Dynasty
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NCAA 14 Dynasty mode levels up with coach skills, recruiting changes
NCAA Football 14 will receive some changes this year to Dynasty mode, the series' career mode in which players lead a school's football team to victory. Of the changes, the addition of coach skills stand out, which grant your team's leader and play-caller more nuance in the form of 18 RPG-like abilities that can be upgraded as your dynasty progresses. The abilities range from "Road Warrior," which helps your quarterback succeed on the road against teams, to "Clutch," which encourages your team to play better in high-pressure situations. NCAA 14 will also see a more streamlined athlete recruitment process. Whereas NCAA 13 included a phone call system, the feature's been stripped out entirely in favor of a points system called "Power Recruiting." Players will receive 5,000 points per week and can allocate points how they see fit towards scouting, recruitment and offering scholarship. Like minutes on a cell phone plan, points roll over every week, so players can put off their athlete recruitment process as well and not falter too much. The offseason recruitment phase, in which players receive 10,000 points to play with, has also been rolled into a single stage, making for a faster, likely more stressful experience.
See NCAA 13's Dynasty mode scouting in action
EA Sports unleashed a trailer demonstrating player scouting in NCAA Football 13's Dynasty mode earlier this week. NCAA 13 takes the field on July 10 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Samurai Warriors benefits from Samurai Waggle
Koei held a surprise media event yesterday, during which journalists got to try out some of their upcoming games, including Dynasty Whatever and Other Dynasty Game. Game|Life's Chris Kohler tried out the Wii permutation of their Japan-based Samurai Warriors, called Samurai Warriors Katana, which replaces the usual Musou-series gameplay with an on-rails swordfighting experience like Dragon Quest Swords.What's most surprising to us (and probably to Kohler as well) is that it sounds pretty great! It's still based on the idea of mowing down thousands of identical soldiers, but in first-person and with some unusual controls. Rather than using a direct-motion-based system, you select enemies with the pointer and then click on them, then finish the combo with a swing. We're skeptical about non-representative waggle, but we're very enthused about the idea of inventing a new paradigm for button combos. If that makes any sense.
Guildwatch: King me!
I think it would be really fun if, once you downed a boss like High King Maulgar, your guild got to run the instance for the next group coming through. As in, you all took Maulgar's place, and when the next raid showed up, they had to fight your guild. Sounds like fun, right? No? Ok, well, it was just an idea.Meanwhile, click the link below to read this week's dose of drama, downing, and guild recruiting notices. My ideas might not be so great sometimes, but your stories of guild happenings around the world of Azeroth always are. Send your own to wowguildwatch@gmail.com to see them here next week!
Romance of the Three Accessories
Happy News about Games Related to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Day! So far, it's been a solemn event that we've observed respectfully, thinking about how ugly DS games affect us all. But we've got marginally better news for you, so don't take down your traditional NGRRTK Day decorations. Hori have released some relatively nice DS accessories in a black-and-gold color scheme to tie into the release of Sega's new card-based arcade adaptation Sangokushi Taisen DS, including a stand, a DS card case, and a stylus. Sure, they're not totally new items-- the stand looks to be the same design as the one reviewed by CheapyD, but they're black, with goooooolden eeeeemblems on them.We like the blackness of this set, but we aren't sure about advertising any affiliation with Sangokushi Taisen DS or any other arcade-fad card games. Also, we like to keep our DS systems in our gentle, loving hands while we play, not relegated to a cold, unfeeling stand. It's a DS-fan thing; we have a very positive opinion on the concept of touching.[Update 1: fairly major; this set is NOT a tie-in to Shin Sangoku Musou DS, but to a VERY SIMILAR-LOOKING Sega card-battling game Sangokushi Taisen DS that also uses the classic Three Kingdoms story as its setting.]
Dynasty Warriors DS Screens (horrifying 3D ahead)
Koei, ever the masters of careful, deliberate game design, have been judicious with their Shin Sangoku Musou (Dynasty Warriors) series, taking care not to saturate the market with incrementally-upgraded sequels and spinoffs, and sequels of spinoffs, that serve only to extract as much cash as possible from fans. Oh, wait, we were thinking of someone else. That is exactly what Koei does. Their most egregious cash-in: this new Dynasty Warriors DS. Dynasty Warriors games aren't exactly renowned for their graphics, but this... is an insult to fans of the series. If we are being a little harsh on Koei, it's because every game they release that is not a Gitaroo-Man sequel (on the DS this time, please!) is like a jaggy little polearm poking us ceaselessly.Note to developers: when you're thinking of making a DS game (and we've all been there, right?) please ask yourself if it really needs to be in 3D. If the answer is "yes," then ask yourself if it really needs to be on the DS. We love our little system (hence the title, focus and content of this site) but 3D can be a hit and miss affair. "Enjoy" some screens after the post break! Oh, did we mention that there's some kind of inscrutable card system tacked on for some reason?[Via NeoGAF]
