Zox, Author at VG Strategy

Madden 12 PA Slot Drag

Tight formations have been popular in football video games since Madden 05. They are just as effective in Madden 12 so we decided to breakdown a great play to call out of the singleback tight slots formation when you need a few yards.

Formation: Singleback Tight Slots

Play: PA Slot Drag

Setup:

Hot route your L1/LB receiver to a streak
Hot route your square/X receiver to a slant out
Block your running back

Reads:

Your first read is a quick pass to your O/B receiver
If he is covered, immediately look to your square/X receiver on the slant out
Your last read is your X/A receiver on the shallow drag route

Now I want to get into reading the defense as it relates to this play.

You can see that the cornerback covering your wide receiver is on the right side of him. This instantly signals that you should look to your square/X receiver because when this receiver breaks to the sideline, he will be covered.

You can see that the square/X receiver on the slant towards the sideline is wide open. The receiver running the drag route takes the defenders in shallow zones, while your L1/LB receiver on the streak route takes the deep zones downfield.

Now let’s run this play another time. Now the defense is in a different coverage. In this play, you can see that the defender covering our circle/B receiver is on the left side of him. This should instantly signal to you that once your wide receiver makes his break to the sideline, you should throw it to him with precision pass to the right.

If anything is unclear drop a note in the comments section, and I will get back to you.

NHL 12 Passing Tips

Hockey is a team sport and like most team sports, passing is the key to success. For those of you who are new to the franchise you can check out the video in this post produced by the guys at EA Sports. They go over the short/slow pass, the long/hard pass, and the popular drop pass. If you are still struggling in NHL 12, some of these passing tips will help you become a better player.

5 Best Secondaries in Madden 12

The most important positions for a dominant madden defense have always been cornerbacks and safeties. Today we are going to take a look at the 5 best secondaries in Madden 12 and the reasons why they are so effective.

Madden 12 best secondaries The most important positions for a dominant madden defense have always been cornerbacks and safeties. Today we are going to take a look at the 5 best secondaries in Madden 12 and the reasons why they are so effective.

5. Jets – Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis are an incredibly dangerous cornerback tandem. Cromartie has the height/speed/catch combination that makes him play much higher than his 86 overall rating. Darrelle Revis is the prototypical shutdown corner and plays that way in Madden 12. When you pair them with Kyle Wilson, a serviceable nickel corner, you have a great group of corners. The weakness in the Jets secondary is their poor safeties. Jim Leonhard is a good strong safety but his 84 speed rating really hurts him. The free safeties, Brodney Pool and Eric Smith, are very weak but that shouldn’t matter much when you factor in the other members of the secondary.

4. Eagles – If we had released this list when the NFL season started, the Eagles would be #1. Unfortunately for their fans they have since seen some ratings drops. Nonetheless, Nnamdi Asomucha, Asante Samuel, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie form the best Madden cornerback group over the last 10 years. 3 of the top 10 corners in Madden 12 are on the same team which makes the Eagles scary. DRC is only an 82 overall but his 98 speed and 6’2″ frame make him a top 5 cornerback. Again the big weakness comes from their safeties. If you have good user skills, you can sub in Tom Nelson with 92 speed into one of the safety spots or you can move one of your cornerbacks to safety, but you are still left with 1 weak position.

3. Raiders- When you have 7 members of a secondary with 93 speed or more you can put the fear of God into your opponent. Stanford Routt is the leader of the secondary because of his 90 overall rating and 95 speed attribute. When you factor in Chris Johnson, Demarcus Van Dyke, Chidi Chekwa, and Bryan McCann you can come out in quarters or a 46 speed package and turn the Raiders defense into the fastest defense in Madden 12. Michael Huff and Tyvon Branch have the speed to cover wide receivers, tight ends and running backs which allows you to cook up heavy blitzes any time you want.

2. Packers – The Packers secondary is just plain scary. Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams are both 90+ overall with big play ability. Morgan Burnett is a rising star that can help in run support and coverage. Nick Collins is an elite free safety that covers the entire field in large part because of his 92 speed. We haven’t even mentioned Sam Shields yet who could be the best player in that group. By putting Sam Shields on the field, you don’t have to worry about getting beat deep by the likes of Devin Hester and other speedsters at wide receiver.

1. Redskins – If the Redskins had any sort of offense, you would see much more of them online. The Redskins top 3 cornerbacks have 95 speed or more and they are all young and can cover receiver you throw at them. The real strength of that secondary comes from their 2 safeties O.J. Atogwe and Laron Landry at 91 and 90 overall respectively. Laron Landry is the perfect Madden safety with 92 speed and 80 strength. You can play him in run defense, drop him back in a zone, man him up against any receiver on the field, and you can even bring him on a blitz. O.J. Atogwe is an ideal ballhawk with his 78 catch rating and 89 speed. Although the Redskins are rarely ever used, their secondary is the best in Madden 12.

Did we leave out a team you think deserves to be on this list? Do you think the order is wrong? Let us know what you think in the comments secton below.

UFC Undisputed 3 Audio Improvements Detailed

Since the UFC Undisputed 3 Demo was announced yesterday, we have received even more news from THQ on the audio improvements in their latest edition of the game. You can watch the full video or read the summary

THE MOST AUTHENTIC UFC PLAY-BY-PLAY EXPERIENCE YET
Hundreds of hours of actual live broadcast commentary and studio recordings by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg are combined to create the most authentic, educating and entertaining play-by-play experience in sports gaming.

IMMERSIVE CAGE-SIDE AUDIO ENVIRONMENT
With the new “Broadcast to Cageside” presentation, audio enters the Octagon and immerses the user with an all-new array of striking, grappling and foley sound effects, providing realistic, tangible feedback for each and every contact between fighters and their environment.

INTELLIGENT CORNER ADVICE
Thousands of lines of intelligent, contextual dialogue from real live UFC coaches emerge from the fighter’s corners cage-side, providing on-the-fly advice and encouragement both during fights and between rounds.

AUTHENTIC CROWD REPRESENTATION
Crowd audio is now meticulously tailored for every size of venue, from sparse training environments to Olympic-caliber arenas, and responds in authentic fashion to every momentum shift encountered inside the Octagon and Ring. Massive crowd chants now resonate for all your favorite UFC roster fighters, as well as your custom created fighters.

“WORLD FIGHTING” MUSICAL SCORE
Authentic, film-quality musical compositions contextually embellish the user’s choices and results throughout the various modes of the game, encapsulating the international flair that mixed martial arts has achieved. Furthermore, hundreds of music tracks from a myriad of various genres add to the pageantry of fighter entrances.

GAME IS WATCHING YOU 2.0
All-new, expanded “GIWY” commentary tracks your fighter’s progress for every mode in the game – Ultimate Fights, Career Mode, Tournament Mode, Title and Title Defense Mode.

PRIDE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ALL ITS GLORY
Every aspect of the Pride experience is faithfully recreated, from Lenne “The Screaming Lady” Hardt introducing fighters, to the referee’s instructions pumped through the PA, to the one-of-a-kind play-by-play commentary by the legendary broadcast duo of former UFC Heavyweight Champion “El Guapo” Bas Rutten and “The Fight Professor” Stephen Quadros.

NBA 2K12 Roster Update Arrives

nba 2k12 roster update The latest roster update for NBA 2K12 went live today on the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3. Thankfully, all of the rookies that should be in the game now are. To download the update just turn on the living rosters feature and the latest rosters will be installed on your system automatically. Big men like Kwame Brown and Al Horford have seen drops due to their injuries but Dwayne Wade, who has missed an extended period of time, has been left intact.

Nate Robinson joined the Golden State Warriors while Ricky Rubio saw a big increase to a 78 overall. There are still a few players that are missing from the game which hopefully gets addressed in the next NBA 2k12 roster update.

UFC Undisputed 3 Demo Release Date

UFC Undisputed 3 Demo Release

We can now say for certain that the UFC Undisputed 3 demo will be released on Tuesday, January 24th on both the XBOX 360 and the PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, we don;t have too many other details about what we can expect. We still don’t know what game modes and which fighters will be included in the demo. THQ noted that those details will become available when the demo comes out. What would you like to see in the UFC Undisputed 3 demo?