Fever 2004 and XSN Sports (This has turned into sports games online discussion)

[blurredvision]

Just rented Fever 2004, and it's a decent game. Surely not better than Madden or ESPN, but decent nonetheless. But the one reason I'm thinking of getting it is simply because of XSN Sports. Have any of you football fans bothered to check this out yet? Simply put, it is awesome.

By going online, you can set up tournaments and your own league. Each tournament/league can hold up to 32 players each, but I have yet to see any get that many players. I was looking through a league that was already underway, and they had 16 people. Everyone had already played around 3-5 games apiece. It looks as if the league commissioner governs the time limits that players have to play their next game. You can communicate with your next opponent by email, or using the league's very own message board. Each tournament/league gets it's own message board once it's created. How awesome is that?

And of course, you can view box scores for each game in the league/tournament, view everyone's season stats, and more. Damn this is awesome. Should I buy a mediocre game to take advantage of a revolutionary feature like XSN Sports?

 

[Johnlee]

Daym dude, you expressed my exact sentiments!

I am a die hard 2kx/ESPN football player and XSN sounds freakin amazing. I was actually at Blockbuster today and thought about renting it but decided to go home and play more of the ESPN demo.

How is the gameplay. I remember it being pretty crappy (i have Fever 2003)

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Johnlee
How is the gameplay. I remember it being pretty crappy (i have Fever 2003)

The gameplay? Well, I haven't played too much of it so far, but it's definitely not as good as Madden/ESPN(NFL2K). IMO, the animations aren't all that great, players run a little too slow to be a professional game of football, the ball FLOATS through the air no matter how you throw it (bullet or lob), the defense sucks on passing plays, is too hard on running plays, so on and so on.

But it's still a decent game. Hell, I can only HOPE EA will be a copy cat next year and do this exact thing with Madden on PS2. Even Sega can copy some of this. XSN Sports is everything I've ever wanted in a football game (online leagues for christ sakes!!!), but it sucks heavily that Fever is near the bottom of the pack when it comes to the all-around football game.

 

[SunnyD]

Fever is more arcade-ish than the others (others are more simulatorish I think) right?

One complaint I have about all of em is artifical stats. If a runningback has a really high stat for breaking tackles, it's just impossible to stop him. Not the way it works in real life. You don't just shrug off 4 guys wrapped around you.

 

[Johnlee]

simulatorish!! hahah.

XSN definetly got the lockdown on stats and online gaming. Can you fantasy draft online within a league?

 

[blurredvision]

Don't know about a fantasy draft with an online league, but that would be cool.

Only problem I see with creating leagues right now is that everyone and their mother want to start their own. Not many want to join. If you have bothered to register your gamertag with xsnsports.com yet, you can go in and see all the leagues that have been started, and when the actual start date for games is. I would venture to guess that 70% of the league and tournaments listed have 1 person in them. If I am going to do a league, I want a full 16 or 32 man roster. Seems like it'll be hard to do that right though.

 

[Wingznut]

Yep, I've been drooling over XSN for a while...

Link
and
Link

(No, I'm not being an asswipe REPOST nazi... Just reaffirming my statement. )

 

[RedRooster]

Have you guys seen ESPN online for the PS2 this year? And their whole ESPNgaming online thing?
Man, now THAT blows XSN out of the water. Individual stat leaders, way more in depth tracking...too bad it's PS2 only.
As fantastic as XSN looks for us XBox owners, I think the gameplay in Fever 2004 is too far behind ESPN and even Madden to a lesser extent to consider it as anything more than an online game. I like my non-cheating, at my own pace, offline franchises.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: RedRooster
Have you guys seen ESPN online for the PS2 this year? And their whole ESPNgaming online thing?
Man, now THAT blows XSN out of the water. Individual stat leaders, way more in depth tracking...too bad it's PS2 only.
As fantastic as XSN looks for us XBox owners, I think the gameplay in Fever 2004 is too far behind ESPN and even Madden to a lesser extent to consider it as anything more than an online game. I like my non-cheating, at my own pace, offline franchises.

ESPNgaming? I keep up with my football more so than the next guy, but have I been living under a rock? I haven't heard of ESPN Football having anything even closely superior to XSN. Can you create online leagues? I know 989Sports has their online thing, but it's nowhere in the same ballpark as XSN.

 

[blurredvision]

Well, I've played a couple of games online, and here's my opinion. The control SUCKS. If you are a newb to football games or have only played Fever in the past, you may like it. But from a seasoned Madden player, you really come to appreciate the very fine controls of Madden once you play Fever. You can't cut through the holes on a dime, you can't effeciently cut a corner around someone, you can't juke or stiffarm with any kind of accuracy, and the players JOG, they don't run. In one of my online games, I lost 6-3 (maybe we just sucked?), we were playing in Miami and it was SNOWING.

Damn this pisses me off. Such an awesome feature like XSN, and they fudge it up with lackluster gameplay. Way to go Microsoft. I hope to god Fever 2004 sells like mad and outsells Madden so EA will do something similar to XSN next year. I will not be purchasing Fever 2004.

 

[RedRooster]

ESPNvideogames

It's for PS2, but in the XBox screenshots section. It got our hopes up for a bit, but it's PS2 only.
Just the way you can setup leagues and ENFORCE rules is superior. The presentation is much better, and it tracks a whole lot more. Very cool. Hopefully next year they can bring it to XBox.

 

[blurredvision]

Thanks RedRooster! I didn't know ESPN was gonna have this stuff. Where in the hell was EA at when everyone was adding this functionality to their games? I'm definitely not picking up Fever, but ESPN may be the one to get. (I'm glad I have all consoles ) I've played the demo and liked it a lot better than last year.

 

[RedRooster]

Originally posted by: WoodchuckCharlie
Thanks RedRooster! I didn't know ESPN was gonna have this stuff. Where in the hell was EA at when everyone was adding this functionality to their games? I'm definitely not picking up Fever, but ESPN may be the one to get. (I'm glad I have all consoles ) I've played the demo and liked it a lot better than last year.

EA is still trying to setup their own thing, but they seem to be lagging behind. Plus, they're screwing over us XBox owners, so I've pretty much given up on them. Their gameplay isn't as good as ESPN's anyways.
If you get ESPN for PS2, let us know how it is. I'd ALMOST be tempted to add another console in my living room, since those online leagues they've got setup look so good!

 

[Ludacris]

Madden 200x has had that for years. Hell, you can play in online leagues on EASPORTS Online with Madden 2004. You even get a free year to play on EASPORTS ONLINE just by buying Madden 2004. The people that quit get an automatic loss and up till Madden 2002, you could play in online franchises where you could bid for free agents and trade players with others online. If you are going to buy a game get Madden 2004 for the PC, that way you can take advantage of any patches and roster updates that come.

 

[blurredvision]

I've been looking for info or something about ESPN online leagues, but I can't find descriptions anywhere. All I've seen is those screenshots you've given. Is this something they've added at the last minute, because those pics you've showed were JUST put up, and they're the only I've seen of it. I've read in some preview articles that they have multiplayer leagues this year, but it says nothing about online. I would think this is a big deal, because it is to a lot of players. I wasn't even planning on buying Fever or ESPN, but I will definitely pick up ESPN if the leagues are done right.

And to Ludacris, Madden has it's own league system? I've not heard of it, could you link to it please? I'm looking for leagues that are integrated into the game, meaning you can set it up on your PC, have your own message boards for your league, play on your PS2 (or XBOX, whatever the game may be), then all your stats automatically show up on the site with the standings and box scores. Technically, you have your own leagues with any game, you just have to set up everything yourself and you can't necessarily keep stats and scores unless everyone who plays records them manually.

 

[blurredvision]

Just wanted to copy and paste this little tidbit from an interview on operationsports.com. This is an interview with Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts.

Operation Sports: Will online leagues or franchises be implemented through Xbox LIVE somehow?

Greg Thomas: We will have full leagues and leaderboards on PS2 for sure and we are working with Microsoft to hopefully bring a lot of our online features we?re touting in the PS2 version of ESPN NFL Football, onto the Xbox version. Since Xbox Live runs on Microsoft?s network, it?s something we have to work out the details with Microsoft, but we?re very optimistic we?ll have some really cool online features forthcoming next year.

 

[RedRooster]

Yes, for this year us XBox owners are out of luck, as far as Sega online leagues go.
There's no doubt they will implement something next year, whether they use XSN or use their own as they have on PS2 will remain to be seen. I just can't wait to have a realistic football game playable online in leagues. Single games are alright, but there's no sense of continuity and no one will ever catch those cheating idiots who rack up 1300 wins a week.

I think for this year, they just didn't have nearly enough time to work with the XSN tools MS has made available. There should be no excuse for not having something for next year.

WoodchuckCharlie, just out of curiosity would you prefer to play XBox online, or does it really matter to you what system you go online with?

 

[Staples]

Wow, that is cool if there are message boards for the league. That is what MS needs for Xbox Live or at least a PM system so you can send messages to your friends. As far as XSN, I am not a big fan of sports games and I can't seem to do anything more on xboxlive.com other than see my friends list so I have not see what XSN can do. The one XSN game I will probably get though is Amped 2. I never was very good at the first one but they have supposedly dramatically changed the second one and it supports 720p widescreen and is Live so I can see myself getting it when it comes out. My most wanted game for the rest of the year is PGR2.

 

[Ludacris]

Buy Madden 2004 for the PC guys. All the features you guys have been yearning for have been in it for years. XSN just copied EASPORTS Online thats all. I think you can do it with the PS2 as well. X-Box owners are out of luck though. EASPORTSONLINE lets you play leagues online and it schedules the games for you. There is a built in Message board and everything else. Guys, you guys have been missing out for years.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: RedRooster
Yes, for this year us XBox owners are out of luck, as far as Sega online leagues go.
There's no doubt they will implement something next year, whether they use XSN or use their own as they have on PS2 will remain to be seen. I just can't wait to have a realistic football game playable online in leagues. Single games are alright, but there's no sense of continuity and no one will ever catch those cheating idiots who rack up 1300 wins a week.

I think for this year, they just didn't have nearly enough time to work with the XSN tools MS has made available. There should be no excuse for not having something for next year.

WoodchuckCharlie, just out of curiosity would you prefer to play XBox online, or does it really matter to you what system you go online with?

I've never thought of Sega maybe using Microsoft's XSN. I would doubt it, though, because of the screens you provided looks like they've come up with their own. I LOVE the classic ESPN.com interface they are using too!

As for which system I'd rather go online with? It doesn't matter to me. Sure, XBOX Live is nice with your one gamertag and the headset, but ultimately it doesn't matter which. I hardly use voice whenever I play online anyways. Playing online is nice on both, and I will buy which ever version offers the features I want.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Ludacris
Buy Madden 2004 for the PC guys. All the features you guys have been yearning for have been in it for years. XSN just copied EASPORTS Online thats all. I think you can do it with the PS2 as well. X-Box owners are out of luck though. EASPORTSONLINE lets you play leagues online and it schedules the games for you. There is a built in Message board and everything else. Guys, you guys have been missing out for years.

Madden just isn't the same on the PC as it is on the consoles. With Madden on PS2, you can create tournaments, but not leagues. And it doesn't keep track of stats. But I didn't know PC Madden had all that. Pretty cool to know.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Staples
Wow, that is cool if there are message boards for the league. That is what MS needs for Xbox Live or at least a PM system so you can send messages to your friends. As far as XSN, I am not a big fan of sports games and I can't seem to do anything more on xboxlive.com other than see my friends list so I have not see what XSN can do. The one XSN game I will probably get though is Amped 2. I never was very good at the first one but they have supposedly dramatically changed the second one and it supports 720p widescreen and is Live so I can see myself getting it when it comes out. My most wanted game for the rest of the year is PGR2.

XBOX Live has an upcoming update (mid-Sept?) that will add a lot of functionality. XBOX Live 2.0

As for Amped 2, this game will also be a part of the XSN sports network. Competitions and other stuff will be held.

 

[Ludacris]

You are right, it isn't the same. It is better! You can do tourneys and everything on the PC and more. You get patches and roster updates and you can buy the new Logitech Dual Action gamepad that looks and feels exactly like the PS2 controller. The PC fan based has a bigger crowd and many fan sites/forums. Hell, we've been having online franchises since Madden 2001. Yes, 32 people online playing for a championship and making their teams better through free agency, trades, and drafts. You guys have no idea what you are missing. All you need is a GeForce or Radeon card and a decent PC and you will have a great time. I'm trying to tell you guys. There is one forum I post on where we talk with the EA Sports developers and they actually get ideas for the game from us.

 

[blurredvision]

Hey Ludacris, any chance of getting some screenies of the league you are in now? Just some screens of the setup, the stats, how everything looks. Thanks.

EDIT: I also read in a review about a fee to play online if you wanted to play past the trial period. Is this true? And how long is the trial period?

 

[Ludacris]

When you buy the PC game, you get a full year free of EASPORTS ONLINE (EASO) play. Which means when Madden 2005 comes out, you probably will get another year. Its 5.95 a month if you don't buy Madden 2005 and want to keep playing 2004 after your free year. If you have Madden 2002 or 2001 for the PC, you can host your own IP league or franchise. We used to do that alot and some people still do. We all would setup a website with a forum and communicate with members via instant messenger.

As for the screenshots, I don't have a place to host them. You can goto www.ebgames.com and look at Madden 2004 for the PC for some details regarding online leagues. I just can't believe you guys are just now hearing about it. Hell, goto www.google.com and do a search for Madden PC leagues.