作者彙整: Matthew Kato

EA Sports’ Madden franchise is known for its exclusive licenses covering the league, players, and coaches, giving the series an air of realism that many fans expect. But as the company has signed the licensing deals and the graphics and presentation aspects have gotten better, showing us the coaches roaming the sidelines between plays, one aspect has stuck out: Patriots coach Bill Belichick is not in the game.

EA Sports may have the license for the Coaches Association, but Belichick – one of football’s greatest strategic (and sartorial) coaches – is not in the Association and therefore not in the game. Instead, he’s replaced by glasses-wearing Griffin Murphy, an avatar that has become infamous in its own right. Murphy might not be real, but he is based on a real person – former EA Tiburon VP GM and series executive producer Roy Harvey, himself a Pats fan. We talked briefly with Harvey who told us how he became Belichick.

Why did they choose you in particular to be the Pats coach? When did it first happen?
Several years ago when we first started doing head scans the art team put out a call for those of us at Tiburon to come try out the tech for ourselves. They put our faces on sideline characters, referees and the like, which was pretty cool.

Then Jean Adams, our art director said, “Come down to my office, I want to show you something.” He had taken my scan and put it on the Patriots head coach, and took [then studio VP] Cam Weber’s scan and made him the coach of the New Orleans Saints. At first it was just a funny placeholder concept, but then it stuck and we made it into the game starting the following year.

When I first debuted in the game I was Chad Masters. I told Jean, “I can’t be named Chad Masters, it doesn’t work,” as he was the prior stand-in for Coach Belichick and different looking. So we landed on Griffin Murphy, which is an amalgamation of family names.

Did you do a mo-cap session with the skin-tight body suit and everything? Did they ask you to make any Belichick-esque motions or expressions?
Haha! No, I think that would have been a dealbreaker. We used the already-captured coach animations for my character so I didn’t get into the mo-cap suit. I will say that at the time the artists made me little portly, so I tagged that as a bug and had it fixed before the game shipped.

Do you get any bonus pay for your appearances in the game?
No, but it’s an honor to be digitally memorialized in one of the best game franchises in history. That’s payment enough for me.

Has anyone recognized you on the street from the game?
No one’s ever recognized me on the street, but I’ve asked people who play Madden if they ever play against the Pats. If they do then I’ll show them my in-game character, and a couple have asked for selfies.

What do you personally think of Deflategate and Spygate?
I don’t really have anything to say about that.

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MLB the Show 19’s Diamond Dynasty mode has been overhauled from previous years in an attempt to alleviate the grind, make more player cards accessible, and allow for gamers to notch progress by playing in other game modes. It’s a great breakthrough for Diamond Dynasty and the title as a whole.

With all that’s new in the mode, where do you start? This guide breaks it down for you to send you on your way towards building a solid squad without having to spend real money along the way.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The basics of Diamond Dynasty mode in MLB 19 are the same as before: You build a squad of players through playing the game, pack openings, and the Market. The differences this time, however, are significant. You earn rewards at a better rate, many of those rewards are choosable (letting you tailor the reward to your needs), and there are more places to earn XP to fuel your progress.

Featured Programs are the cornerstone of Diamond Dynasty. These are comprised of challenges like Daily missions, Collections, and Moments that grant players Program Stars upon completion. Program Stars are automatically redeemed for prizes, with the game’s initial 1st Inning Program dispensing rewards at intervals over a span of 600 total Program Stars. Notable prizes along the way include Gold player choice packs (choose from one of five players) at 100 and 200 Stars, and a Diamond choice pack (one of three players) at 300 Stars.

Earning Program Stars is also fueled by getting XP for not only completing challenges throughout the game, but for in-game accomplishments from home runs to routine feats like striking out a batter. Thus, by earning XP anywhere in the game you earn Program Stars. XP also fuels a separate XP Reward Path containing its own choice packs, Stubs, equipment, and more.

Speaking of the XP Reward Path, be sure to look at what rewards you have coming down the road such as the choice packs. You can see their contents before you get them, which helps you plan exactly how you’re going to strengthen your squad.

WHAT ARE SOME EASY WAYS TO EARN XP?

• Turn on the game. You’ll get a card and a pennant each day. The card won’t be really worth anything, but it could be used towards Collections and Exchanges (more on these later). Collect nine pennants and you’ll get a Standard Pack.
   
• Play other modes. Road to the Show, March to October, Franchise, and even Play Now give you XP for whatever you do on the field, even if it’s not pretty. This XP not only goes to the XP Reward Path, but towards Program Stars for the current Featured Program.
   
• Do the current Program’s Daily Missions. These can be as easy as racking up a certain number of innings with the listed team’s players – accomplished faster the more players from that team you put into your starting lineup – or getting X number of runs in a multiplayer game. The team-based mission can be reloaded once if you don’t own any players from the listed team. As you accumulate more and more junk cards (remember those free cards you get every day just for logging on?), these can be used as easy fuel to easily complete the 2,000-point Exchange daily mission for five Program Stars.
   
• Pick off any quick and easy Moments. Moments are listed in the Featured Program’s to-do list as well as under their own menu in Diamond Dynasty, and some can be easily completed and/or are short (i.e. starting off already in the 8th inning). These can be knocked off for some Stubs, XP, and Program Stars. Don’t forget to do the Moments not tied to the Featured Program as well (i.e. Welcome to Moments and Storylines), which also give out rewards.

• Collections. It won’t take you long to get enough cards to fill out the positional Starter Collections for Standard Packs, and it doesn’t matter which ones from your inventory you use. The first tier of some Live Series team collections (requiring 10 players) can also be filled out for the relatively low amount of stubs it may take to acquire the specific players via the Community Market.
   
• Team Affinity. This year’s Diamond Dynasty encourages you to play in other modes, and Team Affinity ties the fantasy mode with the new March to October mode. Win the World Series in March to October and you’ll be earning Team Affinity rewards in no time. The first major milestone on the mode’s reward path – a gold player card – can be earned by beating March to October on Veteran difficulty, and you can repeat this March to October loop for all the teams and their rewards. Furthermore, Team Affinity is furthered by putting players from whatever team you choose in your Diamond Dynasty lineup. The repeatable 250 Innings challenge sounds like a lot, but shouldn’t take long with multiple players from the same team in your lineup.
   
• Create a Player. Create a player is a little different this year, giving gamers Moments to play with existing players, but still letting you craft your own player. You can play all the Moments through the different positions, so don’t miss the chance to knock down those quick and easy rookie Moments for Stubs and XP. Furthermore, you can unlock diamond versions of your created player later on.

HOW DO YOU MAKE STUBS IN THE COMMUNITY MARKET?

MLB the Show’s Market for player cards, equipment, Stadiums, etc. is a great place to make easy coins – and you don’t even have to be a total market mastermind.

• Head over to the Market and look for the players, equipment, sponsorships, etc. that have a relatively large discrepancy between the Buy Now amount (which will be higher) and Sell Now amount. In the case of players, I like to first filter by team just to narrow down the number of cards present.
   
• Click on the card and go to “Buy/Sell Options.” Then look at the Stub amounts in the “Sell” column on the right side. These are descending Stub amounts players who have the card are selling their cards for. The number at the top of the Sell column (let’s say 1,000 Stubs) represents the highest current bid for the card. So you want to “Create a Buy Order” that is higher (ex. 1,005 Stubs) by clicking on the “Buy” column on the left.

• If the seller accepts your Buy Order then the card is yours. Now you’re going to flip the card by doing the reverse process. Look at the “Buy” column of ascending Stub amounts. These represent the going rate for the card. Let’s say the top number in the Buy column is 1,500. You want to price your card just under this, but not too low otherwise you could undercut your own potential profit and/or even start a freefall in the card’s price. So, click on the Sell column and create a “Sell Order” for 1,495. If someone buys the card from you, in this instance, you’ve just made 495 Stubs (BEFORE the 10 percent sell tax).
   
• When you create a Sell Order keep tabs on it, because other people are going to be undercutting your price so you may have to cancel your Sell Order and post a new one. Worse case scenario is the card goes into freefall and you get less profit from its sale than you originally plan. I’ve seen prices fall, but I can’t remember straight out losing Stubs on a card.
   
• Of course, these are just the basics of card flipping, and there are more strategies to maximizing profit in the market due to what cards are new, the Featured Program, and what cards may be en vogue for the Daily Missions, and much more.
   
• One really handy aspect of the Market is the official browser, which lets you buy/sell to your heart’s content at your computer after signing in with your PSN account.
   
• BTW, although MLB 19 offers immediate Quick Sell and Sell Now options, don’t use them. Quick Sell gives you a paltry amount of Stubs, and even the Sell Now price is often lower that what that card may fetch on the Market.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect when Skater XL hit Steam Early Access on PC late last year, but I was impressed with the small gameplay slice I played at the time. Fast forward three months later and the game is in the same place it was back then. Well, it is and it isn’t.

While the title hasn’t received a significant update yet, it has blossomed nevertheless thanks to the dedication of modders who’ve added transition ramps, new levels, and more (check out the game’s sub-reddit). This has put Skater XL in an uneasy position: Expectations are high because fans see the potential, but their craving for more content is making them restless.

Skater XL isn’t exactly the same as it was when I last played it last year (below is the New Gameplay Today episode we recorded at the time). Small updates have produced notable improvements in areas such as fixing some janky animations, making the board’s wheels move, smoothing transition landings, adding graphical touches, and more.

Click here to watch embedded media

However, the lack of a new level or a content roadmap has worried some fans that they won’t get enough for their Early Access money or that the final release of the game won’t be sufficient when it comes out some time this year.

I don’t have any special info from developer Easy Day Studios, but I’m optimistic about the game’s future through Early Access and onto launch. While some fans may be mad the modding community has added more to the game so far than the developers themselves during Early Access, the fact that the gameplay supported the addition of transition ramps by modders (which the developers tweaked gameplay around) if anything shows the hardiness of the foundational gameplay. I’m confident this foundation will take the game very far. When I talked to studio co-founder Dain Hedgpeth last year, transition skating was something he said the team was being very careful with, and by all accounts the game is on the way to passing this particular test.

Of course, the development road to final release is difficult and unpredictable, but perhaps there are already lessons here for everyone. Devs need to put forth a solid product that delivers features promised to the fanbase. Similarly, I’d say fans deserve more than a half-baked title at launch – and post-release updates shouldn’t be about fixing problems that should have been cleared up before release. 

For their part, fans need to have pre-release patience – including for potential delays. By all means let’s get excited for and discuss the game, but we also need to be careful with our pitchforks.

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Fantasy collection modes practically have to implement some kind of grind in order to balance the mode for players who don’t want to spend real money, giving them a chance to earn the best players. MLB the Show 18 provided multiple paths for players to get the players they coveted in its Diamond Dynasty mode, but for players such as Immortals or the Team Epics Programs, the grind was particularly crushing (which we covered in our MLB the Show 19 Wishlist). This, as well as the presence of souvenirs – which were like a dreaded third currency – hampered the mode last year.

Now developer San Diego Studio is making moves for Diamond Dynasty in MLB the Show 19 to not only reduce the overall grind, but also give users more choice in how they meet their goals. Souvenirs and Immortals are no longer in the mode, and the grind is further broken up with a new XP system that doles out tiered rewards no matter which mode you play in.

Furthermore, choice packs differentiate users’ lineups and make all programs more attractive, and quality of life-related additions like multiple lineups help make the mode more appealing this time around.

We recently sat down with game designer Nick Livingston, who talked all about Diamond Dynasty. “When you pick up the controller,” he said, “we want you to play where you are going to have the most fun. We don’t want you to be playing somewhere you wouldn’t want to play just because the rewards are more efficiently unlocked that way.”

Featured Programs are the main focus of Diamond Dynasty, which also contains the usual Ranked Season, Battle Royale, Conquest, Events, etc. options from previous years. Featured Programs will be rotated every three to four weeks, with old ones archived but still playable (more on that later).

Livingston says that the team is going to be very flexible in its approach to Featured Programs, whether that’s their duration, number, or overall difficulty in terms of how the required Program Stars to unlock its reward tiers. “We’re going to adapt on that. These featured programs are built to be the fastest way to redeem. We want everybody to have a chance at redeeming a lot of rewards every time these things are featured.”

The First Innings Program’s top reward after earning 300 stars is a choice pack letting you pick one of three players rated over 90 (you can see the contents of a choice pack before you open it): Cy Young, Andruw Jones, and Goose Gossage. Along the way you’ll also unlock plenty of other rewards, and there are also multiple ways to earn those 300 stars. Daily Missions, Moments (where you play as and against the Program’s trio of legends), Conquest, and Collection Challenges make up a typical Program, with players having the flexibility to opt to re-roll for new Daily Missions. These contain mixes of multiplayer, exchange, and “put X player in your lineup” challenges.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Livingston estimates a Featured Program takes about 25 hours of gameplay, with XP earned throughout the game (whether that’s Road to the Show or March to October, for example) turning into stars for that Featured Program – a strong addition to make Diamond Dynasty less linear.

However, this benefit goes away once the Featured Program is archived and a new one takes its place. At this time it can still be played and the rewards earned, but getting to choose one of those sweet Diamond players becomes harder in a sense because with the XP and Daily Missions going toward only the current Featured Program and not the archived one, there are fewer roads toward completing it.

Speaking of those Diamond bosses, Livingston says they can be bought/sold on the Marketplace, but there are no plans to make them available via other Programs.

Whether you want to take on the Featured Program or not, you can also earn rewards through the new Team Affinity and XP Reward features. Team Affinity gives you rewards for playing with players of the team you select (March to October is an easy way to rack up those innings), and XP Rewards is simply that: a tiered reward system based on the XP you’ve earned. In some ways it’s a replacement for the Ticket Counter, only more passive. Livingston says every five levels in XP Rewards bestows you even better rewards, and overall the feature bestows 15 Special Edition packs (that lets you pick from a selection of 30 players), 5,000 stubs, gold gear, exclusive gold players, gold live series players, and more.

A few other assorted Diamond Dynasty tidbits:

• The Created Player Program is coming back. You’ll progress by both playing as your created player and through Moments featuring live series players at that position. There might also be a Collection for that position in the Program.
• MLB 19 adds rewards beyond Ranked Season’s World Series tier like new rings you can earn every season.
• Battle Royale is getting exclusive new pool players and the Flawless reward is a Choice Pack. Choice packs are littered throughout the mode.
• Signature Series autograph cards are being added for the best versions of those players, most rated 99. “There will be a lot of them.” Thankfully, San Diego Studio says getting these Signatures won’t require insane grinds, Moments difficulty spikes, or costly exchanges.

Finally, for more from Livingston and fellow game designer Ramone Russell on other areas of the game, including new modes Moments and March to October, check out the special edition of New Gameplay Today below. You can also check out some of my thoughts on Road to the Show in this previous installment of The Sports Desk.

Click here to watch embedded media

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