Blitz Store

It's the time of the year when shopping seems to be on everyone's mind, and I'm definitely no different. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 2-day sales, whatever the case may be, people are lined up and ready to spend their hard earned cash on cool stuff for both their loved ones and themselves. Luckily, in NFL Blitz you won't have to spend a dime (outside of initially buying the game, of course!) in order to enjoy your very own shopping spree in our Blitz Store.

Before we get to that though, we need to talk about Blitz Bucks and how you can get your hands on some. If you've been reading my blogs or watching my videos over the last few weeks, you may have heard me mention Blitz Bucks from time to time, and then never explain what they were or how to get them... I'm a jerk like that, I know, but that all changes today.

Blitz Bucks are what we use as our currency in NFL Blitz, and what we reward you with at the end of every online game. The number of Blitz Bucks you can earn is based on few different things, but how well you perform in the games you play is by far the most important. In every game there are a number of stat categories that we track and display for you at both halftime and at the end of the game. Each of these stat categories can only be won by either you or your opponent, and the more categories you win, the more Blitz Bucks you earn. Of course the easiest way to earn a big chunk of Blitz Bucks is to simply win the game, but don't worry, even the losers will get something. Another way to increase the number of Blitz Bucks you get at the end of the game is to take advantage of the Daily Bonus. Yup, we reward you for simply doing what you'll probably be doing anyway, and that's playing NFL Blitz. The Daily Bonus will increase as long as you complete one online game of NFL Blitz every day for up to seven days.

Once you have a few fistfuls of Blitz Bucks you can let the shopping spree commence, and the Blitz Store is your one stop shop for anything and everything NFL Blitz. The Blitz Store is where you can pick up any number of items that allow you to customize and change your NFL Blitz experience. From Blitz Battles to behind the scenes, there's a little something for everyone in the Blitz Store. If you recall, in my previous Co-Op blog I talked about Blitz Teams and the different logos and banners you can choose to help give your team some personality. The Blitz Store is where you can go to view the over 150 different selections to help customize the look of your team, and give it that personalized edge.

Elite League is another mode that will definitely have you visiting the Blitz Store and putting your Blitz Bucks to good use. You won't get far in Elite League without acquiring new players, and the fastest way to do that is to buy Elite League card packs. The Blitz Store not only carries the 5, 12 and 25 count card packs, but this is also where you'll come to buy the 32 Pro or 12 Ultimate players you unlock after collecting and trading in a full team of players. Eight different Ultimate Power Ups are also sold here, and a random one will become available for purchase after you collect and trade-in an entire set of Power Ups.

One of the biggest reasons to dip your head into the Blitz Store will be to stock up on all of your favorite cheat codes. While cheat codes can be entered and used to your heart's content in our offline modes, cheat codes will need to be purchased and unlocked before you can use them in any online game. Buy any of the over 100 cheat codes in the game, and they'll be immediately available to use in *most* online matchups. I say "most" because there are some cheat codes that directly affect gameplay and just wouldn't be fair to use on an unsuspecting online opponent. The good news, is that these gameplay cheats will be available to you when you play the game with friends. As far as the other Visual, Fantasy Character, and Settings cheat code categories go, they can all be used in any online game. Another nice thing about buying cheats in the Blitz Store is that for every cheat code you purchase, we'll show you the code so you can begin to create your very own "cheat sheet" for future reference. That way, if you ever forget what the code is for say, the Big Head Player cheat, you can always go into the Blitz Store and check out your list to refresh your memory.

Our final stop in the Blitz Store brings us to the Gallery, which allows us to take a peek behind the scenes. The Gallery has two categories, Concept Art and Cheerleaders. In the Concept Art section, you can unlock early sketches and conceptual pieces for screens and characters that did and didn't make the cut. It's interesting to get a glimpse into the process that certain screens and UI elements go through before getting to the final product, and a lot of these pieces will allow you to do just that. By the same token, you can see some early sketches of fantasy characters and how they changed over the course of the project. Now, if I were a betting man, I'd bet my last Blitz Buck on the Cheerleaders section being a fan favorite. Whenever you play NFL Blitz, the loading screens going into and out of the game feature a photo of one of our glamorous Blitz cheerleaders. If you like what you see on the loading screens, there's a lot more where that came from when you visit the Cheerleader gallery. From here you can purchase and view many more images of these lovely ladies. On top of all of that, any image that you purchase will also be added into the loading screen photo rotation.

And that ends our tour of the Blitz Store. Hopefully you've all set your sights on something that you look forward to spending your Blitz Bucks on when you finally get to play your copy of NFL Blitz. Next week, I'll be taking a break and handing the reins over to our resident audio director Jesse Allen, and my fellow designer Brad Lippman, to talk about all things audio and commentary. Until then, please make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter if you aren't already, and visit our forums to let us know what you think of this week's feature reveal.

NFL Blitz Designer,
Yuri Bialoskursky