Madden 11 Impressions

[ScoopBrady]

I actually think NCAA being so good is the likely cause of lower-than-expected Madden sales.

[Rodster]

I actually think NCAA being so good is the likely cause of lower-than-expected Madden sales.

Could be, that few are trading it in this year.

[GTHobbes]

I actually think NCAA being so good is the likely cause of lower-than-expected Madden sales.

I think you're right. A lot of people last year passed on NCAA when Madden was getting all the pre-release hype, whereas this year, I see a lot of people saying they'll just stick with NCAA (except Lancer, I think it was, who bought NCAA, then Madden, and then NCAA again ).

[bkrich83]

I actually think NCAA being so good is the likely cause of lower-than-expected Madden sales.

I am loving NCAA. It's really my game of choice thus far this year.

I love the Online Dynasty stuff. I am having a blast with my one may UNC dynasty.

[Danimal]

Yes NCAA is clearly the better football game this year, but I just saw somewhere today that it's sales are down from last year as well. I just don't think you can price sports games on a yearly release cycle at $60. Plus, and maybe it is just me, but I notice the younger generation is just not into sports games as much.

It's a crime if NCAA doesn't sell better, it's worth the money for the OD stuff alone.

[Rodster]

As someone else mentioned games this gen should top out at $49.95 just to re-energize sales.

[Aristo]

I will be trading in Madden 11 or NCAA 11 for NHL 11 come the first week of September. I think NCAA is clearly the better game, but I am also a much bigger NFL fan at heart. I'm still not positive which game is going. But I don't need two football games, especially when NHL drops.

The dirty secret in regards to Madden sales is that they have plummeted the more realistic the gameplay has gotten. I hate admitting that, because Madden has just become a game I'm interested in over the last two years. But they have alienated many of their loyal fans, and their are fewer of us to replace them. This is why FBPro never made it to the consoles and next gen.

[wco81]

Last couple of years, there have been preorder promotions for Madden (but not NHL, FIFA).

Of course Madden outsells NHL and probably FIFA in the US (but FIFA global sales may be at Madden levels or even higher) but expectations are higher so if the preorders look soft, they have to be concerned.

About 5 years into the PS2 and PS1 generations, games were being discounted early. Often it was big box retailers which priced it cheap to get you to come in and shop.

Since this generation is going on longer than previous generations, we may see more price pressure on games and that may be one of the impetus to the next gen.

As we may recall, the games publishers took the opportunity of the arrival of this generation to push prices up to $60.

[Lancer]

Anyone still have madden10 to compare it with 11? Is 10 closer to ncaa11?

[TRI]

In ten years there might not be even one video football game. The trend has changed and people are less interested in video football games with each passing year. The biggest problem for Madden is that American football is only popular in USA so there is not much potential for growth internationally. The American population is also getting much older.

[dbdynsty25]

Anyone still have madden10 to compare it with 11? Is 10 closer to ncaa11?

Yes...got both 11 and 10 and 10 is similar to NCAA. Obviously NCAA is slightly more polished, but I like both games. I don't have any big issues with Madden besides the special teams.

[Rodster]

Anyone still have madden10 to compare it with 11?

I'm not an NCAA guy as NCAA 11 was the rave this year and bought it and that was my first NCAA in several years.

I have both, this year it's basically M10 vs M10.5 they are that close where it's almost not worth the $60. I do like the running game in M11 but if money is tight i'd get M10 for the cheap. If big plays don't bother you then get M11. Both games are still more fun than previous Madden's where I couldn't finish a 5 qtr game because I was to bored.

[Spooky]

Is this thing just plain broken online right now with the lag and slowdown? I've played 3 games and they've all been plagued with these things. I've changed my gamespeed to 'Normal' for unranked games too. Nothing.

Any tips? Are you guys getting the same experience?

[Leebo33]

Anyone still have madden10 to compare it with 11? Is 10 closer to ncaa11?

Yes...got both 11 and 10 and 10 is similar to NCAA. Obviously NCAA is slightly more polished, but I like both games. I don't have any big issues with Madden besides the special teams.

I agree with DB. I love NCAA and have no problems with Madden. In fact, since I'm much more of an NFL fan I been playing Madden almost exclusively. Once I tweaked the sliders and found the sweet spot, I am having realistic and very entertaining games. My biggest issues are also with special teams....primarily CPU kickoff and punt returns (has anyone ever let the CPU return a KO past the 25?) and human field goal kicking is incredibly easy. This is all single player offline though. I'm sure if I played online I'd have a lot more issues.

[greggsand]

Did some team play with a buddy. It was a blast. It takes some real work to stay in sync on offense.

[JRod]

My issue with Madden mostly comes two things from slider tuning, that you need to do a lot to tone down scoring. I don't anyone will disagree that on default Madden settings, the scores are more collegiate. I just don't want to tune sliders anymore.

And CPU playcalling problems. Like over-calling for a low percentage plays (long bombs) in the wrong situations. And late game (or half) AI playcalling still isn't right.

And personally, I cranked speed to very-fast to have it play more like the real NFL and NCAA '11. The boringness, had to do partly with how slow the game felt on medium speed.

[Danimal]

Here is why NCAA > madden 11 to me.

Played OD game last night and got my ass kicked. The CPU put up 55 points on me and none of it felt cheap. Pop in my Bears franchise and shut out my 3rd opponent in 4 games, never once did I feel as I would lose that game. In my first 4 games I have score 135 points and surrendered 3. This is with me giving lots of bumps to the cpu with sliders.

I really don't even see how a patch fixes this mess.

[Rodster]

What the Dev team is planning to fix in the future updates.

Quick update for Madden fans
by Ian Cummings 08/21/10 10:41 AM

http://maddennfl.easports.com/blog.acti ... uickupdate

HIGHLIGHTS
Moving forward, we are working on addressing some of the most common feedback in upcoming title updates. You all already know that we are planning on releasing an update to enable old-school pre-play controls right around the start of the NFL season, which also will include the brand new Madden Moments LIVE feature where you can replay the top games from each week. In that update we will also have numerous art, gameplay, and stability fixes included as well. Along with that, we have also planned a second update to come towards the end of September. Below is a list of the top priority issues we seem to be hearing the most about that we are looking at:

- Fixing a bug to allow friend invites to ranked games
- Generally making pass defense more effective
- Reducing number of broken tackles
- Fixing user blitz exploit(s)
- Tuning injuries
- Tuning CPU & GameFlow play-calling logic
- Improving play action blocking
- Improving kick return blocking
- Improving online connectivity issues with kick meter lag, media streaming, etc.
- Random stability improvements

[Dave]

What slider tweaks are you guys making? Glad to see improved pass defense is planned to be part of the next patch.

[dbdynsty25]

Just when I start to agree with Danimal and start to think the game is too easy on All-Pro...I get absolutely ROLLED by Minnesota 52-31. It was embarrassing.

[Spooky]

Are you guys having any issues playing online on the 360?

[greggsand]

Are you guys having any issues playing online on the 360?

Not really. Had maybe one 'drop' this week. Even played some 3 man team games that went great (other than the score).

[Brando70]

What the Dev team is planning to fix in the future updates.

Quick update for Madden fans
by Ian Cummings 08/21/10 10:41 AM

http://maddennfl.easports.com/blog.acti ... uickupdate

HIGHLIGHTS
Moving forward, we are working on addressing some of the most common feedback in upcoming title updates. You all already know that we are planning on releasing an update to enable old-school pre-play controls right around the start of the NFL season, which also will include the brand new Madden Moments LIVE feature where you can replay the top games from each week. In that update we will also have numerous art, gameplay, and stability fixes included as well. Along with that, we have also planned a second update to come towards the end of September. Below is a list of the top priority issues we seem to be hearing the most about that we are looking at:

- Fixing a bug to allow friend invites to ranked games
- Generally making pass defense more effective
- Reducing number of broken tackles
- Fixing user blitz exploit(s)
- Tuning injuries
- Tuning CPU & GameFlow play-calling logic
- Improving play action blocking
- Improving kick return blocking
- Improving online connectivity issues with kick meter lag, media streaming, etc.
- Random stability improvements

And that's why I think I'm through buying any EA games before the first patch comes out. While they've gotten better about how much they fix in patches, they're clearly cutting corners to get the game out early because they know they can patch things later.

[Rodster]

True but EA is not the only ones doing this. It has become the norm with 95% of the devs when they are under pressure to release a game knowing their target audience has high speed internet and a hard drive. As Ross Perot would say: "Problem solved la.. la.. Larry" !

[Danimal]

So I started playing with the My Skill setting instead of messing with sliders. I still haven't lost a game but they have been much more competitive. What's weird is with this setting even though I can still set the cpu sliders, I no longer see the general special team sliders and they seems to have reverted back to default.

I had reduce the kick off power which made the returns much better, frankly I think the return numbers are spot on (how many times in the NFL do you see someone take it out of the end zone a constant thing in Madden) the problem is every kick is into the end zone. Reducing the power allowed kicks to be fielded at the 5-15 yard line at times.

I still think the guys don't block for s***, but from a stats perspective this helped.

Anyway I might be done with this until the patch and some opening day rosters.