EA confirmed today that NBA LIVE 08 will be the third game in the EA lineup feature Online team play. This is pretty innovative as the entire team can be controlled by human user son both sides of the ball, making a 5 on 5 basketball match a real 5 on 5, instead of just two people using two teams. This actually increases the level of realism and could be a lot of fun online to play with 4 buddies against an entire team of user controlled opponents.

Online team play makes me want to grab this game and give it a try. Expect an NBA LIVE 08 demo in some time in late November.
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Most people that have managed to find a Wii are in love with Wii Sports. particularly with the bowling and the baseball. We have already seen some other iterations of the bowling games, but now Wii Baseball gets some competition with MLB Power Pros.

MLB Power Pros is a Japanese title that focses on pick up and play baseball using super cute little characters. Of most interest to me in this title is the ability to put your Mii’s into baseball games; I want to make a cartoon version of myself to play firstbase for the New York Yankees. Stay tuned for a full review of this title coming soon for the Wii. MLB Power Pros is also available for the PS2 if you don’t have a Wii yet.

More competition for Madden has come up from NaturalMotion. Their new game, Backbreaker, looks to revolutionize how players interact on the field.

Using the Euphoria engine, every tackle is different and players move exactly how they would in the real world.

“Backbreaker is the first football game with truly interactive tackles. By utilizing our motion synthesis engine, euphoria, players will never make the same tackle twice, giving them an intensely unique experience every time they play the game,” said NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil. “Backbreaker puts players in the middle of the gridiron by providing a pure, realistic football experience only possible on next-generation consoles.”

Well, the sure have tackling down right. Now if they can get the rest of the game to play well, this very well may put some pressure on Madden to actually make some more progress in the game.

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So with all the new football games coming out Tom Brady finally gets one of his own. Superbowl MVP Tom Brady is named the cover player for the #1 kids football video game Backyard Football ‘08, which is slated to be released this Fall.

OK so he didn’t get the cover of Madden or 2K, but hey it could be worse, he could be doing info-mercials for hair products and Backyard Football is actually a pretty fun game, although very cutesy. It will be scheduled to realease on the Wii, DS, PC and PS2.

From the press release:
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We are seeing more deals involving different dynamic ad agencies and video game developers popping up with the biggest one involving EA and Microsoft. These in game ads are billed as great things and from an advertisers perspective that is getting in product placement opportunities across a widespread demographic they are fantastic, but what do they mean to us the consumer?

Since we are allowing all these ads into our homes involuntarily, will we get an option to turn them off? I paid for a video game not commercials, on television I can change the station but what about my video games, I am forced to sit there and see ads I don’t care for as I race through whatever stage I am on.

Will this dawn of new ad placements in our video games lead to lowering of prices or consoles? I doubt this very much, ads are already in certain games and we all are still paying top dollar. We as video game consumers are not benefiting in any way shape or form, from these new “dynamic” ads, so why should I sit and take them?

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So it begins, two empires come together to conquer all. Microsoft announced today that it will be placing ads into Electronic Arts Inc. sports franchises, starting with Madden 08. Don’t expect to see the ads just be confined to the football title, Microsfot and EA have already confirmed ads for Skate, Tiger Woods, NHL and NASCAR.

It looks like a lot more emphasis will be put on in game ads as Google, Microsoft and others push the nvelope to deliver dynamic ads in our video games. But more importantly what will this all mean to the consumer?

From the article on CNN:

The deal comes as Massive faces increased competition from Google, which bought game ad service Adscape for a reported $23 million in March, and from privately held companies such as Double Fusion.

“We need to build an overall network and this is a major stepping point to have us do that,” Van Arsdale said in an interview with Reuters.

Massive acts as a broker between companies that want to get their ads in front of gamers, and game publishers eager to tap new sources of revenue to offset higher development costs for flashy new titles that can cost $20 million or more to make.

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Just grabbed a copy of All Pro Football 2k8 (APF 2k8) and popped it into my Xbox 360 as fast as I could, here are some of my first impressions of the game after playing around with it for a few hours, full review to come soon.

First off the game starts with you choosing a team very similar to how you would play in a schoolyard and you choose up sides, the only catch is that each player gets a level, gold, silver and bronze and you can only have a certain number of each on your team. Once you go through and choose your team players, you then choose your team icon, stadium and colors and get thrown right into a game. The team you created in the beginning is the same team you will use for your season mode, which I found interesting, and you can create yourself and put yourself on your team. The balance of the players that aren’t superstars are generic players that fill your roster so it makes it interesting for you to figure out how you want to plan your offense and defense.

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I have but one question why is Nintendo and the Wii focusing more energy on mini game type titles? Is that all this console plans on offering, cheesy party games? This Wii Fit concept is weak and will not catch on here in the US. Wii Sports was fun because it was free and was the first one, but now it is just getting old, Wii Play was fairly boring and i can almost guarantee that Wii Fit will be also. Come on Nintendo step up the development of full games, not these mini bombs.

These aren’t free, so get ready to pony up some MS Points for 6 classic stadiums for MLB 2K7. Currently these are available for the Xbox 360, and I’d image the PS3 versions will show up later this week during the regular Thursday update of the PlayStation Store.

For 800 MS Points ($10 US), you get six classic stadiums: Sportsman’s Park (St. Louis Cardinals and Browns), Forbes Field (Pittsburgh Pirates), Griffith Stadium (Washington Senators), Shibe Park (Philadelphia A’s and Philles), Polo Grounds (New York Giants and Mets), and Crosley Field (Cincinnati Reds).

Personally, I don’t see the point in paying for new stadiums in sports games. It doesn’t really add much to the gameplay (unless you get something like the classic Yankee Stadium where the outfield wall is about 500ft away from home plate). But hey, there’s a lot of people that disagree with me and will gladly spend the money for these stadiums.

You have the option to get all 6 stadiums for 800 MS Points, or you can pick them up in packs of 2 for 300 MS Points Each (note the 100 MS Point discount for buying them all together).

Today 2K Sports announced who their cover man would be and it turns out to be a trio, Jerry Rice, John Elway and Barry Sanders. Coming this July to both the PS3 and Xbox 360 All Pro Football 2K8 looks to impress with tons of features like: create a character capability, playbook mods, celebration customization (taking a cell phone out of your sock is optional), online leagues and live drafts. So you won’t have Peyton Manning in your game off the bat, but you can just create him and put him in later. I can only hope you can use The Fridge; look out Madden the boys are back!