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Madden 25 Patch Improves Match Coverage Against Certain Bunch Looks, Plenty More Can Still Be Done
With the Madden 25 patch last week, the Saquon Barkley spin hurdle was the highlight, but match coverage was also listed in the patch notes among the gameplay fixes — specifically against certain bunch looks. You can read the full patch notes, but content creator ZAN put together a really good video on the match coverage update that deals with bunch looks while still mentioning where match coverage doesn’t fare as well.
Little Things That Can Drive You Mad in Sports Games
We have “the little things” threads on OS for various games, and in those threads members point out small things that are really cool in a specific game. They’re little things because you might overlook them or they’re very specific to one part of the game you might never see. We tend to avoid doing “crap on the game” threads because they can get out of hand, but a “pet peeve” is the negative version of a “little thing” to me.
College Football 25 Being Snubbed at Game Awards Is Bizarre
The 2024 Game Awards nominations came out today, and while I think another EA game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, will get most of the headlines when it comes to being snubbed, EA Sports College Football 25 being snubbed for Sports/Racing Game of the Year is just bizarre.
WNBA 2K25 Roster in NBA 2K25 From Hype, DC, and JP
The timing of the release of NBA 2K means the WNBA roster tends to be quickly outdated because of the looming playoffs and offseason. With NBA 2K25, the same timing issues remain but OSers Hyperballer, DC, and JP have created a WNBA Play Now roster that fits with the end of the 2024 season — with much more planned for the future.
The PS5 Pro Is Here, Should You Care as a Sports Gamer?
The PS5 Pro came out last week, and it costs $700. The original PS5 and Xbox Series X both cost $500 at launch and were the start of a “new” generation not just a continuation of a generation of consoles that are now in their 4th year — and likely have another 3-4 years left in their lifespans before we get to a next generation. So, why did I pay a premium when I already own a PS5? Well, because I had the budget to do so.
College Football 25 Balance and Realism XP Sliders From OSfan093
I always like seeing more people take a swing at XP sliders in College Football 25, and OSfan093 has created a set that you can scope out. It goes with some sliders that are a little more extreme for some positions, but since I don’t think there’s a “perfect” way to handle the XP/progression in this game, I’m always down to tinker with another set and see what things look like over a couple seasons since I don’t think you can really “ruin” a dynasty tinkering with these.
College Football 25 Updated Heisman Sliders From canes21
In what continues to be my most played sports game of the year, my favorite College Football 25 Heisman sliders did receive an update within the last week. OS user canes21 has posted an update to his EA Sports College Football 25 Heisman sliders. There was a CFB25 patch, and it did change things enough that some tweaking had to happen with these sliders. The big change was dropping speed threshold back to 50, and otherwise trying to balance out the passing attack of both teams.
NHL 25 Sliders From Voodoo_Magic
The new NHL 25 patch that adds the 32 real coaches to the game has lead to some extra eyes being on EA’s latest NHL entry. It’s also a year where it seems like more people are scoping out the series for the first time in a bit. One OSer who has put forth NHL 25 sliders is voodoo_magic. He’s gone a little more extreme with the aggression sliders being set to 0 as the big change I notice. The belief here is skaters play their positions more and don’t chase the puck as much.
NHL 25 Patch Adds All 32 Head Coaches
In one of the more surprising patches in years, the EA NHL team has added all 32 NHL head coaches to NHL 25 in today’s patch. Head coaches in the EA NHL series has been a long-standing request for years and years. Much like some other leagues, the coaching license is separate from the NHLPA license, so getting the players and teams is a separate ask from the coaches.
NBA 2K25 Jordan Era Rosters From MJWizards
With every new NBA 2K, we are gifted a new round of rosters from the OS great MJWizards. Year after year, he shows up to put out amazing rosters, and he’s off to another hot start by completing the Jordan Era rosters for NBA 2K25. He’s very nearly done with the 1992 Draft as well (hopefully by the end of this weekend), and he will be moving on to the Modern Era as the next project. Here’s all the info on what’s in the rosters and how to get them (and support MJ).
A New Patch Creates That Urge to Start Fresh
For anyone who missed it, a new patch hit College Football 25 last week. It fixed some annoying issues within dynasty mode like Power OL never getting Pass Block Finesse upgrades. In addition, you now have the ability to more easily cycle through guys on your recruiting board. But, to me, the big addition was the 700+ new players that were added and the various ratings adjustments implemented. If you’re someone who is very into jersey numbers, tons of those were corrected as well.
College Football 25 Patch Adds 700+ New Players, Fixes Many Jersey Numbers, and More
EA released a new College Football 25 patch this morning and then updated the rosters this afternoon. The patch includes 700+ new NIL players, a ton of jersey number corrections, and then some fixes were applied to various modes and gameplay. Starting with the roster update, on top of the 700+ new players and jersey number changes, team and player ratings were also updated. This also includes players getting new abilities or tweaked abilities.
NBA 2K25 MyNBA: How to Avoid Too Many Free Agents Staying Unsigned
Legacy issues and sports games go hand in hand, and with NBA 2K25 there are still some lingering problems that pop up in MyNBA/MyGM that have been there for years. One of those issues is that too many good free agents will stay unsigned in the offseason as you progress through the mode. This means players who shouldn’t be taking one-year deals or shouldn’t be hoping for minimum salary contracts end up going that route or just stay unsigned.
College Football 25 Guide: What Goes Into a 'Best Playbook' and How to Find Your Own
For anyone who may have read my all-in-one recruiting guide, I wanted to take a stab at doing something similar for playbooks/money plays in College Football 25. My goal, just like with recruiting, is not to give you every “cheese” play but rather give you some “best practices” as you seek out plays and sets that help inform the sort of offensive playbook you’re looking to build.
Madden 25 Franchise Mode XP Sliders From Funkycorm
The Madden 25 patch that dropped this week has me feeling confident enough to finally start a Madden 25 franchise mode save. The AI playcalling in franchise mode is improved enough that I’m looking at starting a franchise that I won’t immediately reset. This leads me to Funkycorm‘s Madden 25 XP sliders. Funky has done XP sliders for years now, and they’re consistently solid. They’re also unique because obviously they’re just worried about XP and not gameplay.
College Football 25 Heisman Sliders (Post-Patch) From canes21
College Football 25 remains the most popular game on OS right now, and it’s in part because we have a lot of community members keeping things fresh through things like sliders. OS user canes21 recently made some updates to his College Football 25 sliders after a long time of keeping them untouched, and so I wanted to point out the new set.
NHL 25 Sliders From PernellKarl076
With the NHL season now getting into its groove, I wanted to share one other NHL 25 slider set on our forums beyond AlTito’s. This set comes from PernellKarl076 and got an update in the last couple days. PK’s sliders can be used however you choose, but he does recommend position lock and a couple other things: 1) Take my slider set AS IS 2) Play POSITION LOCK. The best way to play the game IMO, you’ll have to make split second decisions and the game plays much better this way.
NBA 2K25 Version 2.0 Patch Notes Revealed Ahead of Season 2
Season 2 of NBA 2K25 will launch on October 18, and in anticipation of that we’ll be getting a new patch on current-gen consoles and PC. It’s unclear when the patch will drop, but it will release before Season 2 kicks off. There are changes coming to just about every part of the game, and the full patch notes have been released in a series of tweets (and on 2K’s Discord). We’ll post all the tweets below, but the gameplay changes will likely get the most eyes.
NBA 2K25 Sliders From Eccentric
When it comes to NBA 2K25 sliders, we’re still in the early days of things as 2K’s gameplay can change a lot in the opening month or two via patches. However, OS user EccentricMeat has a set that I currently use. Sliders always come down to personal preference, and 2K is one of those games that can feel wildly different depending on what type of player you are. But for me, Eccentric’s sliders are hitting the right notes for now.
Celebrate 20-Year Anniversary of ESPN NFL 2K5 by Updating Those Rosters One More Time
There are a couple really big anniversaries this year that deserve a deeper breakdown by me at some point, but for now it’s at least worth remembering this is the 20-year anniversary for NFL 2K5. The game continues to live on in various forms even if 2K itself continues to play games with the franchise and toy with our emotions. The Resurrected mod is one of the big ones, but beyond the mods, OS user packers always lets us know about the updated rosters that hit for each season.
Should You Play EA FC 25, NBA 2K25, or NHL 25? Let's Review Them With a Twist
If you’re reading this, it’s fair to say you’re into sports games — and likely regular sports. That said, you probably have your favorites in both realms, so you might not religiously follow a particular sport or video game year in and year out. With that in mind, I’ve been kicking around the idea of a “should you play X game this year?” article because three “major” sports game have released over the last month: NBA 2K25, NHL 25, and EA Sports FC 25.
NHL 25 Sliders From AlTito
AlTito is a trusted community member on OS who has been knocking out NHL sliders for years. He’s back once again working on a set of sliders for NHL 25. This year, I’m still fresh in my own playing of NHL 25, but I’m liking it more than in the past so far. The pace feels slowed down a bit, and the movement of players feels more decisive if that makes sense. The AI seems to have more of a plan, so every stride you take feels a little more impactful and important.
EA FC 25 Operation Sports Community Sliders (Version 1)
With another year of EA soccer, it means we have another year of community work from Matt10 and the OS community with their EA FC 25 sliders. It’s been 10 years or so of doing these slider projects, so it’s a well oiled machine at this point. Some of the legacy issues are still retained with EA FC 25 (lack of midfield play), and the problem with tactics being very rigid right now means it also runs into some issues that old-school PES used to run into.
The Pain and Misery of Simulated Stats
It’s fair to say many of us on Operation Sports are a little ill — a little degenerate if you will. We give our time and effort to sports games, and that’s usually on top of already obsessing about the real sports that fuel those video games. It can be a perpetually sickening cycle where there is dissatisfaction with our real teams and our fake franchises. And for some, there’s no place where that frustration can bubble up more than with simulated stats.
EA Sports College Football 25 Guides, Explainers, and Tutorials
Chase Becotte Chase has written at Operation Sports for over 10 years, and he's been playing sports games way longer than that. He loves just about any good sports game but gravitates to ones that coincide with the ongoing real seasons of the NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, and so on. As of now, he's gearing up for EA Sports College Football 25 and what should be a wild summer while still dabbling in the latest Top Spin and MLB The Show.
Why Do Camera Angles in EA Football Games Continue to Stink?
I think Madden 25, and to a lesser extent College Football 25, get shortchanged a little in the “beauty” category. I think both football games can look ultra-realistic and could claim to be the most “current-gen” of the current-gen sports titles out there from a graphics standpoint. However, both games do themselves no favors when it comes to camera angles. Both in terms of realism and functionality, both games fall short of most other sports games out there when it comes to gameplay cameras.
Madden 25 Patch Adds Custom Audibles, College Football 25 Gameplay Camera
Coming off the College Football 25 patchlast week, we now have a patch in Madden 25 where the big-ticket item is also the creation of custom audibles that are auto-saved for up to 32 playbooks. It’s an elegant system where you will go into the playcall screen and you can set your audibles for a formation right from there.
Madden 25 All-Madden Sliders From NightOwl
When it comes to Madden 25 franchise mode, some of us are still waiting for a patch that tweaks the pass-run ratios, but there’s still plenty of others digging into the game. OS user NightOwl has been working through a set of All-Madden sliders that are in a pretty good place now. The thing a lot of us are trying to balance is the ease of passing for both teams while trying to bump up the difficulty when it comes to stopping the run.
NBA 2K25 Defensive Settings Mostly Working Right Post-Patch
One of the complicating factors in a lot of 2K games is that while there are tons of gameplay and strategy settings, they don’t always work right. As of now, most of the defensive settings at our disposal do what they should in NBA 2K25. Alabamarob is one of the longtime members on OS, and he’s detailed what’s working perfectly and what works mostly right post-patch.
College Football 25: Adaptive AI Explained
One of the major “under the hood” features of College Football 25 is the adaptive AI, known as the Real Time Coaching (RTC) engine. It’s not that complicated, but it’s worth running through how it works. This is not “comeback code” built into the game, and it’s not coach-specific, it’s just a way for coaches/AI to adjust as games progress. It’s also overarching, so it encompasses things you maybe wouldn’t think of as relating to “adaptive AI” in the normal sense.
College Football 25 Old Man and Old Guy Varsity Sliders
It’s perfect that we have both “Old Man” and “Really Old Guy” Varsity sliders up now on the forums for College Football 25. These sliders come from two entirely different individuals, but I just think it’s great they were made within a week of each other. And it’s fair to say we usually showcase either Heisman or All-American sliders on the site.
How to Understand Player Progression in College Football 25
The “fog of war” is a concept lots of video games use. Sports games have used it for scouting/drafting for years, and 4X games like Civilization have used it as the basis for exploration. The “fog of war” is a big reason why I like the first 100 turns of Civilization the most, and it’s why I like College Football 25’s player progression system so much. But there’s a difference between “fog of war” and simply not telling people how systems work.
Madden 25 Draft Classes Not Working? Here's Why That May Be Happening
A recent patch to Madden 25 was supposed to clear up issues with the Download Center that was stopping folks from downloading and importing draft classes and other community creations. However, it did not fix everyone’s problems. It did fix some issues, and it’s now possible to do things like import draft classes from within franchise mode without causing major problems, but some people still can’t download things like draft classes.
College Football 25 Patch Allows You to Edit Player Numbers for Non-NIL Players
A small update for College Football 25 has added some more player editing to the game, but it comes with some exceptions for now. As of now, this update will allow you to edit the numbers of players, but it’s only available in offline dynasties (pre-existing or new), and it’s only for non-NIL players (meaning fake players/recruits).
Madden 25 Patch Fixes Aspects of Zone Coverage, Custom Stems Glitch
Some of the biggest issues with Madden 25 among the community include zone coverage issues and CPU playcalling. Portions of one of those issues have been patched in the latest Madden 25 update.
College Football 25: How to Edit Players and Ratings in Dynasty Mode
With the roster update and patch last week for CFB 25, we now have more freedom to edit certain elements of non-NIL players. Here’s what you need to know about how editing players and ratings works now in dynasty mode in College Football 25. Here is the note from the patch: Enabled the ability to edit ratings for non NIL players and recruits. You have to remember that the rules for the real players (the NIL players) means you can’t touch as much on them.
All Added and Removed Players in NBA 2K25
With NBA 2K25, the usual check-in with rosters has begun, and it’s always a little complicated to figure out who was added and removed because it’s not just about the base “modern” roster. We also have to take into account who exists in the Eras rosters. So, for example, someone like Kemba Walker is now unavailable in the “base” modern roster, but you can find him in the Steph Era roster and the all-time Hornets team.
College Football 25 Rosters: Who's Still Missing?
Last week when the College Football 25 patch was released, we also got multiple roster updates that added a lot of players to the game (a couple were seemingly removed for whatever reason as well). With the community’s help we’ve been able to start compiling a list of additions. However, I thought it might be helpful to just start aggregating a list of who’s still not in the game since it’s a shorter list.
College Football 25 All-In-One Recruiting Guide: Do This, Not That
With the first “true” week of the 2024 college football season in the books, I wanted to present my all-in-one recruiting guide for College Football 25. I’m going to put this guide together in the order you would see it play out in-game, so I’m going to start with the preseason and take you through the whole season, Transfer Portal, offseason, and get us right back to where we started.
Every Player Added in the College Football 25 Roster Update (Roughly 850 New Players)
While this won’t be the “official” list of every player added to every team because EA did not release that, folks on the forums have been tracking all the new players that were added in EA Sports College Football 25 roster update that was pushed alongside the latest patch at the end of August. We’re also tracking who are the remaining fake players and who’s still missing (this is more of a guesstimate).
Updated Road to the CFP Tier Rankings for College Football 25, Just Five Teams in Tier 1
In the patch notes today, EA noted that the Road to the CFP rankings were updated for that online mode in EA Sports College Football 25. After the tiers were changed from three to five, some of the teams were not really in the correct tier anymore. I would say teams like Tennessee and Penn State, for example, should not have been in Tier 3. The new rankings from this patch seem more in line with expectations. That said, I’ll let you all be the judge, so here are the new rankings.
College Football 25 Patch Adds Mass Subs, Roster Update Includes Tons of New Players
With the college football season now upon us, EA graced us with a new patch this morning and multiple roster updates that include many new players and number changes. The full patch notes will be included at the end of this article, but let’s dive in to some of the big changes. The biggest changes for dynasty mode fans are the addition of Mass Subs and additional player editing for non-NIL players — with some of the usual caveats still in place.
College Football 25 Toughest Places to Play Rankings Updated, LSU Tops List
With today’s patch, the Top 25 Toughest Places to Play rankings were also updated. Much like rosters, EA has said these will change throughout the year. Also just a reminder that these rankings will change in your dynasty mode as you progress through seasons. However, there is no easy way to check these rankings without going into games, so we’ve compiled the new Top 25 Toughest Places to Play list as of August 29.
How to Understand Gems in College Football 25
When it comes to recruiting and scouting, gems still seem to be confusing some folks, so this guide is for everyone who wonders about green gems, red gems, and then no gems that pop up during the scouting progress. In short, gems simply have to do with the development trait. There are four development traits in the game: Normal: These players are most common, and progress at a standard rate. Expect them to steadily grow over their career. Impact: The type of player that can really change a team.
College Football 25 Quickie Guide: How Instant Commits Work
Any curiosities about how instant commits work in College Football 25 should also include questions about scholarships and whether you should offer them right away or hold them until later. So let’s quickly answer both these questions in this short and tidy guide. First off, instant commits when you offer a scholarship are a major dice roll and very random. Any answers I give about how instant commits work come with that major caveat.
Ranking the Best Pipelines in College Football 25
Look, math is back, and you just need to accept that if you want to min/max recruiting in EA Sports College Football 25. There is plenty of fun to be had even if you don’t want to crunch the numbers, but some of the most incredible work being done on the “math” front comes from Reddit user al_ways-becrootin.
How Pipelines Impact Recruiting in College Football 25
Pipelines are one of the many mystery boxes in EA Sports College Football 25 and the recruiting part of dynasty mode. This guide is here to clear up some of that confusion and explain the power of pipelines for recruiting. There are 42 pipelines in the game, and they do vary in strength.
Madden 25 All-Pro Sliders From Armor & Sword
On top of featuring some All-Madden sliders from Matt10, we also have an All-Pro set from another sliders stalwart, Armor & Sword. These are All-Pro sliders for Madden 25. With Armor’s sliders, you know you’re getting a full breakdown as well since he uses these for franchise mode. I always direct folks to the thread to get the full breakdown from Armor because he has some house rules for franchise mode and a host of other helpful tips for those looking for a specific sort of experience.
Madden 25 Sliders From Matt10 (Version 1)
Matt10’s Madden 25 sliders are up and running, and this is the first week I feel comfortable starting to share some of the sliders from the community. In part, I say that because there are some ongoing issues with Madden that some of us are hoping get patched. Things like zone coverage are in a bit of a rough spot right now, and much like College Football 25 before it, the first major patch might clear up some of the biggest problems.
Good AI in Football Games Is Way Too Rare
I’ve continued to play a ton of College Football 25 and Madden 25 this past week, and it’s in part to make sure I don’t sound like a total fool before writing this article. Now, if you disagree with this forthcoming take then I’ll still sound like a bozo, but I at least feel like I’ve done the work to be a bozo with a take I can feel good about. (This story ran as part of our weekly newsletter, Not Just Another Roster Update, that is sent every Friday to our subscribers.
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