The Madden 11 Demo was just released last night on Xbox Marketplace and PSN but it’s already creating havoc with its new Strategy Pad. In previous versions of Madden the Defensive Adjustments could be made using the shoulder buttons and face buttons. Shifting your linebackers to the left would be a combination of a shoulder button and left on the joystick.

Now with the introduction of the Strategy Pad, all Defensive Adjustments are made through the Directional-Pad. This throws a wrench into what all Madden players are used to and also adds another step in doing simple Defensive Adjustments. To go along with that, the CPU player snaps the ball so quickly on offense that it’s difficult to get in a single adjustment when you previously pull off multiple adjustments. It doesn’t help that the Xbox 360 D-pad is stiff and worthless either.

There are rumors however that the Strategy Pad is optional in the full version of the game. Whether this means the Strategy Pad display just disappears or the original Madden 10 controls are returned is still unknown. It has been confirmed that this option only hides the display of the Strategy Pad. Sadly, the Strategy Pad is here to stay.

This is just another example of EA fixing something that wasn’t broken just for the sake of claiming they’ve done something new. What they’ve really done was take a step back from a proven working formula. The Strategy Pad is in no way “Simpler, Quicker, Deeper” as their new slogan suggests.

Another 5 map package will be coming our way in June. It’s unknown how many maps are actually new and how many are rehashes from the original Modern Warfare.

The first Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 map pack is ready to launch next Tuesday March 30th exclusively for Xbox 360. PS3 owners will need to wait a little bit longer.

The “Stimulus-Package” map pack will include 5 multiplayer maps and is hinted at costing $15 (1200 MS Points). While 3 of the maps will be all new (Bailout, Storm, and Salvage), the other 2 will be remakes from the original Modern Warfare (Crash, Overgrown). Crash and Overgrown were some of my favorite maps from the original game and I’m glad to see them return.

Here are the short descriptions of the new maps:

“Bailout” a multi-layered apartment complex; “Storm” an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery; “Salvage” a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars.

This is good news for all the players who having been playing Modern Warfare 2 from the day it was released. I’ll admit that I was originally disappointed at the number of maps included in the game. This pattern of multiplayer FPS games releasing map packs is becoming all too familiar. While it continues to work from a business stand point, I can’t help but imagine where this trend will end up in the future. The worst case scenario would be games getting shorter while tagged at full-price and downloadable-content prices increase for less content. Of course this is just glass half-empty talk but it’s all very possible.

*UPDATE – This roster update is now available (02/20/2010).

To recap, the latest Madden 10 roster update removed this years retiring players from the game completely. This includes Kurt Warner, Bertrand Berry and Junior Seau. The roster update created an uproar in the Madden community being the first time players were removed for retirement in the same year they were active. Normally retiring players are simply not including the following years version of Madden. EA Sports simply thought being accurate going into the summer was the best choice but it turns out they are flipping the script in favor of the community decision.

Due to the overwhelming response, we are going to release another update that adds the retired players previously removed back into the game. Our fans have spoken and we’ll do our best to have this update done before the weekend. We also plan to push this update to Online Franchise shortly after it’s ready.

It’s great to see that EA Sports is listening to their fans. We’ll see if this continues with features and fixes going into Madden 11.

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If the infinite care package glitch has become the bane of your existence then you’re just like me. Luckily for us Infinite Ward has dealt with the exploit and has issued a patch that is now under Xbox 360 certification. This will be the second fix on this same issue. It turns out the glitchers found an alternative way to do the same exploit.

I still need to give props to whoever these glitchers are who spend hours upon hours to figure out how to exploit the game. However, I hate the fact that they spread these glitches like wildfire which in turn allows the mob to dishonorably use it in ranked matches.

Patch details:

• Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized.
• Fix for “infinite care package” exploit.
• Sentry Guns: Improved placement detection, preventing cases of Sentry Guns inside geometry.
• Model 1887: Bling using Akimbo and FMJ combination now has same range and damage as non-Bling Model 1887s.
• Fixes to prevent various XP hacks.

The last Madden 10 will be released for Xbox Live and PSN tomorrow (Feb 6th 2010) in time for the big Colts vs Saints game. As you know EA Sports has slacked off this year with their roster updates. In the 20 weeks of NFL football only 12 Roster updates have been released. A couple of the roster updates were actually released prior to the beginning of the season but EA soon retired to their old ways. While this year’s basketball games have seen an increase of roster updates (daily), the uncontested Madden series has regressed.

This final update will close the book on another year of Madden. A year that saw the birth of online franchises (still flawed) and Madden Ultimate Team. I still feel that the Single-player Franchise Mode stats are terrible, and would benefit from adding a simulated game slider. The addition of gang tackling was nice but didn’t seem to play a huge role, not enough to be part of every commercial and advertisement. Sometimes I still see players just fall over instead of joining in and tackling. Here’s to hoping Madden 11 will be a good year. Go Saints!

To get the updated Rosters select Xbox Live or PSN from the Madden main menu then select Depth Chart. Instructions.

Link to roster details

Earlier today the demo for Sega’s new Alien Vs Predator game was released on Xbox Live and PSN. The Demo features a multiplayer deathmatch on one map.

Last year when this game was announced I was excited to hear that Alien Vs Predator was receiving a reboot. The production team is introducing a brand new story with gameplay built from the ground up. This will be the first game of the series to be rendered in HD graphics and so far it’s looking pretty nice.

Even though they have claimed this will be a complete reboot it seems like not much has changed as far as features. You’ll still receive 3 single player campaigns, one for each race, and a online multiplayer modes. I’m just hoping the controls are upgraded from the last game.

In late 2009, Madden Ultimate Team was announced for Madden 10 as an add-on. The good news is that its finally ready and its absolutely free!

So what is Madden Ultimate Team? Basically its Madden 10 fused with Magic The Gathering. Yea that’s right the 1990s card game. Lucky for you, you won’t have to deal with physical cards. When you start Madden Ultimate Team you will receive a Starter Pack with random cards. Your starter deck includes everything from players and coaches to stadiums and uniforms.

More cards can be purchased in the form of Booster Packs using the virtual coins you receive from playing games with your team. You can even buy and sell cards from other players through the online auction system. EA hopes this brand new feature will breathe new life into the game and add more interest to playing Madden 10 online.

I honestly think this is a unique and interesting endeavor for a company such as EA, however I’m not too sure if the results will be what they are expecting. Turning Madden 10 into a card game doesn’t exactly target their core audience who would probably prefer to just play quick games with their buddies. On the other hand the hardcore audience could really appreciate something like this.

The first NBA 2k10 patch fixed up a lot of the mess and headaches that shipped at release but there’s still more to fix. Most complaints about the game have to do with the online experience. Laggy gameplay and broken leagues won’t win 2k10 any awards.

However 2k10 does flaunt pretty nice offline modes which continue to see more bug fixes. I still wish they’d let us turn the auto-save off in Association Mode.

The patch is currently in the approval stage and will probably be available in a couple weeks. Just like the last patch, you should be able to get the patch by simply running the game while connected to Xbox Live/PSN.

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