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Thursday, August 30, 2012
03:21 PM - August 30, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Probably not winning it all this year...but it's a fun thought if you are a Husky.
The college football season is upon us, and as we get ready for the first weekend of action, it’s time to run another season simulation using NCAA Football 13. After simulating a year into Dynasty Mode with no human intervention, who finished at the top of the pile? USC? Alabama? Oregon? Oklahoma?
In a season where no team ran the table, the national championship game was again a rematch of a game that happened earlier in the year between two teams from the same conference. This time, though, it was an all-Pac 12 affair, as the Oregon Ducks met… the Washington Huskies? Yes, the Ducks and Huskies both finished the year with one loss – Washington’s against USC and Oregon’s against Washington. Surprisingly, the Huskies outgunned the Ducks in the title game, 31-17.
Read More - NCAA Football 13 Simulates the Season
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
04:35 PM - August 21, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
You've got just about one more week until Madden NFL 13 drops -- but that shouldn't spoil you from having some final fun with Madden NFL 12. Here are five zany suggestions to give you some last bits of entertainment with last year's Madden.
Read More - Five Ways To Make Madden 12 Last One More Week
Read More - Five Ways To Make Madden 12 Last One More Week
Monday, August 13, 2012
02:42 PM - August 13, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
A future Sun and Fun Conference matchup?!
One of the great features in NCAA Football 13’s Dynasty Mode is the ability to make custom conferences. You might be surprised at how much longevity custom conferences add to Dynasty Mode. In this column, I talk about a few ideas for custom conferences that I’ve enjoyed using.
Read More - NCAA Football 13: Custom Conference Ideas to Run With
12:00 PM - August 13, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
It's not easy playing in the SEC, especially when your program ratings lag behind the rest.
There's no shame in using one of college football's powerhouses in Dynasty Mode.
However there is another way to success. Winning title after title can be even more satisfying when you've overcome incredible barriers to get your team to the promised land. So what are the top five toughest programs to turn into powerhouses in dynasty mode? I've compiled my own list of the top five toughest and while these aren't the five worst teams in the game, they all offer a pretty tough challenge to build and maintain success. Two of my top five teams are actually pretty good in year one but all of them should be challenging to use in Dynasty Mode, even for experienced players.
Read More - NCAA Football 13: Five Toughest Dynasties
Thursday, August 9, 2012
11:44 AM - August 9, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
It’s no fun to play against someone who takes advantage of glitches or bugs to seal a victory. You all know the type.
But then there are tactics that fall into a hazy ethical ground. They’re not exactly cheating, but something about them doesn’t quite feel right. In football games, one of the clearest examples is the money play. In this article, we’ll take a look at one of these plays that you’ll want to watch out for in NCAA Football 13.
But then there are tactics that fall into a hazy ethical ground. They’re not exactly cheating, but something about them doesn’t quite feel right. In football games, one of the clearest examples is the money play. In this article, we’ll take a look at one of these plays that you’ll want to watch out for in NCAA Football 13.
Read More - Anatomy of a Money Play: The Rooksie Option
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
08:02 PM - July 24, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Mariano Rivera’s cut fastball
Was there any way this pitch wasn’t going to make the list? Sure, Mariano’s other offerings are solid, but it’s the cutter that made him what he is today. In-game, the pitch has serious velocity (94 MPH), 99 movement and 99 control. It’s pretty much the perfect pitch. Use it, and you’ll see why.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
12:01 PM - July 18, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Kenley Jansen’s 2-seam fastball
During his career, Kenley Jansen has struck out nearly 15 batters per inning. That’s more than two K/9 better than the all-time record, held by Rob Dibble. Jansen’s 2-seamer isn’t the highest-rated pitch in the game by a longshot, but given Jansen’s other ratings, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The pitch breaks across the strike zone and in against right-handed hitters, and more often than not, they’ll flail away and miss. In real life, it’s Jansen’s cutter than he uses to put away batters, but it’s the 2-seam that gets the job done in-game.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
11:22 AM - July 17, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Felix Hernandez’s changeup
King Felix’s changeup sits at a relatively fast 88 MPH, but his in-game fastball gets into the mid-90s, so the change is still a good weapon against hitters sitting on the fastball. This pitch also moves more than most other changeups in the game, and when it’s thrown low in the strike zone, it’s nearly unhittable. In real life, the movement on Felix’s changeup is almost indistinguishable from his fastball, which is why it’s such a potent weapon.
Monday, July 16, 2012
11:14 AM - July 16, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Aroldis Chapman’s fastball
The base speed on Chapman’s fastball is 105 MPH. Yeah, that’s right – 105. It’s too bad he doesn’t have a changeup in the game, because that kind of velocity combined with a slow pitch could seriously mess with hitters’ timing. In the meantime, though, there’s no more devastating straight fastball in the game. The pitch comes in with such speed that it actually appears to rise, a big reason that it’s so hard to hit.
Friday, July 13, 2012
11:40 AM - July 13, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Justin Verlander’s 12-6 curve
The MLB 2K12 cover star gets ridiculous drop on his best breaking ball. The pitch only sits at 83 MPH, but when you combine this kind of movement with the fact that you can throw the pitch after hitters are used to 100 MPH fastballs, it’s easily one of the best pitches in the game. In real life, Verlander aims this pitch at the low outside corner of the strike zone. That’s the spot where you should place it as well – when your opponent makes contact, more often than not, it will be a weak grounder.
Courtesy of Fangraphs, the chart above is of Verlander's curveball movement. The pitches on the chart are as a catcher would perceive them. So, pitches further to the right would break in to left-handed hitters, and vice versa. Movement is relative to the average pitch.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
01:43 PM - July 10, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
(Image courtesy of Stat Box Stories)
Since 2005, FBS football has only added one new member, Western Kentucky in 2009. This year, FBS football welcomes four new transitional members: Massachusetts, Texas State and University of Texas at San Antonio while South Alabama has been left out of NCAA 13. As gamers know, every new team adds a new experience (or a new potential opponent) in dynasty mode. UTSA is new program, but Massachusetts and Texas State have been playing football for more than 100 years. It will be interesting to see how their transition goes, and for gamers looking for a challenge in dynasty mode, it doesn’t get much better than having the opportunity to take control of college football’s equivalent of an expansion team.
01:40 PM - July 10, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
This might seem like a funny reason to be excited in an industry where game journalists like to harp on developers for a lack of innovation. But in truth, there’s something comforting about the relatively minor changes in store for NCAA 13 relative to Madden 13: namely, we can be pretty sure that no feature will be a miserable failure. Madden’s Connected Careers mode seemed ambitious and interesting. Then we found out that we couldn’t use edited rosters or play other teams’ games in the mode. What else will we find out that we don’t like? The move to real-time physics also looks great. But it takes more than videos to know if the feature works – we need the game in our hands. NCAA 13 is a low-risk title. But as much as it would be fun to play a college football game with huge fundamental changes like those we’re seeing for Madden, we can rest-assured that this game is going to work roughly as we expect.
Is the familiarity a good or bad thing for you?
Sunday, July 8, 2012
10:56 AM - July 8, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Sure, NFL teams don’t all look the same. But the variation in NFL offenses isn’t anywhere close to the variation between, say, Georgia Tech’s option attack and Texas Tech’s spread passing approach. There are many paths to success in NCAA Football, and the experience of building a team to fit each of these paths is markedly different. Like it or not, the 32 NFL teams in Madden just aren’t all that different in terms of playbooks and approaches. Across the 124 FBS teams, though, there’s a ton of variety to be found.
What is your offensive and defensive styles in NCAA Football?
Friday, July 6, 2012
10:19 AM - July 6, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
I might be biased because I live in a Big Ten city, but I haven’t been to a professional sporting event that reached the intensity level of big-time college football. A common criticism of the NCAA series has been the inability of these games to recapture that vitality. But with improved sound and extra presentation elements, it looks like NCAA 13 will get closer than ever. It remains to be seen whether EA’s move toward replicating the TV broadcast experience will be a success. But based on what we’ve seen in the demo, the NCAA atmosphere remains intact, and I’ll take that atmosphere over Madden’s any day of the week.
Is the NCAA Football atmosphere a drawing point for you at all?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
02:13 PM - July 5, 2012. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Bo McCready
Is player customization a major selling point for you?
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