All-Pro Football 2K8

Saw this over at Dubious Quality.

Link to press release.

It's about time. I'm not a big sports fan, but I always liked playing the 2K football games against my friends. Never got into franchise mode, playing seasons, etc... I just liked talking smack and playing football on the couch. Madden just never did it for me. I'm glad to see 2K Sports making a football game, even if it isn't licensed.

This belongs in the Sports forum, silly!

I am glad for this game. I was, of course, the world's biggest NFL2K fan.

It will be interesting, however, to see if 2K catches up to the improvements Madden made. Madden became a very fine product in the past two years - unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the next-gen releases, which were a whole new product and had wonky physics and AI where the last-gen game had really started to shine in those areas (PC and, I believe, Wii owners got to enjoy them, as those games were based off the long-running Madden codebase and not the new travesty).

Will the new next-gen Madden integrate the more realistic physics and smarter AI of the last-gen game? Who knows.

2K5, however fun, had plenty to improve on:

* Maximum Passing, which was a key feature in earlier 2K games, was essentially broken in 2K5 and left unused by most players (if you pressed A at the team select screen, your controller said "Maximum Passing" and the feature was turned on). Unfortunately, without Maximum Passing, 2K5's passing game suffered from an inability to truly place your passes, making certain passes difficult or impossible (remember those pass routes in 2K5 that you would simply never throw because they would never "work"?)

* Defensive back AI was often inaccurate or unpredictable, and this was sometimes countered by having receivers drop catchable passes just because they were hit

* Screen passes were completely broken

* QB scrambling was too effective, and the defensive line AI was largely unaware of it

That said, it was still a much better game than next-gen Madden, and if Madden 08 still doesn't catch up to its last-gen little brother, at least we'll have this to play.

But if someone took Madden 07 from the Xbox/PS2/PC and gave it smooth 360 graphics, that would be tough to beat. (But after hoping for that last year, I've learned not to get too excited)

*Legion* wrote:

This belongs in the Sports forum, silly!

And I slide in two hours late.

That sound you hear though, is my pure, unfettered joy. I'm absolutely thrilled about this news, 50% for the 2K Sports angle, 50% because the genre has to have that competition. I just do not feel that EA is going to really advance very much without a economic reason to do so. God willing, 2K will take a bite in their pocket and force them to really push. I dearly hope we'll be in the position where I have no idea which game to buy, but i'm happy with either.

I'll buy this just to piss EA off.

souldaddy wrote:

I'll buy this just to piss EA off.

Ditto! I caught a hint of this from a former co-worker a few weeks ago and thought he was joking. This is great news, they've been working on it in one form or another ever since 2k6 was cancelled so if nothing else it should be a finely crafted game with the ever-cool set of online features of 2k sports games.

*Legion* wrote:

This belongs in the Sports forum, silly!

Being as I'm not a huge sports fan and don't frequent those forums, and it is a "game," I figured it could go in here, you silly goose.

This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Madden on the 360 is abysmal, and football season isn't the same without a football game to play. Here's hoping they allow "customizable" teams/players.

Yippee!!

I'll be all over this one like...well, like something that has something else all over it. I cannot wait!

JFC I'm all OVER this day one.

Hemidal wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

This belongs in the Sports forum, silly!

Being as I'm not a huge sports fan and don't frequent those forums, and it is a "game," I figured it could go in here, you silly goose.

I like sports games but since I couldnt afford any of this year's games I havent been visiting that forum, so thanks for putting it here

polypusher wrote:

I like sports games but since I couldn't afford any of this year's games I havent been visiting that forum, so thanks for putting it here ;)

I am vindicated!

Moved to Sports, I'm going to have to get creative about threads posted in the wrong spot, I'm having to move a lot, lately.

I miss the 2K5 running game so bad, I can't wait to see what they do here.

Certis wrote:

Moved to Sports, I'm going to have to get creative about threads posted in the wrong spot, I'm having to move a lot, lately.

I miss the 2K5 running game so bad, I can't wait to see what they do here.

The 2k5 running game was awesome. I could play the Steelers the way they were meant to be played! I wasn't as big on the passing game, though. It seemed overly random.

You remember that rash of QB scrambling that netted them more yards than some of the running backs in the league? It was a side effect of the West Coast Offense.

I think QB scrambling should be effective for some of the league's faster QB's. However, there was a natural counter to this phenomena. Scrambling had a huge wear on the offensive linemen that were often confused as they thought they were pass blocking and ended up being in-between pass and run blocking. So I think some kind of linemen stamina system should be implemented in the game. Scramble too much and your linemen start missing blocking assignments, more holding penalties, and your running back's up the gut yardage will get lessened due to fatigue. (opponenets defense gets a bonus on goal line stands)

I think there also should be effects of fatigue and hits on your QB. (more tipped passes, slower passing velocity, prone to fumbles, slower scrambling speed)

fangblackbone wrote:

(opponenets defense gets a bonus on goal line stands)

Defensive lines should start actually ACTING different on goal-line stands than they do on regular plays.

In real goal-line plays, you'll see defenders throw themselves to the ground to try and create a traffic jam and allow the linebackers to plug the gaps. This isn't something that would be done on a play at midfield.

In video games, goal-line running is often too effective because defenders act the same way as they would on 1st-and-10 in the open field, where allowing a RB to get 1 yard would be a big victory for the defense, rather than the tremendous loss it is at the goal line.

I wonder if they could have some mini game where the defensive player tries to guess the count on goal line stands, giving a stimie bonus. (cue linebackers flying to meet the RB animations or someone getting a big stick underneath and standing up the RB)

I figured you of all people would appreciate my linemen fatigue idea.

Games like NCAA Football have tried a "jump the count" mini-game, it doesn't work as well as it might sound. I think it would be better to reward players for their reaction time to the snap - how quickly they hit a button right after the snap, rather than a guessing game which is pretty much just pure luck in a video game.

There's a button to jump the snap in Madden 07.

wordsmythe wrote:

There's a button to jump the snap in Madden 07.

In the new, "next-gen" build of the game (360 and PS3), not the versions based on the "old" codebase. But yeah, that came right out of NCAA Football.

*Legion* wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

There's a button to jump the snap in Madden 07.

In the new, "next-gen" build of the game (360 and PS3), not the versions based on the "old" codebase. But yeah, that came right out of NCAA Football.

It came right out of Dang City when I'm drinking and playing with friends. I can't tell you how many yards I've given up.

Sounds cool. I tried Midway's Blitz (hate Madden, never bought a copy), and while it's strictly arcade, it's another choice other than Madden. Blitz is now at $30, which isn't a bad price point. Variety = Good.

Anyone play "The League" on the 360?

LT and Romanowski on the cover. That was enough to dissuade me.

SwampYankee wrote:

Anyone play "The League" on the 360?

Almost. I've almost picked it up a few times now, but eventually gave up and just bought a used copy of Madden online for $25.

I'm still not sure it was the right choice.

There is a demo of "The League" on live, but I thought it kind of stunk.

Jayhawker wrote:

There is a demo of "The League" on live, but I thought it kind of stunk.

Yeah I played it for all of three minutes before I realized it was a steaming pile. I can't wait to hear more details about 2k8!

*Legion* wrote:

Games like NCAA Football have tried a "jump the count" mini-game, it doesn't work as well as it might sound. I think it would be better to reward players for their reaction time to the snap - how quickly they hit a button right after the snap, rather than a guessing game which is pretty much just pure luck in a video game.

Not even. Even on the hardest level, I ended up "jumping the snap" easily on at least 60% of plays, and I suck. The window was just MASSIVE, for you and the PC. It's another one of those EA ideas that sounds good, and then the first year, it's a turd. NCAA 08 will probably fine tune it some if they keep it, and then, by NCAA 09, it'll actually be a working feature.

Prederick wrote:

Not even. Even on the hardest level, I ended up "jumping the snap" easily on at least 60% of plays, and I suck. The window was just MASSIVE, for you and the PC. It's another one of those EA ideas that sounds good, and then the first year, it's a turd. NCAA 08 will probably fine tune it some if they keep it, and then, by NCAA 09, it'll actually be a working feature.

I didn't keep NCAA for long enough, I guess, to get the snap jump down.

Everyone, put your rumor hats on. According to specious scans of the May Game Informer, you will not be able to customize players/teams/stadiums and there will be no franchise mode. If you don't like it, "shut up and play the game." Yes, yes, dirty rumors.

http://pastapadre.com/337/first-info...

I doubt I would have put the time in to redesign a team into the Chiefs anyways. The fake teams is No large deal to me. I'll take the Rhinos or the Knights or Whatever. I hope you can change the city names though.

I would prefer teh availability of a Franchise Mode, but I can live without it. It would be nice to be able to improve your team through drafts and whatnot.

But as long as it has good gameplay and you can play in leagues I'll be happy.

And at the very least, at least the Madden developers won't feel like they can mail it in for the next 4 years.

SwampYankee wrote:

I doubt I would have put the time in to redesign a team into the Chiefs anyways.

And what would the point be without doing the same for everyone the Chiefs play against, anyway?

SwampYankee wrote:

I would prefer teh availability of a Franchise Mode, but I can live without it. It would be nice to be able to improve your team through drafts and whatnot.

I'm OK with the lack of a Franchise mode. I prefer regular, much more sane Season modes.