Sports Gaming News Weekly Wrap-Up - LPGA, NBA 2K22, Madden 22, FIFA 22, PES Rename & More

Every Sunday, we will get you caught up on the sports gaming news you might have missed, during the busy week. This includes the latest videos from our content team and featured articles from the staff.

Sports Gaming News

• Madden NFL 22 The Yard, Player Classes, Superstar KO Gridiron Notes
• New EA Skate Title Won’t Be Shown at EA Play Live – Behind The Scenes Video Revealed
• Madden NFL 22 Scouting – EA Play Live 2021
• MLB The Show 21: Battle Royale Season 5 Program Includes Harper and Jansen
• 2nd Half Heroes Alan Trammell Added to 4th Inning Program
• MLB The Show 21 – Headliners Set 24 Future Stars Logan Gilbert
• NBA 2K22 Screenshots – Comparing Luka, Dirk & Candace Parker From NBA 2K21
• DIRT 5 Super Size Content Pack and Patch 5.00 Available Today
• Some of the New Features Revealed For NBA 2K22
• FIFA 22 Gameplay Reveal – EA Play Spotlight
• FIFA 21 Patch 18 Coming Soon – Patch Notes
• PES Officially Renamed to eFootball, Going Free to Play, Cross-Platform – Trailer & Details

• NBA 2K22 Screenshots – Rui Hachimura
• 2021 NBA 2K League Week 7 Tips Off at 7:00 PM ET Tonight
• EA Sports PGA Tour to Feature LPGA, Amundi Evian Championship, Female Create a Player Feature & More
• Madden NFL 22 Player Ratings Revealed Next Week
• MLB The Show 21 Patch 13 Available Today – Patch Notes
• WRC 10 Deluxe Edition, Pre-Order Bonuses and Anniversary Mode Details Revealed
• GRID Legends Announced, Coming in 2022 – Trailer and Details Revealed
• Topps Now July Moments (Week 3) Feature Sluggin’ Max Fried
• MLB The Show 21 – Headliners Set 25 Signature Series Michael Young
• Knockout City Season 2 – Fight at the Movies Arrives on July 27
• Play Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Through the Weekend with Xbox Live Free Play Days & Steam
• Skate City Update Adds Tokyo City, Exclusively on Apple Arcade

Operation Sports Featured Articles

• Will the EA Sports Announcement at EA Play Relate to FIFA or Another Game?

The rumor mill around EA Sports has gotten a little out of handle lately with some people assuming a new EA Sports game is coming back tomorrow on July 20. We do believe one or two other EA Sports franchises are in the pipeline and being worked on (or at least planned) as of now, but we don’t really have a concrete reason to believe any game announcement will happen tomorrow (we would of course love to be wrong).

• Analyzing the Madden 22 The Yard and Superstar KO Reveal

Last year, EA introduced a new multiplayer game mode titled “The Yard” in Madden 21, and as with everything Madden, fans expressed their displeasure and happiness. Many couldn’t figure out why these resources were spent creating The Yard while other modes (like Connected Franchise) were untouched. Then there was another sect of fans who were happy to play the mode and give it a chance.

• Fishing: North Atlantic Review – An Exercise in Waiting, But an Exceptional Fishing Simulation

Fishing: North Atlantic is a very realistic fishing simulator, so much so that the waiting before you catch a fish is not dissimilar to the wait in real life. Depending on what level of sim and roleplay you want, you might be totally fine with this. If you’re not okay with this, you eventually get to establish fast-travel points as you find new ports. It’s just that what ends up being the first 3-5 hours of the game could have been spent getting to the action a little faster.

• In Hindsight, Was It a Good Idea to Release Konami’s “New Football Game”?

While the game is obviously a work-in-progress, many PES fans obviously took this version as a preview of what’s to come, and to be fair, you can understand that line of thinking to an extent. Considering that this is the first time we’ve gotten our hands on a new PES since PES 2020 (PES 2021 was a “Season Update”), putting this version in the hands of the community this early was always going to create a lot of speculation as folks tend to jump to conclusions. Keeping in mind the video game community is famous for breaking down even the shortest of trailers — myself included — it was still interesting seeing respected PES content creators nitpick over a game that looked a lot like PES 2021 Mobile.

• NBA 2K22 The City Wishlist: Time to Renovate the Surroundings

In making the leap from current gen to next gen, there were expectations that NBA 2K21 would be superior in a variety of ways. In at least in some regards, it has delivered on that promise. One of the biggest changes, for better and worse, relates to The City. When people play the most popular MyCareer mode online, they are confined to The Neighborhood on PS4/Xbox One, while the PS5/Xbox Series X gives them a chance to scope out The City. With this in mind, I wanted to put together this NBA 2K22 The City wishlist since 2K seems close to starting its NBA 2K22 media blitz.

• Six Reasons Rocket League Still Rules After Six Years

When Psyonix first released a sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars back in July of 2015, there were few indications that Rocket League would go on to become the massive hit it is today. Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars may have been downloaded a couple million times on the PlayStation Network, but it also received decidedly mixed reviews from critics, and it would take seven years for a sequel to even be made. When that next game was finally unleashed, that sequel wisely came with an abbreviated title in Rocket League, and it also had improved gameplay and innovative physics that would make a game that is essentially soccer but played with rocket-powered cars into a global sensation that is still being played every day by millions.

• FIFA 22 Hands-On Preview: A Whole New World

Every time a new console generation starts, the hope is that with new power there will be some game-changing aspects to our favorite games. EA Sports is aiming to do just that on next-gen consoles this year with FIFA 22‘s new HyperMotion feature. The reveal trailer dropped on July 11, and while not fully detailed, it gave a good idea as to what direction FIFA 22 would be heading. I had the chance to attend the FIFA 22Virtual First Look event, and at first glance I can say that it appears that players on PS5 and Xbox Series X are in for a real treat this year. I also had some hands-on time with the FIFA 22 early beta. Let’s break down the information from the Virtual First Look in regards to gameplay and how it played on the pitch with our first FIFA 22 hands-on preview.

• eFootball Trailer – What We Learned (For Better or Worse)

The excitement building up to the July 21 announcement by Konami was real. Speculation as to what the announcement could be was fueled by a decision two years ago by Konami to make the 2021 rendition a Season Update. Citing a move to a new engine (Unreal Engine, which you can read about here and here) as well as new hardware, one could easily justify Konami’s decision. Instead of repeating some of the same mistakes they made when transitioning in the past from the PS2 to PS3 and then the PS3 to PS4, Konami’s decision made a lot of sense. Yes, it was risky since obviously EA was going to go big to further its gap in sales dominance, but it was a cautious, calculated move with an end-goal in mind, namely making the first version of PES on next-gen systems the best game in the series to date. It’s with this end goal in mind that we’ll revisit the eFootball trailer and see if the end goal ended up being an own goal.

We’ll see you again next Sunday with more sports gaming news, videos and featured articles.