Madden series creative director Ian Cummings unveiled the first details of Madden 12 on Sunday, and there's a couple of surprises. The first surprise is supposed to be just that; surprise onside kicks will be in the game.

There's other details that Cummings talked about in the blog. Although we're still a long way from August and the potential release of the game, I'm excited that the series is continuing and new features will be put in to make the game as best as it can be.

Here's part of the blog:

If you've been following the development team since we all (re)joined forces back in Madden NFL 10, you probably know that our overall vision for the Franchise has been "Everything You See on Sunday". I'm happy to report that this vision is still 100% intact for Madden NFL 12, and to be honest it's more valid than ever. Over these past two years we have been working on many new frameworks and back-end technologies - from presentation to franchise to online - that we feel will really pay major dividends this year.

With that knowledge, we've tried to come up with a phrase to help us sell the vision of Madden NFL 12, both internally to the team and externally to the fans. That vision is "True to the Game." This is our ‘razor' - a phrase we can always think back about to help us make the tough decisions and choose the correct features, additions, and improvements. We always want to keep everyone on the team focused on the same goal - an authentic representation of simulation NFL football. "True to the Game" also reminds us to pay homage to what established Madden the video game as a significant influence in pop culture that we all know today. This helps renew our focus into all areas in the game, like offline franchise mode, online play, presentation, and the core fundamentals of gameplay and AI - the things that made Madden the must-have game for millions. We want to be 100% recognized as a leader in the sports genre again, and the only way to do that is to improve the game across all major aspects.

 

Video of the onside kick follows the jump ...

 

no comments

In case you haven't seen it, you can register for Evolution 2011. Go here to sign up.

There's a $50 venue fee. From there, each game you want to participate in is $10 each. no comments

Chalk up another holy shit moment to Jason Cole, who helped win the TourneyPlay 3-on-3 tournament at the bell last weekend. (UPDATE: OK I was told this match I'm about to break down is from a tournament in December. But the numbers on what happened are still amazing; the video barely got uploaded this week, which is why I was thinking this tournament just happened. I still stand with what I mentioned in the commentary). At this rate, he might own all of those insane precious moments in the Pacific Northwest in 2011. Last year his comeback ratio was one of the highest in the West Coast, so why not peg him to do it?

What made last weekend's this win exciting aside from him catching Mike Has Cookies just in time was the chances he had to do it. Based on similar situations, he was a virtual lock to lose, and yet, he didn't.

One of the stats I started tracking this year was combo rate. I figured it's the most fool-proof way of determining who had the best chance of winning. So far, it's the best determining factor. I went to my new database and looked at 642 rounds that were either semifinals or finals matches.

When someone has more combos than his or her opponent in a round, the win percentage has been .818. 

Hit the jump for a deeper breakdown...

no comments

The latest Madden 11 roster update, which should be available later in the week, is more about the players that aren't participating in Super Bowl XLV. Several dozen players have been added to the roster by way of free agency. 

Pittsburgh's James Harrison has received the coveted 99 overall rating, making him the top linebacker in the game based on rating.

Here's more from EA Sports in their blog:

It is finally here folks - Super Bowl XLV.  30 teams have been eliminated from the championship hunt and there are only two teams left: Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.  This week we focused on getting the remaining playoff teams and their IR players off the injured reserve and back on to the team's depth charts.  We also spent some time getting as many practice squad players on the rosters or free agency list as possible.  Here are a few of the highlights for this week:

 

• Pittsburgh Steelers star linebacker James Harrison is once again rated 99 Overall in Madden NFL. After a dominating regular season and playoff performance including three sacks against the Ravens in the Divisional Playoff round, Harrison is once again the top linebacker in Madden NFL.
• Over 200+ transactions, rating adjustments and depth chart moves are updated in this pre-Super Bowl roster update.
• From the "Did You Know" department....To date for Madden NFL 11, we have had over 4600+ total roster moves this year in over 18 weekly updates.
• We will have one final roster update after the Super Bowl for both the online rosters and online franchise. This will have final rating adjustments as well as final end-of-season depth charts/rosters for the Steelers and Packers.

no comments

Major League Gaming is apparently not bringing back Tekken 6. Its 2011 season will only have three games: Starcraft II, Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops. So there won't be any fighting games on the pro circuit this season. Tekken 6 is the third one-and-done game in the past two years, joining Brawl and the Madden series.

There's a chance a fighting game could come back by way of the league's proposed throwback series.

The league also announced its first two of six stops: Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. The Dallas event is April 1-3 and Columbus is June 3-5.

Video of the announcement follows the jump ...

no comments

Martin "Marn" Phan has left Evil Geniuses. The announcement came earlier this afternoon from Marn, who had hinted that some sort of news was coming. Marn was one of the first players in the United States to join a competitive gaming team. As teams still try to sign players and acquire talent for various reasons, this news is surprising.

From his Twitter account:

"As per my request, I have been released from my Evil Geniuses contract. I love @SirScoots and wish them the best of luck :)."

Marn's arrival to the Evil Geniuses came days before Devastation 2010, which he won with an undefeated record. Weeks later, he won the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom tournament at Evolution 2010. He had plenty of podium placements in Super Street Fighter IV since his signing.

Marn was soon joined in Evil Geniuses by Justin Wong and Ricky Ortiz, both who are still on the team. no comments

The two finalists in Virgin Gaming's Madden 11 tournament are two guys that have been longtime veterans in the Madden scene.

It will be Patrick "Kornstar" Shaw and Carlos Yancy in the title match. Both guys will be heading to Dallas on an all-expenses paid trip to compete for the $15,000 first-place prize. Both guys have won six online tournament matches after qualifying in the top 256. It will be one game for the title.

The game is scheduled for Friday, two days before Super Bowl XLV. It is part of the Maxim Super Bowl party, organized by Virgin Gaming.

Both players are former Madden Challenge regional winners; Kornstar won in Indianapolis four years ago, while Los was the Anaheim champion in 2009. no comments

Madden Bowl XVII, the major Madden tournament featuring NFL players, is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Thursday in Dallas. The tournament will be streamed on ESPN's online network, ESPN3.com.

In past years, it was a one-on-one single elimination tournament. Dwight Freeney defeated Patrick Willis in last year's tilt. This year, it will be teams of three going against each other.

Here's more from ESPN:

For those unfamiliar with the event, the tournament pits the best gamers the NFL has to offer in a tournament to crown the best "Madden" pro around. Past winners include Dwight Freeney, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Antonio Bryant to name a few.

The teams will be, according to EA Sports:

• Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Chase Daniel
• Maurice Jones-Drew, Kirk Morrison, Marcedes Lewis
• Miles Austin, Jason Whitten, DeMarcus Ware
• Patrick Willis, Dwight Freeney, Willis McGahee

no comments

The full roster for the 2011 Evolution World Finals was revealed earlier tonight during the Wakeup SRK Live show. There will only be five games on the roster.

• Super Street Fighter IV
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• Mortal Kombat 9
• Tekken 6
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift

Out of the five games, two aren't out yet: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is still a couple weeks away from release, while Mortal Kombat 9 isn't scheduled to be out until April 19.

If you want to get more info on Evolution, head to their site. no comments

If you're a member of Facebook and signed up to possibly go to the Arcade Infinity goodbye meetup on Saturday, you might have received the same message I received just a moment ago, that the arcade is going to last a little bit longer.

The arcade is reportedly being saved by the owners of Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights. Here's the message posted on the Facebook meetup page:

AI is being saved by the owners of Diamond Plaza. After seeing all of the public outcry over the closing, and how active this particular event page has been since the announcement, they've worked out a deal with AI to significantly help their operating costs and keep the arcade open for an unspecified period of time. While currently the arrangements that the landlords have made with the city of Rowland Heights regarding AI's business license will only cover them for 6 more months, they're working out arrangements to extend it up to a period of 3 years. We'll know the outcome of this sometime in March when the approval is made or denied.

Either way, thanks to the landlords we get to keep AI for at the very least a few months longer. After speaking with Ken, the first action they're gonna be taking with this turn of events is to put some money into getting 4 Super Street Fighter 4 AE setups running, beatmania IIDX 18 RESORT ANTHEM (possibly in a new cabinet), DDR X2, pop'n music 18 SENGOKU RETSUDEN, and a few other titles that he's has his eye on for a little while.

Also just to clarify a bit on the closing of the arcade, while a good portion of it had to do with earnings (or lack thereof) the nail in the coffin was actually delivered by the city of Rowland Heights. AI's business license was to expire in December, and the costs that they originally wanted the Tao brothers to pay to keep things open was just completely unreasonable for how much money the arcade was pulling in. The landlords have since worked with the City to make their license renewal a possibility, and have secured them an extension.

With all of this being the case, we still want to encourage everyone to make their way out to the arcade this Saturday. Instead of a last chance to play at one of the best arcades the US has ever seen, let's celebrate their 10 years of continued business and contribution to the arcade industry in North America!

no comments