Operation Sports
Sports Gaming News Weekly Wrap-Up - EA Sports FC, F1 22 Hands-On, Madden 22 Post-Draft Rosters & More
Every Sunday, we will get you caught up on the sports gaming news you might have missed, during the busy week. This includes featured articles from the staff and new trailers. This week it’s all about EA Sports FC, F1 22, Madden 22 post-draft rosters and more.
Sports Gaming News
- F1 22 Gameplay Videos – Gameplay, New Features, Track Changes, VR & More
- EA Officially Changing Name of FIFA Series to EA Sports FC in 2023
- MLB The Show 22 Summer Circuit Sign-Ups Open Now – $25,000 Prize Pool
- FIFA Engaging Leading Game Publishers For New FIFA Simulation Title in 2024
- Tennis Manager 2022 Releases on May 17 – Features, Screenshots & Trailer
- NHL 22 Available Today For Xbox Game Pass and EA Play Subscribers
- Moonshot Weekend 2 Event – 2nd Half Heroes Nelson Cruz and Eugenio Suarez
- NHL 22 Roster Update For IIHF World Championship Available
- Diamond Dynasty – May Topps Now Adds Jim Rice to MLB The Show
Operation Sports Featured Articles
With the 2022 NFL Draft now in the books, Madden 22 officially gets into the “dead zone” of sorts where we begin to wait and wonder about what comes next for Madden 23. While we won’t be getting much Madden news until the summer, community folks are hard at work trying to keep the game updated until then. If you have Game Pass, you can download Madden 22 for free as of now, and the best way to get the most out of it is with xApathyx13’s community rosters. We have featured Apathy’s work before, but he did take a year off before returning for ’22. It’s great to have him back and so let’s showcase what he has for Xbox Series X/S users (PS5 users will have a little note at the end).
As with any racing game, it all begins with how the race car performs on the track. The driving model utilized within the F1 franchise has always been exceptionally well done, but that doesn’t stop the developers from trying to refine it and bring it closer to the edge of reality. This was something the developers talked about during the presentation, and in my experience with the preview version of the game, you could feel the difference between the new release and F1 2021.
Those differences were felt primarily through the turns, where now if you find yourself out of the racing groove while cornering, you can feel the car pushing a greater degree than it ever has in the series. Add in the fact that it’s harder to get back into the groove in F1 22, and you have created a scenario in which it’s easy for the AI opponents to take over position maneuvering underneath you.
Today is a rather unique day for Diamond Dynasty because we get the introduction of Carlos Delgado in MLB The Show 22, but it comes within a Chase Set 2 pack, which some will be a little chapped about due to the “implications” of it for the mode as a whole. One of the calling cards of The Show has been that essentially all the “best” cards feel attainable either via grinding or not too crazy of a price. How true that really has ever been is up for debate because certain Live Series cards etc. have always been expensive and hard to snag for “no money spent” players, but collections felt like a different animal than individual cards for the community as a whole. That said, unless you work the market for stubs or get extremely lucky, this Carlos Delgado feels tricky to get at this moment and time, so let’s talk about the card and whether it’s worth all the consternation.
We’ve covered who needs who more here, but it’s worth repeating that due to the popularity of its soccer game, most fans under the age of 40 probably associate “FIFA” with the video game and not the federation that puts together the World Cup and Club World Cup. While neither EA nor FIFA have the most glowing reputations, EA has never been accused of some of the most serious accusationsthat have been levied against FIFA through the years (of which there are many). Seen largely as a corrupt body only interested in deepening their pockets and influence, FIFA can only been seen as the loser in this battle as sales of EA’s next title likely won’t drop due to losing the FIFA brand. The optimists might even say that EA gains more because the money it is pocketing by not re-upping the license could be put back into the game for the betterment of fans. While it’s highlyunlikely that EA will dump the full amount ($250 million) into the next title, there is a possibility that extra funds could lead to such innovations as full cross-play and perhaps even an online career mode, something that neither Konami nor EA has been able to pull off as of yet.
The Big Dog Program will get you one pack from each set of Big Dog packs, and then it caps off with All-Star Tony Perez. You will reach the end of the program through moments, a Showdown, and PxP missions. There is not really getting around doing specific parts of the program, you’re essentially going to need to do everything from all three categories to reach the end of the program.
As for the card itself, I’ve never been a huge fan of Tony Perez cards. I do not like his swing, and he’s really more of an all-bat option, so it’s sort of hard to trust him at 3B, and you don’t really want to play him at 1B. This is one of those programs where I will probably end up finishing it over the long haul, but I don’t think I’m going to rush to finish it to snag the extra XP that you can put towards the Spring Cleanup Program.