Some Xbox 360 users have been experiencing lock-up problems with Fight Night Round 4, as the game freezes at the introductory “splash” screen and eventually locks up the entire Xbox.

While the Joystiq article I linked to above suggested that the problems lie with “certain files and the HDD”, that doesn’t appear to be the case, as the game freezes even with the hard drive disconnected and a cache-cleared restart; even without a profile loaded.

Obviously, I’ve experienced this problem myself, with both the game’s demo and the final release. While it’s definitely annoying to be forced to so, I have been able to make the game playable by taking the following steps:

1) While your Xbox 360 is powered off, unplug your network cable or wireless adapter from the console.

2) Boot your Xbox 360 and log into your profile. Let the Xbox Live connection attempt fail.

3) Start Fight Night Round 4. The game should load as intended.

4) When the main menu appears, re-connect your network cable or wireless adapter.

5) Press the Xbox guide button on your controller (the big, glowing Xbox logo in the middle of it), and log in to Xbox Live.

From there, the game should work perfectly with all functionality restored.

I have been working with the Fight Night team since before the game launched in an effort to troubleshoot the problem, but this solution is the only one I’ve found thus far that works. If you’re experiencing the freezing problem on your Xbox 360 that renders Fight Night Round 4 unplayable, you may want to give the process listed above a try before you give up on the game entirely. It’s possible that this won’t solve everyone’s problems, but then again, it may solve yours.

While EA Sports has said they’re aware of the problem and that it affects only a small number of consoles, that’s little consolation when one of that small number of consoles happens to be your own. Hopefully, a patch or fix is forthcoming soon, and I’ll continue to follow up with the Fight Night team. Good luck!

In many ways, Fight Night Round 3 ushered in the era of high-definition gaming. When the game released in February of 2006, its jaw-dropping graphics were almost too realistic to imagine at the time; its lighting and true-to-life player models showed what would soon be possible on consoles (and HD televisions) all over the world.

Fight Night Round 3 was developed at the now-defunct EA Chicago studio, and the game’s executive producer, Kudo Tsonuda, has since moved on to Microsoft, where he’s overseeing another jaw-dropping technology, the sight/sound/motion-based controller system codenamed Project Natal. So it was that the task of developing Fight Night Round 4 was handed to EA Canada under the supervision of producer/boxing savant  Brian “Brizzo” Hayes and a passionate team of developers.

I had the opportunity to see this game four months ago, while it was still in development, and the significant improvements made to it in that short window of time are remarkable. What Fight Night Round 4 delivers is not only a worthy follow-up to that seminal 2006 release; simply put, it’s the best boxing game ever created and a significant leap forward in the series.

Let’s focus on those breathtaking graphics for a moment - after all, you will when its disc is spinning away in your gaming console. While its visuals aren’t as shockingly beautiful as they seemed when Round 3 stunned the gaming world, the truth is that Round 4’s are even better; in fact, they’re much better.

As I mentioned back in March, player models are painstakingly rendered down to the finest detail and each boxer is immediately recognizable and unique in appearance. Just like in real life, you’ll be able to quickly tell a fighter’s weight class by his build alone, and you can make a decent guess as to what kind of fighter he is by looking at his musculature; lanky fighters like Muhammad Ali are likely to be quick-strike artists, while shorter, thicker fellows like Mike Tyson usually prefer to mix it up inside.

Unlike in Round 3, each boxer possesses his real-life height and weight and their reach matters a great deal, something that’s readily apparent when watching Round 4 in action for the first time. Boxing fans know that tall fighters can keep opponents at bay with long-range jabs while shorter ones are often better off getting body-to-body and slugging it out in close quarters. The game’s new physics-based system allows for punching through blocks, among other effects, which have more than a visual impact - they can make the difference between winning and losing.

In this way, the graphics serve the gameplay, allowing even the boxing novice to immediately determine a winning strategy in the ring. Much like real boxing, the combination of reach and body type dictates the way you’ll want to fight.

Players react realistically to glancing blows and solid contact, with some punches deflected and others breaking through a weak defense. Muscles show clear striation when they coil and uncoil during a punch, which adds a mesmerizing level of detail, especially in replays. You’ll feel every punch as your boxer’s face shows the cost of every missed block, warping and flapping with almost unnerving hyper-realism. Expect to wince when a puff of misted blood is drawn from powerful punches and sweat flies off their dented noggin with regularity.

Also new is the opportunity for one-button replays of knockdowns and knockouts. The game will immediately show a replay after a devastating punch - showing off the wild deformation that happens to these unfortunate fellows’ faces - and a tap of the B (Xbox 360) or circle button (PlayStation 3) will cycle through the replay from different angles. It’s cringe-inducing, but in a good way. The spittle that flies from boxer’s mouths in a string every time is a bit distracting, as it doesn’t vary much, but that’s something of a nitpick.

The wear and tear on each boxer is simply amazing to look at it, and it’s all happening in real-time. However, now that the game is finished, it’s readily apparent that it’s not only the character modeling that stands out. The game’ venues are varied - some are real locations, some aren’t, and some are based on real places (the “New York Arena” is an obvious stand-in for Madison Square Garden). But what makes them more interesting is the lighting in each venue. A ballroom in London possesses warm, soft lighting, while the Staples Center is blindingly intense, with lens flares everywhere and flash bulbs going off with every big punch. The venues and the way they’re handled ratchet up the excitement level; when you’re fighting for a belt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, it feels like a championship fight.

Any way you slice it, Fight Night Round 4 is as visually striking a title as there is on today’s gaming consoles, and if you have an HD display, so much the better.

The game’s sounds enhance the experience. “Haymaker” punches land with a resounding thump, the pff-pff-pff of boxers exhaling during a quick combo sounds great, and the ringing-in-the-ears effect is slightly different when your bell is rung or if you’re the one doing the ringing. Crowd sounds are excellent - they get excited at the right times, “oohing” and “aahing” at every big punch. While announcers Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas unfortunately get repetitive rather quickly, it’s nice that they won’t call your low-level fights in Legacy mode, and when they are speaking, they’re enthusiastic and fun to listen to; it’s a real shame they didn’t have a more lengthy script available. Taken as a whole, however, Round 4’s audio not only fills out the in-ring experience, it actually offers gameplay cues - it’s functional.

The play’s the thing, however, and none of the pretty graphics amount to anything if the game itself doesn’t deliver. Fortunately, it does, and better than ever. The real heights, weights and reaches mean that every fight will be a little different, but the clever AI and more in-depth player ratings ensure that each bout needs to be approached with strategy in mind instead of button-mashing… which isn’t possible anyway.

Besides the “signature punch”, which is mapped to the A (X360) or X (PS3) button, there are no punches that can be thrown with buttons anymore - and that’s a good thing. Round 4’s right-stick punch control has been refined, making button presses unnecessary, and frankly undesirable. (NOTE - I understand that there are plenty of fans of button-mashers, and they’ll be dismayed by this. But the playing field, especially online, needed leveled and that’s how this game has evolved and improved. You’ll live.)  Most importantly, body punches can be thrown without a second-button modifier; just go to four o’clock or seven o’clock on the right stick for a punch to the gut. Weaving, which involves a semi-circle movement on the left stick, provides a new way to keep you out of trouble, and you’ll need it.

The game’s gotten - thankfully - much more tactical, and the famous “haymakers” of Round 3 aren’t nearly as important here. As they should, they’ll often leave you open to nasty counter-punches, and at the higher difficulty levels, they’ll sap your stamina. They’re fun and they pack a wallop, but the “haymaker” punch (which is now a regular punch with the high right shoulder button pressed) should be used very sparingly. The signature punch is even more risky, and I find that I generally don’t even use it unless I want to finish off a wobbly opponent.

Blocking and avoiding punches is more important than before, and happily, the game’s controls make it much easier to fight defensively by simplifying the block system and opening up a slightly larger opportunity to counter-punch. While that’s come under fire in some circles, in this author’s opinion, anything that encourages defensive play - and therefore, more realistic play - is completely welcome. To win on the higher difficulty levels, you won’t see many slugfests last long; the AI will smartly retreat into a shell and counter-punch you to pieces. A strong defense makes for the best offense in Fight Night Round 4, just as in real boxing, so keep those hands up!

Speaking of difficulty levels, the differences between each level is pleasantly noticeable. For a veteran gamer, the lowest setting is far, far too easy, but it’s just right for those new to the game. As you get better, feel free to increase the settings - at the highest, your heart will be racing the entire time. Too many sports games do too little or too much with difficulty levels, either making them an annoyance or useless. Round 4 gets it right - if you’re having too easy or too hard a time, one bump in either direction should do the trick.

The corner game has been given a little more depth, as well. What you do in the ring will earn points, whether it’s landing a high percentage of punches, avoiding most of your opponent’s swings, knocking the other fighter down or just surviving the round, the better you perform, the more points you’ll earn to spend in between rounds to help your boxer recover his stamina, health or damage. It’s an improvement and offers more opportunity for strategy - especially since the points can be “banked” and used later - but it wouldn’t be a surprise if many gamers simply used the automatic recovery after a while. Nevertheless, it’s a step in the right direction.

Round 4’s meat-and-potatoes Legacy mode has been given a complete makeover, encouraging the gamer to work their way through the ranks in a more dynamic fashion. Using the online Photo Game Face, it’s easy and fun to make a likeness of yourself (and it works much better if you upload a photo to the Fight Night website), or by using the in-game creator, you can make any boxer - real or imagined - that you’d like. While the mode’s pretty menu-intensive, the game’s goals do require you to think about the fights you’ll take next, including not rushing your chance at the title and taking the necessary time to improve yourself first. You’ll need to fight and train to improve your standing and skills, and the Round 4’s training mini-games are challenging and for the most part, fun, but they can be skipped - the game will “auto-train” for you, earning you half the maximum. Sometimes, that’s better than you’ll do yourself, so try each of the training mini-games and decide what’s best for you.

While Legacy mode provides incentive to keep playing, the nature of the sport itself holds it back - there’s not much more to real-life boxing then training and fighting a succession of bouts, but as a videogame, that tends to get repetitive. Perhaps a storyline or some other sort of wrinkle might add more spice to the proceedings in the future. Nevertheless, it’s realistic enough if a bit bland, and the ability to be able to move up a weight class to challenge for new belts is more than welcome.

The game’s online play has been generally excellent, no small feat for a title that requires split-second reflexes. The game’s eminently playable and the World Championship mode lets you take your created fighter online to challenge everyone - and I mean everyone - to see who’s the best of the best. The ability to upload and download other created boxers is a terrific addition, and will likely expand, enhance and lengthen the experience of the game - imported boxers can be used in Career mode, along with the painstakingly recreated 48 real-life boxers in the game, so it’d be possible to have a dozen friends pose as roadblocks to a championship as well. There’s a great deal of potential here.

There’s no question that the three-year wait for Fight Night Round 4 was worth it. The game’s essentially a reference disc for an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 and a top-flight HD display - it looks that good. Fortunately, it plays just as well as it looks, and with two skilled human players, a bout can be an exhilarating experience, with plenty of strategy mixed into the blood and sweat.

If boxing is your thing, then getting a hold of Fight Night Round 4 is a foregone conclusion. But even if you’re not, this title’s worth a try - the developers’ love of the sport oozes through every pixel, and its combination of beauty and brains is too hard to ignore.

A pioneer in the music world, DJ-turned-songwriter/producer Paul van Dyk has been on the cutting edge of electronic dance music for 15 years. With five studio albums to his name (with a sixth on the way later this year) and over 3 million copies sold - and a couple of Grammy nominations to boot - the 37-year-old van Dyk’s best days are still in front of him.

Obviously, as an artist that often performs with laptops on stage with him, the German-born van Dyk is no stranger to technology, and while some of his tracks have been licensed for videogames before, van Dyk has never written music specifically for a videogame… until now.

In what amounts to a very quiet coup for EA Sports, the talented van Dyk was tapped to create the music for Grand Slam Tennis, a task that the technologically-minded musician tackled with aplomb. On Friday, with the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament gearing up in London, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a candid telephone conversation with one of electronica’s most notable artists and discuss what happens when the digital music and videogame worlds collide.

***

Shawn Drotar: Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk about your latest projects.

Paul van Dyk: Hey, no problem at all. Thanks for having me.

SD: You’ve been part of the electronic music scene for the better part of two decades now, and the technology to create this type of music has become more and more accessible all the time. How does that free you as an artist, and how do believe it promotes the growth of electronic dance music as a whole?

PvD: Well, I think we have to start at the beginning. First, it started as a small subculture, and (now), it’s like the biggest music culture in the world. You can go wherever in the world and find people being excited about this music and loving this music. It’s even growing with the masses. The whole, general sound on the radio has become more and more electronic. I think that has something to do with the accessibility of that equipment. You know, it’s so much easier now than it was - let’s say, 15 years ago - to go ahead and be creative and do something. It might not be perfect, what’s coming out, but then again, record companies and A&R managers (artist & repertoire: think, “musical scouting and training department” - SD) will listen to it, and if they see the potential, they support you. They give you the possibility of working in a proper studio, and I think that has always been part of what electronic music is. Electronic music has always been about breaking the boundaries - not just on the creative side but also on the way it’s done - by using the latest technologies. Therefore, whatever growth we see in the electronic music world is always directly connected to the technology that’s involved in it.

SD: You’ve dabbled in many technologies; you even have a DJ application available for the iPhone; a toolbox, if you will, for budding DJs. How does that fit in to what you’re doing now, musically?

PvD: I had the opportunity of DJ’ing in the early 90s, and I realized that this is what I want to do. Based on that, I had the chance to actually start working in a studio. This is a lot of what I do; develop. I have a very clear idea about how things should sound and what I want to do with it. Then again, in the beginning, I didn’t have a lot of skills, so I started to learn and got really into it. I learned how to produce, learned how to use all these electronic sounds and make it sound good. Plus, on the musical side, I learned to play piano, play guitar and all that stuff in order to actually create music. I just kind of grew into it; if you would ask me now, I’d say that first of all, I’m a musician. My favorite music happens to be electronic music, and the most common way of presenting it is by DJ’ing, but I kind of grew out of the pure DJ’ing experience.

SD: As a producer over the years, and leading into your iPhone application and getting into videogaming, you’ve taken what seems to be an unusual approach for many musicians, one almost like a mentor for those you follow you. Is that a conscious decision you’ve made, or is it just a secondary effect of the way that you work?

PvD: (laughs) Well, I guess it’s just a secondary effect of the way that I work. Let’s talk about the gaming world. I had a few tracks licensed into a few games, and then last year I was approached by the EA people to remix the main theme song for the Mirror’s Edge game, which was one of their biggest hits last year. Based on that - they said they really enjoyed what I did with the Mirror’s Edge theme - they asked me if I’d think of being involved in actually scoring the whole soundtrack for a game. So I did the EA Grand Slam Tennis game that’s out now. It’s not so much that I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m on the forefront of something here.’ I’m taking it on as the next project; the next challenge. Something that’s inspiring me as an artist. With the iPhone app as an example, our techie guy said, ‘Listen, Paul - there’s so much potential to do something that’s really cool with the iPhone. We should have a go at that.’ Then we were sitting together, and I said, ‘Well, I just don’t want to have one of those random players where you can mix five or six tracks into another and then out again. That’s something you maybe use once or twice; I want something that is fun and useful.’ And so we came up with the DJ iPhone app, where you have things on there that are fun gadgets, as well as very helpful stuff, and it kind of develops out of those ideas.

Well, you know that these games are much more popular than the actual tournament these days. If I actually write the theme for Wimbledon, probably more people will hear my Wimbledon theme than the regional Wimbledon theme of the (real) tournament. That’s a big challenge.  — Paul van Dyk

SD: In the videogame medium in particular, when you took on the Grand Slam Tennis project to score the entire game, what attracted you to that concept? What particular things came up as a challenge? Did you find a new way of thinking about scoring a game as opposed to an album?

PvD: Well, when I do an album, nobody tells me what’s going on. I just have a general idea and I actually produce it, 100 percent the way I want it. I have to say that I had a very free hand with making the (Grand Slam Tennis) music, but then again - and I have to say it was very helpful - I had a music supervisor to give me some guidelines on where to go and where not. As an example, when I did the theme for the U.S. Open, it was really banging, electro-house. And they said, ‘it was kind of too tough for us, we need something a little more easy’. This is something I wouldn’t know. They have the bigger picture in mind; they see the bigger project, and therefore it’s good to have a supervisor in this case. It was kind of a big challenge to create… well, you know that these games are much more popular than the actual tournament these days. If I actually write the theme for Wimbledon, probably more people will hear my Wimbledon theme than the regional Wimbledon theme of the (real) tournament. That’s a big challenge. With Wimbledon, I tried… well, London’s pretty famous for their cool, underground bassy beats, and I had some drum and bass stuff and created the beautiful summery breeze to add to it. I imagined how it would be to be there.

SD: Did you find the entire experience to be more rewarding or more challenging? It’s obviously quite different than the way you normally work.

PvD: It’s a challenge, but I also learned a lot from it, so I guess it was rewarding too.

SD: You’re also in the process of creating your next album. Is there anything you’d like to share about that, something to look forward to?

PvD: Right now, I’m basically in the early stages of actually writing the music. It’s not so much that I can tell you what it’s going to sound like; I’m in a very much traditional singer/songwriter style now; sitting down and making little notes, recording little bits and pieces of melodies and sounds here and there. I will be in the studio in August to start hammering it out.

SD: How has your music changed from when you started, from the late-90s and early-2000s? How has your experience been reflected in your music?

PvD: Generally, it’s progressed. It grew more detailed. Now, I’m actually making my music - I don’t have a production team; I’m just sitting in the back, saying, ‘that’s a cool sound’. I like that I actually make it; I have direct input in what you’re going to hear at the end. As I’ve grown up and gotten more mature and self-confident, my music grew with me. I had to (have) the balls to do something that, back in the day, they said, ‘You should not do. You shouldn’t work with rock musicians in the electronic world. You shouldn’t use guitars.’ All that kind of bullshit. I don’t care about that; I just make music - there’s a very electronic view to it, and that’s probably what people can expect from my next album, too.

SD: What I find fascinating is that the Mirror’s Edge theme and the score for Grand Slam Tennis is still distinctly… you. It’s still clearly Paul van Dyk music, even though it’s in a completely different medium than many of your fans might expect.

PvD: I would hope so. I put my soul, I put everything I have into my music, and if that shines through, even in a completely different context, that makes me think that I pulled it off somehow.

***

Below is the video for Paul van Dyk’s “For An Angel 2009″, a remastered version of his breakthrough 1998 hit.

Even before this week’s demo for NCAA Football 10 became available, a wave of questions began to lumber towards the shore regarding the yearly sure-fire hit. On June 9, Bryan “Pastapadre” Wiedey noted on his site a number of discrepancies regarding the rosters on EA Sports’ new Teambuilder site, and on June 12, Gamespot’s Brian Ekberg reported that Dynasty mode “accelerators”, for sale using microtransaction on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, would be allowed in online play, meaning that gamers could literally spend their way to the top of online leagues.

To their credit, EA Sports responded quickly to these concerns, noting that they were aware of the Teambuilder roster issue and working on a fix - one which is expected to culminate in a new downloadable roster being available at launch - though it’s still unclear how that roster update will affect the tens of thousands of already-created Teambuilder clubs.

On June 17, one day before NCAA Football 10 demo was released, I appeared on the EA Sports Live Internet radio program directly after two members of the game’s design team did a segment, and to my surprise, was asked my opinion on the microtransaction controversy. The show’s hosts, Jason and Rob Thompson, continued the remarkably open discussion, which didn’t necessarily follow the traditional corporate line.

The archive stream of Wednesday’s show can be found here, with the following exchange occurring at the 43-minute mark:

Jason Thompson: You know, another thing that’s going on in the gaming industry… you kind of mirror a lot of what the community says… about microtransactions and things like that. Your positives and negatives to microtransactions - and they are filtering in to a lot of our favorite sports games - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is one, and now you’re seeing NCAA Football, you mentioned The Godfather (in Monday’s Scattershots). There’s a lot more microtransactions going on - Call of Duty, that series is starting to think about a monthly subscription thing. Your thoughts about that particular revenue model?

Shawn Drotar: That’s something I’ve been working over the last couple of weeks for a feature I’m working on. I think the simplest way to state it is this: I have no problem - and anyone who does really isn’t going to be comfortable with (this answer) because it’s just the way that business works - but these companies need to monetize their products any way they can - and they’re going to. That’s a simple fact; just Business 101 - any way you can make a revenue stream, you do it. My concern is when it unbalances things. For example, let’s say my wife plays Tiger Woods with me… once a month or something. And she wants to use the created players because she likes the Photo Game Face feature and thinks that’s a lot of fun. But, I play the Career mode, so my character’s a lot better and she can’t compete with me. Well, to be honest, I don’t really mind spending an extra two, three bucks to bump her character up so she can compete with me in the one or two times she plays, because she may enjoy it and then we have a chance to play more (often) in the future. So that sort of microtransaction doesn’t bother me. However, when you bring it online… for example, the Dynasty “boosts” that have been covered (by Ekberg)… the Dynasty “boosts” can used online as well as off. My concern is that what you start doing is creating something (like) an arms race; that of you spent $60 on a game, your teams are likely to be “this” good, but if you spent $72.50 on the game ($60 +$12.50 worth of “accelerators), your teams are going to be better. And I think, that even though we’re talking only $12 here and there, that’s pretty expensive for a game for a lot of people. And you run the risk of creating something of a caste system; on people who can spend more money on their copy of the game - who will be automatically better at it and have a competitive advantage - then you… I think that’s a tough call. It’s basically the same (situation as Major League) Baseball; does it (spending more money than the competition) guarantee a World Series when the (New York) Yankees and (Boston) Red Sox spend $200 million a year on payroll each? No, it does not - but does it guarantee that the Kansas City Royals, who spend $35 million a year on their payroll, won’t make the World Series? Yeah - it pretty much does… I think that’s the concern.

JT: So there are two issues: one would be if there was online play that allowed - and it was up front - this particular online experience is allowing in those who have spent a little extra money and are comfortable with an arms race kind of approach to online play, or I can opt out of that in online play and make sure that when I’m playing online, that this is a “non-boosted” league or “non-boosted” experience. That would be one way to (handle) it, right? Or to just shut it down altogether?

SD: It would be, but I think that separating and striating the online gaming communities, I think that weakens that online community as a whole. I think that’s a concern.

Rob Thompson: When I hear all this, my chief concern is the guy that I’m playing. Certainly, when I’m going online, I want to see what going on… and if there’s a way to… a way to annotate (that) this guy is a game buyer; he’s building his team like (Yankees owner George) Steinbrenner did. And there should be maybe a star (denoting that) this is a guy, or a girl - a gamer - this is a person that has done it (built their online Dynasty team) “this” way, and this is a person who has done it the “other” way.

JT: (interjects) Old school! Without performance enhancing…

RT: That has gone through… Dynasty (mode) and has built their school or team the way that they wanted it to be, without having to go outside (the purchased game) and spend any extra (Microsoft) points or dollars to get themselves to a level where they, quite frankly, probably don’t belong.

JT: Well, I can tell you this: Shawn, it’s been a message that’s been received from the NCAA 10 community, and they (the NCAA design team) are working on it, I can tell you that… it’s (part) of the reactive nature of our current state of gaming. The open-door policy of EA Sports.

SD: I think it’s important to understand as well - for members of the community that are stressed about this - the product’s not out yet. I’ve never - never - in all the (eight) years I’ve been doing this, went out and judged a product that I haven’t seen; that hasn’t been (a) final (build). It’s not fair. Until people see it, there’s really no reason to get all up in arms and worry just yet. I think it’s important to wait, see what comes up, see what comes out of it, see how it works, and then judge. I think what the community’s bringing up are (legitimate) concerns about how the viability of how the community can sustain itself by finding players who can compete with each other on a fair level.

RT: Right.

SD: I think that’s a discussion that, quite frankly, is good - and was bound to happen.

JT: Yes.

SD: It’s not really all bad that we’re going to finally get into something like this. It needed to happen, was bound to happen, and I’m actually - in an odd, perverted way - looking forward to seeing how this is received and how it goes. Because I think that getting through it is going to be critical to see where EA, where Xbox and PS3 and even the Wii - where all these microtransactions are going to go from here. I think this discussion has to happen, but the first thing that has to happen is that a game needs to put it out in the open. It’s good that we’re going to get a chance to look at it.

RT: Well, as an all-caps writer in a community, I can’t wait. (laughs)

JT: My brother only posts in all-caps, and as a result, no one ever hears what he says.

RT: No, I’m just yelling.

JT: But I can tell you that microtransactions work in certain circumstances. I mean, I have spent - I wouldn’t say as much money as on iTunes downloads - but I do spend money on Rock Band downloads.

RT: (interjects) Well, that’s different…

JT: And I look and I see that the country track pack that’s 22 songs deep and comes out in July - I know it’s $29.99. I’m buying it. I can’t wait for it to come; I’m eagerly awaiting it. But I’m not sure I would’ve gotten that content except for the fact that it’s monetized.

RT: Well, of course. And I think that’s the sign of the microtransactions that we’re all looking forward to, that we all wanted. But it’s just the other side, when you’re actually gaming and you’re dealing with wins and losses, (that’s) where I think the argument’s going to come down to.

***

Later that day, NCAA 10 producer Jeremy Strauser Twittered the following message to Wiedey: “NCAA team working on a patch so that DLC (downloadable content) can be deactivated in Online Dynasty. Rosters (sic) fixes also in the works.”

While it’s still up in the air what will come of these fixes for NCAA Football 10, there’s no question that gamers are dealing with a different EA Sports then they were only a few years ago. In March, I wrote an article about the company’s newfound transparency, which I discussed with EA Sports President Peter Moore in a face-to-face conversation later in the month.

On Wednesday, EA Sports put their money where there mouth is - again. I was genuinely surprised that an internally-produced product like EA Sports Live and its hosts were willing to step beyond the “infomercial” stage and make the clear statement that the company itself has become a sounding board and a place for introspection and open, thoughtful discussion. It’s hard to overstate the value of this as a consumer.

It makes me certain of one thing - I’m looking forward to next Wednesday’s show.

What’s on my mind after a long weekend:

• Right after his big reveal as the cover athlete for NBA Live 10, Dwight Howard immediately went out and choked away the Orlando Magic’s entire series by exposing his Achilles’ heel yet again in Game 4. The center they call “Superman” in Orlando clearly has his kryptonite - the free-throw line. Up three points at home with 11 seconds left to play for a 2-2 series tie and all the momentum in the NBA Finals, Howard botched two more free throws (he went 6-for-14 from the line on this night). Had he hit even one more over the course of the night, the Lakers almost certainly lose the game and this series isn’t over. Instead, as the Magic helplessly watched their leader clank both attempts, the Magic went poof and disappeared, their hearts ripped from them as they succumbed to the Lakers in overtime in Game 4 and didn’t have enough left even challenge the Lakers and keep them from decisively winning their 15th NBA title on the Magic’s home floor. People talk about the “Madden Curse”, but usually, they have to wait more than a few hours for it to kick in. Looks like there’s a new sheriff (or would that be wizard?) in town…

• The Detroit Red Wings also lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on their home ice after once holding a 2-0 lead in the series. This pleases me greatly.

• Joystiq has an interesting story about a 1 vs. 100 “Season Pass” that’s appearing in menus of the beta. Right now, it doesn’t do anything, but I’d bet that it’ll be a product for Silver Xbox Live members (which is anybody with a Internet-connected Xbox 360 that doesn’t pay $50 a year for the full Gold service); something they can purchase to let them participate in the well-constructed online game that’s earning raves in beta and tempt them into purchasing a Gold membership. If that’s the case, it’s a smart move - 1 vs. 100 is nearly a perfect introduction to online gaming, and with the opportunity to win real-life prizes, it’s likely to be tempting to play every week. In the beta, there have been crowds of nearly 100,000 people playing simultaneously, and as a captive audience, the game’s “commercial breaks” are bound to attract serious attention from advertisers. Forget Halo, 1 vs. 100 - as crazy as it sounds - might soon become Microsoft’s greatest gold mine.

• Speaking of gold mines, Activision may may thinking of adding some sort of monthly fee for the next installment of Call of Duty. It seems likely, given Activision honcho Bobby Kotick’s comments, that at some point Activision will try to add some sort of subscription to the game; something that might allow earlier access to maps or weapons or what have you. My guess - unfortunately - is that it would succeed at some level, but it also might have unintended consequences; namely chasing a portion of the first-person-shooter crowd back towards the flailing PC. Quite frankly, there are more than a few talented modders out there, and while gamers certainly aren’t afraid to spend on their hobby, they’re bound to draw the line somewhere - in fact, simple math says they’ll have to.

• EA Sports is set to increase their post-consumer earnings as well, but what they earn in cash may risk costing them in goodwill. Even after watching EA earn scorn from the gaming community after their original foray into microtransactions with The Godfather, EA Sports’ NCAA Football 10 team is undeterred, adding shortcuts/cheats/”boosts” for the game’s primary long-term gameplay mode, Dynasty. Gamespot’s always-reliable Brian Ekberg has the cringe-inducing scoop. Being able to purchase “boosts” in other EA Sports games - namely Tiger Woods PGA Tour - is nothing new, but in NCAA Football 10, these purchases will impact online play, namely, the well-received Online Dynasty mode introduced last year. Now, we’re on a slippery slope (and expect more pontification from me on this page and topic soon enough, so brace yourselves). Off-line additions are all well and good - hey, if you want to burn your cash to save time or effort, what do I care? But when it impacts online play, then basically, EA Sports is selling two products - the game for $60 and the souped-up game that gives you a clear competitive advantage over more thrifty gamers for $72.50. For the moment, I’ll offer only a simple line from Jason Bateman’s character in last summer’s film Hancock: “Not OK.”

It’s Wednesday, which means that I’ll be back on the air again, appearing on the EA Sports Live Internet radio show again this afternoon to talk about the NBA Finals - which became more interesting last night after Orlando’s Game 3 win, and the Stanley Cup Finals - which became a lot more interesting after Pittsburgh forced a decisive Game 7.

I’m sure we’ll also talk about the release on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis, and who knows what else. I’ll be appearing at roughly 3:30 PM Eastern time, but tune in for the whole show if you can - hosts Jason and Rob Thompson, along with a rotating cast of characters, keep making EA Sports Live more and more entertaining every week.

The broadcast, which can be streamed live here, starts at 3:00 PM Eastern time every weekday.

Tune in this afternoon!

NOTE: The archive for Friday’s show can be heard here - I arrive about seven minutes in. I haven’t seen an iTunes update for a while, so I don’t think it can be downloaded as a podcast, just streamed.

Roger Federer is one of the greatest tennis players who’s ever stepped on a court, and as such, he was an easy choice to help represent Grand Slam Tennis, EA Sports’ Wii-based title that uses the new Motion Plus peripheral for enhanced realism on the Nintendo Wii. (For those who don’t follow tennis closely, he’s the fellow pictured on the left on the box cover.) But Federer gave EA an extra boost as the game shipped to stores by winning the elusive French Open on Sunday; the clay-court tournament had been the only Grand Slam event he had never won, and by finally doing so, he tied Pete Sampras (who’s also a character in the game) for the most career majors - 14 - in history.

However, Sampras never won the French, and by winning at Roland Garros, Federer became only the second man in history (after Andre Agassi) to win the “career” Grand Slam on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard-court); staking a legitimate claim to being considered the greatest male tennis player in history.

If you’re EA Sports, having your cover athlete make such monumental news right as your game is shipping has to be some sort of public relations nirvana; like hitting the “00″ on the roulette wheel with a pile of house money stacked upon the felt.

So how lucky are you if it happens twice - and on the same day?

An ocean away from metro Paris, in Dublin, Ohio, golfer Tiger Woods - also a fellow who could stake a claim to the “greatest of all-time”, came back from four strokes down in the final round to win the Memorial, with the legendary Jack Nicklaus, perhaps Woods’ only historical rival, in the audience. Woods’ win, further proof that he’s recovered from serious knee surgery, makes him the prohibitive favorite to win the U.S. Open in two weeks.

Guess what other EA Sports game just shipped to stores?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, the latest in a long line of successful golf games, will arrive on store shelves any moment now for virtually every platform imaginable, just as Woods appears to be gaining steam and preparing to dominate his sport yet again. Even Nicklaus himself said as much after Woods’ victory on Sunday, noting, “I suspect No. 15 will come for Tiger Woods in about two weeks. If he drives the ball this way, and plays this way, I’m sure it will. And if not, it will surprise me greatly.”

“No. 15″ would be the U.S. Open, another major tournament that, if claimed by Woods, would move him to within three majors of Nicklaus’ record (though Nicklaus is considered by many to have 20 majors due to to the status of the U.S. Amateur in his era. Either way, the two are far ahead of Walter Hagen and Ben Hogan, with 11 and nine majors to their credit, respectively.)

Woods currently has 14 major titles to his credit - the exact same number as Federer does in tennis, and within a month, both could claim their 15th; Woods at the U.S. Open and Federer at Wimbledon, a tournament he’s already won an astounding five times.

There’s no question how dominant both athletes are, and the similarities between them throughout their respective careers has been almost eerie. But this; this odd confluence of real-life historical achievement and timely-but-random marketing is pure bliss for EA Sports, who must be thanking their lucky stars - and sending a fruit basket to the people who managed to attach these two superlative athletes to their products.

The old advertising axiom says that no press is bad press, and while that may or may not be true, there’s certainly no press like great press - and thanks to Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and some of the most fortuitous timing imaginable, it’s hard to imagine EA Sports being able to ever top this week, even with a marketing budget that would rival the athletes’ paychecks.

Sometimes, the best sports stories are the one-in-a-million shots. On Sunday, we just watched one - and this week, EA hopes that the million-to-one chance simply converts itself into many millions.

Don’t bet against it.

I’ll be appearing on the EA Sports Live Internet radio show again this afternoon to chat more about the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup and the news coming out of the E3 conference in Los Angeles this week. I’ll be appearing at roughly 3:20 PM Eastern time, but tune in for the whole show - if you haven’t heard it, hosts Jason and Rob Thompson, along with a rotating cast of characters, make for a fun hour to listen to.

I’ve written a primer for the NBA Finals that’s running on EA Sports’ site here; I’m sure that the show’s hosts - living near Orlando and all - will probably have a thing or two to say about it…

Our friend Bryan “Pastapadre” Wiedey is also scheduled to appear on the show, and I don’t know of anybody that spent more time in the EA booth that wasn’t working there in the first place, so he should have a lot to share, as well.

The broadcast, which can be streamed live here, starts at 3:00 PM Eastern time every weekday.

Tune in this afternoon - let’s talk some pucks and hoops!

Thoughts on a Thursday afternoon:

• I miss being at E3, which I had to sit out thanks to surgery. Not so much the games or the parties or any of the pomp and circumstance surrounding it - it’s the people that I miss. It’s so difficult to maintain relationships and friendships from the distances that we all have to deal with, but it’s so easy to make friends in the gaming world since so many of us have so much in common to begin with. In this industry, if you’re lucky, you might see some of your comrades once a year. More often, it’s e-mails, phone calls, Facebook updates and Twitter pages, and it’s just not the same as sitting down with someone and just talking. E3’s worth having if for no other reason than to allow all of us who work in this world an opportunity to see each other as individuals. I can’t wait for next year’s already.

• I really don’t like mixed martial arts. I’m a boxing fan, so I’m not sure why MMA bothers me, but it does. Maybe it’s just a bit too violent, and I enjoy only a little violence in my sports. That’s a bit of self-analysis I’m going to step away from for a bit, I think… Regardless, I can’t stop playing UFC Undisputed 2009, which is easily - and somewhat out of the blue - one of the best sports games released in the last few years. The more you play, the more fun it gets, and even though the controls are thoroughly in-depth, they’re organized in “families”, so one doesn’t need to know 1,000 button combinations to be successful. A 20-minute trip through the tutorial is an absolute must, but after that, it’s simply an adrenalin-fueled riot, and might be the best pass-the-controller party game I’ve played since Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo. Yes, I’m serious. It’s limited in venues and refs (there are three, and they’ll get tiresome fast) and it includes the tackiest Xbox Live Achievement of all-time - “Two of my favorites” - but even that can’t diminish the cornucopia of gaming goodness here. The Career mode - which includes a fabulous character creator - is a lot of fun, albeit a bit brief, the game plays well online (though plug-pullers abound) and it’s easily one of the best-looking games for this generation of consoles. All this, plus phenomenal game balance and high-speed strategy, makes Undisputed a must-try, even if you don’t have any clue what a “double underhook” is - after uncounted hours of play, I still don’t, but it hasn’t stopped me yet…

• If you haven’t tried Teambuilder, the new browser-based application designed to integrate user-created teams into EA Sports’ forthcoming NCAA Football 10, you should. It’s not only impressive and well-designed, but it’s a lot of fun. However, if you’re a lawyer, please don’t click the link and spoil the fun for the rest of us, though - I saw an “Apple Apples” team from Cupertino that looked like so many pigskin-toting iMacs, and if Steve Jobs himself didn’t log on to whip them up, some ambulance-chaser might start getting the wrong ideas. However, I’ve made a spot-on re-creation of my old-high-school team (including our horrible, borrowed-from-another-school-stadium) that practically oozes nostalgia through the screen, and an alternate, updated uniform that my wife suggested that I could forward to the school’s athletic department right now. I can’t imagine any reason to use ‘ol Ponderosa High in the game yet, but the experience of building them so faithfully provided a good hour of fun all by itself - and it didn’t cost me a dime.

• Speaking of EA Sports, I’ve embarked on the 30-day Challenge in EA Sports Active this month. I’m impressed with the game fitness product, which is perhaps less fun - but certainly far more effective, health-wise - than Wii Fit. While the character customization options are woefully limited, it hasn’t stopped me from dutifully working out for 25 minutes a day. I suspect that Active will eventually be best utilized to maintain tone and shape as opposed to helping you drop lots of pounds, but it’s been deservedly well-received. The exercises seem well- designed for day-to-day use, working different parts of your body each morning, and rewarding you for physical activity and good dietary habits away from the Wii. Certainly, there are things that could be improved, but truthfully, there’s nothing here to dislike, which is a very impressive first step for EA in this world, and it’s priced fairly as well, given the accessories that come with it. Despite how it’s been marketed, it’s not a “girl game”, though if there’s one in the house, she might enjoy it - or kill you. (NOTE: 5WGaming.com is not responsible for any outcome that springs from the recommendation to buy this product; especially if it ends up with you sleeping on the couch - or worse.)