Madden NFL 11 Interview: Online Team Play With Ian Cummings (ESPN Videogames)

[Steve_OS]

ESPN Videogames has posted an interview with Ian Cummings, as they discuss Madden NFL 11's online team play.

Quote:

"Playing as the Dolphins, I was Ronnie Brown while "Madden" producer Ian Cummings was quarterback Chad Henne. On one play, I was supposed to run a short pass route over the middle, but when the defense blitzed, Cummings was forced to scramble to the right. I saw he was in trouble, broke off my route and sprinted to the right and hollered for the ball. He hit me in stride for the first down and the sense of teamwork gave me a sense of accomplishment in "Madden" that I can't really remember. Then again, next play we ran the wildcat and Cummings missed the block causing Brown to get smacked by a hard-hitting corner. "My bad," is all Cummings could say. But again, this sense of teamwork and not wanting to mess up for your team really adds a lot to the game. It's one thing to lose a game by yourself against some faceless online opponent. Who cares. But blow a game with two of your buddies playing by your side and you might never hear the end of it. After our game, I had the chance to sit down with Cummings to get his thoughts on "Madden's" online team play feature and why the design team decided to stick with only offering 3-on-3."

[PBlast]

I'm always a Madden optimist, so naturally this seems pretty cool to me. I think it would be great to eventually be able to have created players, maybe even one at every position, but like Ian said it's not in the cards for this year. With Franchise taking a step back this year to set up for Madden 12, I think this is a good filler, I'm looking forward to it.

[djordan]

Can we disable the online team play perks?

[PantherBeast_OS]

Sounds good. Going to be interesting how 3on3 is going to pan out.

[DaveDQ]

Sounds like a lot of fun.

[sois]

I actually think this will be cool. You will really be able to see how the Madden physics works when one player is a WR and one is a CB in man coverage. This is a good way to fine tune those positions to correctly utilize the ratings.

It would be awesome to have some real NFL players drive their counterparts. For example, having Ochocinco run his WR and Revis control his CB. They could provide tremendous feedback on responsiveness and realism.