• The Tailgate Smorgasbord - March 21

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    gschwendt
    Published on 03-21-2011 11:43 AM
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    Like a buffet, The Tailgate Smorgasbord will bring you odds and ends giving you a little bit of everything.

    On the NCAA Football 12 information front, Erin Andrews is in studio today to record new lines for this year's game. Erin said, "NCAA Football 2012 is sounding gooooood!!" The question is, does this mean that she's in to record new lines for her portion of the 'Road to Glory' mode or is she going to be a larger part of the broadcast crew in NCAA Football 12? Let us know what you think in the comments. Click here for a picture of her in the studio.

    The first week's worth of 25 new plays coming to NCAA Football 12 is completed. To discuss the new offensive plays, go here. To discuss the new defensive plays, go here.

    Last week Kotaku reported that EA SPORTS will no longer be shipping physical paper manuals with their titles; instead, the manual will be available in-game. The first of their titles to do so was Fight Night Champion... the question is to you, do you read the manual? Will you miss them?

    Today EA SPORTS unveiled their plans for the Madden NFL Football 12 cover athlete. This year, instead of the vote being a selection of only three candidates, they are taking notes from college basketball and going with a March Madness style tournament featuring a candidate from each team. Among the candidates are Drew Brees, Michael Vick, Maurice Jones-Drew, Adrian Peterson, and Julius Peppers. Voting is already underway so go to http://www.ESPN.com/MaddenVote to cast your vote; the first round continues through March 27th with the final two pairing off from April 18th to April 26th.

    With the first two rounds of the NCAA Basketball tournament completed, Hawkfan leads The Gaming Tailgate's pickem group. Good luck the rest of the way to everybody.
    Comments 20 Comments
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 03-21-2011, 01:36 PM
      What she's currently reading...

      ErinAndrews Erin Andrews

      What am I recording now?? Every, yes every school!! http://plixi.com/p/85819442

    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 03-21-2011, 01:43 PM
      Not sure what she's doing here....anyone have good enough eyes to get past Erin and see what's on the screen?

    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW - 03-21-2011, 01:45 PM
      Off of the top of my head looks/sounds like Erin might be getting more regular in game commentary. I seem to recall Brad Nesler having the "And for ...." line during pre-game break downs of the teams.

      I will not miss the instruction manual. Other than the silly port issue I don't think I have looked at one in years. Probably saving EA a ton of $. The cost of ink/paper alone is prob not insignificant

      Voted in the Madden contest. I think I voted for EVERY defensive player and underdog in the 1st round.

      I wouldn't be surprised to see Vick win the vote.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 03-21-2011, 01:47 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by CLW View Post
      Off of the top of my head looks/sounds like Erin might be getting more regular in game commentary. I seem to recall Brad Nesler having the "And for ...." line during pre-game break downs of the teams.

      I will not miss the instruction manual. Other than the silly port issue I don't think I have looked at one in years. Probably saving EA a ton of $. The cost of ink/paper alone is prob not insignificant

      Voted in the Madden contest. I think I voted for EVERY defensive player and underdog in the 1st round.

      I wouldn't be surprised to see Vick win the vote.
      I hope more people do that, but I doubt they will.
    1. skipwondah33's Avatar
      skipwondah33 - 03-21-2011, 02:10 PM
      The instruction manual has gotten slightly less and less over the past few years. Now its basically just something put a code on the back of and for warnings associated with gaming. I never take mine out of the box.

      Oh and I voted for the people I felt has a chance to win. I really don't want to see Danny Woodhead on the cover of Madden lol
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt - 03-21-2011, 02:13 PM
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 03-21-2011, 02:27 PM
      I vote for her
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan - 03-21-2011, 02:37 PM
      I would do anything she asks.

      Except sign up for Facebook.
    1. skipwondah33's Avatar
      skipwondah33 - 03-21-2011, 02:45 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by steelerfan View Post
      I would do anything she asks.

      Except sign up for Facebook.
      +1

      lol
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 03-21-2011, 06:35 PM
      I'll miss the manual as a concept, because I used to love reading them when I couldn't be playing the game. But as skip said, the manual has gotten insignificant over the years. I still use it for other games, but there's not enough info to cover the gamut of questions in sports games.

      My hope is that by putting the manual in the game, there's the outside chance that a patch (or gasp! even a tuner set!) could change the manual. That would be a welcome advantage to the digital manual -- no more outdated information in the manual.
    1. ram29jackson's Avatar
      ram29jackson - 03-21-2011, 11:15 PM
      the manual is not insignificant. Its just an excuse to cut back. The fact is, it is faster to open the book and see what you want to know
      than wait for the damn video to get to the part you want while you sit through the crap because you cant fast forward it.

      someone on the internet better have the stuff typed up so you can copy it. Especially since every year they never stay consistent and keep screwing with the controls. Hopefully, the speed button is history again and for all time
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 03-21-2011, 11:20 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by ram29jackson View Post
      wait for the damn video to get to the part you want
      Not a video.
      will instead include a version of instructions that gamers may page through from within the game.
      Believe that means similar to what 2k had years ago, with an in-game interface that goes over all the details of the game and allows reading, switching pages, etc.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 03-21-2011, 11:24 PM
      For me, outside of looking up ports, I don't think I've ever looked at an NCAA Football manual.

      The only manual in this generation that I have really looked at was Street Fighter for moves. (even though they're in-game, I preferred looking at a manual.)
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah - 03-22-2011, 11:10 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by ram29jackson View Post
      the manual is not insignificant. Its just an excuse to cut back. The fact is, it is faster to open the book and see what you want to know
      than wait for the damn video to get to the part you want while you sit through the crap because you cant fast forward it.

      someone on the internet better have the stuff typed up so you can copy it. Especially since every year they never stay consistent and keep screwing with the controls. Hopefully, the speed button is history again and for all time


      Ram, it's IN THE GAME. They aren't getting rid of it. And I almost guarantee you'll never look at it. I never do, it hasn't changed in years. And I'm in favor of anything that adds revenue to EA that doesn't take away from the game itself. That's a decision that is smart to me, because we are being thought of when they find non game related ways to cut back and save.
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan - 03-22-2011, 11:57 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Jayrah View Post
      we are being thought of when they find non game related ways to cut back and save.
      This has some truth to it. If the manual was packed with detailed information like they were 10 years ago or so, or if there was no internet (face it, we already know all the changes before the game even ships), I'd miss it. What I miss are the old game manuals that detailed everything. Game manuals used to be (I'm going way back now) immersive. I can remember taking them to work to read over and learn everything years ago. They've been so poorly written and put together lately, in almost all games, that they won't be missed.
    1. Kwizzy's Avatar
      Kwizzy - 03-22-2011, 12:33 PM
      I'm with you steelerfan. I still have all of the old manuals to the Janes Combat Simulations games. Those things are like a crash course on combat tactics and weapons profiles. I'm still not entirely convinced that if you gave gave me a running F-15E Strike Eagle that I couldn't bomb Iraq in it!
    1. SmoothPancakes's Avatar
      SmoothPancakes - 03-22-2011, 01:26 PM
      Yeah, manuals have been a worthless waste since they started essentially doing away with them with less and less information. The PS1 and PS2 (early on at least) were great in terms of manuals. Since the mid 2000s, manuals have become worthless space fillers in the case.

      I pulled out the NCAA 11 manual, probably for the first time since I bought the game, just to look at how much of a waste it has become.

      Inside front cover: Warnings
      Pages 1-5: Controls (which are pretty much the exact same every single year except for a couple changes here or there for button mapping, which as mentioned above, all changes are WELL known on the internet long before the game actually releases)
      Pages 6-7: On the Field (Ice the Kicker, Super Sim, Gameplan, etc information)
      Pages 8-9: Game Modes
      Pages 10-11: Xbox Live
      Page 11: EA Sports Highlights/Settings
      Page 12: My NCAA Legacy
      Page 13: Warranty Info
      Back cover: Online Pass code/info

      Of the 13 pages (15 including inside the front cover and the back cover, the amount of actual useful information is 5 pages. The other pages talking about On the Field stuff, the Game Modes, etc are all little 2 or 3 sentence blips giving a very general explanation of what "this or that" is.

      So definitely a smart move by EA. Why waste the money making all those little 12 or 13 page waste of space manuals when they really don't even have anything useful in them?
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 03-22-2011, 05:53 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Kwizzy View Post
      I'm with you steelerfan. I still have all of the old manuals to the Janes Combat Simulations games.
      Those weren't manuals. Those were textbooks.
    1. ram29jackson's Avatar
      ram29jackson - 03-22-2011, 11:04 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Jayrah View Post


      Ram, it's IN THE GAME. They aren't getting rid of it. And I almost guarantee you'll never look at it. I never do, it hasn't changed in years. And I'm in favor of anything that adds revenue to EA that doesn't take away from the game itself. That's a decision that is smart to me, because we are being thought of when they find non game related ways to cut back and save.
      thats fine and all but if you are inclined to play 2 or 3 football games, when you leave one for a while you forget some basics and this would have to cause me to write stuff on paper or find someone online who lists it because you cant reference controls from in the game when you are in an actual game....I couldn't really get into Madden because i couldn't get my hand/muscle memory around the strategy pad crap that basically added an additional button push to everything rendering defensive routes and audibles impossible
    1. Kwizzy's Avatar
      Kwizzy - 03-23-2011, 07:42 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      Those weren't manuals. Those were textbooks.
      Yup & I LOVED them!