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Use social media to follow your teams with BreakingSports
Now you can get loads of information about your favorite teams and players from a variety of social media sites without spending hours searching those sites individually. BreakingSports is a free universal app that requires iOS 7.0 or later. Once you register on the app you will be able to have hundreds of updates delivered directly to your device without doing any searching. The app works with the four major American sports leagues, the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and the NHL. Users can select first which league they are interested in, then choose which teams you want to follow and finally the app provides a team roster and users can choose individual players and receive updates on them. The app is always seeking out information on the social media sites from games, news conferences, or sports reporters comments. BreakingSports detects the items which match the users criterion and sends notifications right to the user's device. The information covers game previews, roster moves, injuries, news alerts, line-up changes, rumors, and more. Once the game begins, users can choose to receive updated scores and injury updates throughout the game. BreakingSports seems like a no-brainer for fantasy players. Now with this app you can follow each of the players on your team and get updated data on any injuries, whether they will be in or out of the line-up, and other team information that might impact your fantasy line-up. In addition to stories and updates about your favorites the app provides users with a general news feed for each of the four leagues. These will keep users informed about all the activity taking place around the league and with other teams. So with one app users can be up to speed on all they need to know when talking sports with friends over a few cold ones. I used the app for a couple of days and found a couple of shortcomings. First you can't follow college football or basketball or any of the major soccer leagues such as MLS or the Premier League. I can understand college because of the huge number of teams and players but with soccer a growing interest in the US, it might be a good idea to add that sport in the future. The other area users need to be aware of is the volume of notifications you will receive. I selected two teams and three players and my phone seemed like it was going off all the time. I can only imagine how many alerts i would have received if I had entered a ten or twelve man fantasy football roster. It could be more than users want, but with all those alerts users should be assured BreakingSports is doing what it set out to do and that is bring loads of useful information directly to users devices.
All things college athletics with the official NCAA app
Mention the NCAA around most sports fans and you can expect a litany of complaints about the organization that oversees college athletics. However the official NCAA app should satisfy most followers of collegiate sports. The free universal app runs on iOS 7.0 or later and covers a lot more than just football and basketball. Similar to other apps that cover college sports you can get the latest news updates on major sports such as football, basketball, both men and women's, and baseball. The NCAA app goes further with coverage of all the NCAA sports: Wrestling Volleyball Field Hockey Ice Hockey Cross Country Track & Field Lacrosse And about a dozen more. If you have someone involved in any of the athletic competitions taking place at NCAA member schools you can follow them with the NCAA app. Users can choose up to three favorite schools and the app pulls news, video, scores, and more from each of those schools so you can find it in a single location. No browsing through hundreds of stories or score to get your favorite's. And you can set up alerts for your favorite teams for news and or score updates. The hardest part of picking your favorite is finding the school on the huge list of colleges and universities included in the app. Every school that is an NCAA member is listed in alphabetical order from big universities like Notre Dame, Southern Cal, and Alabama to small schools like Agnes Scott College, College of St. Elizabeth, and Judson College and all the colleges and universities in between. Regardless of what your favorite college sport is, you will find stories and other features included in the app. Plus users can find out the latest rankings of teams in all the sports. So if you want to see how your college cross country team is doing, select cross country from the sports list then choose rankings and you will find Northern Arizona at the top of the Division 1 list followed by Oklahoma State and Colorado. The app provides numerous videos for users to watch both in the team pages and in the general news coverage. I checked several and all were preceded by a fifteen second commercial announcement and unfortunately it appears the same commercial appears before each video so be prepared to sit through the same ad time after time if you watch a lot of videos. Despite this failing, the official NCAA app is still worth having for those fans of some of the less popular and highly covered sports that take place on college campuses around the country.
Track college football playoffs with ESPN Championship Drive
Major college football entered a new era this fall with the end of the BCS and the launching of an actual playoff to determine college football's real champion. Now ESPN has launched an app that provides users with just about all the information they need to follow the long road to the championship game in early January. ESPN Championship Drive is a free universal app that require iOS 7.0 Users need to have an ESPN account, which is free, or you can sign up using your Facebook login. Once you sign in you can choose your favorite college team or teams. ESPN Championship Drive then compiles news, video, scores and other information about your favorites. The app offers information on more than 100 college teams including all the teams in the major conferences. Users can select the team page for their favorites and see news updates, video, scores, and the future schedule for their team. Users are also able to select news, video, and scores on a national basis so you can track what is taking place with teams in other conferences or other parts of the country. I think the app offers a wide perspective of the college football landscape. You will also find lots of videos that provide access to some of ESPN's regular contributors, such as Kirk Herbstreit, or discussions pulled from ESPN programming. Most of the videos are preceded by a short commercial announcement but not all. I looked at more than a dozen that did come with a commercial and they all ran the same one so that can get old in a hurry. ESPN Championship Drive allows users to set up alerts for their favorite teams or for general college football news. The list of alerts for your favorite school includes team news, the start of the game, score alerts at the end of each quarter and the game, for each scoring play, if the game is close, and a separate alert for just the final score. These are controlled through your device's notifications setting and can be especially helpful if you are stuck somewhere with your significant other on a Saturday and can't watch the big game but must know what is happening. Other apps are available that perform the same functions at ESPN Championship Drive but most mix college football information in with other major sports like the NFL, major league baseball, etc. By using this app, college football fans have a single place to go for all their updates and game information.
ESPN Sportscenter updates with new features and faster delivery
The four-letter network as it is known has launched the latest version of its ESPN Sportscenter app. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later and comes with plenty of new features including one that is long overdue. You need to have an ESPN account and will be asked to sign in to the app or register if you don't already have an account. Your normal ESPN.com account works with the app and if you need an account there is no charge. ESPN Sportscenter offers scores, live scoring updates, news from your favorite sports or favorite team, video highlights, access to ESPN Radio programming, personalized alerts with numerous option, analysis, and access to live TV programming through the Watch ESPN app, more on that in a minute. Among the new features is one that allows you to designate your favorite teams in every sport and have those scores grouped at the top of Sportscenter Scores. This can be a valuable feature now with major league baseball in its pennant races, the start of the college and professional football season, soccer in full swing around the world, and golf and Nascar entering their final stages. It saves the user from having to look through dozens of scores to find the ones for his favorite teams. However this should have been available some time ago. I have been using the same feature in two other score and news apps for quite a while. But it is a welcome addition if you use this app. ESPN has improved its games pages for both the NFL and NCAA football games. The pages offer a complete breakdown of statistics, both team and individual players, scoring summaries, video highlights, and live drive charts so you can follow the game on your iPhone or iPad. The updated app gives the user access to live ESPN programming, both radio and television. Radio works with a simple click and if your speakers are turned up you are ready to go. To get live television programming, ESPN Sportscenter accesses programs through the Watch ESPN app, also a universal app and a free download. However to see live programming your home cable or satellite provider must have an agreement with ESPN. Bad news if you are a DirecTV subscriber, but most of the other major providers are included such as DISH Networks, Cox Cable, Time Warner, AT&T U-Verse, Charter, and Comcast along with hundreds of smaller cable operators. The programming choices are many with live tennis, college football, basketball, and auto racing. So just like the live broadcasts, ESPN Sportscenter, the app, covers sports from just about every angle with live updates and live programming too.
Pebble smartwatches get ESPN app just in time for football season
We're a week away from the start of college football season, and to prep for the action, ESPN released a score-tracking app for Pebble smartwatches. The software beams game info from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL alongside both NCAA football and basketball action to your wrist for easy viewing. Should you find yourself some place other than the living room during the big game, the wearable will vibrate to alert you to game update and score changes, keeping an eye on multiple games simultaneously. Sports fans who already have the gadget can outfit it with the ESPN watchapp via the Pebble's library for both iOS and Android now.
Team Stream is one stop shopping for all your sports information
Team Stream lets you follow all your favorite teams: MLB, NFL, NCAA, NHL, NBA and more; plus your favorite players, including all those on your fantasy teams. If you use an app for scores, another one to track your favorite baseball team, a third for your favorite college team and even another one to follow your fantasy team, Bleacher Report has the solution that gives you all that information and more in a single app and its free. It works on all iOs devices running iOs 7.0 or later. The navigation and set up is easy, just select the edit button in the upper left corner and then go through all the sports, players, and other choices. This personalizes the app just the way you need it to satisfy your individual needs. In the list you will find your local teams based on your location. There will be several people choices like your fantasy team members, MLB players, NBA players and top news stories. You can add as many as you like and will get notifications whenever they do something newsworthy. I entered many of my favorite teams and a player. The notifications started almost immediately, each one appearing on my device individually. If you go to the app you can access all of the latest ones by tapping the small arrow next to the Team Stream name at the top. Team Stream offers more than just team and player news. You can select NFL news or MLB news and other longer form stories. For example, you can add "Uniform Watch", one of my personal favorites, to keep track of all the changes teams are making in their uniforms. For example new Cardinal pitcher John Lackey acquired his favorite number 41 from current Cardinal pitcher Pat Neshek. You will also find a "Trending" stream in the choices so you can keep up to date on the very latest and most popular stories. After using the app for a couple of days I found that it performed quickly and supplied me with just about every bit of information I needed. Team Stream will remain on my phone and be my go-to choice for everything sports related.
Yahoo brings its personalised Sports app for iOS and Android to the UK
There's no shortage of sport-related apps available on iOS and Android, but when a major online player outs one for the UK, it's certainly worth a look. Having served US audiences for a little while now, Yahoo Sports today came to the App Store and Google Play on this side of the Atlantic, launching alongside a new Android version of Yahoo's News Digest app. Sports offers personalised news, scores, goal alerts, results and team updates. Football, rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, F1 and all major US sports are represented, giving the BBC's updated sport apps a bit of healthy competition.
WatchESPN update for iOS adds Live Toolbar with highlights, guide and scores
No matter how engrossed you are in a live sports stream, there's a good chance that you'll want a quick peek at other events. Thanks to an update to WatchESPN for iOS, that's a simple matter. iPad owners now have access to the Live Toolbar, a ticker that shows both a channel guide, live scores and links to highlight videos. If there's ever a lull in the middle of a game, users can even watch highlight clips side-by-side with live streams. The WatchESPN upgrade doesn't have any major improvements in store for iPhone and iPod touch owners, but iPad-bound sports fans will have a good reason to grab the new release at the source link.
Twin Galaxies accepting record score submissions, now at a cost
Legendary arcade scoring organization Twin Galaxies had to take a break from tracking scores for about six months as the company went through a transition last year, but as of last week it's back in business and ready for score submissions.There is one catch, however. The company charge to report your scores: $25 for one submission, $60 for three submissions, or $75 for five submissions. Each score submission requires video proof – you may include more than one score in the video – but each video can only cover one game. If you want to submit both Donkey Kong and Rampage scores, for example, you'll need to pay twice.The new ownership says the old database was "damaged yet not completely irretrievable," and the fees will go towards smoothing out the verification process and evolving the website "beyond its status as the premier competitive scoring service, and into an interactive gaming platform."So, think you can do better than Hank Chien?
Alt-week 10.6.12: supercomputers on the moon, hear the Earth sing and the future of sports commentary
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Normally we try to encourage you to join us around the warm alt-week campfire by teasing you about what diverse and exotic internet nuggets we have for you inside. Sadly, this week that's not the case. There's nothing for you here we're afraid. Not unless you like totally mind-blowing space videos, singing planets and AI / sports commentary-flavored cocktails, that is. Oh, you do? Well what do you know! Come on in... this is alt-week.
Motorola intros MOTOACTV Golf Edition, doesn't come in pastel
Here's something for those who've wanted to slip their wrists into one of those MOTOACTV fitness watches, but don't really do the whole running thing. Motorola's introducing a Golf Edition of the device, which lets users track games on more than 20,000 courses across the globe, keep track of their score and compare their games to the pros. No word on whether it can be programmed to whisper "be the ball" to you throughout the day, though. More info on this wrist caddy after the break.
Report: XBLA prices rising (slowly), Summer of Arcade review scores dropping
XBLA Fans has done an exhaustive analysis of Xbox Live Arcade sales, Metacritic scores, and trends over the past few years in a four-part writeup. The most interesting finding in the article, in our estimation, is how the perception of rising prices squares with reality. Yes, there are more 1200 point ($15) games being released on the service as compared to previous years, but there are more 800 point ($10) games coming out as well, and there are more of those than $15 games. The average is rising overall, but it hasn't yet reached the 1200 point mark, even if that price is being assigned to some of the more high profile (and high quality) games on the service.The quality of the Summer of Arcade, on the other hand, is dropping overall, according to the average price and Metacritic score. In 2008, the first year the promotion existed, the games had an average Metacritic score of 84.8, with an average price of 960 points. This past year, however, the Metacritic score dropped to 78.8 (which still isn't too bad), but the average price was at 1120. This is purely mathematical, remember: The games are probably more complex these days, which allows Microsoft to set a higher price, and reviews on any site are subjective.Finally, XBLA Fans found 73% of titles on XBLA have gone on sale within their first year, though many of the games on XBLA were only on sale for a day or so. That means that patient XBLA buyers can save a lot of money, if they pay attention and move quickly. There are a few other interesting conclusions in the analysis as a whole, and lots of insight on how Microsoft's Arcade has developed over the past few years.
Metacritic drops individual developer ratings for good
Though Metacritic's recent policy of not only applying scores to video games, but also the individual people who created those games, drew some ire from the site's users, we thought it was a masterstroke. Assigning people arbitrary scores based on their past achievements? Seriously, the person who came up with that had to be, like, at least a 93. Sadly, the ratings were short-lived, and in a recent GamesIndustry interview, Metacritic founder Marc Doyle (a known 77) said, "We have no plans to bring it back." Ultimately, Mr. 77 said the site isn't meant to "fuel some larger discussion over what person is more worthy than some other person." That's actually kind of a nice sentiment, but it's that lack of bloodthirstiness that's keeping Mr. Doyle from breaking into the low 80s.
Metacritic now charting iOS games
Gaming review aggregation site Metacritic has posted that it is now charting for iOS games through its service. The site has long charted movies, music and video games as an overall average of all the scores found online (out of 100), and now it's going to do the same thing for iOS games. Metacritic will do this by aggregating all of the scores found online with a weighted average and assigning a score out of 100 to each title in the system. You can see the main iPhone page right there -- Tiny Wings is highly rated as a new title, and on the overall list, World of Goo leads the way, with iBlast Moki right behind and a good mix of games on down the list. As you'd expect from a list of iOS games, the titles are all over the place, from bigger studio releases to tiny indie downloads. The game reviews are also coming from a number of sites of all sizes, from more traditional gaming sites to iOS-specific review sites. Metacritic has become something of a lightning rod in the industry. While it does provide an interesting list of quality titles for each game system, both developers and review publishers are often frustrated that it averages out scores -- and some great games have been brought down in the past by a relatively bad Metacritic score -- for a number of reasons. We'll have to see what effect Metacritic will have on iOS. I'd think that most iOS users take a lot of their feedback from the iTunes store itself, and when you combine that with the generally low prices of most iOS games, it seems to me that reviews aren't as big a deal as traditional gaming retail. But we'll see -- if nothing else, it'll provide a good list of iOS games for newcomers to the scene.
Which publisher gets the best review scores?
Ah, review scores. Besides letting us skip all that long, boring text that actually describes a game's high and low points, it also allows for some excellent statistical analysis and fanboy-infuriating numerical rankings. To that end, and spurred on by an similar EA-produced chart, Next-Gen's Matt Matthews crunched the GameRankings data and ranked the best-reviewed publishers of 2007.Unsurprisingly, first parties Sony and Nintendo topped the list with averages above 75% -- not bad when you consider their production includes clunkers like Lair and Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. Microsoft is slightly lower with a 69% average, behind top-ranked third-parties like Capcom, LucasArts, EA and, surprisingly enough, Atlus. Major publishers like Midway, Atari and Majesco stagnate near the bottom of the list -- none of the trio even breaks through the mediocre 60% average barrier.The full story also breaks down the data going back to 2005 and also looks at changes in the sheer number of games released by various publishers. Check it out.
PS3 has best average review scores of current gen consoles [Update]
As you may or may not know, video games get reviewed. These scores, sometimes arbitrary in nature, add up over time as more games are released for consoles. Are we being elementary enough? Anyway, as things stand right now, apparently the PS3 library has a higher average review score than the other two current gen consoles.With the 360's longer life, it has had an opportunity to collect more "shovelware," lowering its average review score. Surprisingly, in spite of Wii's success, there are many titles the critics deem of poor quality. (Titles like Zack and Wiki and No More Heroes are quality, but don't sell for some odd reason). Still, we're impressed PS3 games can hold this title for the time being. Just like any other system, it will have its fair share of great games, average games, and downright awful games. Let's hope it can produce more of the former.[Via Kotaku]Editor's Note: Hey everyone. There are a few points we'd like to clarify for those of you arguing the comments section. These figures were provided by Next Gen (all our sources can be seen by clicking "Read"). Also, there are quality games on all three systems, no matter which one is your preferred system. Some of the more inflammatory language has been edited out of this post, and we apologize.
Wii Warm Up: Enter initials
Dude, so we were playing some Alien Crush, and we killed the bonus stage with the dragons over and over again. We totally scored like five billion points and it was so AWESOME that we had to call everyone we knew and tell them about it. Okay, we're embellishing a bit. When we say we "totally scored like five billion points," we mean that we "continue to be awful at Alien Crush despite playing and loving it for eighteen years." But without our humble admission, you'd have no reason to doubt us! And that leads into our discussion.Simply put, we want leaderboards. We aren't going to get online play in VC games any time soon (or ever,) so we'll ask for the next best thing. We want to be able to see the high scores for games that, you know, have scores. We don't need prizes or anything. We'd be motivated enough by the idea that we could put our three-letter tag (mine: JC!) at the top of a nationwide or worldwide list if we were any good, which we aren't.Are high score leaderboards worth doing? Do you see value in friendly competition like this? Or did you always flip right past the high score page in old gaming magazines? Perhaps most importantly, what are your high score initials?
Pack your bags! Australian game reviewers offered hookers
When hookers are offered to game reviewers for better scores ... well, the game industry just got a whole lot more interesting! Official Australian PlayStation 2 Magazine's former editor Richie Young says he was offered sex, money, gifts, overseas trips and advertising support to influence game review scores. Well, let's see, the advertising support is a common practice. So are the trips and gifts (those are just called junkets). The money is interesting -- but hookers? In Australia? Imagine what the American game reviewers get offered. EGM Editor Dan Hsu's now classic editorial spoke to this issue, but to this day he hasn't stepped up to the plate with a follow-through.A lot of issues dredged up in Young's post are just the truth of what happens. It's dirty and it's sad. None of it is anything the magazines and review sites don't have to deal with every single day ... it's just the hookers that make this story over the top.[via ScreenPlay, thanks Flyingdoormat]
Next-gen launch reviews projected
Are you anxiously awaiting the reviews scores for the PS3 and Wii launch games? Be anxious no longer -- Next Gen has kindly projected those scores weeks in advance by studying review scores for past console launches.While every console launch is different and past performance doesn't necessarily predict future success, it's interesting to see how the earliest games for earlier systems have fared. Unsurprisingly, a 36% plurality of launch titles tend to be mired in the mediocrity of 70 to 80% average scores, while only one in ten games break past that magical 90% average. More surprising is that Nintendo launches (N64 and GameCube) tend to fare slightly better on average than Sony launches (PS1, PS2). In fact, the GameCube had the most well-rounded launch in the modern era, with an 80.2% combined GameRankings average.Curmudgeon Gamer has a more detailed breakdown and downloadable spreadsheets to play with the numbers yourself.
A comprehensive list of Famitsu review scores
Famitsu, the most popular gaming magazine in Japan, is notorious for their uncompromising and strictly regulated review system. Indeed, only six games in their history have ever received a perfect 40/40 review score. Since their opinion is highly valued, a couple people over at GoNintendo have compiled a comprehensive list of the top-scoring DS games on the market. First place belongs solely to Nintendogs, picking up one of those coveted 40/40 scores, followed by Meteos with a 38/40, and then Animal Crossing: Wild World at 37/40. For a (very) full list, click that underlined blue clicky thing at the bottom of the post.(If you were wondering, the six perfect scores belong to (in chronological order): The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Vagrant Story, Soul Calibur, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Nintendogs, and Final Fantasy XII.)
