JasonM

Simmed the rest of the season as George got Defense 1st team and Morris got rookie 2nd team and I decided to trade away draft picks of 2012 for Arron Afflalo and a 76ers 1st round pick for 2013.

In the rest of the season I also traded away Hill and Dudley for those picks and got Mo Williams who took his player option. A lot of players have been traded away or released on Free agency and after emptying my team my team only consisted of...

Mo Williams

George Hill (Extended qual offer)

Paul George

Arron Afflalo

Markieff Morris

Channing Frye

Marcin Gortat

Robin Lopez

Pretty much an extremely empty team, but boy oh boy I managed to get a steal on the Free agency because I managed to get Chris Paul on a 4 year deal with a 1 year player option!

Now I only have to scrounge up some pieces to fill out the roster and the rebuild has made a huge step towards possible playoffs in 2013.

EDIT:

After the post season was over I managed to scrounge up two decent players at minimum level contracts and I feel I have build a very effective team, not championship material but certainly able to go for the playoffs this year.

PG: Chris Paul (93)

SG: Arron Afflalo (79)

SF: Paul George (84)

PF: Markieff Morris (69)

C: Marcin Gortat (82)

6: George Hill (75)

PG: Mo Williams (74)

SG: Landry Fields (73)

SF: Lazar Hayward (62)

PF: Chuck Hayes (66)

PF: Channing Frye (61)

C: Robin Lopez (71)

Again not the best team in the world but lots of scoring power with Chris Paul being the obvious new Franchise star and George being changed to Small Forward to get Afflalo in the backcourt but I feel that the team is very well build defensively with Gortat, Morris, Lopez and Hayes being great rebounders and the smaller guys being great perimeter defenses. And also of course shooting ability with George, CP3, Afflalo, Mo, Frye, Hill and Morris all being effective three point shooters.

I feel this team can go places and maybe if possible add a SG/SF guy to the mix to help at that department because Fields/Hayward aren't great backups to put it mildly.

And a trade has been made...

Nash (85), Redd (70) + 1st round 2013 for George (77, A-), Hill (72, C+) + 2nd round 2012

I feel I made a good trade, I got a decent point guard to take over for Nash until I can find something better and I got Paul George who with all his strengths will hopefully become the franchise player. And I traded a next year first round for a this year 2nd round which hopefully will pan out together with my 1st round this year...

You could probably fiddle around a little bit with the Pacers to get another piece but Paul George is the best player out of all those options. In 2k he always develops really nice. You're not going to be in a position to win right away after you trade Nash. Picking up George and another young player will give you a clean rebuild. You'll have one terrible season assuming you're simming and will get a nice draft pick who can hopefully be that franchise player.

Thanks for the tip, I am certainly gonna try to construct a lucrative trade for George. Nash is almost irreplaceable with his all round offensive death-ness, But Paul George certainly comes close with his freak length, talent and youth.

Hopefully I can fix a nice trade with him and maybe another Pacer player to help the depth.

Does My Player or CAL have a horribly bad framerate for anyone else? I have a DeMar Derozan CAL and a PG MP that lag horribly every time I play

Nope I never had this problem with NBA 2k12, are you playing on PC so yes then is your computer strong enough? Or maybe something wrong with the disc?

*dusts off NBA thread*

I started an association with the Suns and I have pretty much decided I am going to trade for Nash to get a new franchise player into the team but I am really struggling to find good players and make a decision.

One trade I managed to conjure up is Nash/Hill/2nd 2013 for Lowry/Camby

And also one trade has me giving Nash/1st 2013 for Beasley/Ridnour

And then I got a straight up trade of Nash for Paul George which would give me a VERY tall Shooting guard with plenty of scoring ability and room to grow further.

Or Nash/pick for Lawson/Birdman, Nash/Brown/Pick for Evans and Salmons, Nash/Hill for Smoove/Hinrich, Nash/Hill for Gay/Pondexter, Nash/Hill for Iggy/Vucevic...

Pretty much what I am looking for is to trade away Nash and someone else for a guy I can build a franchise around. It's obvious I can't get the big stars like Rubio/Wall/Jennings etc. But I really wish to find a guy to hang on to for the future and help the Suns get back on track...

Tips much appreciated.

PS: Gortat is more or less non tradeable as good centers are very hard to find and Gortat is a very good inside presence.

RIP MCA, another great artists passes at a too young age.

I even listened to a couple of Beastie Boys today before I found out about his passing, such a huge shame and he shall truly be missed.

....those draft picks might not have been a good idea. The reserve list is 50....I have 68. I gotta cut 18 players/prospects.

LOL tradespam.

When I played this game a while ago I never thought of trading all my older players for draft picks, it's quite crafty if not super cheaty cheaty. But hey if the other team want to have players who will most likely not play for them then that's on them

Quom where do I sign up to get your babies? Because I want your babies now!

I truly hope you manage to work your way through this because Pride had a bad start but turned into an absolute beast of a show in time. It's really sad that Pride is gone because it was proper gruesome fun.

Just seen UFC 145 after ripping it off the interwebz. (whoever starts about piracy can bite me.)

Boceck Vs. Alessio

No idea how Boceck didn't manage to end the fight. He was under control for the entire fight and Alessio was too busy defending Boceck's unstoppable takedowns and ground game. Boceck should have finished that fight, too bad he didn't. But still a good win and a good way to start off a card.

Hominick Vs. Yagin

Good god this one was one messy fight. First Hominick goes down and gets opened up big time by Yagin but he somehow manages to survive and hang on. Second round he again gets taken down and right now you think the fight is over but he again survives. Yagin looked flat out dead in the last round and Hominick would have had a big chance of winning if he had been a little bit more aggressive in that last round, he had the energy advantage and he was losing the fight on the cards, he should have swung for a win but Yagin hung on and got a nice win. No idea why this fight got FOTY though because there where a couple that where more deserving.

Torres Vs. McDonald

Former WEC champion Torres gets KO'd and honestly he got knocked out like a bitch in the fight. He tried to start something but McDonald had a great defensive posture and Torres got dropped when he tried to force something and McDonald shows some great knock out power in his fists. Fun fight and honestly if this fight had started the card it would have been a great way to get the crowd pumped.

Schaub Vs. Rothwell

First off I was amazed at Ben Rothwells physique, before he looked a bit like a chubby chappy but this time he looked pretty damn conditioned and if he can work even more on that he could become even more scary. And the fight was way fun and an awesome KO which deserved the KO of the night for sure. It looked like Schaub had Rothwell in the corner and ready to drop him but one nasty left hook made Schaub look at the lights and fight ghost Rothwell.

MacDonald Vs. Mills

One word... Wow. Rory MacDonald is one scary mothereffer and he completely dismantled Che Mills and made him a bloody mess. I think at the end of that fight Che had something like 4-5 cuts on his face and it goes to show you how dominant he was standing, but even more so on the ground. Rory never looked like losing in the fight and it was scary to see how dominant he was over an otherwise very talented guy. Mike and Joe called him the new GSP, well they aren't kidding and if Rory can continue to improve he is a sure fire candidate for the Welterweight title and maybe even a matchup between his mentor GSP himself. Personally this for me had to be the fight of the night purely on how Rory MacDonald dominated the fight and gave the crowd a huge show.

Jones Vs. Evans (LHW Title)

I gotta say, I was looking forward to this fight a whole lot and I was going into this fight hoping Bones would continue winning and he done it in dominating fashion. Jones was so dominant the fight was even a bit of a let down because I expected a more two way fight. But once the first round ended Evans never got a chance again and Jones just controlled the other four rounds. I am also a bit dissapointed Jones didn't manage to finish the fight because I felt that in the fourth and fifth round Evans was waiting to be dropped to the ground. But Jones won and he won so with general ease over Rashad Evans. It's mental seeing Jon Jones fight because he is a complete beast inside that cage. Evans would be a huge fight for anyone but Jones never had troubles with him and I wonder if there is anyone who can knock off Jon Jones from his Light Heavyweight pedestal. Right now the only guy I can see fight for the title is Dan Hendo and even though he beat Fedor and Rua I can't see him win against Jones.

Jon Jones's title reign has been absolutely stunning from the moment he won against Rua to beating Rashad Evans tonight. He has won the title and defended it three times in just over a year which is absolutely crazy having 3 fights in 2011 and this fight in 2012. The only thing I can see Jon Jones do right now is go for 6 succesfull defenses and beat Tito's record and then jump over to Heavyweight. I mean in just over a year he has demolished the talent pool of the deepest division of the UFC.

I mean just wow, Jones is only 24 and he is better every single fight and when this is all said and done we might be looking at the best MMA fighter the world has seen.

I loved UFC 145 from start to finish, enough action to go around and personally this is the best show of 2012 for me.

Bit of a defensive dilemma. Just going into my second season at Arsenal and I thought I'd got my CB's sorted out, sold Djourou and Squillaci then promoted Bartley to fourth choice behind Vermaelen, Koscielny and Mertesacker. Then Man City get in contact and offer me £13.5m worth of Vincent Kompany for £9.5m! Big fan of the bloke in real life and I'd love to sign him, but do I need him? If I do sign him, one of Koscielny or Mertesacker would have to go, so which would it be? They both performed solidly first season but my first choice CB partnership in my first season was Verm and Kos.

Any opinions?

You could always buy him and throw him in defensive mid if you use one?

The guy is a dominant center back but even more dominant between midfield and defense as an anchorman, his skills are perfect for that.

For center back though, you do not need him and he will only cut into the playing time of Vermaelen, Kos and Mertesacker and that will mean someone will end up being pissed off. And to sign a great defender for 4th choice is a bit too much on the nutty side.

If you need a good/great DM then he can be your man, for CB you would have to share time between 4 guys.

Whenever I don't swing on the first pitch, it's a fastball down the middle.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/002/598/The-Most-Interesting-Man-in-the-World.jpg

I don't always look at the first pitch, but when I do it's the perfect hitters pitch.

Ok here is how I work the plate in 2k12, i know it's not the show but i feel it's pretty solid.

I always lay off the first pitch unless I can clearly see it's going down the tubes, which they hardly ever do so 8/10 times I do not swing on the first pitch.

If it is a Fastball inside the zone I can be reasonably assured that the next pitch he will throw is a breaking ball or a change up.

If it's a Fastball outside of the zone there is a chance they will try to hit the zone with another fastball just to get a 1-1 count. If I see it's a zoner I will swing.

If the first pitch was a breaking ball or a changeup, expect him to start throwing a fastball to mess with your head.

Just try to stay patient, 0-1 is not a death sentence for you as a hitter and you do not need to start swining on every ball that is thrown your way, the pitcher will see that you are doing that and will start throwing stuff inside or outside to have you flat out miss stuff.

If you look at the first pitch thrown at you you can make a reasonable guesstimation on what can be coming next, there are only a few pitchers that really throw two of the same pitches at you because it's dangerous for them, they will try to mix it up and have you bite on bad pitches and swing too soon on the dirty stuff.

Also a tip I can give you is to get a reasonable knowledge of every pitch in the game, stuff like sliders going right to left for a righty and left to right for a lefty. If you know what every pitch can do, you will have an easier time picking them up out of their hands. Take some time and study every pitch in practice mode to see how they break, and if you have good knowledge of all of them you can go into the game even more confident of being able to read pitches in the air.

A good tip to add to that, before you start your at bat, go into roster mode and look at the pitcher you are facing and what pitches he uses. It's not really cheating because real life batters do the same thing as they study the pitchers they are facing and know what his throwing tendencies are. In MLB games the tendencies are pretty much the skill of every pitch.

Like if you are facing Justin Verlander look him up before you start swinging and you can see he uses a Fastball, 2 seam fastball, 12-6 curve, Circle Change and Slider.

The only not breaking ball in his repertoire is the straight up fastball, and his fastball is good. So expect a fastball as the first pitch a lot of times.

There is also a chance he throws other stuff to start, but even in this game his tendencies are there. You will not get it right every time, but this will help you get a very effective guesstimation of ever pitcher you are facing.

The pitcher will almost always have all the cards, but if you take your time to study all the pitches in the game and then also look at what the pitcher you are facing is throwing. Then you can start to read pitches 10x better than before you studied. I got this help from the Operationsports forums a couple of years back, and this has changed me from a decent but inconsistent hitter to someone who can kill pitchers on good days and have a decent game on bad days.

The thing is it's already been dropped in an interview somewhere that Shep was gonna be fighting indoctrination. So it is something they intended to be involved.

It was. But then they cut it out. But they were lazy and didn't cut it all out. So, in essence, the current ending does not fit at all to the game. But alas, because of the endless speculation, it gives them a ready made excuse.

Yeah, they cut out the important chunk of it. But maybe the video's are right. I like to think they are, because it's an abysmal ending.

For me the biggest head-scratcher in the whole ending is the whole bleeding stomach thing. You shoot Anderson and somehow when Shepard touches his stomach and looks at his hand it's drenched in blood. And they gave it a remarkable close up for something that would otherwise be insignificant. It's one of the few thing that is very hard to explain, because Marauder Shields shot him in the shoulder and he never touched that part... It's one of a few head scratcher where I went ''Bio wouldn't... Or would they?'' That part makes the indoctrination idea a lot more plausible...

And for people who finished the game with the destruct option and 5000+ manpower the whole he wakes up in rubble is also a head scratcher. One moment he stands in space and no way anyone can survive rapid re-entry of the atmosphere, not even Shepard.

I can see Bioware do it, but I think EA might have pulled out that ending with a business plan in mind.

Had a couple productive multi rounds. We died on wave 10 both times but I finished 3rd instead of last on the rankings! Also trying to grab some achievments but I dont know how to level a weapon to 10. I thought it only goes to 5?

I believe you can get it in multi, OR if you start a new game with your character. but I could be wrong.

Also, ending spoiler!

Not sure if anyone has been talking about the Indoctrination theory, but I like it. Plus, this video is very well done and put together.

I mentioned it in my post in the last page, but I didn't go into detail.

I personally feel the theory has a pretty good foundation and the way they show it in the video it's almost believable. Not sure though, can still be BioWare screwing the pooch.

I keep hearing how bad the ending is and that they are making a new one. Should I just not finish the game until the new ending comes out then?

Finish the game, ''enjoy'' the original ending and make your own opinion about it.

I immediately went for the destroy option. The whole series you fight to destroy and stop the reapers once and for all and controlling or synthesis options are just silly in the scheme of things.

You fought IM all 2nd and 3rd game long to prevent him from trying to control the Reapers and why the hell should I start to control him now? It makes no sense and I had no reason to control them if I could destroy them outright and get them out of the universe for ever.

Doing synthesis also makes little sense, same like above you saw what happened what IM did to people to make them ''better'' with his implants and Synthesis is explained just plain bad. The reapers kill everyone for order in the galaxy because they are Synthetics and if all organic life becomes synthetic themselves all is well... WUT?! Why the hell would I want to make the world synthetic after the same synthetics tried to snuff out all intelligent life as we know it, makes no sense.

The destroy option on the other hand was for me the only sensible option, the reapers will be destroyed for ever and the Geth too. But the Geth where already dead on my game so that was one problem out of the way. Everyone gets to survive and live on happily ever after.

The one thing I absolutely hated from every ending is all the Mass relays getting destroyed, it leaves the biggest possible plothole possible in the entire game. That being is what the hell happens to those hundreds of ships of Quarians, Turians, Salarians, Humans and Asari who where above earth? Do they all crash to the surface, did they survive and if so how on earth (no pun intended) will they be able to get back to their respective homeworlds. The Mass relays are all gone and with Earth in tatters I don't think there is enough supplies to keep them around.

Secondly is the fate of the Normandy, first off all how did everyone get on the ship whilst 30 minutes before they where on earth preparing for the attack? And seeing everyone got wiped out at the final charge for the beam how could they return to the Normandy that quick, get off earth, get through the relay and get destroyed by the blast... And then the whole land safely on a garden world with a ship that is crippled without smashing into the ground?

I want to know what happens to my crew members, I want to know what happens with Tali who I romanced for two games. There is hardly any closure to the story and it doesn't feel right.

And then the whole citadel shit which I don't even want to go in. Stuff like how Anderson got there first whilst there was only one road towards the platform.

Either Bioware screwed the pooch badly on this ending which I can't believe because Bioware have a great track record on endings (KOTOR, Baldurs, Neverwinter). Or someone vetoed and decided to fuck with the consumer and that ''revised ending'' is actually ment to be DLC to sell to us as the ''true ending''. Honestly, I think the second is true.

The ''Indoctrination'' explanation isn't far fetched at all and with the destruction option and Shepard seemingly surviving re-entry in destroyed armor and no helmet I think someone up in BioWare or EA decided to throw the biggest curveball possible.

If this was really the true ending though, then hot fucking damn BioWare fucked up big time.

And the ending isn't truly horrible, but for a franchise where I have dropped 180+ euros on I expected A LOT more.

I just pitched my first complete game shutout in my Orioles Franchise in MLB 2K12, with Jon Garland of all people.

It was against the Angels and for my O's it was the first road game of the series and the entire game was marked by Garland and Santana trading innings where absolutely nothing happened on the hitting side of thing.

8 innings long neither me or the Angels could get any kind of points on the board and we where both struggling and stealing hits left and right.

In the top of the 9th I managed to hit with JJ Hardy down the middle, the Short Stop Aybar managed to scoop it up quickly and I thought it was a put out but Aybar overthrew it and I got a error double and JJ Hardy was suddenly on base for me. Adam Jones to the plate and Santana throws one right down the hole and I manage to line it straight down the field and JJ Hardy runs his lungs out to manage to get to home plate whilst Jones get to 2nd.

At the next at bat Santana strikes me out and I go into the bottom 9th with a 1-0 lead over the Angels and their batter smashes one down field and Markakis decides to pull one out of the hat as he dives full stretch and snuffs out that otherwise certain triple play.

On comes Albert Pujols to the plate and he manages to hit a single on me so the tying run is on base. Pujols gets pulled for a pinch runner but I manage to strike out the guy at the plate and the final at bat goes to 2-2 and I botch a sinker which luckily only goes to the ground so Mark Reynolds scoops it up and launches it to first base to clinch the game at 1-0.

My heart was pounding after that game, I managed to snuff out Santana's chances for a shutout and Jon Garland manages to throw a shutout against the Angels. Jon effing Garland against Team Pujols.

But even with that win I am still 3-11 for the season and I am looking at a very painful season for sure. I got a couple of guys down in the minor leagues but they wont come up for a couple of years so I am wondering if I should trade a big infield player like Markakis, Jones or Hardy for a big time pitcher who can rack up wins.

My starting rotation is very poor.

1: Edwin Jackson (81)

2: Jeremy Guthrie (75)

3: Jon Garland (72)

4: Dana Eveland (72)

5: Brian Matusz (72)

I could certainly use a franchise pitcher in my team. I believe I have the worst rotation in the entire league barring maybe the Royals.

I follow a lot of Let's players on the interwebz myself and I will be following you Hajjhowe, in a sense of internet loyalty to someone who is also part of EWB.

I wish you good luck, from your first video I can hear that you are coherent... In terms of LPing that is a very useful trait to have.

Ok so my I want to get a new baseball game for PS3 (haven't had one since EA made the college baseball game on PS2).

MLB 2K12

Impressions of it watching videos on youtube...

1) Looks like fantastic presentation. I really like this in games as it keeps things fresh and interesting I feel.

2) It has my hometown team on the cover with Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (big Tigers fan).

3) The strategy to it seems more realistic.

What I want to know...

1) Playstation Move compatible? My fiance bought me the PS Move for xmas and I haven't played it yet. So I want a fun game I can play with it. She said she would play some baseball if it was compatible too.

2) Do the graphics bring it down that much? The Show looks better graphically but the presentation appears to be lacking a lot.

3) How is Franchise mode as that is my favorite part of any sports game. I love building teams up into dynasties.

MLB The Show

What I know about it...

1) It appears as though most people prefer it because of the graphics and physics.

2) Heard that it gets boring and games can take far too long.

3) I know it is Move compatible. So my fiance would give it a shot for sure.

I just want the most fun game that I can get into for a long time. Been playing NCAA Football 2012 pretty much since it came out. Want a new game to play and since it is baseball season that is what I am probably going to switch my focus to.

Gotta tell you Juce, MLB 2K12 is a good game. But if you got a PS3 I must really stress you to buy The Show over MLB 2k12.

The thing is first that MLB 2K12 is a fun game, but it has some pretty annoying flaws in My Player and also Franchise mode. In My Player a good example is that the point allocation is seriously flawed which will leave your batters always trailing badly in fielding and baserunning. And your Pitchers too.

In 2K you get points based on where you make your actions, if you get a putout at first base you get +25 points to put into fielding. In theory it sounds like a great way, but you will quickly will have to grind to even put a fielding or baserunning stat up one point higher whilst you can upgrade your batting stats a lot quicker.

That problem means that when you hit the MLB level you will be a pretty good hitter, but you would be the worst fielder in the league by far. Which will make Brooks Conrad look like a Golden Glove superstar. Not kidding really.

Also in 2K's My Player mode the coach AI is quite flawed and as a fielder you will play every single game of the season, and I mean all 150+ games of the season without ever getting a game off. What this means is that your player will be chronically tired for the majority of the season completely tanking your stats because you can hardly run or swing straight causing less hits and more errors. Same problem holds true for Pitchers where you sometimes get to have only 2 days rest between every start which will kill your ERA. In My Player mode there are also no injuries for your player, that means he will play every single game without ever having an injury even though he is tired as hell.

MLB The Show's Road to the Show on the other hand has a fixed point system where you will earn points to allocate wherever you want. If you hit well you can still use the earned points from hitting to upgrade your fielding stats or baserunning stats. This means you will be able to upgrade your player a lot better and make him a lot less lop sided.

The coach is also a lot smarter giving you rest periods when your player is fatigued keeping your energy levels realistically high. In The Show there are also injuries present in RTTS which gives a reason to dump points into durability because you want to stay healthy when it's possible.

Personally from what I have seen from The Show, the presentation is also better with better camera angles and also swinging motions and other animations. The Commentary booth can be dull at times but you are better off playing a bit of background music anyways in these games.

Also in general the customisation options are better in The Show, you can give your batter walk up music and you get a lot more and better player build options. Team creator in The show is also very good I heard.

Personally I lack experience in the Dynasty / Franchise modes of both games so I can't take a honest guess about it, but from what I have read MLB The Show also trumps 2K in that respect.

One thing I can say about MLB 2K12 is that the game tends to be a slugfest more often than not. Most balls hit are often big hitters and I have had a couple of games where I faced the Sox and guys like Ortiz, Pedroia and Youkilis had 2-3 homeruns a game on their own. If you like that you could go with 2K12, but to be honest I would suggest The Show over 2K12 in every single case.

The reason I feel The Show is better is because it has generally been a better game every single year whilst MLB 2K12 has slowly become better but is just not there in terms of quality.

Also 2K12 does not have move support on PS3, The Show does have it and you can play homerun derby with it enabled which I am sure is very good fun in a group taking turns.

Well I know how to block and reverse transitions.

But for me the problem is that during a fight, I just dont pick up on the signs of the other guy doing submissions. And when I do, it's already too late. Add to that being very impatient when my fighter is on his back I just spam small transitions in the hope to get back standing.

But really, I barely spot any transition attempts. Because they hardly try them unless I try them and then they block/reverse them. Even when they are in closed guard they rather just wail on me than actually get to dominant positions.

The only time they get further is when I start to freak out and try to get them away.

Is it me or is the AI absolute cheat on the ground on Expert/Ultimate difficulty?

I am trying to play a career mode on Expert for the hell of it with my Kickboxing star and even though I have 80 ground grappling offense AND defense. I end up on my back and a 50 ground grappling guy just counters every transition and ends up mounting me where an infinite battle going from mount to back to mount to back to mount to back to mount to back and so on until the other guy manages to rock me and end up just caving my face in because whenever I try to catch the punch I look like a baby flailing my arms around randomly.

I mean mother of god I can beat anyone in a standing battle but really the moment they get me on my back regardless of how good my skills are and how bad their skills are, I am FUCKED~!

It also doesn't help that I am completely inept at countering, blocking or reversing transitions myself.

The only thing that is preventing me from playing and enjoying Expert/Ultimate is the AI's god-mode on the ground.

Edit: Same really with submission offense, regardless of having 30+ submission offense than their defense, they will most likely refuse your sub.

And about the retiring, I really don't get why the game forces you to retire after 48 fights.

I mean the real stars get 10 year older too, but I remember Fight Night 2 allowing you to go on at least till your 50 years old. It would just get a LOT harder once your skills started declinig and instead of trying to improve you end up battling to retain your skills (like real vets do).

That system would work perfectly in an UFC game, when the real stars get too old they can get regenned or something.

In this day and age there is no reason to stick to max 48 fights, this way we can never aspire to get Severn numbers :/

Create A Fighter hasn't been touched all THAT much. It is noticeably faster to navigate the menus though, and there have been some additions - it's basically quick and easy to get in, edit and get out.

Career mode really shines though. Oh holy hell it does. They basically realized that the stat decay and checking your fatigue was no fun at all and eliminated it. Instead you have two chances before a match to either train your skills, learn new moves or do a fight plan (basically, you are given parameters - you practice and depending on how you do you get stat buffs and debuffs that last for the match, if you stick to the plan you get to keep some of the buff permenantly). If you take a fight as a replacement, you only get one thing to do before the fight.

But good god it's amazing - it's everything I would want out of the mode. Now that it's refined and if there's a next one, I would just want more random occurances to come up.

Sounds great Apsham.

Also wondering about the mini games. I saw a couple of them including the tire flip, are they hard or are they relatively easy to do? And is there some type of difficulty scaling in those that will make it harder the better you get?

One thing I hated from the old UFC's where mini games that where semi-demanded from you whilst I completely sucked at said mini games and thus never could progress those stats. I got the same with games like fight night.

I just want to be able to finish the mini game without much hassle and improve my dude.

And the game plan, again how easy/hard is it to do them and how easy/hard is it to stick to them in a match? Would I be better off just trying to do the mini games to up my skills or is there a very good reward system in place for following the game plans? Is the permabuff worth it?

Question to the guys who already have it...

How is the CAF function in this game? Has it been touched on a lot compared to 2010?

And also the career mode on itself, how much has it improved?

I would love to now because I can't wait for the game to get released here.

Anyone remember a little game named Halo 3 that was supposed to be the end of the franchise... yeah.

I'm playing 2K11 my player mode right now and I fucking suck, everytime I shoot it says "bad shot selection", all I'm doing is pressing the shoot button.

Help?

First off all is your timing correct? The game is more than just pressing the button and scoring. You need to time your jumpshot correctly to get an accurate shot. Too early and it most likely is off target and going to fast. Too late and it will be too slow and either hit air or the rim and out.

In presentation you can enable shot timing feedback, and it will give you feedback on every shot you take. It will be a little picture showing you if you are either too early, too late or correctly timed.

If you have the timing down, it's all about picking the right spots. When you are just beginning you will NOT score consistently when you are being defended by someone, the other guy will jump to contest and more likely than not your shot will be off target.

Try to get open on the court by maybe running up with a fast break and trying to shoot open shots. Even if you are improving keep hitting the easy shots and don't try to put up a shot against the defender because it will always hurt your shooting.

Also important is shooting where your skills lie, if your player has high 3pt shooting, try to roam the arc and get open shots from range. Also don't step away too far and roam the 3pt line. Most of the times when you shoot your player will automatically set his feet behind the 3pt line.

If you have mid range shooting high, try the midrange. Open shots and well timed ones are easy points for you and will only help. Again don't be a Dirk at the start, you won't be able to beat most defenders because your shooting skills are too low.

Also look to throw points in ''Consistency'' and ''Offensive clutch'' they will make your player more... well consistent in all shooting situations and will give the RNG less chance to screw you over.

Also if your ''abilities'' are poor, your player will be bad at said shots. So if you have ''poor'' stepback jumping, your guy won't be effective in those. It rings true for everything. If you have ''great'' stepback shooting you can be a terror by just attacking the defender, stepping back and shooting at basket. Those fancy abilities might look expensive, but even having 1 on great will prove a dominant tool in your shooting game.

Of course most importantly, spend skill points on the shooting skills. If you want to become a 3pt bomber make sure 3pt shooting is high, preferably 85+ because that will make most shots go down.

Just remember basic things, Learn the timing of the shot style you have taken. If you don't have that down, you will never really score.

Secondly, shoot open shots. Make it your bread and butter shot moment, 7/10 shots need to be open and you will hardly see the ''bad shot selection'' thing ever again.

So yeah, aside from the coupon sharing and Grammar Nazi'ing, does anybody have some games I could get with this coupon that are worth getting.

Again, preferably with strong multiplayer.

Are you not somewhat late?

I think you misread. The Coupon is valid for every game released prior to January 2.

The coupon itself is valid till April