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Monday, July 1, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013

That's a lot of people (two million, apparently).

Chicago gets to party with the cup once again, and you can't really deny that they deserve it. I've always felt that the recent era of the Chicago Blackhawks are the ultimate buzzsaw, as once they get going, they just cut through people. Having such an explosive offense as they do, it's hard to really vote against them in a playoff series. Their goaltending is good enough, which is the correct philosophy for today's NHL. You don't need to overpay; you just need to have somebody back there who is capable of greatness at times, but who just generally holds it together. Their third-line role players have always been carefully chosen, and they support the massive capability of their top players perfectly.

With that, another NHL season is done. But the virtual hockey season continues, and here are some news and notes for NHL 14.

NHL 14 Cover Vote

Not shockingly, Martin Brodeur was revealed to be cover athlete for NHL 14. We all knew it had to be a goalie, but once it was down to these two, it seemed pretty obvious that the more universally popular Brodeur would win the day. It's hard not to be a bit suspicious of the vote, seeing as Brodeur won't be around much longer, but hey, it's different to have a goalie on the cover, so that's cool.



EA revealed the Brodeur cover on SportsCentre (in Canada), and they did so with some new footage from the game.

New Details

In case you missed this excellent article from Gameinformer, check out this exhaustive breakdown of 50 elements of NHL 14 that have been revised, updated, tweaked, etc. There is some great information in here, and also some welcome changes to the game.

Some of the gameplay tweaks were outlined in my time with the game at E3, but it's nice to see gameplay features, like the revised poke check, addressed in this piece. It's going to be nice to have big players actually play that way, and this means that smaller players will have to rely on speed and poke-checking to take on tougher checkers.

It's also good to hear about improved puck support in the neutral zone, and it will be great to have defensive players (especially AI) react accordingly with the revised skating. I think the fears over hitting and deking will be put to rest once people actually get their hands on the game, and the new fighting is a blast, both in its presentation and gameplay.


This article talks about a host of improvements to the logic and options within the Be-A-GM mode, and it's also awesome to see confirmation of improvements to the menus, interface and structure of the GM Connected mode.

Be sure to read all about the rest of the changes.

Mandatory EASHL Camera?

There's an interesting thread on the EA Sports NHL forums that talks about making the Be-A-Pro camera mandatory for all players. It's a unique idea, to be sure, but would it really be feasible? It would certainly increase the immersion of the mode, and everyone would have to consider their passes and transitions more than with a zoomed out view. That said, it would also remove choice for no real reason, and certain players would be turned off by the move.

What do you think, OS? Good idea? Bad idea? Worth discussion?


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Follow me on Twitter @glennwigmore
Blog: Wiggy
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
WWE 2K14 Trailer Thoughts Stuck
04:42 PM - June 25, 2013. Written by Wiggy

With 2K releasing a new trailer for the upcoming WWE 2K14, we now know a little bit more about the next game in the long line of Yukes-developed WWE products. If the trailer is any indication, the game seems to once again be playing up the nostalgia of the brand, with The Rock as the cover athlete and lots of lingering shots of Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels.

The likely scenario is that we'll get some kind of "Be-A-Legend" mode, with the new breed (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback) mixed in with the old (Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, Stone Cold). This could be cool if proper effort is put into the presentation and structure of the mode, but the overall look and vibe of the gameplay on display seems to indicate more of a quick and dirty upgrade to quickly cash in on the new license for 2K. I'd like to believe that they're putting in enough time to make some meaningful changes, but the rapid turnaround time on this game from last year leads me to believe otherwise.

What would be more interesting, in my mind, would be to leverage the history of the brand and these "legend" wrestlers into a mode similar to last year, where we could relieve memorable stretches of each guy's career. Randy Savage, for instance, had so many interesting matches and sections of his career that you could honestly design an entire mode just around him, but that might not be in the cards here. People like Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold could also have their careers explored in a similar mode, as last year's "Attitude" stuff only scratched the surface of what they've done in the last 20 years.


The gameplay on display in the trailer looks solid, but it's mostly unchanged from previous versions. It's nice to see HBK hitting a mid-air Sweet Chin Music or Ryback Shell Shocking two opponents, but nothing in the animations looks drastically different than before. All of the character models show the same amount of detail as WWE '13, and the faces and hair seem pretty much as they were. I hope there are some new reversal and chain animations, and it would be nice to see some additional high spots and OMG moments for the game. Those are areas where the developers could likely make changes rather easily, so I'm hopeful for some innovation there.

The fact that The Rock is the cover athlete for this game also shows that the 2K just wants to capitalize on as wide of an audience as possible, since The Rock connects with fans of today as well as 20 years ago. It's a prudent move, to be sure, but it kind of indicates that the game might be thin on innovation this time around. I'm honestly more interested in the devs taking a year off to leverage next-gen tech and to get some new ideas in the room, but I'll keep an open mind for this upcoming game.

We also don't know anything about improvements or changes to creation features and online support. Will the content sharing be as robust as it is now, and will it have better server support? Will the online play be stable and smooth for at least four players? What kind of innovations do they have planned for match types or tournaments or leagues in the online space? All of this info will be doled out over time, but it would be nice to get a sense of these features fairly soon, as release isn't far away.

Final Thoughts

I'm interested to hear more about WWE 2K14, but it would be nice to see some actual gameplay tweaks and new features rather than just the same cash-in on nostalgia. If the legend stuff ends up being executed in a fulsome way (proper video packages, new voice samples, recreated matches), ala Attitude Mode from last year, then this could be a really cool feature. Ultimately, we need to see more of the game and the features to really judge how 2K is putting a spin on the WWE brand.

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Follow me on Twitter @glennwigmore
Blog: Wiggy
Monday, June 24, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Reflecting on E3 2013 Stuck
10:33 AM - June 20, 2013. Written by Wiggy

I've been to E3 three times now, and it's always such a zany place to go. To be sure, it's a treat to be able to go into what is essentially a giant video arcade and play around, but getting from place to place can always be a bit crazy with the sheer amount of people there. Either way, the industry needs the E3 spectacle in order to gain public mind share and to keep itself on its toes, so it's hard to imagine the show changing the format too much in the near future, especially after the previous downscaling backfired the way it did.

Admittedly, the booths are still a bit out of control, and it's hard to demo stuff when you can't really hear the sound or get a long amount of time with a game. It's also hard to capture video of everything, as people can definitely get in the way, or producers just don't want you to do so. Hopefully Steve and myself managed to get you, the readers, some meaningful video and impressions from the show floor.


I thought I'd just break down what I saw at the show in order to contextualize how I felt about each game. I'm pretty stoked about a lot of stuff I saw, so hopefully this can be helpful if you didn't get a chance to go to the show.

FIFA 14 (Xbox One)

While PES does still continue to deliver some compelling wrinkles in its gameplay, the next-gen version of FIFA 14 on display at E3 was very impressive in a lot of important ways. The presentation looked really good, and the game played incredibly smooth. There was less awkward transitions with the animations and tackling, and the shooting felt closer to PES than before. Everything moved so fluidly and responsively that it was hard to not to get excited.

Anticipation: 4/5

NHL 14 (Current-Gen)

NHL 14 is one of the few EA Sports games not getting a next-gen treatment, but I feel the changes they're making are meaningful enough to stand on their own merits. I agree with many of you that the presentation is stale as hell at this point, and I can't wait for that to change. That said, the new fighting engine and heavily revised hitting make the physicality that much more satisfying, and the tweaks to defensive skating, goalies and puck physics are also welcome. Additionally, we need to hear more about the Live the Life mode, as that could be a sleeper feature.

Anticipation: 4/5

PES 2014 (Current-Gen)


PES 2014 was a bit of a new experience for me, as I haven't really played much of the franchise before. The new Fox Engine visuals were definitely a boon to the player models and field detail, but I found the stadiums sort of average. The raucous vibe of the crowd is good, but they all animate in a similar way. The gameplay, though, is where PES makes its hay, and this year seems to allow a greater fidelity of control, with new right stick control moves and way better ball physics. I liked what I played of this from a gamepaly point of view, and I'm interested to see more.

Anticipation: 3/5

EA UFC (Next-Gen)

With the caveat that EA UFC was being shown as an isolated vertical slice, this was easily the most impressive thing I saw at the show. The actual effort visualized in the fights looked awesome, with proper collision detection and amazing fighter faces that grimaced and struggled as they were being hurt. The cuts and bruising to the face also looked tremendous, with a variation and realness not seen before now. Equally impressive was the footwork and revised striking, which could make for a truly compelling match that isn't just headkicks and haymakers. It's early for this game, but the promise of what they showed was truly impressive.

Anticipation: 5/5

Powerstar Golf (Xbox One)

This was a fun diversion on the show floor, as the game seems to be aping all of the things that Hot Shots Golf and Golf: Tee It Up do right. The game looks pretty spiffy, with an exaggerated art style, and the gameplay evoked the aforementioned titles in all the right ways. Add in some cool social and competitive hooks, and this one could be a neat launch title for Xbox One.

Anticipation: 3/5

Forza 5 (Xbox One)


For fans of the series, this will be more of what you want. The framerate is a rock-solid 60fps, the cars look amazing, and the new impulse triggers on Xbox One add something tactile to the driving experience. The inclusion of better Top Gear support and the "Drivatar" system are potentially cool additions as well.

Anticipation: 3/5

Football Heroes (iOS)

I'll be doing a preview of this one shortly, but it's certainly a neat idea for iOS. At a base level, it's a Tecmo Bowl–esque game with some physicality, ala Blitz, and it adds in some trading cards, loot and management. The powers you can use to juice up your players are a lot of fun, and it works well with the touch screen.

Anticipation: 3/5

Bonus (Non-Sports Games)

1) The Witcher 3

Definitely worth the wait, and the hype is well-deserved. This is an open-world adventure that brings together the best parts of Skyrim, Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption to make a fantasy RPG that looks to take up large portions of your time. The visual fidelity of the world, weather, characters and towns was amazing stuff, and the game systems, like the beast wikipedia, look really promising.

Anticipation: 5/5

2) Titanfall

The showstopper from the MS conference definitely delivered when seen behind closed doors. The action looks fantastically fun, with some awesome mech-versus-soldier interplay as well as some cool wrinkles to stitch a story through multiplayer matches. Since the ex–Infinity Ward guys are working on this, it looks to be an awesome evolution of the Call of Duty style of gameplay.

Anticipation: 5/5

3) Watch Dogs

I'm a fairly big fan of the Assassin's Creed series, even though it's been driven into the ground a bit, so I'm excited for the potential of Watch Dogs. It's cool that you're essentially playing as Rorschach, and the multiplayer moments of hacking into other peoples' games evoked awesome memories of Splinter Cell multiplayer or the Assassin's Creed adversarial stuff.

Anticipation: 4/5

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Follow me on Twitter @glennwigmore
Blog: Wiggy
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Soccer Games: What We Learned At E3 2013 Stuck
05:59 PM - June 19, 2013. Written by kelvinmak


Back to the Future for PES

We've heard so much about the FOX Engine, then oohed and ahhed when we they teased with some promo shots. And yet, true to PES form, it's probably not going to be about the visuals, again. The game looks better, yes, but from what we saw in the gameplay videos and read from various previews, things don't look 100% smooth, and the rest of the visual presentation package remains lackluster.

So what part of PES 2014 are we looking forward to? Forget about all the press releases about new beginnings and whatever metaphors they decided to use this year, it's the same as it always was: the individual moments. The pace and verve at which an attack unfolds, the way your teammates exploit space, and the distinct feel you get when you're controlling certain players. And with the slew of improvements looking to expand on those moments-- TrueBall Tech perhaps the biggest one among them-- it seems like PES is going to concentrate on making the game feel right, before tackling the looking right half of things.

The one worry, after checking out the trailer and the gameplay video? Man, there's some seriously direct, end-to-end, stuff. Whether this is just a product of two fast-paced teams playing against each other, we have to see, but right now the fear is that while the core mechanics are fun, too many matches may turn into up and down, score-one-more-than-your-opponent goalfests.



FIFA Isn't Slowing Down, Either

(Have you read our very own Glenn Wigmore's hands-on impression of FIFA 14 at E3 yet? You should.)

It's pretty impressive, when you take a step back and think about it for a moment, how consistent the FIFA franchise has been for the last couple of years when it comes to continually building on its previous release. Now, whether you agree with how they've tried to improve it, or the team's priorities on what elements to improve, that's a different thing. My point is that the series hasn't felt stagnant for quite a while now, and that's a testament to the producers who are willing to continually stick their necks out, to keep on moving forward.

After two straight years of "big" features and coming to the end of a console generation (plus the first incarnation of next-gen games are almost always going to focus heavily on visuals), if there is ever a time to break out that dreaded p-word-- polish-- this year would've been it. But nope, not FIFA. EA Canada is keeping its foot on the pedal with another slew of gameplay improvements, namely the new momentum system, shooting mechanics, and added physicality. There's not really one unifying theme to FIFA 14's new features, but that's kind of the point, isn't it? Whatever parts of the game that the producers feel need improving, they just tend to it.

There's little doubt that FIFA 14 is going be very polished with its visuals and audio. Beyond that, with the rest of the new features, they certainly sound good on paper, but many of them are hard to judge until you have your hands on the gamepad. Only then can you really feel how natural (or not) these new features really are, or how much impact they will make to the gameplay.

It's also nice to hear producer Santiago Jaramillo mention the team's commitment to keeping the game balanced (in the latter part of this video), in terms of attack versus defense, so one hopes they stick to their word and the defending AI gets a jolt of aggressiveness. I don't want to read too much into two clips of gameplay, especially when they're human vs. human, but it's certainly encouraging to see the AI teammates giving the attacking team less space, so that when you eventually take control of a defender, you don't start out seven yards away from the ball carrier.

The one thing we haven't heard much about, and it's something quite a few folks here at OS have been bringing up fairly frequently now, is whether there are enough distinguishing features as to how individual players and teams play. This is an area where FIFA can certainly improve upon, but from Glenn's account during his time with the game at E3, it doesn't look like much has changed, so don't get your hopes up.

FIFA only for Next Gen

Going to have to wait until next fall to play it on your shiny new Xbox One and PS4, PES fans.

Good or bad decision? I know very little about marketing and finances so all I can really say for certain is "I guess we'll see." From the surface, it sounds very much like a defensive move on PES' part, and whether that costs them in the long run, we won't know for a while. But there is precedence for Konami to take this route: PES' first foray into X360 and PS3 went horribly pear-shaped, so perhaps it's not the worst idea in the world to hold the fort down for a year, keep their current-gen customer base (and maybe even grow it), then take the extra time and really polish the game up for a next-gen release next year.

Either way, I guess we'll see.
Blog: kelvinmak
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013