Sports Games Thread

[Death From Above]

I hear they got Ray Ferraro which is good but they also got Ed Olczyk which is, you know, not.

[Jiji]

At least we won't be bombarded with "HUH, EDZO!? ISN'T THAT RIGHT, EDZO?! YOU REEEEAAALLY MAKE MY NIPPLES HARD, YOU REEEEAAAAALLY DO. HUH, EDZO?!"

[Tabe]

At least we won't be bombarded with "HUH, EDZO!? ISN'T THAT RIGHT, EDZO?! YOU REEEEAAALLY MAKE MY NIPPLES HARD, YOU REEEEAAAAALLY DO. HUH, EDZO?!"

Really?  You had to defile a perfectly nice sports thread with Pierre Maguire quotes?  Thanks man.

[Death From Above]

[RandomAct]

This should get a few laughs.  There is humor in truth.

 

[Tabe]

The bit with the guy 4 feet from the basket doing nothing while his opponent hopped all over the place slayed me.  That video is great.

[Death From Above]

I am out of likes but that is the greatest basketball video of all time.

[Vincey Greene]

I dunno dick about the beautiful game, but PES2014 is the freebie on PS+ so I'm giving it a whirl. Pretty fun thus far. I'm kinda hoping it helps me learn the game.

[RandomAct]

The bit with the guy 4 feet from the basket doing nothing while his opponent hopped all over the place slayed me.  That video is great.

I have absolutely everything in that video happen to me at LEAST once per game, every game.

[Tabe]

The ball bouncing off a guy, then slowly recovered, only to be flung out of bounds? I've seen or done that at least 50 times, I think.

[RandomAct]

The one thing they missed, is when you get caught in the bump animation the moment you press the pass button.  So whenever you recover from said animation, the guy you were passing to has moved clear to the other side of the court and you turn it over.

[SirFozzie]

So, I decided to see how badly I could break FM14, and used the editor to assemble the greatest team ever.

 

GK: Iker Casillias, Hugo Lloris, Marc-Andre Ter Stergen
D: Davide Stanton, Jerome Boateng, Phil Jones, Mats Hummels, Leighton Baines, Gino Peruzzi
M: Sergio Busquets, Lucas Leiva, Toni Kroos, Xherdan Shaqiri, Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Luka Modric, Eden Hazard, Ross Barkley, Arjen Robben, Mario Gotze, Jack Wilshere
F: Cristiano Ronaldo, Theo Walcott, Daniel Sturridge, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Danny Welbeck, Sergio Aguero, Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Karim Benzema, Mario Balotelli.

Total Wages: 6.2 Million pounds per week (or more then double what you can set as the team's maximum salary in the editor).

 

Edit: Then I put them in one of the lower divisions of Italian football (which is a whole new level of goofiness I can get into, basically they're making the third and fourth divisions (both of which had multiple regional divisions as is) one big third division (with no relegation from the third division, 9 of 18 teams in each of the two fourth division groups being "promoted" to the third division, and the other 9 teams "relegated" to the old fifth division, which will become the new fourth division)

[Raziel]

3 games before half that squad bitches about playing time.

 

Its a shame FMRTE is pay now, or you could have some real fun (like, fixing that max salary problem)

[Death From Above]

Hell you can build squads halfway like that in that soccermanager dot com game. My current Celtic (which is stretched about as far as the economics of Scotland in that game will allow even for Celtic). I took a lot of rising young stars to keep my wage bill under control and I'm not selling any of them for a billion years:

 

GK: Salvatore Sirigu

 

D: Daniel Carvajal, Matts Hummels, Matija Nastasic, Mattia De Sciglio

 

DM: Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba

 

AM: Isco, Santi Cazorla

 

F: Lionel Messi©, Neymar

 

Bench: Stefanos Kapino, Juan Quintero, Serge Aurier, Alvaro Morata, Adem Ljajic, Charlie Mulgrew, Liam Bridcutt (one of these things is not like the other)

 

I mean shit, this would be a pretty damn entertaining team.

 

I've also got a bunch of prospects out on loan so I'll be rich for years.

 

They're in the process of revamping that game at the moment, a lot of changes coming soon, so hopefully I don't have to blow up my team because it rules.

[Chaos]

MLB the Show seems very doable to Platinum. None of the trophies are season or online based. However, they all seem like they'll take much trial and error.

[Raziel]

So, i've been meaning to ask, are the current NBA and NHL games any good?

[Chaos]

The 2K series is fantastic for NBA... especially if you are running a next gen console. I really am enjoying NBA 2K14.

 

I tried NHL 14, but it has been ages since I played a hockey game that the learning curve actually made me send it back fairly quickly.

[Jiji]

NBA 2K on the next-gen is kind of funky. The best graphics in a sports game to date, pretty damn good upgrade on the great engine (with lots of goofy shit sure), but some really weird things like not being able to save rosters/any file to your HDD. Instead you have to upload and download them every time you want to use them. Plenty of odd shit like that. Like, can you even set up double teams in the match-ups menu anymore? I can't find how.

 

NHL 14 is ultra refined and great. There are some excellent rosters on operation sports that redo all the ratings and create a gap between 4th line scrubs and superstars so not everybody is rated 80-95 overall.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

Good to hear on NHL 14, I am looking at getting it (360) if anyone wants to do a trade.  I got a bunch of stuff so maybe I got something you're looking for. 

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

FIFA 14 udpate

 

I've gotten Leeds into the playoffs, finishing in 3rd place two points behind Wigan and behind QPR. 

 

We're playing Bolton and the winner will play either Reading or Middlesbrough. 

 

Who I signed to get to this point: 

 

Adam LeFondre

Alessandro Schopf (loan)

Lobantsev (GK) as Paddy Kenny will be retiring at the end of the year

 

Lefondre and McCormack are a dynamite pairing up front. 

 

Zalioukas is a beast at corners.

 

If I get promoted the side will need some major work, though.  Midfield is very weak beyond Luke Murphy.  Schopf turned out to be not all that.  He can't last a whole game, and Mowatt has scored more goals in far less games. 

[Tabe]

Lots of info on the new UFC game pouring out now, including a gameplay video of Ronda Rousey that explains the submission system.  Worth checking out as I doubt I could explain it.

 

Other info: no female CAFs, you can max out all stats on a new CAF, and lots of other stuff.

 

It all sounds good but the choppy animation and weird invisible cage seen in the above-referenced Rousey video have me at least a little concerned.

 

 

Also, if you don't read the PS+ thread, NBA 2k14 for the PS3 will be free in June with PS+.

[Jiji]

No female CAFs? And we can't upload/download CAFs because of copyright issues. Not good.

[Chaos]

No female CAFs? And we can't upload/download CAFs because of copyright issues. Not good.

 

Combine that with the no USB storage for Saves on the PS4, and it will be difficult to have any community files anywhere.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

FIFA 14 update -

 

Leeds United won the 1st leg of the playoff against Bolton 3-0 away.  The return leg ended 0-2 to Bolton and there were a couple moment at the end where I was nervous they were going to level the tie, but hung on. 

 

Reading beat Boro and the final at Wembley was set. 

 

It was an even match with few chances until Reading were gifted a penalty in the 39th minute from some nonsense at a corner kick.  Who knows what the infringement was, as the announcers didn't even speculate.  Whoever took the penalty for Reading did one of those stutter step ones and I guessed right and saved it.  Went straight up the other end and Ross McCormack scored a screamer after cutting in from the edge of the box and letting loose a shot that beat the keeper, went off the post and in.  Some nervy moments in the second half as Reading pressed for an equalizer.  Lobantsev made some good saves to keep Reading at bay and Luke Murphy wrapped the points up with a left foot shot from just inside the box.  2-0 Leeds and promotion secured.

 

The board gave me a lousy 3.8 million for the transfer kitty to mount an assault on the PL.  You've got to be kidding.  I also got a paltry sum for wages that won't allow me to sign many quality players.

 

No worries, as I'm a wheeler dealer like...that dude on Wheeler Dealers (good tv show that).  I could have sold McCormack or Le Fondre for a decent sum to bolster the WARCHEST, but decided not to as they are a good pairing up front. 

 

Schopf went back to Bayern as his loan ended, so I needed an AM to replace him.  Luckily, I had forgotten I had signed Jordi Gomez on a pre-contract.  He's not great, but he's better than Schopf...and free.  Jimmy Kebe went back to Crystal Palace.  So that's two of my starting mids leaving.  Need to shore up the holes in midfield now.

 

I sold Tommy Lees (CB) for 1.1 million and let a few other squad players contracts expire. 

 

My two key transfers are Niko Kranjcar from QPR for around 2 million (RM - replacing Kebe) and Maor Melikson from Valenciennes (LM / CAM) for over 1.8 million or so.  Cameron Stewart will now be a back up for Melikson instead of starting on the left of midfield. 

 

I feel like I got the midfield sorted now, as we play a diamond.  Luke Murphy plays DM, Melikeson will play on the left, Kranjcar on the right, and Gomez the tip of the diamond supporting the strikers. 

 

Stewart, Mowatt, and Zack Thompson are the primary midfield subs. 

 

Weaknesses are a lack of depth in defense and striker positions.  Injuries will kill me in the coming PL season.  There's a lack of real quality throughout the side, so we'll see how it goes, but that's the best I could do with 3.8 million and wages being a hindrance.  Lineup looks like this:

 

                                  Lobantsev

 

Byram               Pearce               Zalioukas           Warnock

 

                                   Murphy

 

Kranjcar                                                             Melikson

 

                                  Gomez

 

                 McCormack                   LeFondre

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

Pre-season fixtures are done.  We beat Hoffenheim 2-0, 2-2 draw with Palermo, and 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen.  The new players, especially Melikson, are an improvement on last year's side. 

 

Spurs and Stoke City are the first two fixtures.