Madden NFL 25 Video Interview: Total Control Passing, Ball Hawk, Interceptions & More

[Facts]

Absolutely love this Madden Dev team. Heard and seen nothing but great things since they came in in the middle of Madden 12.

[ghettogeeksta]

Not bad, I like that they are improving upon things they have implemented in the past and not just putting them in and neglecting them, I am getting excited about the next-generation of Madden. But not exactly what I wanted to hear, still no WR/DB interactions or jostling and I bet we see the same old 5 catch animations from years past (probably a few new sideline and back of the end-zone catches only.) Hopefully next year passing/catching, and defense as a whole is revamped. I am hoping they can add IE to the passing and catching game and live ball physics giving us many more catch varieties and a more dynamic passing game over all.

[GiantBlue76]

One of my biggest beefs with the Madden development team over the last 8 years has been the lack of effort (and it showed in the final product). I must say, it certainly does seem that this team is definitely putting in the effort. That is very encouraging. They are still far behind, but hopefully with next gen tech they can surpass anything we've ever had before. I desperately want to be able to retire my APF2k8 disc.

This is all encouraging stuff, let's hope the implementation follows suit. That's usually where things have gone awry.

[strawberryshortcake]

Quote: Originally Posted by NDAlum

I loved every single word out of his mouth. As an unofficial leader of the "anti-lead passing crusade" I felt as though he was speakly directly to me!

Maybe I'm mistaken, but isn't lead passing essentially throwing the football to a spot in the field ahead of the receiver so he can go get it, instead of directly throwing the ball to where the receiver is at? Isn't lead passing basically used to throw the receiver open?

If so, how is lead passing a bad thing? Isn't lead passing realistic? If it's overpowering, then you have to program a smarter but a realistic defense.

The one thing I hated about Alex Smith (ex-49er's quarterback, now the Chief's new QB) was that he would never really lead his receiver. He would wait until the receiver was completely open before he would pull the trigger. Aaron Rodgers is one of those elite QBs that knows how to lead his receivers. He throws them open.

In other words, hypothetically, Alex Smith would have zero chance throwing against a Deion Sanders, a Darrelle Revis, lockdown corners because Alex Smith doesn't lead his receivers. Aaron Rodgers hypothetically would be able to pick those corners apart because he leads his receivers. Aaron Rodgers throws his receivers open.

I found this video years ago (NFL FEVER), isn't leading a receiver a realistic feature that needs to stay put and polished? Apparently in NFL Fever, you can literally throw the football to any spot on the field, and the receiver has to literally go get. You can probably start it at around the 2:20 mark. Also look at the 3:15 mark.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by strawberryshortcake

Maybe I'm mistaken, but isn't lead passing essentially throwing the football to a spot in the field ahead of the receiver so he can go get it, instead of directly throwing the ball to where the receiver is at? Isn't lead passing basically used to throw the receiver open? If so, how is lead passing a bad thing? Isn't lead passing realistic? If it's overpowering, then you have to program a smarter but a realistic defense. The one thing I hated about Alex Smith (ex-49er's quarterback, now the Chief's new QB) was that he would never really lead his receiver. He would wait until the receiver was completely open before he would pull the trigger. Aaron Rodgers is one of those elite QBs that knows how to lead his receivers. He throws them open. In other words, hypothetically, Alex Smith would have zero chance throwing against a Deion Sanders, a Darrelle Revis, lockdown corners because Alex Smith doesn't lead his receivers. Aaron Rodgers hypothetically would be able to pick those corners apart because he leads his receivers. Aaron Rodgers throws his receivers open. I found this video years ago (NFL FEVER), isn't leading a receiver a realistic feature that needs to stay put and polished? Apparently in NFL Fever, you can literally throwing the football to any spot on the field, and the receiver has to literally go get. You can probably start it at around the 2:20 mark.

Speaking to your bolded section, the players in madden are tethered to the ball. You can't ever really throw the ball to a spot. That's why they changed their route when you would throw a lead pass. It was ridiculously overpowered and unrealistic. The phrase "throw a receiver open" doesn't mean what the madden team says it means. Throwing to a spot is certainly realistic, but having psychic receivers is not. Madden needs to un-tether the ball from the players and allow the ball to have its own physics engine. This was what 2k and NFL Fever had. That allows for more realistic ball trajectories and paths. It results in more incompletions that hit the ground or more errant throws. While EA football has improved in this area, they need a better physics engine for the ball.

[dghustla]

Quote: Originally Posted by strawberryshortcake

Maybe I'm mistaken, but isn't lead passing essentially throwing the football to a spot in the field ahead of the receiver so he can go get it, instead of directly throwing the ball to where the receiver is at? Isn't lead passing basically used to throw the receiver open? If so, how is lead passing a bad thing? Isn't lead passing realistic? If it's overpowering, then you have to program a smarter but a realistic defense. The one thing I hated about Alex Smith (ex-49er's quarterback, now the Chief's new QB) was that he would never really lead his receiver. He would wait until the receiver was completely open before he would pull the trigger. Aaron Rodgers is one of those elite QBs that knows how to lead his receivers. He throws them open. In other words, hypothetically, Alex Smith would have zero chance throwing against a Deion Sanders, a Darrelle Revis, lockdown corners because Alex Smith doesn't lead his receivers. Aaron Rodgers hypothetically would be able to pick those corners apart because he leads his receivers. Aaron Rodgers throws his receivers open. I found this video years ago (NFL FEVER), isn't leading a receiver a realistic feature that needs to stay put and polished? Apparently in NFL Fever, you can literally throw the football to any spot on the field, and the receiver has to literally go get. You can probably start it at around the 2:20 mark. Also look at the 3:15 mark.

They didn't say it was removed they said it was toned down. In real life if Jermichael Finley is running streak on the right hash. A. Rodgers does not throw the ball outside of the left hash and Finley breaks off his planned path completely to catch a ball thrown 5-10 yards to his left. in real football this does happen from time to time. But it's not something that teams are running routinely for hundreds of yards a game.

The post above me is correct. I'm hoping that with the ignite engine and the implementation of ball physics in NBA Live & FIFA that Madden is up next year. I think the madden determined that blocking was the most important thing to focus on in this cycle.

As previously noted hopefully on Gen 4 with the additional contextual AI calculations we'll see more adaptive coverage and lest robotic predictable coverage.

For Example when running Tampa 2 i'd like to see my MLB staying with the deeps middle threat instead of stopping because he is in a Yellow Zone.

[misterkrabz]

I have zero confidence that game play will different in any recognizable way. Unless my guy on defense jumps precisely when I hit the button they can tweak the AI all they want and it won't amount to much. All they're doing is programming the user control out of the game which is the exact opposite of what they need to do to make things right. The design is flawed and they just keep trying to polish a turd. The "ball hawk" feature is bad game design....all they have to do is make the player respond to user input and not try to program in canned responses to pass defense situations but they refuse to do it.

Listen to the laundry list of "bugs" this guy mentions about' last years game. Those have been problems for 10 years. What is sad is they are incapable of recognizing them in development or they never would have been there. So no, I'm not holding my breath that we'll see anything all that different.

[dghustla]

Quote: Originally Posted by misterkrabz

I have zero confidence that game play will different in any recognizable way. Unless my guy on defense jumps precisely when I hit the button they can tweak the AI all they want and it won't amount to much. All they're doing is programming the user control out of the game which is the exact opposite of what they need to do to make things right. The design is flawed and they just keep trying to polish a turd. The "ball hawk" feature is bad game design....all they have to do is make the player respond to user input and not try to program in canned responses to pass defense situations but they refuse to do it. Listen to the laundry list of "bugs" this guy mentions about' last years game. Those have been problems for 10 years. What is sad is they are incapable of recognizing them in development or they never would have been there. So no, I'm not holding my breath that we'll see anything all that different.

I agree that Ball Hawk takes the "user" out of a user interception. Did you watch the interview? The guy just acknowledged that there was a disconnect before. That once they added features, in the past that was it. Regardless of how many exploits came from it. He said moving forward that each year they are going reevaluate those features and make adjustments until they feel comfortable that there are no exploits. EA is not taking a loss on Madden but they are not maximizing Madden's profitability for the exclusive license. And they are taking a beating in public as being one of the worst companies in the US. I strongly feel that under this new leadership they are committed to making a better game with this current team. They are now partners with Microsoft, partnerships come with expectations and especially expectations of quality. EA knows they need to start delivering on GEN 4 right out the gate.