Author: Trafficblast

EA Sports has rolled out a new Instagram effect that allows fans to get involved with the drama and excitement of predicting a winner for this year’s Super Bowl.

The Madden Prediction effect created by EA Sports cycles through a series of scores for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before settling on a final score, with confetti raining down to cap it off. On my first try, I got a score of 56-3 in favor of the Chiefs. I think they have a good chance of winning the game, but that margin seems excessive. It’s just a silly game, after all, and you’ll probably get something different and potentially more believable.

The whole idea, anyway, is to get people to share their results and convince their friends to do the same to drum up interest for EA’s eventual official Madden Super Bowl LV prediction. That has yet to be released, but with the Super Bowl coming up very soon, it should happen any day.

Super Bowl LV takes place on Sunday, February 7, and there will be lots of advertisements, commercials, and trailers. Plenty of brands have already released their ads–watch them here.

In other news, Madden NFL 21 just got a big update on console and PC. It fixes a number of bugs and makes a series of gameplay changes–you can check out the full patch notes here.

The Madden series continues to expand as well, with Madden NFL 21 just recently launching on the Google Stadia streaming service. The game’s arrival is not impacted by Google’s recent announcement that it’s closing two Stadia studios.

Outside of the Madden series, EA also just recently announced that it’s reviving its college football series, but the NCAA is not involved so there will be no player names or likenesses.

In recent years, LEGO has released two gorgeous buildable sets based on Batman, the 1989 film by Tim Burton. The first set, released in 2019, was the Batmobile, and it’s still available to purchase. Then, last year, LEGO released a Batwing set, though it was initially only available to LEGO Store VIP members. The iconic flying vehicle has finally made its way to Amazon. You can grab it for yourself right now.

LEGO Batman 1989 Sets

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The LEGO Batwing is comprised of 2363 pieces. It has a removable canopy, with all kinds of details hidden in the interior. It also comes with three minifigures. The first is Batman, outfitted as he appeared in the suit worn by Michael Keaton. Next is an exclusive figure of Joker, clad in his mime outfit from the film. Last is another exclusive-to-this-set minifigure: Boombox Goon (aka Lawrence). Little-known fact: it was illegal to make a movie in the 1980s without someone holding a boombox.

The finished Batwing set is made to be displayed, so it comes with a mounting bracket you can use to hang it on your wall. It also includes an angled stand so you can set it on your desk or shelf, plus a nameplate that presents Batwing facts like wingspan, maximum speed, engines, and weapons.

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Those who want to pick up the LEGO Batmobile as well will get a great-looking pair of iconic vehicles from the first Burton Batman film. The Batmobile set is made up of 3,306 pieces and comes with minifigures of Batman, Joker, and Vicki Vale. It features a dual-minifigure cockpit with a slide-open cover, as well as two pop-up machine guns. It also comes with a buildable display stand, plus an informative nameplate.

Overall, these are two fantastic sets for Batman fans of a certain age (or any age, really). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hop off and listen to some Prince.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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The Mass Effect franchise is brimming with memorable characters, but there are a few who didn’t make it into Shepard’s story but are fascinating in their own right. In a new episode of Audio Logs, BioWare’s Mac Walters talked about some of the ideas that didn’t make the cut, including a Techno-Hippie, among others.

Speaking to GameSpot, Walters said that, during development, BioWare took a “there are no bad ideas” stance for coming up with pitches. This, as a result, led to some interesting submissions.

“There’s a lot of really fun characters in here that eventually didn’t make it for one reason or another,” Walter said, referencing a never-seen-before character ideas document that was shown to GameSpot. “Although I’m sure now that they’re going to be out in the world, people will be clamoring for some of them, like the, you know, the crazy Quarian King.

“I honestly can’t remember whose idea that was,” he continued.. “It feels like it was probably Drew’s [Karpyshyn], but yeah, this idea of someone like the crazy Irishman from Braveheart, you know, kind of just a fun, wild, bombastic character … Oh. And, and of course we had a Techo Hippie at one point anyway.”

Although many characters didn’t make it into Mass Effect 2, aspects of them would be carried forward, according to Walters. The Mad Bomber, for example, was conceived as a demolitions expert and, although they weren’t in the final game, the concept morphed into the convict, who fans will know as Jack. Aspects of the Mad Bomber also informed the design of Zaeed, a mercenary with a penchant for abrupt violence.

Check out the full episode of Audio Logs to learn more about some other cut concepts. You’ll also get to see a bit of the internal documents used for character concepting, and hear how BioWare put together the Suicide Mission.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has been given a release date of May 14. The package brings together all three games in the series but updates them with improved visuals and controls, and–in the case of the first entry–even design improvements. You can read more in our rundown on the changes in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

When examining why BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 is so beloved, it’s in large part due to its iconic cast. Almost every character in the game has a legion of fans, so the prospect of learning how they were conceptualized is incredibly exciting. And that’s exactly what the latest episode of Audio Logs does. Not only that: The episode digs into the characters who didn’t make it into the game.

In the video, Mac Walters, who has been working on the franchise from the very start and is responsible for creating and writing a number of characters, shows GameSpot never-seen-before documents which catalogue ideas that BioWare had for making up its Dirty Dozen cast. Outside of the developers who worked on the game, very few people have seen concepting documents and, even Walters himself hadn’t looked at them for a few years, so you’ll get the inside story on everything from the creation of Thane to how The Princess Bride influenced the team, and how certain characters are the amalgamation of multiple ideas.

On top of that, Walters explains the process of creating loyalty missions and, ultimately, crafting that ambitious final Suicide Mission that effectively was sending characters to die, if you didn’t play your cards right. This episode is a must-watch for fans of the Mass Effect franchise and the perfect way to get hyped for the upcoming release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which releases in May. For more on that, check out our rundown on all the changes in Legendary Edition.

Breaking: EA Sports is rebooting its college football series for Next Generation consoles.
The announcement ends the hiatus that the game has taken since then-Michigan QB Denard Robinson appeared on the cover of NCAA Football 14. pic.twitter.com/rMniJUDDeW

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 2, 2021

Tech magnate Elon Musk has never been shy about offering his opinions on a variety of topics, and video games are no different. When a fan asked him on Twitter if he enjoys any console games, Musk offered a simple reply: “Only Halo.” The main social media account for the franchise was quick to reply, along with its community director.

This exchange came after Musk tweeted about CD Projekt’s controversial game Cyberpunk, stating that that the game is so buggy that “even the hotfixes literally have hotfixes.” That said, he still apparently feels that it’s a “great game.” Musk’s previous tweets about the game boosted CD Projekt’s stock, and his girlfriend Grimes plays a role in the game. Musk previously stated that he “probably won’t sue” an Bulgarian indie dev who wants to use the SpaceX logo in his Mars survival simulator, and he’s made his love for Overwatch very clear.

Musk announced a hiatus on Twitter on February 2. While he didn’t give a reason for the move, his behavior has attracted controversy in recent days, specifically surrounding the ongoing surge of “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC. When Discord suspended the WallStreetBets server for “hate speech” and “glorifying violence,” Musk had this to say: “Even Discord has gone corpo…” Musk himself has been accused of union-busting behavior in his own companies in the past.

As for Halo, we still don’t know when Halo Infinite is coming to PC and Xbox Series X. 343 Industries recently announced that the game’s sandbox content is now in the polishing stage. We also recently learned that Infinite will ditch the series’ old shotgun, replacing it with a more balanced weapon called the Bulldog, which fires and reloads faster, though it deals much less damage.

EA Sports has announced the details of the next patch for Madden NFL 21, and it’s a big one. The update includes a variety of fixes and tweaks for numerous elements of the professional football game, including pass coverage, tackling, blocking, passing, abilities, and more.

There are different patch notes for PS5/Xbox Series X|S, as well as Xbox One, PS4, PC, Stadia, all of which you can see at the bottom of this story.

The big takeaways for the next-gen patch include “extensive” coverage fixes for the Cover 3, 4, and Man formations, along with improvements to blocking to help contain DBs. The patch also fixes occurrences where penalties from DL could happen when they shouldn’t. And in the Competitive mode, the “Reach For It” ability has been tuned so only players who actually have the ability can trigger the key move in certain circumstances.

In terms of bug fixes, the patch fixes “various issues” that could cause the coach or other players on the sideline to be able to “ghost through” opposing players.

The key changes for last-gen, PC, and Stadia, meanwhile, include fixes for blitzes with nickel corner and contain formations, while issues related to man coverage and RPOs have been fixed as well. You can see the complete patch notes below, as posted by EA Sports.

This updates arrives as the sporting world turns its attention to football with Super Bowl LV coming up this weekend. EA Sports has not yet released the results of its Super Bowl simulation to predict a winner, but that should happen any day now. Super Bowl LV sees the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the title.

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox Series X|S & PS5)

Key Highlights:

• In Competitive only, only players with the ‘Reach For It’ ability will trigger certain reaches
• Extensive Coverage fixes for Cover 3, 4, and Man
• Locomotion and Pursuit improvements
• Made Blocking improvements to handle DBs
• Fixed unintended penalties from DL

Gameplay Updates:

Pass Coverage:

• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to reduce the frequency of jumping inside to cover an out-route from the slot, allowing an outside receiver on a Streak/Fade to get behind them. The outside deep-zone defender will now keep his width and continue to leverage his zone-drop accordingly.
• Fixed an issue causing receivers to sometimes run into the back of a slower defender playing a deep-zone assignment, leading to an avoidance animation disrupting the route.
• Updated Cover 4 Quarters to use more Man Matching principles against Trip formations and improved transitioning from zone to man when matching certain vertical routes.
• Fixed an issue causing deep-zone defenders in Cover 4 Quarters and Palms to let streaking receivers run by them on the outside. Now the defenders will backpedal and transition to turn and run with the correct timing.
• Tuning to Cover 4 Drop to better cover deep post routes, by improving deep-zone anticipation of vertical routes moving to the middle of the field to reduce the likelihood of big plays over the top of all the deep zone defenders.
• Added logic to make the reaction of linebackers in man-coverage more authentic when covering a running back in a block-and-release assignment. The LB’s will have the option to either trigger a pass rush and transition to a QB Spy assignment when they see the running-back block, and the timing they use to make the decision will be scaled by their play-recognition rating.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Fixed an issue causing all the underneath zone defenders to break out of coverage and rush the Quarterback when he rolled out of the pocket, even if he was not close to the line of scrimmage.
• Tuning to improve Jam/Press criteria so user-controlled defenders will be able to trigger the appropriate animations for all angles and situations.

Tackling and Blocking:

• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing defenders to get stuck in a breakdown fake-out when the ball carrier was being tackled within close proximity.
• Fixed an issue causing unintended ‘Roughing the Passer’ penalties when pass rushers could obviously see the ball had been released.
• Fixed a rare issue with a reach-sack animation that could get misaligned, and make it appear like the QB would be tackled by air.
• Tuning to reduce the amount of broken tackles that were triggering from defenders being out of position, with the most significant tuning being done for the Competitive game style. This should result in far less broken tackles from over/under-pursuit defender alignments.

Locomotion:

• Tuning to reduce steerability while in Truck animations.
• Fixed a rare issue causing ball carriers to get stuck in the running assignment and run out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes use the ‘Option Quarterback’ carry-style when switching ball hands after an INT.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes hitch in the transition from pre-play to during-play movement in pass coverage.
• Fixed an issue causing Tight Ends to sometimes slide on the cut when running corner routes against certain coverages.
• Tuning to improve ball-carrier ability to get through the line when running routes from the backfield.
• Fixed a rare issue sometimes causing the ball carrier to freeze up after two spin moves were used in quick succession.

Passing:

• Fixed an issue causing the running back’s receiver icon to disappear after the handoff when running Gun Doubles Y Off RPO Zone Y Peek.
• Fixed a rare issue causing the QB to throw an odd push pass when running Singleback Wing Pair HB Dive Alert Smoke
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught up on the running back when attempting to pass during the handoff when running Gun Wing Slot Offset PA Jailbreak Screen.

Abilities:

• Tuning to only allow players with the ‘Reach For it’ Ability equipped to be able to trigger successful pylon/first-down marker reach-tackles for Competitive game style.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.

Environment:

• Fixed various issues sometimes causing the coach or other sideline players to ghost through an opposing player during various sideline interactions with players running or falling out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue preventing sideline ‘help-up’ animations from triggering in situations where they should.

General Gameplay Improvements:

• Fixed an issue sometimes causing a new field to load with invisible players after switching Practice type from the Practice Pause menu.
• Fixed an issue causing the punter to line up too close to the line of scrimmage when punting from inside the 5-yard line, allowing the punt to be blocked too frequently.

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One, PS4, PC, Stadia)

Key Highlights:

• In Competitive only, only players with the ‘Reach For It’ ability will trigger certain reaches
• Fixed blitz’s with Nickel Corners in Contain
• Fine-tuned deep-zone defenders in Cover 3
• Tuned the distance-based receiver abilities vs. Man-Coverage
• Addressed Man-Coverage issues with RPOs and Receiver motion
• Fixed frequency of defenders doing QB Slide avoidance

Gameplay Updates:

• Fixed an issue causing the tight end to stay in his 3-point stance after being motioned to the slot on running plays out of the Gun Doubles formation.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught on the pulling guard when throwing the ball early on I-Form Slot Flex Power Alert Smoke.
• Tuning to the distance-based receiver abilities so the Receivers to increase the receiver’s win-chance on the cut vs. man-coverage defenders without a counter-ability, as long the cut is performed in the designated area of the field.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Fixed an exploit allowing the offensive user to manipulate a man-coverage defender by using motion directly after a hot-route.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to trigger avoidance animations any time any ball carrier would dive.
• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Tuning to pass-blocking logic to improve ‘blocking handoffs’ for left tackles when facing two rushers in the outside gap.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have kicked off their year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Tomb Raider franchise, and the press release suggests that fans can “look forward to additional franchise announcements over the course of the year.” However, it’s unclear what exactly this means for the video game side of the equation, especially when it comes to a hypothetical follow-up to the recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy.

In the above video released for the anniversary, franchise game director Will Kerslake says that the developer “has no plans for a major game announcement in the near future,” which seems to put a damper on hopes for a big-budget sequel reveal. In the past decade, however, the Tomb Raider franchise has expanded to include mobile games like the recently announced Tomb Raider Reloaded, as well as Lara Croft Go and the well-received Lara Croft spin-off series.

In terms of the franchise’s multimedia efforts, Square Enix recently announced a Tomb Raider anime series that will debut on Netflix. The film reboot series will also continue, with Lovecraft Country’s Misha Green taking the helm as writer and director on the next entry. According to the video, future installments of the core video game series will attempt to reconcile the new reboot trilogy with the more confident globe-trotting Lara seen in the original games.