"NCAA Basketball 10," Sports Video Game Changer

By Amir Ali Said

Message to Pop, I would like to get "NCAA Basketball 10" for the XBOX 360. That game looks really cool. Plus, I want to play along with the NCAA Basketball season in real life. EA has included some new features into "NCAA Basketball 10," that I think are cool. With this game, EA may be changing sports video gaming. That's because of there "presentation." With the game, you can decide to play with the CBS broadcast system or the ESPN broadcast system. That's real cool. I'll breakdown how EA can use this new way of video gaming with all of their sports games.

With Madden Football, EA could choose CBS and FOX's broadcast system. With their MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) game they could use Spike TV's broadcast system. For NBA Live, EA could use TNT, ESPN, or ABC's broadcast system. For FIFA EA could use ESPN, or the Fox Soccer Channel's broadcast system. And the list can go on and on. If I was EA, I would certainly take advantage of their "presentation" system, this could be huge, and they would be first.

Also, EA has a new motion system that allows you to put players in motion to get the open pass and score. That feature is cool too, but not nearly as cool as the presentation feature. Like Modern Warfare 2, I want to participate in history in the making. I really think this game will change sports video gaming for the future. So Pop, can we get "NCAA Basketball 10" for XBOX 360 as soon as possible?

BlackBerry Search, Verizon Help!

By Amir Ali Said

Pop told me that now I can get a blackberry. I'm hype! I began my search for a blackberry today. But then I remembered how it was when I first started looking for blackberry smartphones. It was a grueling experience to say the least. Mainly because Pop and I have Verizon Wireless phone service. So that means that there are only about 5 or 6 blackberry's to choose from. I would love it if Verizon had most, if not all of the blackberry's, Research In Motion (makers of the Blackberry), offers. But unfortunately it's not like that. Maybe the problem is that Research In Motion doesn't offer all their phones to select carriers. But I can't complain, it's all business.

The blackberry I want is the Bold 9700. Problem is, it's only offered with AT&T and T-Mobile phone service. So my second choice would be the BlackBerry Tour 9630, but that phone is rumored to have all sorts of problems. The most important being the trackball. Then the browser is kind of slow, but I think you could pay to have it upgraded. But at least it's offered with Verizon Wireless. So my final choice is the BlackBerry Curve 8530. But the problem with that phone is that the keys are small, and apparently the phone feels cheap. Basically, the Tour is my only choice, since it fills my requirements. But I'm cool with it, since I'm going to have a BlackBerry. I mean come on, a BlackBerry is great. It beats any flip phone I ever had.

Superchamp Round Comes Down To Fourth Down (Part 1)

The first ever Superchamp Madden tournament has come to an end. After three hard fought games, my three teams proved to be the best. However, it came down to the Superchamp round, the final round of the tournament. All of the games were close and pretty much down to the wire. Here's a look at how the Superchamp round went.

Pop and I played with our base teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Philadelphia Eagles. I played with the Eagles and Pop used the Steelers. The game started off with a defensive stand by Pop, followed with a touchdown. Then I got the ball back and rushed for 34 yards with Michael Vick, bringing me to around the 30 yard line. From that point on, I went into shotgun and inched my way into the endzone. By the end of the first, the score was close, but Pop was in the lead. The second quarter came around and so did the fumbles. Pop fumbled and I recovered it around the 15 yard line. I was able to punch it on a run from Michael Vick out of the Singleback formation. At half I gained the lead by about 4 points.

Great Marketing = More Sales

Successful marketing has brought Madden 10 into the hands of adventure gamers. Adventure gamers are players who like to play Gears of War, Army of Two, COD (Call of Duty), Naruto etc. I have a lot of friends that play those kind of games. But I noticed that since Madden 10 was released three of my friends who are adventure gamers bought Madden 10. That is incredible! All three of my friends who have Madden 10 said in the past that they don't really like sports games.

Most of my game catalog is sports games so I found that statement absurd. I have Madden dating back to Madden 07. However, I haven't gotten Madden 10 yet. That’s because I have a system in place where I give the most recent Madden game a month before I purchase it. The main reason why is because of glitches and bugs. Usually in a month glitches and bugs should be fixed. However, if you buy Madden 10 the day it's released you may buy a Madden 10 with all the glitches and bugs. I learned my lesson from Madden 07. I think Madden 10 may have the most sales in the Madden franchise, once more adventure gamers start getting Madden 10, it's a rap.

We're Getting Madden 10!

Yesterday, I got the verdict from that I would be getting Madden 10. After playing the Madden 10 demo I had a lot of doubts. I didn't like the game speed, because it moved way to slow for us. I also didn't like the way we chose our play. The last thing I didn't like was the gimmicks and overall experience of Madden 10. But all of our questions have been answered and our minds have changed.

For the last couple of weeks leading up to Madden 10's release, I've been doing my research. My research was directed at our doubts and dislikes. I spoke to one of the Lead Designers on Madden 10, Ian Cummings, and he told me that if you don't like the default game speed, you can speed it up. That was great to know. Game speed was at the core of my concerns for Madden 10.

Another thing that helped the verdict was the explanation of the play selection. Play selection in Madden 10 is going back but for the good. Madden 10 play selection is good because it cuts down on cheating (play looking), making it a much better game experience. I could actually get used to that.

My last concern was the gimmicks and overall experience. However, when I thought about it again, Madden 10 doesn't have gimmicks, but features that are closer to real life. When Madden 10 went in and added the chain gang, fumble pile-up, and more gang tackles that was a good decision. The three things I just mentioned actually happen in real-life, which makes the game better. It also makes the game more realistic. I think the overall experience has been improved, based on the information I've gathered since playing the demo in July. I'm certainly getting Madden 10 and not ending my Madden streak.

5 Reasons Why EA Went BackWards

1. Gameplay
Madden 09 did a pretty good job of having good gameplay. Under the umbrella of gameplay includes: Defense algorithims, Offensive algorithims, Hit Stick, game speed, player movement. All of these things factor into Madden gameplay. However, in Madden 10 they weren't able to accomplish the same thing. Yesterday I played the Madden 10 demo reluctantly. The game was so slow and the overall experience was so whack. One of the big disappointments was the way you choose your play. Instead of picking your play individually, you had to press the corresponding letter with the play you wanted to choose. I played Madden like that when I had a PS2, that's around Madden 06.

2. Ratings
I've been tracking Madden 10 team ratings since EA allowed people to see them. So far, I've come to the conclusion that most teams ratings have declined. But the question is why? The ratings in Madden 09 were just fine, teams got the ratings they deserved. Also, I think the players got ratings they deserved. However, in Madden 10 ratings for teams and players have declined. If you look at a list of Rookie ratings you would see that ratings range from 50-85. That's a huge margin. I wonder how the EA comes up with these ratings because they're low for no reason. Now mediocre teams have gotten worse. For example, the Texans, Jaguars, Buccaneers and Saints. Each team's ratings that I just mentioned range from a 71-79 overall. I have no clue why EA decided to decline ratings this year. If EA is trying to make Madden 10 more like an NFL experience I don't think they should have ratings decline. Players drafted in the 6th and 7th round in the NFL draft can still contribute to a team. But they probably won't be able to contribute in Madden 10.

3. Design/Artwork
The Artwork for Madden 10 looks so similar. To bring up a point I made earlier, the way you choose your play is so simple. Then comes player faces, they also look simple. The design for picking your team went backwards just a little bit, in Madden 09 when you picked your team it look so much better. But in Madden 10 it looked so simple, as if they were biting themselves.

4. Gimmicks
If you've played the Madden 10 demo and watched the intro all the way through you would under stand what I mean by gimmicks. But that isn't the only gimmick. Another gimmick is the cursor that shows where the ball will appear is now red, and it opens or closes based on how far the ball is away from the closest player. I know, it's that complicated, which is why it qualified as a gimmick. Yesterday I didn't actually experience this next gimmick but it's advertised like it will be used, the battle for the fumble. From the articles that I read on EA's website the fight for the fumble will occur at the bottom of a pile-up. This fight is won after a person presses a series of buttons repeatedly in order to win the fumble.

5. Overall Experience
The overall experience for Madden 10 is very bad. The game moves too slow. Players run and throw weird. There are too many gimmicks and Madden 10 has gotten away from it's roots. It's not like a real video game. Madden 10 is fake to me. Hopefully, in the last days before Madden 10's release EA can make some significant changes. But I don't plan on picking Madden up until September, maybe October because by then EA should have made some changes. I'll also find some way to play Madden 10 in it's full version before I buy it myself.

Microsoft's XBOX Is Moving Up

Today it was reported that Microsoft would be taking its XBOX to a whole nother level. Microsoft is going to offer: Web-streamed music, updates on Facebook or Twitter, and last but not least, A motion detecting and voice-recognizing camera that can "see" a player's arm and hand motions. Everything just mentioned is crazy and the technology has to be new, except for the motion detector. But I wonder how, on a gaming system, a person can update their Facebook or Twitter, that's amazing! This new technology from Microsoft for their XBOX 360 will be game changing, and I look for a boost in XBOX 360 sells. But the only question is, will all of this new technology be free?

Seeing The Spirit Today

I can't wait to see The Spirit today, I'm mad hyped. From the commercials to my own interest in movies such as The Spirit or Sin City (The Spirit bit off of Sin City , same creators and everything.
-Amir Ali Said

Twitter Continues To Expand, But I Have One Last Question

As twitter continues to expand, I now have one last question. All of these other websites such as Tweetake, BigTweet, Twhirl, Twilert, Twitterholic etc. all in tandem with Twitter? Or are these websites spin-offs of twitter that help you with your twitter account?