Support NeoGAF

[SickBoy]

My Charger digs are only related to your piece of shit GM and his shabby treatment of Eli and Archie. Because of him, I hope SD goes 0-16. No offense to you of course.

AJ Smith is a pretty questionable piece of work, to be sure, but I can't say I hold out much sympathy for players who want to pick and choose where they end up -- be they Eric Lindros (NHL), Terrell Owens or Eli Manning. Mind you, he did get a pretty good deal out of the situation.

I'm really not a fan of the family influence in Lindros and Manning. Funny how it worked that the team Lindros rebuffed went on to win a handful of Stanley Cups. Still, what's done is done and only time will tell how it pans out.

-SB

 

[Guileless]

I hear you dude, if I were a normal person I would probably hate Eli like everybody else. But as an Ole Miss alum Eli could do just about anything and I would still think he was the best thing since Chinese checkers.

(gratuitous Eli Manning photo)

 

[ShadowRed]

Hey French add me to the list as well. I'll take the falcons or I'll play you for the Niners, if you feel lucky and think you can take me. Thanks dude.

 

[SickBoy]

So with the whole thing filled out, does anyone have any concept about a potential start date? A few weeks beyond 7-20 would be cool. I'm going to be insanely busy around that time, and I may not have internet access until into the first week or two of August, let alone Live.

-SB

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

don't worry, everyone will feel the game out and by the time everyone actually gets signed in to the league i'm sure it will be august

 

[StoOgE]

Vick was handled pretty well in ESPN 2K4 I thought.. he was a weapon, but the proper defensive calls could keep him from going too crazy... the main problem is any QB seemed capable of scrambling a little too effectively. Manning should not be breaking off 20 yars scrambles... ever.

the ESPN cheese came from big bruising running backs, especially those by the name of Ricky Williams.. you could stop them, but you had to sell so hard to stop the run that anyone with any passing game at all could do alot of damage there.

Hopefully this new tackling system will work that out.

 

[Gunstar77]

So with the whole thing filled out, does anyone have any concept about a potential start date? A few weeks beyond 7-20 would be cool. I'm going to be insanely busy around that time, and I may not have internet access until into the first week or two of August, let alone Live.

-SB

SickBoy, I found you 2 custom covers for ESPN NFL 2K5. Enjoy.

 

[Maverick]

Awwww shit guys....I have been in France for the last 2 weeks and wasn't around for this. How can you have last years Super Bowl loser not playing the next season! boo! That's like the NFL removing the Panthers from the league.

I must extract my revenge on FMT and drive DM crazy with my clock control mastery!

I needs me a spot.

 

[Cloudy]

Dude, trust me, someone WILL drop. Just keep checking with FMT.

Also, are we using AIM (like last season) or MSN Messenger since it links with XBL?

 

[Rodriguez]

Hey Kotex, what's your Gamertag?

 

[Cloudy]

It's Cloudystrife, Douchfresne.

I'll finally hook my Xbox back up this week. Been using HDLoader with both my ps2s

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

don't worry mav, someone will bail out or not sign up in a timely fashion. the only problem is you don't really have your choice of teams. but, as long as you're cool with that you'll be in

 

[hgplayer1]

looks like the Cowboys will have a sucky offense again this year

wtf? wasnt the Cowboys D rated 1st in the league last year?

EDIT: yes as a matter of fact they were! WTF!

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-TOTAL/2003/regular?sort_col_1=4

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

they probably rated the cowboys like shit because of the "japs" comment. oh well, i am a lifetime cowboy hater, can't say i'm disappointed

 

[hgplayer1]

I dunno might have something to do with depth chart but as long as the starters have pretty much the same stats as last year then theyll have a strong D.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

if it makes you feel any better the niners highest rated offensive player is fred beasley (fullback) and the rest of the players on the roster were pretty much 88 or lower. kbar was rated an 81! come on, i'm not saying he's the best RB in the league but at least rate him a 99

 

[hgplayer1]

I just checked ESPN 2k4 and with the final downloaded roster the Cowboys were 70 in offense, 92!! in defense, and 83 overall. I guess making the playoffs really hurt the team.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

getting torched by del homme and blown out 29-10 must have had something to do with it

 

[Fifty]

Can you guys hook me up with the Ravens' stats? Surely both categories are in the mid 90's. Lewis and Lewis deserve at least that.

 

[Maverick]

Alright, FMT, that sounds okay to me. If anyone drops, just sign me up for whatever team they have. Too bad I was away, I wanted to take the Dolphins again just for consistency.

Honestly I haven't been following ESPN 2K5 at all. From the very little I've heard it seems like they've improved the online aspect, which is great.

 

[Gunstar77]

Alright, FMT, that sounds okay to me. If anyone drops, just sign me up for whatever team they have. Too bad I was away, I wanted to take the Dolphins again just for consistency.

Honestly I haven't been following ESPN 2K5 at all. From the very little I've heard it seems like they've improved the online aspect, which is great.

You do know that it is only $20 this year and is releasing July 20?

 

[Bog]

This might be my most wanted game right now.

 

[Gunstar77]

Can you guys hook me up with the Ravens' stats? Surely both categories are in the mid 90's. Lewis and Lewis deserve at least that.

 

[Fifty]

Thanks!

Those ratings are fantastic.

 

[TheDuce22]

How the hell does Ricky Williams have more speed and agility than Brian Westbrook. I hate how they overrate the dolphins every year.

 

[Matrix]

Alright, FMT, that sounds okay to me. If anyone drops, just sign me up for whatever team they have. Too bad I was away, I wanted to take the Dolphins again just for consistency.

Honestly I haven't been following ESPN 2K5 at all. From the very little I've heard it seems like they've improved the online aspect, which is great.

You can never ever use the Phins again >_<

 

[jedimike]

I went and preordered yesterday. The more I read about ESPN, the more excited I get. The 25th Anniversary stuff is going to be awesome to play.

One thing I'm not clear on.... Is league play officially supported or are we going to have to set this all up ourselves?

 

[hgplayer1]

league play is supported this year and Im guessing it will be very similar to what we had last year on PS2.

 

[DMczaf]

league play is supported this year and Im guessing it will be very similar to what we had last year on PS2.

Its online leagues with live rosters. Only things confirmed are trades, free agents, and injuries. Im surprised VC hasnt talked more about this instead of CRIBZZZZ MODE!

 

[hgplayer1]

yeah the fact that they havent talked much about it worries me. it gives me the feeling that they dont want to hype it up cause it aint quite all that, ya know? last year they sort of hyped it but didnt really talk about it in too much detail and if the servers woulda held up I would have said they were successful in bringing online leagues to console gaming.

 

[ShadowRed]

Its online leagues with live rosters. Only things confirmed are trades, free agents, and injuries. Im surprised VC hasnt talked more about this instead of CRIBZZZZ MODE!

Wait are you telling me that we cn do trades online now. So it's possible that i could contact say Konex and say I want Ricky Williams and will give you a first round pick and a WR or something. If so that's fucking cool. Will there be an online draft at the beining of the season, or better can we throw all our players into the pot and darft our teams, sort of like an online franchise?

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

that's what we don't know yet shadow, because VC hasn't really talked about it too much yet.

all we know is that you can have a "living" roster (i.e. trades, etc). but i dont know if its within the confines of the league, or if you create your own team and "upload" them for exhibition matches or what. we'll just have to wait for next week to know for sure how its all going to work.

 

[Fifty]

Being able to play with "live" teams. That is teams that are yours and not the generic ones is the best feature I've ever heard of in a football game. Since they're not hyping it it's hard to believe they're even going to have it working... It sounds so awesome.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

surprisingly, nba inside drive 2004 had "uploadable" rosters. i played against Tmacs rockets in my final game vs. DM.

the only difference being there wasn't "trading". you just created the team offline and uploaded it when you played your opponent.

 

[Fifty]

Oh, cool. I should have tried that...I didn't play online that much with ID.

 

[StoOgE]

yeah, but if you can just make your own team and upload it, there could be a ton of cheese...

here is what I am betting we get:

Single season, no carry over. But I bet we can do a fantasy draft at the beginning of all of this, similar to the way you can do in single player.

The first one between sega and ea to get an online franchise mode going will win my heart forever.

 

[element]

damn, i thought i signed up for this

 

[Malleymal]

I am going to be an alternate, I dont care what team opens up, just put me on there.........

 

[SickBoy]

For those chomping at the bit to get in, I hate to say it, but I think my spot might open up depending on the start date and scheduling issues.

I've got a move coming up in a hurry here and I don't know how long it will take to get settled in or to have my internet connection all set up. I guess we'll see. I want to be in this, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

-SB

 

[Fifty]

I am going to be an alternate, I dont care what team opens up, just put me on there.........

While I'm not the commish, I really believe that you'll get in the league. The odds are very low of 100% of us signing up in time. You will most likely get a spot.

 

[Malleymal]

^^^ Yeah I know alot of people just like signing up to sign up... hopefully that is the case......

For those chomping at the bit to get in, I hate to say it, but I think my spot might open up depending on the start date and scheduling issues.

I've got a move coming up in a hurry here and I don't know how long it will take to get settled in or to have my internet connection all set up. I guess we'll see. I want to be in this, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

-SB

Well if you are going to be stuck for a couple weeks, I will gladly take your spot for however long you are out of commission due to the move and all, and whenever you are done and situated, you can grab your spot back, its cool with me... I dont know if it can work like that, but if so, let me know....

 

[StoOgE]

Just FYI..

my gamertag is StoOgE, when this thing drops on Tuesday, I would really like to get some online matches in.. because beating the living shit out of the AI can only do so much good. I remember last year I had this plan of going through the entire playbook, and playing through a couple seasons then going online when I was comftorable with the changes...

then I just got pummeled.

 

[Fifty]

I could never have the patience to wait even a day with the game before going online. I appreciate the offline features, but playing football games against the AI, when I know my buddies are out there, is just insane.


My Gamertag is "Che Guevara"

I won't be on XBL for the next two days, but if you send an invite I'll BECOME YOUR FRIEND!

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

sweetness dudes, the online league details are now slipping out. here is what we do know now:

* There ARE online trades within the league
* There ARE injuries that can take place over multiple games
* Commissioner has the ability to set the number of playoff teams (thank god)
* Full stat-tracking

what we STILL dont know:

- how much control will commissioner have?
- how will "missed" games be handled?
- what is the longest an injury can last? if you can be hurt for an entire season, what happens if all 3 of your QB's go down?
- will the commissioner have to approve trades?


anyways, tuesday is almost here (when most of us will get it). i can't wait, hopefully this is the real deal but after the NCAA debacle i'm going to believe it when i see it on my own console.

 

[Fifty]

Well we know that ESPN can run very well on XBL....We just don't know if leagues will. But I'm very confident they will. With NCAA it had never been online on XBL, and it's using EA's servers, both cons for NCAA.

 

[Malleymal]

Fifty, I know you were on the fence about getting NCAA, well I got it, but havent opened it yet... what are your thoughts on it now... especially with ESPN coming out this week?? You think you will keep playing NCAA?

 

[Fifty]

I wish I was in your situation.....I'm going to give it another shot late tonight, but aside from online play (which has been problematic), I don't have any reasons to keep the game. The gameplay hasn't improved at all, in fact it's got worse. I'm very unhappy with the game, I just hope I'll find something to enjoy (by playing the online portion)

 

[Malleymal]

Damn man.. sorry to hear that... I appreciate your help though man, I think I will take this back and put my preorder down on ESPN and put the rest towards a router for my Xbox... anyone can recommend a decent router for XboX

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

malley i have the Linksys BEFSR41 router, it is awesome. from day 1 it has worked great, and i basically just plugged in and played with it. the best part is you don't have to do any of this "open port etc-etc" bullshit for the headset and stuff, it just works from the get-go. but if you DONT go with this router, be careful about the router you do go with. i had an older linksys router before this one, and it "worked" fine, but when i got my ps2 headset, the headset wouldn't work online. turns out the bottom line was you couldn't really use that extra device online through the router with that particular model. so, go with the safe choice, the linksys BEFSR41. i got mine for $39 after rebate, it's probably cheaper now (got it at radioshack)

 

[Gunstar77]

Well we know that ESPN can run very well on XBL....We just don't know if leagues will. But I'm very confident they will. With NCAA it had never been online on XBL, and it's using EA's servers, both cons for NCAA.

Fifty: This year Sega is running the servers on Xbox, just like EA did. So we will not know how well this goes until Tuesday.