments.

With that said it is important to mention the signifcance of today. On this day, forty years ago, man walked on the moon. This is a big accomplishment of man and if you look at the history of flight it is quite amazing that only 66 years after the invention of human flight that man was able to fly to the moon. Today is a day to cherish being human.

* As a tribute to the moon landing this post was posted at 7:56pm which is the approximate time that Neil Armstrong said his famous quote and stepped down onto the moon’s surface. *

no comments