Who Is On The NBA Live 2009 Cover?

We will find out later on the 25th of June who is on the cover of Live 09, but I figure we can make a good guess of it.  The basic rule is that it will not be anyone who was on a cover the past 2 seasons of any game and not anyone who has ever been on the cover of Live,  meaning Chris Paul, Shaq, Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, Antoine Walker, Tim Duncan, KG, Stevie Francis, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, Tracy McGrady, and Gilbert Arenas are out.  Check here and EA Sports websites on

Wednesday to see who is on the cover.

1. LeBron James - King James had a huge 2007 and next season he looks to improve.  Or have his team-mates improve, which would help much more.  Not a more marketable guy in the league, from 1998-2008 his jersey is the 4th best selling, amazing when you consider he came into the league in 2003.  ODDS 2-1

2. Kevin Durant - The Rookie of the Year in 2007 looks to become not only the face of a franchise, but the face of a city as the ownership of the Sonics are trying to move the team to Oklahoma City.  Remember the stories of him not being able to bench press anything before the draft and how weak he would be?  He’s a stronger guy then most folks thought.  As an Oklahoma City native, I really hope the Sonics get there as soon as possible.  ODDS 3-1

3. Paul Pierce - The NBA Finals MVP went and run amok against the league in this post season.  He was not the same player we saw last season, or maybe ever.  He outplayed Kobe Bryant when it mattered most and brought the NBA Championship back to Boston for the 17th time in history.  Odds are lowered though, since the agents and people that do these deals probably already had signed off on who was on the cover before the Finals actually happened.  But, if not, then Pierce has a great chance as he became, almost overnight, a household name.  ODDS 7-2

4. Tony Parker - Little known fact, Tony has been on the cover of the French version of the game for the past 4 years.  Why not make the logical leap to the US Cover?  EA Sports might be thinking ahead with this choice, as the Spurs tend to win championships in seasons where the year is an odd number.  Parker is also quite young, only 26, and already has 3 NBA Championships and one Finals MVP under his belt.  Some might think this is a dark-horse pick but I’m thinking this will be the start of a series of wins for the Spurs this season.  ODDS 4-1 and my pick.

The “it will not happen” pick: Michael Jordan - If a retired Brett Favre can be on the cover of Madden 09 then Jordan can be on the cover of Live.  It’s a very small chance, but I will not be suprized when the year comes where he is on the cover of one of the NBA games.

Check here and EA Sports websites on Wednesday to see who is on the cover.

NBA Live 2009 Screens

IGN.com posted up a movie and preview that you can read HERE.  It’s pretty interesting up until you get to “Quickstrike Anklebreakers.”  Maybe EA Sports hit the point where they said “Screw it, 2K is the sim, we’re just going to be arcade.”  It’s very possible.

Anyways, here are the first pictures of NBA Live 09, these are from the 360… (Click to enlarge)

NHL 2K9 on Wii (Mario Celebrates)

News from 2K Sports as they are the first to have an NHL game on Wii.  This seems like a great idea, if 2K does like they always do on the hockey games and includes a ton of mini-games this will be a great game.  Here’s the press release from 2K Sports:

2K Sports today announced that the next iteration of the popular hockey franchise, NHL 2K9, will be coming to the Wii™ console from Nintendo this fall. As the first and only officially licensed NHL and NHLPA video game for Wii, NHL 2K9 will offer fans the fun opportunity to play like the pros using the Wii Remote™ controller as a hockey stick, and enjoy playing hockey in a wholly unique and entertaining experience like never before.

In celebration of NHL 2K9 for Wii, Nintendo’s most iconic video game character, Mario™, will be walking down the red carpet during the 2008 NHL Awards tonight at the Elgin Theatre, 6:15 p.m. ET in Toronto. Fans in attendance will also have the special opportunity to meet and greet Mario and have their picture taken with him.

NHL 2K9, being developed by Visual Concepts, is not yet rated by the ESRB, and will be available this fall for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii console from Nintendo, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.

And here is Mario in Toronto at the NHL Awards…

Texas Rangers Slip ‘n’ Slide at Shea

In a time where there are rules about almost every aspect of what athletes may do while on and off the field it was a pleasure to see that the Texas Rangers made the best of a rain delay on Saturday night at Shea.  The Rangers may not be the best team in baseball, but they are solid and seeing their core guys out there having a great time together is great.  Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley, who were both seen as a risky signings are both producing and stay out of trouble.  Michael Young and Ian Kinsler make up one of the best middle infields in baseball.

Early favorite for best Rangers moment this season, Hamilton winning MVP or making the playoffs is about the only things that could top that.

Kevin Garnett on Cover of NBA 2K9

This is TK’s first tidbit on NBA 2K9; Kevin Garnett is on the cover.  2K Sports held a contest to guess who would be on the cover, and anyone who picked KG won.  I think it is a pretty good fit, KG was on the cover of NBA Live 2001, and now 8 years later he is going to be on the 2K9 cover.

There is an awesome video that looks totally CGI and not like it could be the game at all HERE.

Images from mentioned movie: (click to enlarge)

And let’s compare 2K9, 2K8, and Live 08 (no Live 09 stuff yet), it looks like if 2K9 is actually showing us “the goods” then they have the best looking game so far.  To be fair there are no pictures of Live 09, so it could look amazing, we’ll just have to wait for that.  But as is, the folks at 2K Games set the bar pretty high.

NBA 2K9

NBA 2K8

NBA Live 2008

Moment of zen…

NCAA 09 Update: Arkansas Alt & Custom Stadium Sounds

First, here is Arkansas all red alternate…

Now some much juicier bits, as EA posted up a blog update on their “Custom Stadium Sounds” feature that is in NCAA 09.  I have to admit, I totally had NFL2K5 rigged up with my own music.  But, EA mentions…

 

Why is it called “Custom Stadium Sounds” instead of “Custom Music?”

                During one of our team meetings the Creative Lead demoed the feature using a bunch of one-liners from popular Hollywood comedies.  Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the team and the Custom Music system gained an entirely new identity.  We renamed it Custom Stadium Sounds hoping our users would enter this mode with a creative mind.

 

Hmm… More later on this.  For now, moment of zen… 

NCAA Football Update

Okay, I’ve gotten over the GTA bug, which means updates will flow more frequently.  Here’s what we missed from NCAA Football 09…

- Their website is totally redone.  Not a whole lot of new info, but loads much faster.

- New alternate uniform updates for: Clemson, Colorado, Florida State’s “Unconquered”, Louisville, Miami, Nevada, Oregon, Pitt, Utah, UTEP, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  All of which you may see in the new NCAA 09 Alternate Uniform Gallery.

- Gamestop has put up a Mascot Custom Cover assortment.  I always hate how Boomer & Sooner from Oklahoma get excluded from these mascot things just because they are new. 

(Boomer and Sooner)

- IGN posted up this “Progress Report” that seemed to tell me not much more than the fact that there will be no Division I-AA NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision teams.  This means again, no Appalachian State, no Delaware. none of the classic black colleges like Southern or Grambling.  It’s quite sad really how on PlayStation 2 they could fit them in, but on “next-gen” they cannot.  They don’t have to put all the stadiums, but how long could it take to put the players and teams?  There are people who have entered names for the rosters in 3 days from release and in one year EA couldn’t have sent a couple guys to get the uniforms, logos, and players for the Div 1-AA teams?  Please, it’s lazy and we still will pay $60 for their laziness every year.  IGN also posted up some new movies, only thing that bugs me is that the commentary is the EXACT SAME again for the (at least) 5th year in a row.  Not that it’s the same people, but they are making the exact same comments again.  I think Madden will get great reviews because it sounds different and new, just with Chris Collinsworth in it.

- We learned from EA that NCAA 09 will have online leagues.  I’m guessing this feature is huge because quite a few websites reported it as a huge feature.  I’m not impressed really, NFL 2K5 had this, any football game with out it should be ashamed.  But since it’s a first for EA we are supposed to call this a great new feature.  

Until the next time, moment of zen…

GTA IV Impressions

Okay so for the last 168 hours when I was not sleeping, working, or eating I was playing GTA IV.  As many other reviewers and people have stated, this game is as close to a perfect 10 out of 10 as games get.  The notion that this is gaming’s Citizen Kane is not far from the truth.  It, more than Halo or Madden or anything else, has proven that a game can be a form of art.  

Looking at Halo 3, which previously held the best opening week for a game, it was seen as a game for young guys in college or in basements that will drink large amounts of beer and stay up until tomorrow playing multiplayer.  There is nothing wrong with that, and it did make goo-gobs of money for the people who made it.  There was a target for Halo, and the target was the stereotyped Xbox 360 owner, male, 20’s, white (perhaps).  

Madden is also a perennial for “Best Selling Game” as the 360’s version was the 12th best selling game and the PS2’s was the 15th best selling game for 2007.  As with Halo, Madden has a specific target audience, specifically: people like myself who swear EA is a bunch of assholes who are releasing “Roster Update 08″ but find that updated rosters are worth $60.  More specifically, football fans.

What GTA IV does is target humanity.  Similar to Oscar winner Departed, GTA is not going to be liked by everyone.  It is a gritty, violent, game that has a focus on a criminal.  This wards off people like my mother, who would rather watch Pretty Woman for the 30473th time than spend 5 minutes watching a movie with the main character being rewarded for killing a drug dealer or other people who are not exactly the people the world needs to keep moving.  

That’s exactly what this game as been up to about 40% through it, killing people who have screwed over one of your friends.  Not to spoil anything too much, but so far Niko really isn’t a bad guy in the same way Tommy Vercetti in Vice City or Carl Johnson in San Andreas would more or less do evil acts to promote themselves.  Niko does a lot of stuff where it leaves the impression this guy is not evil, just doing what he can to get by.  

That said, the game-play is what takes this game over the top.  Last Tuesday when I was still at work, not played it yet, people told me “it is great, but the fighting and shooting is different.”  Different good or different bad?  ”It’s much better.”  Yeah I agree with them, it is much much better.  I don’t know if it’s any different on 360, as I have never played a GTA game on there, but on PS3 it is exactly how controls should work.  It lets you do everything in a way that doesn’t leave you looking at the manual to see how to do things.  

Multiplayer is this biggest problem with this game.  WHAT?  Hear me out, once you play multiplayer your single player game will advance so slow because you will find yourself playing multiplayer more and more.  It is so varied in the sense that nothing is too overpowering.  If you go get the rocket launcher I can shoot you with an assault rifle from hiding.  If you have the assault rifle you can get ran over by a car.  If you are in a car you can get shot at by everyone.  There is not a limit to the things that can happen in multiplayer.

Not only is the Deathmatch mode great, but the Race mode is awesome.  I remember when the game types were revealed I thought, “Race mode?  Those are the WORST missions why would I want to race someone?”  But they included two race modes, and both are great.  The “Race” mode is a plain race, but there is no traffic, no guns, no advantage to killing anyone.  The “GTA Race” mode has guns, grenades, and is what the Twisted Metal series would be if it had a finish line.

I’ll have more on this game as it’s not leaving the PS3 anytime soon, but for now those are my first thoughts.

 

Playing GTA4

Sorry, playing GTA through tomorrow. Come back again.

Weekend Roundup: NCAA 09, Madden 09, and More…

Missed a couple of the alternate uniform updates from NCAA 09; Florida State… (Click to enlarge)

And West Virginia… (Click to enlarge)

Nothing too amazing in either pic.

Also over the weekend the Jets drafted Vernon Gholston, which I can definately live with, he could be in that Demarcus Ware mold.  All the other Jets fans thought this was a good pick, and it’s rare as a Jets fan to be happy with your number one pick.  

Madden some pack of “Rookie Cards” you get if you pre-order from EA’s website.  Forget that, just give me the screenshots!  Here’s one… (Click to enlarge)

But here is pic that I saw and liked as it really looks like they spent a lot of time making the helmets look much better.  I think when we start to see video of this game it will have silky smooth animations.  I think… (Click to enlarge)