KevinHarley is one of the most active members of the EA SPORTS Community. Kevin runs The Sports Game Guy with Damon Peterson. Kevin also serves as a Moderator on the EA SPORTS forums and can be found under his forum name Kev5890. For those of you on Twitter, you can follow and interact with Kevin under his Twitter name: @Kev5890

The idea behind this blog is to give you guys the look at "dorm room gaming", which is very different from many other types of gaming. Some people play video games by themselves or hop online to game. One of my favorite times to game is with a bunch of friends in a dorm room.

Dorm room gaming creates a certain atmosphere that you simply can't achieve from playing by yourself or going online. I have been playing the majority of my video games in a dorm room for the past two years, and I definitely prefer it over playing online or by myself.

The best part of dorm room gaming is the audience that watches the game. I think we have had up to 8 people in a dorm watching two people go at it in a sports video game. That's when it gets interesting, the smack talk begins and people take sides on who they want to cheer for.

I am now going to give you guys a brief bio of myself and my friends. Just a quick introduction so you can understand their gaming background and what you can expect from them in the upcoming weeks.

Kevin (Myself)- I have been playing sports video games since I was 10. I would say that I am decent in the whole EA lineup of sports games. But my favorite games to play would be Madden 10, NBA Live 10, NCAA Basketball 10, and NHL 10.

Matt- Matt is more of a gamer than a sports gamer. He does have the ability to quickly learn how to play a sports game because of his gaming skills. I would say Matt is best at FIFA and NHL, while basketball is definitely his weakness.

Jake- Jake is someone who I usually have a great battle with in any game. He is the best at Tiger Woods 10, as he plays golf himself. We also have some great match ups in both of the basketball titles.

Nick- Nick is a wild card, as he doesn't take gaming really serious. He is the "smack" talker of the group and can get pretty crazy. Nick doesn't play much, but when he does he is a force in Madden and NHL.

Chris- Chris is also decent in every sports title, but he doesn't play very much anymore. But look for him to be very competitive when he decides to game.

Jeremy- Jeremy is my roommate and he enjoys playing sports games, but all of us joke that EA hates him. He simply has the worst luck ever in sports video games. Look for Jeremy to lose a lot of close games.

Shayne- I just met Shane this year and he really only plays Madden. He is good at the game, so you can look for good match ups between him and I in Madden.

Mark- I just met Mark this year as well and like Shayne he mostly plays Madden, but he also plays FIFA.

Another thing we enjoy doing is 2 on 2 matches. Many FIFA 10 and NHL 10 games will be played with 2 people on each team. You can also expect some pictures and videos from great games every week, as well as an updated chart with everyone's record in each game.

Next week the first blog with the sports games will be posted. I do want to warn you that some weeks will be busier than others, but games will definitely be played every week! The first update on all of our games will be up Tuesday.

Chris Jacobs is an active participant in the gaming community. An admin at ncaaStrategies.com, he is also a member of numerous gaming websites under his screen name 'cdj.' A huge college sports fan, he spends a lot of time playing NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball, but also enjoys all types of video games. To keep up with cdj, follow him at www.twitter.com/ncaaStrategies

Thanks for checking out the first edition of the 'From the Corner' blog. Each week, I hope to bring a fresh take on the game to help new players to the game become better players and to help experienced players establish better fundamentals. Make sure to leave feedback on this blog and ideas for future blogs in the comments below.

One of the most prevalent questions on forums across the web in regards to NCAA Basketball 10 is "How do I play better defense?" Here are some quick tips which should offer some immediate improvement to your defense. (With NBA Live 10 and NCAA Basketball 10 being similar in gameplay, these tips will help on each title.)

Know Your Role - or use Defensive Assist

Whether you are in man-to-man or zone, always know (or have a very good idea) of where you should be at on the court with the goal being to stay between the ballhandler and the basket. If you lose your man defensively, the computer and human foes are excellent at finding the open man and getting them either an easy or wide-open shot.

In NBA LIVE 10, the user controlled defensive player will have a small arrow under them pointing towards where they should be on the court - towards their defensive assignment or area for zone defense. In NCAA Basketball 10, you don't have that safety net which helps replicate how essential it is for college players to know the Xs & Os if they wish to get on the court and be successful.

However, each game offers help if you keep getting out of position - the Defensive Assist feature. When on defense, hold down R1/RB and your man will go to the proper spot on the court (when in zone) or stay in front of their man (in man-to-man defense). To see the Defensive Assist feature in action, check out this NBA LIVE 10 video from EA SPORTS Live team member Eric Gray.

Defensive Assist will get you in position, but it's still up to you to make the big play as it will not make your player attempt to steal the ball, rebound, or block shots.

Close-Out Animation vs. Shot Block

In many basketball games, human controlled defenders have often gotten out of position when attempting to block a shot, allowing their foe to drive to the hoop or shoot an open jumper. In NCAA Basketball 10, the 'Block' button (TRI/Y) has two uses. Tapping it or briefly hitting it gives the user a 'close-out' animation, where the defender steps into the face of the shooter. This helps improve defensive pressure and does not let the offensive player take an open shot or drive to the hoop. If you hold down the TRI/Y button, the defender will jump to block the shot.

When deciding which to use, here's my rule of thumb: If you are guarding a player on the perimeter, just tap the TRI/Y button to stay on your man. Under the hoop, be more liberal in hitting the TRI/Y button to try and block the shot.

Call for Help/Double Team

Should you get out of position or allow the offensive player to get past you and find him driving towards the hoop, all is not lost. Quickly hold down Circle/B and that calls for a double team on the ballhandler. With the offensive player driving to the basket, you won't have much time to stop him but this will usually get a defender in his way to slow him down and maybe force a bad shot. Keep in mind that should you get two defenders converging on the ballhandler, another offensive player may end up open. However, that may lead to a bad pass or a long range shot - both of which are better than an uncontested layup.

Finally, here is a brief video breaking down all of these basic tips and how they can help your game. As you know, basketball is often a game where just a few plays here and there can decide the outcome. If you make your foe attempt even a handful of more difficult shots each game, you will be markedly more competitive.

In future blogs, we'll expand upon these building blocks. In the meantime, please leave any and all feedback in the comments below.

To wrap up this blog, I have a homework assignment for all of you. I'd like to know what plays or style(s) of play give you fits. It can be in online play, against a roommate, or something the computer runs against you. Down the line, we'll have a blog (or several) breaking down what can be done to be successful against that play or scheme.

All Star Weekend is just a few days away and for this week's edition of the Dynamic DNA Updates we will be looking at the biggest stars of the NBA who will be taking part in the festivities for the game this weekend.

For more on this entry, head over to the In the Paint blog: Dynamic DNA Updates Week 9

Damon Peterson is a veteran of the sports gaming community. He loves any sport in the virtual world and also the real thing. He has been active in the online community for many years and currently works on TheSportsGameGuy bringing up to date sports gaming news and thoughts to the community. Along with being involved with the active EA community Damon has also been awarded an Xbox MVP award the last three years and you can find him with the Gamertag MPDamon. Follow Damon on Twitter MPDamon

Kevin Harley is one of the most active members of the EA SPORTS Community. Kevin runs The Sports Game Guy with Damon Peterson. Kevin also serves as a Moderator on the EA SPORTS forums and can be found under his forum name Kev5890. For those of you on Twitter, you can follow and interact with Kevin under his Twitter name: @Kev5890

The Battle of the Sports Game Guy is a weekly matchup between The Sports Game Guy site admins Damon Peterson and Kevin Harley.  Each week an EA Sports game will be played between the two eventually crowning a champ of the best overall Sports Gamer.  After the match up a full game HD video plus their thoughts will be posted. The games played can be strongly influenced by feedback from the community.

Damon's Take:
Going into this match up even though our games have been close in NHL 10 I thought I had the upper hand.  We have had quite a few nights of NHL gaming playing a best of three or five game series.  While I definitely dropped games in those series' I thought most of the time I won the series.

Knowing Kevin likes to check a lot and does it well I wanted to take advantage of missed checks to get some open runs to the net.  After watching the replay of the game I didn't succeed in doing this.  I failed at making him miss and also controlling the puck in the offensive zone.  During the game I really felt my vision and creativeness was lacking and really limiting my scoring chances.  Sometimes the flow just doesn't feel as good as others and this was one of those nights. 

I ended up with a 2-1 win scoring two goals pretty much back to back in the second period with the speedy Andy McDonald.  Even though the result was a victory I felt like Kevin had more opportunities that could have easily given him a few more goals.  Chris Mason really saved the day with some desperation saves in the second and third periods.  I'll call this one more lucky than good but I'll take the win. The Sports Game Guy challenge 1-0 Damon!

Kevin's Take:
Damon and I have played a lot of NHL games, and he usually has the upper hand. While I feel that I can win against him every time, he usually takes a three game series 2-1 when we play.

The nice thing about playing Damon is we always know what the match up is going to be. He will be the Blues and I will be the Blackhawks.

The game we recorded was definitely an interesting one. My first goal was really lucky, but I'm not complaining. I was passing it across the goalie and Damon poke checked the puck in for me. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. I felt like I had a lot of opportunities to score at the net, but I didn't come through. Either because of a great save or my stick skills weren't up to par. He ended up scoring twice in the second period, and I just couldn't rebound from those goals.

Although I felt that I had a lot of missed opportunities, Damon did as well after watching the videos. There was a couple of one timers he missed and I he hit the iron once.

At the end of the night I am 0-1 in the Sports Game Guy Challenge, but I am ready to get back to .500 in whatever game Damon and I decide to play next week. If you guys want to suggest a game we play please post a comment!

Eric Lamontagne is in the top 5 for most active Members of the EA Community. He is a moderator for the NHL Series, Grand Slam Tennis, and EA's Newest title EA SPORTS MMA. You can find him on the forums under the name oilersguru, or on XBOX live under the gamertag IIx GURU xII.  Eric can be found playing all and any Sports and Racing titles, and is always up for a challenge.  He has also been known for writing game of the week blogs for EA, CBC, and The Score.

Welcome to the first of many NHL 10 Game Changers Season Blogs!

Each and every week I will write and update you guys on what's happening in the Game Changers season, from goals to highlights, tips and tricks, and game breaking moments.

To first get you guys up to speed this season is being played on hardcore superstar with custom sliders and auto passing. I decided to go with the auto passing as I found the manual passing to off for my liking. I came up with this idea, as each and every year I run a similar season with my friends and members from the community, which has been very successful.

Each week I will play three games and update each month with full stats and standings so everyone can keep up to date with what is going on during the season.

As we embark on a new season, much has changed in the NHL.

The Atlanta Thrashers have folded, and Winnipeg has been awarded a new franchise. Owned by EA SPORTS, Winnipeg was told to be a game changing team. Made up of mostly free agents, and what EA SPORTS is calling Game Changers.

Most of the big names from Atlanta have been signed by team spanning the entire NHL, aside from a few. Big names like Ilya Kovalchuk, and Johan Hedberg.

As we get closer to the first week of the NHL Let's get a closer look at Winnipeg's new team

WINNIPEG MONSTERS

Captain- Justin Dewiel
Alternate's- Oilersguru, Joborule

First line
(LW) Joborule (83), (C) Oilersguru (85), (RW) Kev (84)-

2ND line
(LW) JB Huskers (81), (C) Oblong (79), (RW) MPDamon (80)

Line 3

(LW)Shanahan, (C) Hudler, (RW) Brendal

Line 4

(LW) Lindstrom, (C)Vasicek, (RW) Dimitrkos

Defense
(LD) CDJ (83) (RD) Justin Dewiel (82)
(LD) Matvichuck, (RD) Anton B (83)
(LD) Tarnstrom, (RD) Semenov

(G) Raczilla (83)
(G) Thibault

Now that the season is under way, Let's see how well these young and veteran players can compete in the new NHL.

Winnipeg's first game is against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As the puck drops here in Winnipeg for the first time, the fans all dressed in elite made famous back when the Winnipeg Jets were the team.

The Monsters played a very aggressive style hitting anything that moves. The way the Monsters played tonight will send shock waves throughout the NHL. This is a message teams will get very fast that this is a team to watch out for.

The monster showed both skill and poise as they dominated the TBL 5-2. The Monsters went up 5-0 going into the third period, when the Lightning came back to respond with two goals.

But with goals like this, they really had no chance!

Dewiel led the way with 8 hits in the game along with 2 fights; he really went out there to set the tone and a message that this is a team who is for real.

Now let's take a look at the Box score for the game

TB WPG

2 5

33 shots 23

11 FO 14

5:22 Toa 6:26

25:00 Pim 31:00

0/4 PP 0/3

3 Stars

Oblong

Oilersguru

Raczilla

Scoring Summary

1st

- Oblong ( Joborule ) wpg

- Oilersguru ( Unassisted ) wpg

2nd

- Oblong ( Kev, MPDamon ) wpg

- Oblong ( Oilersguru, Anton B) SH wpg

- Vasicek ( Dewiel ) SH wpg

- Smolenak ( Ranger, szczechura ) tbl

- St.Louis ( Unassisted )

Next up the Monsters will take on the Blues

The Monsters came into this game with the same energy that they left their last game against the TBL.The Blues were completely out played the entire game.

Dewiel did manage to get himself a game misconduct picking up all of Wpg's Pim's in the game. He led the way with 3 fights and a game misconduct.

As seen above Dewiel was out to get under everyone's skin, and force them to draw penalties, and take all the momentum away.

But with out the strong goal tending from Raczilla, who kept them in the game the whole time stopping all 14 close range shots.

Raczilla also started the scoring off by headmaning the puck to a streaking Oilersguru to open the scoring in the game.

The Monsters embarrassed the Blues throughout the whole game, getting all 5 goals on the break a way.

As seen below Joborule undressing goaltender Chris mason

Also from the Monsters was Captain Justin Dewiel scoring on the Power play before being ejected from the game, and Joborule as well getting a penalty shot awarded to him when Pietrangelo hauled him down.

Coming up to this Saturday's Game, this will be a very tough task as the Sens will be making their first appearance in Winnipeg in almost 15 years!

The Sens are 2-0-0 to start the season shutting out both teams they have faced. Winnipeg may be their toughest challenge yet.

The Sens were the best team in this game by far dominating in every field, But the Monsters were still able to come out on top in overtime. The Sens doubled the Monsters in shots, hits, time on attack. The only thing that stood between the Sens and a win was the effort of the defensive core. Winnipeg picked up 51 penalty minutes in this game, which was Winnipeg's biggest struggle.

Oilersguru opened the scoring with a solo effort, taking the puck away from Winchester, as he came out of the penalty box, beating Laclaire five hole with a dandy move.

The Sens quickly responded with two back to back goals in the second only 12 seconds apart, they held onto that lead until the Sens defense broke down.

Check out the Video!

The late goal scored with only 3 minutes left in the game set up a amazing finish with only seconds left in overtime. Oilersguru got off on a break a way and was taken down....

After this week what can Winnipeg and the Game Changers bring to the table in their upcoming games?

I look forward to the feedback, questions, and insight from each and every one of you! I hope this is a success with you guys, as I plan to also start another season with the members of the community, let me know if you are interested, you can either let me know via comment or Private message.

I also look forward to any and all questions about how to do certain set ups, play, tips or tricks, and if you are interested in my slider set up just ask away!