Madden NFL 10 Video: Franchise Hub & Extra Point Show (IGN)

[feeq14]

Adding some kind of real time replay element too this would be amazing. I want ot see game highlights, even if its just some pre canned stuff that gets old after a while it would still be cool too see.

[HealyMonster]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaveDQ

You have to appreciate what the Madden team is doing. They have never given this type of game add-on a true look and are now doing so. That being said, it's too celebrity heavy and not offering much in the actual depth of what happened. The voice acting is aged, with the "State Team's Name" and quick stat following that. It's very unnatural. In bringing up 2K, I think that's where they were able to do a little better, especially with the Berman highlights.

Well from a "realistic persons standpoint" I look at what they did this year and I know them having the "live people" there instead of taking the time to do the animation and artwork with voice acting is a time crunch decision and im sure the nfl network was geeked out about being included so I see how we got to this point.

My worries are about the future. Im not so sure Madden looks at this as the starting point. They could get to unheard of points by adding stuff to this, as an example they can go in and add city skylines, to pregame and end of quarter, custom soundtracks, and highlights with announcing during them but i am nervous that this isnt their vision or something. I am worried that they are content and this will be the presentation for a few years now.

Next year they cant just use the same extra point show and add onto it. They have to do a whole new version from the ground up. If it were animated, they could change clothes and add audio and animations while keeping what they had thus building up an even more dynamic thing each year.

[x1Blumpkin1x]

Quote: Originally Posted by LAKE4742

You can add me to the "do it right or don't do it at all" camp. I understand Ian doesn't want to carbon copy 2K5, but this is the NFL! 2K5 did so many things right, but more importantly accurate, so just swallow your pride and get it all in there! I do think it's a little sad that we (regular folk) can instantly point out the lack of enthusiasm of the commentators, or lack of highlights. It's just something else to add to EA's reputation of things that don't make sense, and probaly have no good reason for being absent-except laziness. This is supposed to be a sim, not Ian's little pet project. These kinds of flaws are no better than what David Ortiz was doing. Just give us a damn NFL sim! Yes, this game seems to be headed in a very good direction, but still, the same ol' laziness is evident. If it's not laziness, then it's simply lack of skill. No excuses, now or ever. Get it together, EA.

I don't think it is fair to accuse the developers of laziness or a lack of skill. You have no idea what forces outside of development may be directing what they can implement. Was it necessarily the sound engineers who decided on the commentators for the highlights? Maybe despite how they are on TV their ability to record individual, unconnected lines was terrible.

There are only so many hours in the day, they only have so many developers on staff. And as a professional software developer for 12 years, I can tell you more does not always equal better. Maybe there are other development priorities that we don't know about. Perhaps they implemented a new unit testing framework that will cut down dramatically on bugs. Not a marketing feature but would benefit the consumer. There are so many things regarding the development of this product that we don't know about, and that the developers don't even have control over.

I for one think Madden has taken a huge leap since '09. Based on what I have seen and the obvious passion for the game from the staff I have preordered Madden 10 despite all EA Sports titles being on my list of rent only. I don't know how anyone could compare the community interaction and what looks to be serious improvements in the game to any iteration over the past few years.

[DaveDQ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Renegade44

Well from a "realistic persons standpoint" I look at what they did this year and I know them having the "live people" there instead of taking the time to do the animation and artwork with voice acting is a time crunch decision and im sure the nfl network was geeked out about being included so I see how we got to this point. My worries are about the future. Im not so sure Madden looks at this as the starting point. They could get to unheard of points by adding stuff to this, as an example they can go in and add city skylines, to pregame and end of quarter, custom soundtracks, and highlights with announcing during them but i am nervous that this isnt their vision or something. I am worried that they are content and this will be the presentation for a few years now. Next year they cant just use the same extra point show and add onto it. They have to do a whole new version from the ground up. If it were animated, they could change clothes and add audio and animations while keeping what they had thus building up an even more dynamic thing each year.

Good points. As it stands, I'd keep the guy introducing the show and then use him for the highlights. Keep all the overlays there and let him talk through them, using a little more of variety in word choice. If you listen to the halftime show, he introduces it and she follows with just about the same words.

They also need to round off the flow of sentence structure. It's too robotic.

Again, I understand that this is not the main focus of the game, so we're not going to see the first iteration all polished and perfected. I do hope they keep at it.

[bigsmallwood]

This was a nice start for EA...but 2K5's halftime show obliterates this by a mile! I still think Madden 10 will be a great game in the gameplay department...but this halftime show seems a little stilted in the delivery. There was no commentary on Mannings interception in the endzone or any of the halves big plays. IDK

I know people are tired of saying NEXT year, but this is something I felt should have been nailed the first time through. And it would not kill EA to give the commentary especially of the highlights more life, if you will. It just seems very stale...even though the music is GREAT and FITTING...we need that commentary and it has to be excited like the PA Announcer guy from MAdden 08! Or charismatic like Berman in 2K4 & 2K5....oh well, we will see.

*for now NFL 2K5 stays in my tray even after I buy Madden 10'. Good work though Ian and Co.

[DorneyDave]

I may be in the minority, but I prefer real people to a virtually animated, and somewhat creepy Chris Berman.

Although, I can't stand the real Chris Berman either so my opinion may be clouded.

[Bgamer90]

Quote: Originally Posted by LAKE4742

You can add me to the "do it right or don't do it at all" camp. I understand Ian doesn't want to carbon copy 2K5, but this is the NFL! 2K5 did so many things right, but more importantly accurate, so just swallow your pride and get it all in there! I do think it's a little sad that we (regular folk) can instantly point out the lack of enthusiasm of the commentators, or lack of highlights. It's just something else to add to EA's reputation of things that don't make sense, and probaly have no good reason for being absent-except laziness. This is supposed to be a sim, not Ian's little pet project. These kinds of flaws are no better than what David Ortiz was doing. Just give us a damn NFL sim! Yes, this game seems to be headed in a very good direction, but still, the same ol' laziness is evident. If it's not laziness, then it's simply lack of skill. No excuses, now or ever. Get it together, EA.

So the fact that 2k5 did things better in their halftime show automatically makes EA lazy?

Man come on people... if they didn't do anything you guys would be complaining and now that they made a good effort considering everything else they did to the game this year people still bash them. IMO the interface is much better and I also like that they are using real people. So while 2k5's halftime show does things better than madden 10's, madden 10's halftime show does things better than 2k5's imo. Also, many people wanted the Tony Bruno Radio show back and I'm pretty sure that we can all agree that the madden 10 extra point show is way better than that.

Also, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the madden 10 half-time/extra point show is better than the shows in sports games like NBA 2k9, and MLB 09. Like don't get me wrong, there's problems with the madden 10 shows, but I honestly can't complain much.

[countryboy]

I don't think its fair to call the Phil/Ian and their crew lazy or view any portion of Madden '10 as half assed given where this series was a year ago compared to where it is this year.

Yes, there are plenty of more things that the Madden series needs to tweak/implement/and focus on, but that shouldn't take away from the strides that this series made in a year. Its my opinion, and many others from reading various boards/previews, that the comparison from '09 & '10 is night and day.

And we can talk about how long it took to get here until we're blue in the face. The bottom line is that we are here now. What's the ol'saying, better late than never?