Author Bio
Jayson YoungHome Town: Nashville, TN.
Sports: Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer
Games: Old: Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball, Tecmo Super Bowl III: Final Edition, NBA Hangtime, New: All Pro Football 2K8, NHL '09
Teams: Vanderbilt Commodores, Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, Memphis Grizzlies
OS Username: OS: wEEman33 Xbox Live: wEEman33 BSD
Tags:
Thursday, May 14, 2015
10:38 AM - May 14, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Just as in "Moneyball", the marketplace in Diamond Dynasty inflates the value of various players, creating serious bargains for other players with serious skill. Some players can be had for literally pennies and they deliver big impacts. Check out our list and let us know of some bargains you have found!
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: Diamond Dynasty's Best Budget Pitchers
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
09:50 AM - May 12, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
We previously posted a review on the 200cc add-on for Mario Kart 8, which you can read here.
While the boy and girl Villagers are both welcome additions to Mario Kart 8, Isabelle, who is the Mayor's faithful dog-secretary, doesn't feel like the best option for a third Animal Crossing character. Shop owner Tom Nook, singer/songwriter K.K. Slider, or even the angry save file manager Mr. Resetti (whose torso will pop up from underneath the dirt to disrupt your drifts in the unremarkable Animal Crossing course) all would have been more interesting representatives from that franchise.
Read More - Mario Kart 8: DLC Pack 2 Review
Monday, April 27, 2015
11:10 AM - April 27, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Confused as to how to use your created player in Diamond Dynasty? Wondering which cards to feed your created player and which to keep? Wondering which position you should shoot to play him at?
Here's the guide to answer all of those questions.
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: How to Use Your Created Player in Diamond Dynasty
Here's the guide to answer all of those questions.
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: How to Use Your Created Player in Diamond Dynasty
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
10:10 AM - April 21, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: The Best Bargains in Diamond Dynasty
Friday, April 10, 2015
10:20 AM - April 10, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Though its opening week has been beleaguered by technical difficulties, Diamond Dynasty's redesign for MLB 15: The Show has transformed the mode from being a total afterthought in MLB 14: The Show to being something that I somehow want to keep playing, despite all of its mechanical kinks. If Sony San Diego's quality assurance department can squash some of these bugs over the next week or two, then Diamond Dynasty could become one of the better fantasy team modes in sports gaming.
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: Diamond Dynasty Hits and Whiffs
Thursday, April 2, 2015
03:05 PM - April 2, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Defense has definitely improved in MLB 15: The Show, thanks to many new motion-captured fielding animations, plus a longer period of user control before your player finally gets locked into his automated catch sequence. A few new defensive mechanics have also been introduced this year, and here is the best way to utilize those tools...
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: How to Use the New Defensive Mechanics
Monday, March 23, 2015
11:09 AM - March 23, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
NBA 2K15's fourth patch isn't available yet on Xbox One, but PlayStation 4 and PC owners have now had a week and a half to experience its effects.
Developer Visual Concepts hasn't published an official change log (and doesn't plan to, until Xbox One users receive the update), but Gameplay Director Mike Wang has already confirmed a few changes to NBA 2K15's shooting system on the Operation Sports forums...
Read More - NBA 2K15: Fixing Broken Shot Forms Exposes Flaw in Shooting System
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
11:41 AM - March 18, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
A pre-Alpha build of Mutant Football League appeared last week at Game Connection America and the Game Developers Conference, revealing more details about its ongoing development.
Gamecrate captured some off-screen footage at Game Connection America, which features Michael Mendheim (the game's lead designer) commentating.
Mendheim mentions that the team's target release date has shifted to Q1 2016, sometime before the start of the NFL's Super Bowl.
Read More - Mutant Football League: More Details Emerge
Monday, March 9, 2015
10:38 AM - March 9, 2015. Posted by Steve_OS. Written by Jayson Young
Two big-name, high-potential players, Tyler Myers and Evander Kane, began a month-long, league-wide trading frenzy back on February 11. It took Electronic Arts until March 7 to finally get that big-time Winnipeg/Buffalo trade (along with the 44 other transactions made since then) into NHL 15.
A few minutes, however, is all that it took for the company's Twitter account to tweet out a picture of Kane and Myers in their new uniforms, right after that trade became official.
Read More - Latest NHL 15 Roster Continues Season-Long Trend Of Lackluster Updates (Written by Jayson Young)
Friday, March 6, 2015
Last year's skateboarding sensation, OlliOlli, just lost its spot atop the podium, and stepped down to the silver medal in Sony's ongoing competition for the title of “most difficult game” on the PlayStation Network.
Developer Roll7's award-winning rookie run left a lasting imprint upon many gamers' thumbs during 2014. And if the original OlliOlli's blistering gameplay was the equivalent of slamming out speedy guitar rhythms on the bottom four strings for an angry thrash band, then executing OlliOlli 2's amped-up repertoire of tricks feels like playing lead guitar for a prog supergroup on a double-neck Stratocaster using two separate tunings.
Read More - OlliOlli2 Review (Written by Jayson Young)
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
04:37 PM - March 3, 2015. Posted by Steve_OS. Written by Jayson Young
Monday's MLB 15: The Show stream was the longest so far, totaling almost three hours, but despite its length, there wasn't a whole lot of new information shared. Here are all of the details that were discussed:
Uniforms, Head Scans, & Equipment
- Each MLB team has 10 different jersey slots. There are around 430 uniforms in the game.
- The Mariners' and Giants' new alternate jerseys will not be in MLB 15: The Show, because there wasn't an available slot to put them into. The developers would have had to replace those teams' throwback uniforms, and Sony San Diego's telemetry shows that gamers are selecting throwbacks too often to justify getting rid of them.
- In Franchise mode, teams will wear their alternate/throwback uniforms according to their real-life tendencies and schedules.
- Uniform and face scans files have become so large in size that Sony San Diego is unable to patch new ones into the game after it releases. What you get on the MLB 15 disc is what you'll have all year.
- There are around 1,500 unique player heads in the game. One head can take a couple of hours to get right, depending on how complicated the hair is.
- The developers travel to spring training sites to capture minor leaguers' faces before they are called up to the majors.
- The cameras that were used to scan player faces were also used to scan most of the equipment in MLB 15, though some items had to be modeled from scratch.
- The degree of horizontal/vertical pitch break will be unique for every MLB pitcher and is based on real data from last season.
- If you decide to use an injured player, his attribute ratings will be negatively impacted, depending on the location and severity of the injury.
- Every MLB stadium has been improved for MLB 15. There will be a stream later in the month showing off all the ballparks.
- Historic stadiums are not in the PlayStation 4 version of MLB 15. Sony San Diego believes their return on investment would not be significant enough to make it worth their effort.
- You can now warm-up pitchers and access your bullpen by pressing up on the d-pad.
- Fielding "quick shifts" can now be made by pressing down on the d-pad.
- Road to the Show won't have any new fielding cameras, but the baserunning camera will be less jittery.
- The MLB's new "pace of play" rules were announced too late to include in MLB 15: The Show.
- There are about 70 new "third out" animations.
- Pitchers, batters, and fielders will each have their own unique sets of emotion animations after big plays.
- Athletes who don't have signature home run celebrations will use a random one from a pool of generic animations.
- Fans can catch any balls that end up in the stands.
- George Springer's pre-game dance is in the game.
- Jason Heyward's batting stance has been updated.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
11:33 AM - February 28, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
This week's MLB 15: The Show livestream was a long one, clocking in at 1 hour, 45 minutes, so if you don't want to sit through the whole thing, here are all of the highlights from Thursday night's Twitch show:
Year-To-Year Saves
- You will be able to use licensed equipment if you import your Road To The Show player from MLB 14.
- It only took four seconds to load an MLB 14 save into MLB 15.
- Save files from the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of MLB 14 must be uploaded to Sony's cloud, and from there, they can be downloaded into your PlayStation 4 copy of MLB 15: The Show.
- All of MLB 15's new facial scans and skin tones will be automatically applied to imported MLB 14 roster files. Players' attribute ratings, though, will remain the same as they were on your old file.
- All teams' farm systems are randomly generated whenever you start your Franchise.
- You can still edit any player's attributes whenever you want from inside Franchise/Season mode.
- Any player's contract can be edited, but you must make your changes before you begin a Franchise or Season. You cannot edit contracts once a Franchise/Season is in progress. You are able to adjust contract length and contract value.
- You can no longer cheat the system and lock-up all of your young talents to cheap, long-term contracts. Young players will be expecting a significant pay raise in their prime years, if you choose to sign them to a long-term deal.
- All draft picks and minor leaguers can only be signed to one-year deals.
- You cannot extend a player's contract during the season. You must wait until the off-season to start negotiating.
- Your team's owner will now give you two goals that you must complete if you want to keep your job. The first goal is easier, and it will only focus on that particular season (for example, finishing over .500, or winning your division). The second goal is tougher, and it must be accomplished before your three-year contract expires (for instance, winning a Divisional Series, or capturing a World Series championship). Your owner's expectations will be based on the team's budget and roster talent.
- If you're importing a Franchise save file from MLB 14, then you'll begin in the first year of your three-year contract, regardless of where you're at on the 20XX calendar.
- Your GM Rating will always start at an average "C," and it can either move up or down, depending on your team's performance, and whether or not you achieve your owner's goals.
- If you perform well with a low-budget team, then a big-budget team might offer you a job at the end of the season.
- The contract system can be turned off entirely, if you prefer, which allows you to stay with your selected club for the entire length of the Franchise, regardless of your team's performance.
- Whenever you put a player on the trading block, a new "trade value" bar will show you how much each team in the league covets your player. Teams looking to make a playoff push will be more interested in read-to-play veterans, while rebuilding franchises will be looking to acquire promising young prospects.
- A new "suggest trades" button will make it easier to find offers that the game is likely to accept.
- The trade logic has been tweaked so that there are more straight-up, one-for-one trades and less lopsided, multi-player trades.
- Trades remain limited to just two teams per transaction. Three-team and four-team trades are something that Sony San Diego is considering adding for future editions of The Show.
- Simulating games on the calender is now significantly faster.
- You will see more performance-based player progression this year, but the system is still predominantly governed by a player's age and his potential rating. The potential rating can change slightly over time based on your on-field performance.
- The age point where players start to naturally regress has been pushed back for MLB 15, and you can even stave off regression for a bit by performing at a high level in old age.
- Teams' budgets will grow/shrink over the years based on each club's performance, but certain franchises that have a long history of being big spenders (like the Yankees) will continue to receive large budgets, even if they perennially underperform.
- Your team can accept performance-based sponsorships to increase its budget. The sponsors' logos will only show-up on the score tickers and in the instant replay banners.
- You can bring any of the retired legends into Franchise mode, if you want.
- 10 minor league stadiums have been added on PlayStation 4. These fictional, unlicensed stadiums previously existed on PlayStation 3, but they now look much prettier on Sony's latest console.
- The PlayStation 4 is the only system that will have the radio show this year, due to the huge amount of audio data it requires. There was not enough space to include it on the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita.
- Radio host Justin Allegri broadcasts minor league baseball and college football/basketball in real life.
- Allegri mostly recaps box scores and stats, but he will also talk about any recent injuries, team transactions, career milestones, or impressive single-game accomplishments.
- The radio show will keep playing while you move through the Franchise menus.
- It will work in Road to the Show and Franchise, but if you listen to the radio show in RTTS, it will only talk about MLB events, and it won't mention anything that's happening in the minors.
- Your created character can be mentioned on the radio show, but the news won't be slanted to make him the primary focus; the show just treats him like any other athlete.
- Players without a recorded audio name are referred to by their jersey number, position, and team name.
- You can now select a specific month and time of day for exhibition games. These settings will affect the in-game lighting.
- If you start a game at night, and it goes deep into extra innings, you will eventually see the sun rising in the A.M.
- Users will have more control over their fielders this year, as they won't be locked into catch animations until much later in the ball's descent.
- Starting pitchers' performance will begin to plummet at 20 percent stamina; relief pitchers start struggling at 40 percent stamina.
Friday, February 27, 2015
04:06 PM - February 27, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
“Do the developers even watch hockey?” is an insult that frustrated sports gamers often type on the Internet to express their dissatisfaction with the (lack of) authenticity in Electronic Arts' NHL video games.
The day-to-day realities of making sports video games, however, often require designers and producers to convey their gameplans to programmers who may not have much experience with the sport that their scripts are designed to simulate. This remains the case today, to a large extent. But as the tools and languages that companies use to make video games are becoming more standardized -- and are being widely taught to thousands of college kids -- the number of sports gaming programmers with relevant, real-life sports experience is on the rise.
Read More - The Man Who Programmed NHL 94 Knew Nothing About Hockey
Saturday, February 21, 2015
10:01 AM - February 21, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
Pitchers and catchers have or are reporting, that means all of the trappings of Spring are in the air -- just don't walk outside.
With baseball season closer than ever, and with MLB rosters becoming somewhat finalized now, there's no time like the present to talk about the teams we are most excited to play as in MLB 15 The Show.
Read More - Which MLB Team is the Most Intriguing to Play As This Year? (Roundtable)
With baseball season closer than ever, and with MLB rosters becoming somewhat finalized now, there's no time like the present to talk about the teams we are most excited to play as in MLB 15 The Show.
Read More - Which MLB Team is the Most Intriguing to Play As This Year? (Roundtable)
09:27 AM - February 21, 2015. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Jayson Young
If you missed Thursday's extra innings, hour-and-a-half stream of MLB 15: The Show, and you don't have time to watch the entire event in full, here are some handy cliff notes covering everything that was discussed on Sony San Diego's latest demo session...
Read More - MLB 15 The Show: Recapping the First Full Game Stream (Pirates vs. Cubs)
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