Saturday, September 4, 2004
Glitches make gaming less fun
News.com is reporting about a glitch in Madden NFL 2005 that is driving online gamers crazy. Apparently an unscrupulous player can switch their offensive formation multiple times before the snap thus exploiting the game's fatigue AI and making the defensive team practically fall over with exhaustion before the play even starts. Some users are demanding that EA recall the game. EA is encouraging people to turn off the fatigue feature (and they're calling that a "patch").
I've been experiencing a couple of similar glitches in the new ESPN NFL 2K5. One seems to exploit the goalie AI and another appears to exploit defensive zones.
In the goalie glitch, a user can take a slapshot from just across the blue line. The goalie doesn't react (even when there are no other players blocking the goalie's view of the shot) and the shot goes in about 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time, the shot hits the post. It appears that the goalie AI is set to respond only when a player with the puck gets within a certain range. The slapshot position, it seems, is just beyond that range.
In the defensive glitch, a user can skate deep into the opponent's zone and then swoop in behind the defensemen. This gives them an open shot right in front of the goal which they almost always make. As with the aforementioned goalie glitch, this one appears to exploit the defensemen's AI. It seems that if a player approaches the goal from outside of the defensemen's "zone," that they won't react. Either that or there is a "backdoor" in the zone that allows the user to skate in from behind. Whatever the cause, my defensemen stand there like a couple of mannequins and don't defend the goal.
These glitches resulted in 5 straight losses for me in online play. This, of course, seriously limits the "fun factor" of the online experience. Last night, I finally played someone who doesn't exploit the glitches and got my first victory. Hopefully, I will be able to find enough people who want to play without resorting to these cheats.
News.com is reporting about a glitch in Madden NFL 2005 that is driving online gamers crazy. Apparently an unscrupulous player can switch their offensive formation multiple times before the snap thus exploiting the game's fatigue AI and making the defensive team practically fall over with exhaustion before the play even starts. Some users are demanding that EA recall the game. EA is encouraging people to turn off the fatigue feature (and they're calling that a "patch").
I've been experiencing a couple of similar glitches in the new ESPN NFL 2K5. One seems to exploit the goalie AI and another appears to exploit defensive zones.
In the goalie glitch, a user can take a slapshot from just across the blue line. The goalie doesn't react (even when there are no other players blocking the goalie's view of the shot) and the shot goes in about 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time, the shot hits the post. It appears that the goalie AI is set to respond only when a player with the puck gets within a certain range. The slapshot position, it seems, is just beyond that range.
In the defensive glitch, a user can skate deep into the opponent's zone and then swoop in behind the defensemen. This gives them an open shot right in front of the goal which they almost always make. As with the aforementioned goalie glitch, this one appears to exploit the defensemen's AI. It seems that if a player approaches the goal from outside of the defensemen's "zone," that they won't react. Either that or there is a "backdoor" in the zone that allows the user to skate in from behind. Whatever the cause, my defensemen stand there like a couple of mannequins and don't defend the goal.
These glitches resulted in 5 straight losses for me in online play. This, of course, seriously limits the "fun factor" of the online experience. Last night, I finally played someone who doesn't exploit the glitches and got my first victory. Hopefully, I will be able to find enough people who want to play without resorting to these cheats.
¶ 7:24 AM 
About Shawn Morton
Married father of 4, social media strategist at Nationwide, consumer electronics enthusiast, hair metal aficionado.
View complete bio.
View complete bio.
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