Madden NFL 10 Blog: Player Ratings - A New Philosophy, A New Era

[Hotlanta]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

Speaking of the Speed, which is always a hot topic, we made some major changes with the infamous SPD rating as well. To give you a great example, I will again go back to WR and CB. In Madden NFL 09, the WR SPD range was 85-100…CB was 87-99. In Madden NFL 10, WR SPD range is currently 70-100…CB is currently 75-99. So as you may or may not tell, the SPD range has been pushed down, in our opinions, to better reflect the “sim-gameplay” style that Ian and Phil have been telling you about all winter long. This SPD change has been updated for each position, so it makes a huge game play affect. Ian and I had a game the other day where Earnest Graham broke one up the middle for a 55 yard touchdown run… and he could not be caught!…E-Grahams’ Madden NFL 10 current SPD rating….80 SPD. That should give you a good sense of what is possible with the new ratings. It’s not all about having the 90+ SPD anymore. On this particular run, Ian’s CB’s got hung up against some blockers and all I had to do was beat one safety and Graham was gone! He had Brandon Jacobs and his 85 SPD breaking some long runs as well. On the flip side of bigger/slower backs, Chris Johnson is absolutely lethal right now. You can actually get him outside with sweeps now and he is a beast to stop. But again, we are constantly tuning the gameplay, we have an entire team dedicated to that and they are some of the best people we have in the building.

Hearing the fact that someone with 80 speed can hit those long runs as well is great to know now

Reading this made me think of something though. Has the little turnover thing been adjusted where it looks like the fastest DB's are struggling to outrun linemen/quarterbacks/etc. at times?

[splff3000]

This is great news!!! I used to actually do this myself in franchise mode on the ps2. This is gonna be great!!

[rickywal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

IMO this has been one of the most drastic changes in a long while when it comes to core gameplay. There is a lot of tuning to do (as Donny says), but holy crap does it really make fatigue, injuries, and the depth of your team really MATTER again. As an example, if Peyton goes down and Sorgi comes in...oh boy. You better get that run game going.

Awesome news. I will also mean a big difference in playing 2 backs - the ol' thunder & Lightning! I guess a big difference for specialist players - the pass rusher, recieving and blocking TEs & the run stuffer on short yardage plays!

It would be so awesome to incorporate 'package depth charts'. Along with your standard everydowns depth chart when selecting your play you can select your 'short yardage package', your power back comes in and maybe even swap in blocking TE etc. This means you can use your teams depth to your advantage rather than just in injuries and when fatigue kicks in! And is pretty realistic (you see it on sunday).

Loving your work guys! Super psyched for Maddden 10!!!

[peteykirch]

So you are telling me that the fast players will have an even easier time this year?

[SteelerSpartan]

Will any of these changes help elusive Qb's Like Roethlisberger, McNabb, and Romo avoid pass rushers...And Im not saying just being able to scramble to the right an chuck either


I mean "extending the pocket". Ben's Performance in the Super Bowl was the epitome of what Im talking about. Doing that is what makes him so great. He consistently avoids 2 or 3 guys. As it is was in 09, his greatest ability was nerfed and he barely avoided anyone


Is that more of a ratings problem?? or more of a not having enough animations to reflect what he does???

And is there anything being done to fix that??

[djordan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

[Side note: One of my personal goals is to have the actual NFL players in Madden NFL 10 look like their real-life counterparts and play to their strengths and weaknesses like never before in a football video game.]

GREAT NEWS...BUT I LIKED THE QUOTED PART ABOVE!!!

[Jono078]

This is awesome, I always felt ratings were too high.

As long as you can take your 70 rated rookie QB and turn him into a 96 OVR in franchise that'll be good.

Because if the current progression system stays the same they will never go over 85 OVR.

Also this should impact the CPU generated drafts and rookies in franchise.

[FootballDetails]

Great change! It makes sense to "stretch the ratings."

My immediate concern would be that an average CB would never be able to cover a star WR. Also, if the new ratings philosophy somehow makes the Cowboys into an even bigger juggernaut, then that's not good.

However, I trust you guys to find a way to make it work. Here's one way: defensive assignments.

Thanks for the blog and tune with care!