Madden 11 Impressions

[Danimal]

I know I am in the minority but I'd rather it just be based off their accuracy and a random roll. I think that si the only way to make FG kicking mean something. If a guy was 13-18 from 40-49 yards last year, look closely at it and assign him percentages.

[bulls23]

I read a post somewhere that the guys at OS are building gameplans for every team, and that they're transferrable via USB stick--I think it may have even been in this thread?

Yeah that was me.

I didn't feel like doing all the usb mumbo-jumbo if I didn't think it worked. It seems to work, I plan on making a GP for my next opponent and see if it gives me good results again.

Downloaded the gameplans from OS and I like what I see. I reset all the sliders to default to test it out. Lost to the Colts with CIN 28-21 in a preseason game. The Colts went 80-20 pass and the Bengals were almost the opposite. You could really tell the style of the teams. Reminds me of the VIP system in NFL 2K5. I ended up tweaking the sliders a little bit equally for CPU and User:

Upped Pass Rush to 60
Lowered QB Accuracy to 40

I have both Kickoff and Punt Sliders at 0 and have an average starting position between the 17 and 32 yard line. Every once in a while you'll get a Punt out of bounds or a starting position between the 40 and 50.

[bkrich83]

I know I am in the minority but I'd rather it just be based off their accuracy and a random roll. I think that si the only way to make FG kicking mean something. If a guy was 13-18 from 40-49 yards last year, look closely at it and assign him percentages.

I have been asking for this for years. Much like NBA2k does with free throws.

[Danimal]

Just played a game on All_Pro with slider bumped to the cpu.

My 7 year old daughter played offense (never played before) and I played Defense.

We won as the Bears over Seattle 27-7, she three 3 touch down passes and broke a 74 yard run with Matt Forte. I picked off the cpu 3 times all user controlled.

I don't know how much easier they can make this game for the casual fan when my 7 year old can beat the cpu.

[Rodster]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Live Weather doesn't really work. I'm replaying the Falcons v Miami game and it was 30F and snowing in Miami.

[MizzouRah]

Just played a game on All_Pro with slider bumped to the cpu.

My 7 year old daughter played offense (never played before) and I played Defense.

We won as the Bears over Seattle 27-7, she three 3 touch down passes and broke a 74 yard run with Matt Forte. I picked off the cpu 3 times all user controlled.

I don't know how much easier they can make this game for the casual fan when my 7 year old can beat the cpu.

[Danimal]

So rumor has it the latest roster update makes the game play a little better. I'm not convinced it's not placebo effect but I just played a quick game and the pass defense seemed better, I was also able to run the ball a bit better. The WB's couldn't hit the broad side of a barn though with the way I had the accuracy sliders so I'll need to bump those back up.

IDK like I said maybe I'm just buying into the rumors, anyone else try it?

[greggsand]

So rumor has it the latest roster update makes the game play a little better. I'm not convinced it's not placebo effect but I just played a quick game and the pass defense seemed better, I was also able to run the ball a bit better. The WB's couldn't hit the broad side of a barn though with the way I had the accuracy sliders so I'll need to bump those back up.

IDK like I said maybe I'm just buying into the rumors, anyone else try it?

I haven't noticed a difference, but I was enjoying the game prior.

[wco81]

Heard there was an espn.com story about Madden.

Among other things, they were saying players and even coaches may be influenced by the game. They cited the Saints onside kick as a Madden-esque move.

Anyways, one tidbit is that they recently extended the exclusive franchise by 3 years and for less money than the first exclusive deal. Not a whole lot less but speculated it's less.

[Rodster]

Heard there was an espn.com story about Madden.

Among other things, they were saying players and even coaches may be influenced by the game. They cited the Saints onside kick as a Madden-esque move.

Anyways, one tidbit is that they recently extended the exclusive franchise by 3 years and for less money than the first exclusive deal. Not a whole lot less but speculated it's less.

Great so when an NFL team gets blown out we can attribute that to the other team cheesing.

No surprise regarding the contract because of the economy, take what you can get and I suppose T2 doesn't have the money to make an NFL game atm. Hell even Nascar is struggling during these tough times.

[GTHobbes]

Heard there was an espn.com story about Madden.

Among other things, they were saying players and even coaches may be influenced by the game. They cited the Saints onside kick as a Madden-esque move.

Anyways, one tidbit is that they recently extended the exclusive franchise by 3 years and for less money than the first exclusive deal. Not a whole lot less but speculated it's less.

Is this the story you were referencing? If so, I don't see anything about a recent extension or less money involved:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/ ... 805/madden

"In 2004, EA paid the NFL a reported $300 million-plus for five years of exclusive rights to teams and players. The deal was later extended to 2013. Just like that, competing games went kaput."

I also thought this was interesting:

"Can "Madden" itself remain universally liked? That's the larger question keeping EA Tiburon up at night. The franchise has surfed a pair of rising cultural tides: video games and pro football. But the ocean is shifting. "Madden" was once a disruptive product, a killer ambulance bowling over competitors. Now it's the status quo, established and entrenched, but possibly vulnerable. To wit: "Madden NFL '10" sales were lagging behind during the game's August release, usually a prime selling period. For the first time, EA Sports paid for significant television advertising in November and December. The spots helped, but launching into the teeth of a recession still kept overall sales flat."

[wco81]

Well I didn't read the article but the author, something Hruby, was on a podcast and they talked about the license. Just assumed he discussed it in the article.

[GTHobbes]

Well I didn't read the article but the author, something Hruby, was on a podcast and they talked about the license. Just assumed he discussed it in the article.

Yep, that's the guy who authored the article. The extension isn't recent news though -- here's a link to where it was discussed back in February 2008:

http://kotaku.com/355257/ea-extends-nfl ... esque-2013

Wonder how much of a soaking EA took to extend it in 2008? Regardless, I know they weren't too happy with the sales of Madden 10 or and I'm guessing they're not too thrilled about the early sales for Madden 11 (PS3 seems to be slightly up, but 360 is down, and PS2 is all but off the map at this point).

[Rodster]

I also think too that BB could have had an impact on Madden sales this year, how much who knows? While BB sales are low, gamers now have something to compare Madden too even if they did not buy BB. This could possibly be leading to more of the same 'ol same 'ol feeling regarding Madden whereas BB is a fresh idea.

I think it would be in EA's best interest to open up the competition. This could allow them to make serious changes to the games code while the spot light is off of them and on the other guys. It's worked for their NHL, FIFA, Baseball and to some degree with their NBA games.

If there is no competition they don't have the luxury of making wholesale changes with the fear they could screw up the product big time.

[GTHobbes]

I think it would be in EA's best interests to hire some more talented people to work on the game. They seem to want to throw the extra money into advertising, however, rather than increasing the size (or bettering the quality) of the dev team, so they're clearly not in agreement with me there. With sales staying flat/declining each year, you would think something will have to change at some point.

[tmdba37]

I think the problem is having two different teams working on two different football games. There's no reason why either NCAA or Madden should suck. I mean it's still football with slightly different rules. Both games should be quality efforts. So if I were EA, I'd pool the teams and develop a consistent EA Football Engine that is used for both my NCAA and Madden NFL Product.

[Danimal]

I also think too that BB could have had an impact on Madden sales this year, how much who knows? While BB sales are low, gamers now have something to compare Madden too even if they did not buy BB. This could possibly be leading to more of the same 'ol same 'ol feeling regarding Madden whereas BB is a fresh idea.

No offense but that's an inaccurate statement IMO. Not selling well and tanking are two different things. Last time I checked BB hadn't sold over 100k copies world wide, that is called tanking. So I highly doubt this game had any effect on madden sales.

More then likely has to do with the fact their game is not progressing, PS2 owners are not necessarily buying PS3 or 360's. The demographic is changing, I'm 44 and I still game. All my buddies in college who use to game, I can name on one hand the number of them that still do. Today's gaming generation is more into shooters then they are sports games. Which is one of the reasons EA is making Madden more accessible and making it a worse product they want to capture the MW crowd.

The fact of the matter is sports gaming is stale IMO, even the Show as great is it is will run into this problem in a few years as that game is not breaking new ground each year, sooner or later games become stale.

[GTHobbes]

The fact of the matter is sports gaming is stale IMO, even the Show as great is it is will run into this problem in a few years as that game is not breaking new ground each year, sooner or later games become stale.

Last year, I thought The Show started to become stale -- and I have loved The Show to death since first playing it on the PS2 5 or 6 years ago. But this year they added the TV broadcast fielding angle and the Real Time Presentation, both of which I believe are going to keep the series from becoming too stale for years to come.

NBA2k is another game saved from staleness, IMO, by the huge assortment of playable camera angles and all the little things that are added to the game every year.

For whatever reason, Tiburon has been too stubborn to copy these games in their choice of camera angles or their implementation of real time presentation features (or even their in-game saves feature). Their mistake, IMO.

[Rodster]

No offense taken. I was just throwing out the possibility that someone who has either seen or played the BB demo then played M11 could make the conclusion, gee this new football game does this and that. Why isn't this in Madden.

It's the same thing that happens to even NBA 2K or MLB The Show where since you have competition you tend to try the inferior game or skip the current year because you have an alternative. And yeah I have no doubt BB sales stink. OTOH as flawed as BB can be at times I always say every time I play Madden, gee how cool would Madden be if it had certain BB features.

We know the economy stinks so people are not parting with cash as they used to. Madden has not progressed as much as it should this gen so it feels stale. And we could BB as possibly another variable but we don't know for sure.

Honestly though if I had not taken advantage of the $40 trade in towards M11 and had played BB I too would have skipped Madden altogether this year and stuck with M10.

[Rodster]

The fact of the matter is sports gaming is stale IMO, even the Show as great is it is will run into this problem in a few years as that game is not breaking new ground each year, sooner or later games become stale.

Last year, I thought The Show started to become stale -- and I have loved The Show to death since first playing it on the PS2 5 or 6 years ago. But this year they added the TV broadcast fielding angle and the Real Time Presentation, both of which I believe are going to keep the series from becoming too stale for years to come.

NBA2k is another game saved from staleness, IMO, by the huge assortment of playable camera angles and all the little things that are added to the game every year.

For whatever reason, Tiburon has been too stubborn to copy these games in their choice of camera angles or their implementation of real time presentation features (or even their in-game saves feature). Their mistake, IMO.

Honestly what broke the staleness of NBA 2K was the "EPIC" dynamic presentation. That in itself makes up for whatever staleness the game throws at you. To me The Show has become stale. I thought I would have grown tired of MLB 2K10 this year but that's all I pretty much play and I rarely play The Show.

[GTHobbes]

Honestly what broke the staleness of NBA 2K was the "EPIC" dynamic presentation. That in itself makes up for whatever staleness the game throws at you. To me The Show has become stale. I thought I would have grown tired of MLB 2K10 this year but that's all I pretty much play and really play The Show.

Can see why you feel that way, Rod. Personally, it's hard for me to believe that 6 years into this generation of consoles Madden doesn't even have a half-time or end of game highlights reel. Even BB, which was put together by an extremely small dev team, has those things in the game. There's no excuse for Tiburon, really.

[Rodster]

Honestly what broke the staleness of NBA 2K was the "EPIC" dynamic presentation. That in itself makes up for whatever staleness the game throws at you. To me The Show has become stale. I thought I would have grown tired of MLB 2K10 this year but that's all I pretty much play and really play The Show.

Can see why you feel that way, Rod. Personally, it's hard for me to believe that 6 years into this generation of consoles Madden doesn't even have a half-time or end of game highlights reel. Even BB, which was put together by an extremely small dev team, has those things in the game. There's no excuse for Tiburon, really.

I played the M06 360 demo and skipped that game and went with the Xbox version. It's pretty obvious little gains have been made within the 6 years other than making Madden fun to play again. Prior to Ian Cummings and crew the previous Tiburon wade the game more arcade like. After Ian took over there was hope of a decent simulation game. Then Peter Moore promised more accessibility so now we are back to an arcade like game.

[Danimal]

Well I'm not going to argue that Madden is where it should be, clearly it isn't. My point is simply sports gaming is becoming a niche market IMO. I can't remember the last time I played a sports game and went Oh Crap, that's awesome. I recalled Madden PS2, Dr J and Larry Bird, Grid Iron on the Amiga, FPS Series and I vividly recall the first time playing a hoops game with the now passe camera angle of looking at the hoop.

I've played many games in the last 3-4 years that blew me away, Crackdown, ME2 to name just 2 but no sports games. Madden is too big, it will never change. You've got to kill it before you will see improvements.

[Rodster]

Madden is too big, it will never change. You've got to kill it before you will see improvements.

Which is why your idea of just making a completely new NFL game would make the most sense. Too bad there isn't another Front page Sports Football game in the works.

[GTHobbes]

Looks like I can give up my hope of Madden making any meaningful changes anytime soon. From this press release today, it certainly sounds like all is glorious in EA & Tiburon land:

"REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) announced today that Madden NFL 11 is delivering a strong performance in August in both retail sales and direct-to-consumer digital revenue. Based on internal estimates, Madden NFL 11 is the #1 selling game in North America in August – sales are projected to be up approximately 5% year-over-year across all platforms for the month.

Today, Madden NFL Superstars, an all-new NFL social game experience, launches on Facebook.

“Madden NFL 11 is the number one selling game in August, and the game has created enormous enthusiasm in the online community,” said Peter Moore, president of EA SPORTS. “Each day on consoles, fans are playing as many games online as the equivalent of 750 full NFL seasons. Now on Facebook, Madden NFL Superstars will bring a whole new dimension and audience to the Madden NFL experience.”

This month, Madden NFL 11 has reached a number of important milestones:

* On the strength of the Madden NFL Ultimate Team game mode being released this year at launch, digital revenues for Madden NFL 11 are up more than 200 percent year-over-year.
* Madden NFL 11 gamers have averaged more than two million online connected game sessions each day. Nearly 20 percent of all online play has been logged on a brand new feature, Online Team Play. The mode allows fans to go online and play 3-on-3 with, or against, their friends.
* The innovative new GameFlow play calling system in Madden NFL 11 has been a hit, with 85 percent of players having used the new feature that streamlines play calling and shortens overall game length for a more accessible experience. Says ESPN.com: “GameFlow is a complete game-changer.”
* Madden NFL 11 debuted as the #1 top grossing application for Apple’s mobile platforms on the day it launched – the first time one game franchise has held the top grossing position in multiple platforms in the App Store."