Madden NFL 12

[AJColossal]

It also looked like a few of the Chiefs ran away from blocking on the TD run.

I really liked the hit on Pope on the catch over the middle. I always felt that there wasn't enough of a deterrent to pass over the middle in Madden because of a lack of potentially disruptive hits like that.

[Danimal]

I do like the cutaway camera as well as sideline camera. The only thing I saw was a grab around his shoes which he broke free for a TD.

47 second mark. Look at the left side of the line.

That should never happen it looks ridiculous.

[Rodster]

Those bastards ! So what's wrong I still can't pick it out.

[GameSeven]

I do like the cutaway camera as well as sideline camera. The only thing I saw was a grab around his shoes which he broke free for a TD.

47 second mark. Look at the left side of the line.

That should never happen it looks ridiculous.

???

[XXXIV]

I do like the cutaway camera as well as sideline camera. The only thing I saw was a grab around his shoes which he broke free for a TD.

47 second mark. Look at the left side of the line.

That should never happen it looks ridiculous.

???

Bingo!

It could happen. Though like Dan, I have never seen it done. Especially like that.

[XXXIV]

The rest of it looks good.

[Danimal]

As has been stated the whole left side of the line gets pancaked which is bad enough but they all have it done with the exact same animation. It looks like 3 bowling pins going down. Hopefully that's a glitch that will be ironed out later.

[Rodster]

LOL, now I see it

The game does look good though. Hopefully there's an NFL season this year.

[Jared]

Tons of guys who always say the sky is falling are obviously calling out many of the E3 videos for the drop backs. While people who cover this stuff all say the game is a nice improvement and are saying the drop back thing is being ove blown. Considering no one knows who is playing, what level they are on and what not I'm willing to not worry about this too much.

Honestly I don't do it, no one I would play would do it so I guess if it indeed is still an issue then the online players are going to have to worry and frankly since 99% of them are doing this to begin with...well my point is not a big deal for me.

Really? Could've fooled this "sky is always falling" guy, based upon your twitter comments today:

"OS_Danimal Dan
@bumble14_os I really wish one of you guys would ask a madden staffer about the QB drop backs were seeing in vids. It's alarming.
1 hour ago"

Really? No. We are not going to be calling out other forum poster's twitter posts on here. This kind of stuff bothers me - it's entirely too personal and I'm not having it. GT, you're taking a break.

[GTHobbes]

Madden seems to finally be turning the corner this year, which I am glad to see, but I'm also still very glad to hear Phil Frazier is gone...makes for great news on this sunny Friday morning.

I think it's got to be a good thing that the guy who has been heading up FIFA is now in charge of EA football, and is presumably bringing in his own crew to replace Ian, Phil, Jeremy Strauser, and whoever else leaves. I've been waiting a long long time to be able to say, good riddance to all those guys. Maybe the new guys will start by adding the great variety of camera angles from FIFA, which I'd absolutely love to see in an NFL game.

[GameSeven]

Madden seems to finally be turning the corner this year, which I am glad to see, but I'm also still very glad to hear Phil Frazier is gone...makes for great news on this sunny Friday morning.

Well, not to fan (nor douse) any EA Sports flames, I found this morning's article at Kotaku to be pretty insightful and hopefully bodes well for continued improvement of the label's efforts.

http://kotaku.com/5813236/the-top-talen ... ts-release

[Lancer]

I dont know if I should be excited or disappointed. The improvements sound good, but in the grand scheme of things, it's pretty sad we are getting excited about changes that should have been in the game years ago.

[Danimal]

I think what is most concerning is not the people leaving, whether you liked them or not. It's that lot of talent is leaving for the social gaming boom. I think social games like farmville are s***. However there is better pay, more hours and less stress.

Also I'm sure Cam Webber whoever he is wants his own team in place. So while I'm not surprised all these guys are out I am surprised that they gave the lead to the NCAA guy. It's also funny to see the people that left finally spilling the beans on having their hands tied to spend development time on things like Gameflow and Team Play. If that is really the case and iot's marketing making the decisions on what gets added then I doubt new blood is going to make a difference.

Something tells me that madden 12 is going to be the best Madden we see in the next 5-7 years.

[Lancer]

I am glad they are leaving too. Let's get some new people in there that have some passion and fresh ideas, at least we hope. Maybe the crew that is leaving was 'successful' is money making but I found them lacking in evovling the game.

I am glad they gave it to a NCAA guy too. NCAA for most I'd the years has been a better game than madden. If there is no NFL this year maybe the suits won't be so restrictive.

[Rodster]

I am glad they are leaving too. Let's get some new people in there that have some passion and fresh ideas, at least we hope. Maybe the crew that is leaving was 'successful' is money making but I found them lacking in evovling the game.

It's also funny to see the people that left finally spilling the beans on having their hands tied to spend development time on things like Gameflow and Team Play. If that is really the case and iot's marketing making the decisions on what gets added then I doubt new blood is going to make a difference.

^^^ This is the answer, has always been.

It's not the people building the game but the topdown brass telling them what they want the game to be. It's similar to the guys who did NFS Shift. They wanted to make a serious sim racer with the NFS badge. They presented the game to them in that manner and EA told them to balance out the game so in the end it became a mix between sim and arcade while leaning towards arcade.

[GTHobbes]

LoL...just when I thought that nothing from Tiburon would surprise me...

I saw today that one of the d*****bag EA Game Changers said on twitter that Online Franchise info had just been released. When I clicked on the link, I saw this:

"Since we revealed the details of the Offline Franchise mode, the most requested question has been, “What upgrades have you made to Online Franchise mode?” We set aggressive development goals for Madden NFL 12 – from the improvements to Offline Franchise and Superstar modes, to the complete overhaul of visuals, addition of custom playbooks, a new collision system, our yet to be discussed Online Communities feature, and more. When it comes to the tight schedule of an annual development cycle, we have to make tough decisions, and it became apparent as we continued to work through our campaign that there was no way to deliver a deep, fully connected Online Franchise experience that you deserve this year. Therefore, there will be no additions to Online Franchise mode in Madden NFL 12."

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7379417.page

An announcement about a non-announcement. Pretty funny stuff.

[Brando70]

I'm sorry to see it hasn't been improved, but at the same time I can't blame them. It is not used very much. That is likely in part because it was so bare bones, but I don't even think an online franchise that had all of the offline features would be used that much. It's such a niche feature that happens to require a lot of development. I would love to see it but I can see why they haven't made it a priority.

Is NCAA's used that much? Relative to the size of sales, have there been any figures on how many players use it?

[Rodster]

I have never played franchise mode in Madden. In fact I miss Madden not including, "Season Mode". I just like to play along with my team during the NFL season.

[ScoopBrady]

I have never played franchise mode in Madden. In fact I miss Madden not including, "Season Mode". I just like to play along with my team during the NFL season.

Play year 1 of your franchise and stop when it is done.

[XXXIV]

I have never played franchise mode in Madden. In fact I miss Madden not including, "Season Mode". I just like to play along with my team during the NFL season.

Play year 1 of your franchise and stop when it is done.

That just might work!

[Rodster]

I have never played franchise mode in Madden. In fact I miss Madden not including, "Season Mode". I just like to play along with my team during the NFL season.

Play year 1 of your franchise and stop when it is done.

It's all the setup work I don't care for. I just want to see my schedule go to week 1 and play that game. I miss Madden 99, it did a great job presentation wise plus JB introduced Madden and Summerall during the playoffs.

[Brando70]

With this being EA, there's not that much to set up

Seriously, just start a franchise, pick your team, turn off preseason if you like, and set any tasks you don't want to do to auto. You can also turn off stuff like trades. It usually just takes me a few minutes to set up my franchise.

During the week, you should be able to skip anything you don't want to do and just play the regular season games for the first season.

[Lancer]

I think what Rodster was talking about when he meant 'Season' mode is how the old snes/genesis/ps1/early ps2 maddens use to do season. After year 1 ended, you would still have your same team intact but you'd get a new season schedule and continue playing w/ the same rosters for season 2 and so on. I think they only did this up to 4 or 5 seasons in those madden versions.

I too would like to see this come back.

[Danimal]

I'm sorry to see it hasn't been improved, but at the same time I can't blame them. It is not used very much. That is likely in part because it was so bare bones, but I don't even think an online franchise that had all of the offline features would be used that much. It's such a niche feature that happens to require a lot of development. I would love to see it but I can see why they haven't made it a priority.

Is NCAA's used that much? Relative to the size of sales, have there been any figures on how many players use it?

NCAA Online Dynasty are used, if they weren't they wouldn't get improved. This announcement severely pisses me off but I know that things are going to change in a year or two. They brought the guy from NCAA on for a reason he was instrumental in the OD for NCAA. they brought the FIFA guy into run things because he was the only guy smart enough to have a game play and feature team. I guarantee within 3 years Madden will have a physics engine.

Even with all that said I am still pissed. You can't call something a niche mode when it has never been done right to see if it would work. MUT is a niche mode, most hard core guys don't play it but it makes them money. When you see what these community features are about on the 25th that they are so f***in proud over if you're like me you'll be pissed off again. I knew this was coming and I know what is going to be announced and I am still mad.

Basically OF got the same treatment Offline got last year they just couldn't finish it in time so they shelved it. However with a changing of the guard it might get scrapped and started from scratch which could mean another few years before it comes back. Behind the scenes EA is on a 2 year dev cycle on features and engine improvements, they won't ever say that publicly but they are already at work for what is coming in Madden 14.

[Rodster]

I think what Rodster was talking about when he meant 'Season' mode is how the old snes/genesis/ps1/early ps2 maddens use to do season. After year 1 ended, you would still have your same team intact but you'd get a new season schedule and continue playing w/ the same rosters for season 2 and so on. I think they only did this up to 4 or 5 seasons in those madden versions.

I too would like to see this come back.

^^^ This