Madden 07 (Xbox 360) Thread

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:47 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:For the record Badgun, I didn't say you had an agenda so I'm not sure why you took it that way. I was pointing out that a lot of forum posters all over the internet have agendas and go to forums to have their voice heard and to stir up trouble. I pointed out that I generally don't trust very positive or very negative game impressions from someone with under 20 posts because of the likelihood of there being an agenda behind it. I also said that I was waiting from impressions of Madden from bkrich and TCrouch because I agreed with what they had to say about Madden 06 for the 360. I'm not sure why you took that as an attack and I'm also not sure why you decided to post negative things about bkrich and TCrouch and the fact that they may or may not like NCAA 07 for the 360. Are you telling me that there's no posters here or at OS that you tend to agree with and trust their impressions more than others? I find that hard to believe.

Yes, I would normally agree with TCrouch and bkrich and some of the others over at OS and quite frankly I would normally agree with most of the posters here, that's why this thing bugs me so much. I respect bk's opinion, but in this case, and as much as he knows about football, I can't believe that he or anyone else for that matter can't see all the glaring flaws that NCAA has on the 360.

I don't mind anyone liking the game, but if they can honestly say with a straight face that NCAA next gen plays better than current gen, then I am at a loss for words. One of the people I trust the most in gaming happens to agree with me. Go to Bill's blog and read his post on NCAA. He makes some very good points.

I guess the problem I have is when someone asks a question about current gen or next gen and I give my opinion, it is always followed up by some smartass post basically attempting to invalidate my opinion.

Like I said earlier, it looks like the game is finally starting to wear thin for some of the others who post here...I wondered how long it would take.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:55 pm

Badgun wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:For the record Badgun, I didn't

say you had an agenda so I'm not sure why you took it that way. I was pointing out that a lot of forum posters all over the internet have agendas and go to forums to have their voice heard and to stir up trouble. I pointed out that I generally don't trust very positive or very negative game impressions from someone with under 20 posts because of the likelihood of there being an agenda behind it. I also said that I was waiting from impressions of Madden from bkrich and TCrouch because I agreed with what they had to say about Madden 06 for the 360. I'm not sure why you took that as an attack and I'm also not sure why you decided to post negative things about bkrich and TCrouch and the fact that they may or may not like NCAA 07 for the 360. Are you telling me that there's no posters here or at OS that you tend to agree with and trust their impressions more than others? I find that hard to believe.
Yes, I would normally agree with TCrouch and bkrich and some of the others over at OS and quite frankly I would normally agree with most of the posters here, that's why this thing bugs me so much. I respect bk's opinion, but in this case, and as much as he knows about football, I can't believe that he or anyone else for that matter can't see all the glaring flaws that NCAA has on the 360.

I don't mind anyone liking the game, but if they can honestly say with a straight face that NCAA next gen plays better than current gen, then I am at a loss for words. One of the people I trust the most in gaming happens to agree with me. Go to Bill's blog and read his post on NCAA. He makes some very good points.

I guess the problem I have is when someone asks a question about current gen or next gen and I give my opinion, it is always followed up by some smartass post basically attempting to invalidate my opinion.

Like I said earlier, it looks like the game is finally starting to wear thin for some of the others who post here...I wondered how long it would take.

Wear thin for others? I am not sure exactly where you are getting that.

I can honestly say it plays a better game than current gen imo.

You want to think you are a better judge of football games than me, or know more about what makes a game realistic, feel free. But I have played both, and there's no going back for me. You can't believe it, or think it beyond belief, I don't know what to tell you, but I am far from the only person that feels that way.

You like the next gen version great. But repeating the same things over and over again in every single 360 football related thread is what kills your rep, and is what got you in some hot water at OS. It's not that people can't post negative things over there, it's the people like yourself who just regurgitate the exact same over and over again, in thread after thread, in which gets you labelled the way it does. That and your belief in what your "opinion" is , is somehow the truth, and anyone that disagrees with it, is either a dumbass or lying.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:00 pm

Badgun, I haven't played the current gen version so I can't compare the two. I do enjoy the 360 version a lot though. I don't have a problem with anyone not liking the game or holding it in the same light I do. I've never discredited your opinion on NCAA for the 360 because I've never played the Xbox version.

SoMisss2000 · Post by **SoMisss2000** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:13 am

I don't mind anyone liking the game, but if they can honestly say with a straight face that NCAA next gen plays better than current gen, then I am at a loss for words. One of the people I trust the most in gaming happens to agree with me. Go to Bill's blog and read his post on NCAA. He makes some very good points.

So that makes it the gospel huh? No offense to Bill but his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt with all the sports games he's tested and ripped to shreds the past couple years.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:21 am

"It's not that people can't post negative things over there, it's the people like yourself who just regurgitate the exact same over and over again, in thread after thread, in which gets you labelled the way it does. That and your belief in what your "opinion" is , is somehow the truth, and anyone that disagrees with it, is either a dumbass or lying."

I just watched a pretty bad B horror film. I love horror films and even some B movies. I did laugh a good bit during the film but it was far from good and I would never want to watch it again. However, instead of beating a dead horse over at some movie fan message board on the internet and complaining about the movie, I will just forget it and watch something new tomorrow.

-BD

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:40 am

SoMisss2000 wrote:
I don't mind anyone liking the game, but if they can honestly say with a straight face that NCAA next gen plays better than current gen, then I am at a loss for words. One of the people I trust the most in gaming happens to agree with me. Go to Bill's blog and read his post on NCAA. He makes some very good points.
So that makes it the gospel huh? No offense to Bill but his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt with all the sports games he's tested and ripped to shreds the past couple years.

I'm pretty sure Bill and Badgun have disagreed on games before (one of the MVPs on Xbox comes to mind off the top of my head). Does this make Bill right this time because he agrees with Badgun? I have agreed with Bill before and agreed with Badgun and every possible combination inbetween. Who cares?

A few years ago I went againt the grain and hated 2K's basketball game and loved Live (with proper sliders of course). I consider myself a big NBA fan and I found it hard to believe that people couldn't agree with me. I posted my opinion a few times because I thought people should give Live a shot that year and see for themselves, but then I was done with it.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:41 am

SoMisss2000 wrote:
I don't mind anyone liking the game, but if they can honestly say with a straight face that NCAA next gen plays better than current gen, then I am at a loss for words. One of the people I trust the most in gaming happens to agree with me. Go to Bill's blog and read his post on NCAA. He makes some very good points.
So that makes it the gospel huh? No offense to Bill but his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt with all the sports games he's tested and ripped to shreds the past couple years.

No offense to me, eh? Well, sorry, but I take it anyway. My opinion should of course be taken with a 'grain of salt' because it's just an opinion. I rip games to shred that I think are bad games. Period. I praise games that I like. There have been numerous, numerous games be they sports, strategy, role-playing or shooters that I have lavished praise on during the past 12 years I have been wrtiting about them.

Over the past couple of years, since that's the time frame you want to talk about, I have taken a few select games to task, most namely NCAA 05, NCAA 06, Madden 06, and MLB 2K6 that have caused people to label me a game hater. Oh, yeah, and I also didn't like NFL Head Coach and the Arena League game. Wow, I really went out on a limb there..

I give NCAA 07 very high marks but because I think the Xbox version is better than the 360, which I never even reviewed FWIW, I'm back to being nothing more than Negative Joe.

I can rattle off a lot of sports games over the "past couple of years" that I have enjoyed and given good reviews. MVP NCAA '06, MLB 2006 and 2007, College Hoops 2K6, NBA 2K6, NHL 2K6, NBA Live 2005, NFL 2K5, OOTP 2006, PureSim Baseball, Eastside Hockey Manager, and the list goes on.

I don't mind being brought into a forum discussion second hand. But next time you want to throw a dart at me, bring a friggin' fact checker.

hellbent · Post by **hellbent** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 10:07 am

Thanks to bkrich, Badgun, Sully and others for posting your impressions and answering questions about Madden 360. I appreciate the insights posted here thus far and look forward to hearing about more of those "WOW!" moments as you run into them, be it in response to good or bad things about the game. It's good to get comments from everyone without the fanboyism that runs rampant on other forums.

That being said, I'm not sure if anyone has commented about the CPU running game on Madden 07. Do they run the ball enough and run the ball well? This is the big question for me right now - one of my few gripes about NCAA 07 360 is the CPU not even attempting to run very often (ala NCAA 04), and when they do, they don't do a consistently good job of it, even if they are a top notch running team.

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:18 pm

Has there been any dirty disc errors encountered w/Madden. I just got a 360 and I only have Ncaa,and I have had 4 games out of 8,that have been cut short because of the dreaded DDE.
Getting Madden and getting some games in will probably tell me whether or not its the game or the 360. I hope its the game.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:01 pm

hellbent wrote:Thanks to bkrich, Badgun, Sully and others for posting your impressions and answering questions about Madden 360. I appreciate the insights posted here thus far and look forward to hearing about more of those "WOW!" moments as you run into them, be it in response to good or bad things about the game. It's good to get comments from everyone without the fanboyism that runs rampant on other forums.

That being said, I'm not sure if anyone has commented about the CPU running game on Madden 07. Do they run the ball enough and run the ball well? This is the big question for me right now - one of my few gripes about NCAA 07 360 is the CPU not even attempting to run very often (ala NCAA 04), and when they do, they don't do a consistently good job of it, even if they are a top notch running team.

They run it enough. I think CPU playcalling balance is pretty good. And, in my limited experience they will call the occasional 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8 draw play. As far as CPU running effectiveness. I find that they have been pretty effective so far. You may find yourself boosting the CPU's ability to pass a little bit via sliders, but everyone's mileage seems to vary on that kind of stuff.

SNAZ, no DDE's yet. Although I didn't get any in NCAA either.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:21 pm

Just got the game (found out about a classic NYC video game store, the kind I thought were all gone, down in China Town), and I have a coupel questions:

What is up with online roster updates? I haven't noticed anywhere to even check for new roster updates. Boy, they better have roster updates, particularly with these insanely early resleases they've been getting themselves into these days.

What is up with this 'Live game' business? Is it true, can you play franchise games v. people online? Is there a way to pass a franchise around, like there was a couple years ago? What else would be a 'Live game' besides franchise, i.e. why is that an option?

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:31 pm

Zeppo wrote:What is up with this 'Live game' business? Is it true, can you play franchise games v. people online? Is there a way to pass a franchise around, like there was a couple years ago? What else would be a 'Live game' besides franchise, i.e. why is that an option?

That feature is that you could play as whomever someone's opponent is in their franchise online, it's not passing the franchise around so if I am say 8-0 with the Steelers in my franchise you could challenge me to a game online with that mode and it would allow you to take control of whomever my opponent is in game 9 and it would count as a win or loss in my franchise.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:46 pm

Zeppo wrote:Just got the game (found out about a classic NYC video game store, the kind I thought were all gone, down in China Town), and I have a coupel questions:

What is up with online roster updates? I haven't noticed anywhere to even check for new roster updates. Boy, they better have roster updates, particularly with these insanely early resleases they've been getting themselves into these days.

What is up with this 'Live game' business? Is it true, can you play franchise games v. people online? Is there a way to pass a franchise around, like there was a couple years ago? What else would be a 'Live game' besides franchise, i.e. why is that an option?

There will be online roster updates. That was confirmed at OS from EA.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:49 pm

vader29 wrote:
Zeppo wrote:What is up with this 'Live game' business? Is it true, can you play franchise games v. people online? Is there a way to pass a franchise around, like there was a couple years ago? What else would be a 'Live game' besides franchise, i.e. why is that an option?
That feature is that you could play as whomever someone's opponent is in their franchise online, it's not passing the franchise around so if I am say 8-0 with the Steelers in my franchise you could challenge me to a game online with that mode and it would allow you to take control of whomever my opponent is in game 9 and it would count as a win or loss in my franchise.

Very cool. And it sounds like you can play exhibitions with your custom rosters, too, which could be interesting. Playing a franchise against human opponents is a pretty sweet sounding feature to me! Maybe not as cool as a true online multiplayer franchise mode, but not a terrible thing either.

I really can't get the hang of these mini games. I am terrible at the sprint and have very little sense of feedback. And the bench press is a total mystery to me. And I don't quite get the training camp in superstar mode. Does practice ever end? Am I supposed to be calling the plays?

hellbent · Post by **hellbent** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:00 pm

Thanks bk - Great news about the CPU running attack and playcalling. I'm definitely getting the impression that the gameplay is similar to last year's offering and NCAA 360 but is now even more polished overall.

I'm still not thrilled about the lack of being able to edit existing players (if that is indeed the case, maybe I missed reading about it), but I'm definitely going to give it a rental at worst. Wondering how good the gameplay MIGHT be will drive me crazy if I don't at least give it a shot. That's why I bought the latest versions of NFL 2k, Madden, Football Pro and Fever every year since 97 - I have no control when it comes to playing the latest football games, try as I might to lay off a purchase.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:57 am

If anything makes me finially decide to pick this up, it will be the SS mode. I love the career mode in MLB The Show on my PSP, and to have a football version of it would rock.

Any more impressions of it out there?

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:52 am

Anyone picking it up at midnight? I'm seriously considering it. I probably will only play it for a few minutes when I get home, but I'd like to play it before work.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:53 am

hellbent wrote:Thanks bk - Great news about the CPU running attack and playcalling. I'm definitely getting the impression that the gameplay is similar to last year's offering and NCAA 360 but is now even more polished overall.

I'm still not thrilled about the lack of being able to edit existing players (if that is indeed the case, maybe I missed reading about it), but I'm definitely going to give it a rental at worst. Wondering how good the gameplay MIGHT be will drive me crazy if I don't at least give it a shot. That's why I bought the latest versions of NFL 2k, Madden, Football Pro and Fever every year since 97 - I have no control when it comes to playing the latest football games, try as I might to lay off a purchase.

I think it's worth a rental at the least just for SuperStar mode.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:16 pm

sportdan30 wrote:Anyone picking it up at midnight? I'm seriously considering it. I probably will only play it for a few minutes when I get home, but I'd like to play it before work.

I'm picking it up at midnight tonight. I don't know how long I'll get to play it but I should be able to play at least a game.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:35 pm

For those who have played it, has anyone noticed any comeback A.I. Seems that EA has always been notorious for this, although I didn't notice it in NCAA 2007 which was good.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:47 pm

Another quick question about the SS mode. Has anyone been traded or anything yet? I was wondering how the game handles that.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:55 pm

sportdan30 wrote:For those who have played it, has anyone noticed any comeback A.I. Seems that EA has always been notorious for this, although I didn't notice it in NCAA 2007 which was good.

I haven't noticed it yet, but then I again, I rarely have had a lead.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:56 pm

Gurantsu wrote:Another quick question about the SS mode. Has anyone been traded or anything yet? I was wondering how the game handles that.

I haven't gotten that far in to a career. I did see a "demand a trade" selection when I was in my Agent's office.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:06 pm

bkrich83 wrote:
Gurantsu wrote:Another quick question about the SS mode. Has anyone been traded or anything yet? I was wondering how the game handles that.
I haven't gotten that far in to a career. I did see a "demand a trade" selection when I was in my Agent's office.

Is there a "sit your lazy ass on the stationary bike" option in the menus?

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:10 pm

Danimal wrote:
bkrich83 wrote:
Gurantsu wrote:Another quick question about the SS mode. Has anyone been traded or anything yet? I was wondering how the game handles that.
I haven't gotten that far in to a career. I did see a "demand a trade" selection when I was in my Agent's office.
Is there a "sit your lazy ass on the stationary bike" option in the menus?