OS Weekly Wrap Up, Getting You Caught Up on Sports Gaming News (Aug 16 - Aug 22, 2020)

Brian quickly put together a video showcasing every Madden 21 uniform for all 32 NFL teams. You can now play the game via EA Play. Feel free to call out what you see as a uniform mistake.

The new service mechanic fares a little better, though it does take a little bit of time to figure out. You decide on the angle of your toss and the direction of your serve in the first part before applying power in the second. If you don’t hit the correct angle on your toss, it will make it more difficult to hit the ball accurately when you add power. Again, at least this is how I think the whole thing works. All I truly know is that it did produce more dynamic results with your serve (I even got a few lets), though it does also seem to have a bit of randomness baked in as well. Even when I was able to execute everything perfectly to the best of my knowledge and hit some nice serves on the lines with maximum power, I was still never able to ace my opponent.

Going hand-in-hand with Player Development, the ability to finally convert players into other positions has been added to the FIFA 21 career mode. Players like Gareth Bale, who originally started as a left back/left wing back and eventually migrated further up the pitch, can be replicated this year in the FIFA 21 career mode. The impact of this on your roster management is huge. If you’re managing a club with a small budget, training up players who can play multiple positions will help keep our wage bill down while also keeping things fresh.

Last year, EA introduced Player Morale with one of the main influencers of morale being Press Conferences. EA has tweaked how press conferences affect players as now only the players who played in the match can be affected by post-match pressers, and conversely, the pre-match presser only affecting players who are eligible to play. This is a good change for those of us who actually don’t skip our media commitments!

Folks on the forums have already been discussing the NBA 2K21 gameplay blog (it was almost more like a controls blog) and the other notes NBA 2K21 gameplay director Mike Wang discussed on Twitter. This is the staff’s chance to weigh in with some of their thoughts.

Here we are in mid-August and 2K is still re-releasing older theme packs every couple of days. I’m usually not a fan of recycled content, but on the plus side, the packs are actually juiced.

MyLeague Online has been a roller coaster throughout the years, but it seems like the devs have created a great mode after years of struggling. Last year (2K19) was a rough year for MLO as it constantly battled server issues that disrupted the functionality of the mode. This year (2K20) has rebounded nicely as they have been able to mostly remove the server issues. It’s been nice to see the development team commit to making this game mode a featured part of the game. Some of the most loyal 2K fans play this mode, and it’s nice to see it not left behind in the current microtransaction state of sports games. That being said, here are some ideas I would love to see implemented in the NBA 2K21 MyLeague Online game mode.

Important information to know regarding “preferred positions” as the new positions you convert your players to will become their preferred position so you better be sure when you convert them. Tying new converted positions into the new player sharpness/morale adds another layer of complexity so versatile players like Red Bull Leipzig’s Tyler Adams could reap some valuable morale boosts for your squad, if they’re in their preferred position of course.

I wish Skater XL was around 10 years ago. I don’t skateboard now, but on rainy days or at times when I was unable to go outside and skateboard, this would’ve been the game for me. It gives users a realistic representation of what a day in the life of a skateboarder is all about. And at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for from a video game. Once you get the extensive control scheme down and learn how to do the endless tricks, you can just cruise around and enjoy the game.

Fernando Tatis got into some “trouble” for breaking an unwritten rule of baseball. There’s about 2,000 different unwritten rules in baseball, and many of them are dumb, but it still got us thinking what are some unwritten rules of sports gaming?

The use of partial shots in PGA Tour 2K21 isn’t exactly new but it’s now a lot easier to use them because they require significantly less guesswork than the old system. To hit shots that were between clubs in The Golf Club 2019, you were forced to try and estimate the power of your swing based solely on the backswing animation of your golfer. This was imprecise and challenging at its best and frustrating beyond belief at its worst. Now, it’s a lot easier to gauge your partial shots thanks to a power bar that allows you to set a target distance and percentage along with it. All you’ll need to do is start your downswing at the exact moment the indicator on your power bar passes through your target, but this can be easier said than done. With certain clubs, you can either leave a shot well short or fly way over your target even by being just a hair off on the meter.

Everyone knows about the Madden Curse. It’s why Lamar Jackson has even more added attention this year. It was also never stronger than in the earlier part of this century. Players from Marshall Faulk to Shaun Alexander to Vince Young never recaptured the magic that landed them on the game’s cover. Barry Sanders retired after getting on the cover (this was rectified when a — still retired — Barry Sanders graced the cover of the PS3/Xbox 360 versions of Madden 25, confusing game title and all). I was such a believer in the curse that I think I accidentally cursed Carson Palmer by printing out a custom cover with him for Madden 06. With that in mind, it’s also fun to think about who the best players were who avoided the Madden Curse by simply never being on the cover.

Submissions are broken into two new mini-games, one using the back two shoulder triggers and the other using the left analog. In both variations, the goal is to either cover your opponent’s color, or avoid it if on the receiving side. Submissions are made even more exciting thanks to the possibility of chains into a different submission, providing an instant boost. Perhaps you need to strike your opponent to coax them into releasing their limb for an armbar or escape a hold from top position by standing up and slamming them back onto the mat. An impending heartbeat and visual effect complete an improved submission experience.