Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

[Big FN Deal]

I think it's a good thing they have gone with more available commentators which hopefully increases the time they have to record together and amount of content. It's also nice to see them reference the voice actor element, something done well in other games, that can hopefully all mesh to create a much improved experience. I'm personally not looking for commentary that blows me away, the bar for me is just don't hurt my immersion by being so disjointed or having jarring moments, that make me immediately take notice in a bad way. If by some chance there are some cool, rarely heard moments that make me laugh or fit well with a unexpected situation, all the better but I'm happy if it all just flows well.

What I wonder is even with the potential of a new commentary team, have they been able to address the dead air issues or just the general issue with commentary flow. I'm inclined to think not enough because it seems to me, at least part of the crux of the issue with commentary flow and timing is the lack of controlled pacing on the field. I harp on real time this and that alot because pacing in football and consequently a football video game, have a large impact on timing and flow. While I'd like to see complete real time pacing with personnel coming on/off the field, until that is achieved, it seems Madden still needs some kind of organized intervals for pacing, so commentary, as well as overall presentation, can flow.

Over the years Madden had cultivated a "button through" mindset and focused on getting a game over with as fast as possible, which is fine if you have a separate "quick play" mode of some kind, where it's probably best commentary and most presentation just be turned off but it doesn't work well when applied to traditional game presentation. I think something like an option for real time presentation, which has been done in other games, would inherently provide better flow and elevate Madden commentary and presentation as a whole.

[strawberryshortcake]

Quote: Originally Posted by jfsolo

Of course it's never going to really compare to live broadcasting, but given the constraints of the medium right now, it looks to be a significant improvement from what has come before. So people are excited within the context of the recognizing the limitations of it being a video game.

The hope is to get it as close to live broadcast as possible.

Let me reworded this way.

Even if we take out all the external live broadcast cues, my hope is that these two individuals aren't simply voice acting a handed script. My hope is for them to either commentate on multiple real NFL games or the replay of a real NFL game weekly in studio, with the Madden team extracting commentary from these sessions. There's a difference when trying to commentate on live real NFL footage versus commentating on someone playing Madden or watching a Madden CPU vs CPU matchup.

If the team needs more specific lines for specific video game situations, then try to match it up with these mock broadcasts. Or better yet, team Madden compile real game footage that meets the video game situations and have Gaudin and Davis commentate on those.

My hope is the expressions conveyed are consistent.

[aguero90]

I can hear that, a bit. Same cadence, but Tom's voice is a bit deeper, with a little more twang.

[Nature_Boy]

I never cared much for Phil Simms. He and Cris Collinsworth are like nails on a chalkboard to me so I'm not sad to see Simms go. I'm liking what we have read about the new commentary team so far. It sounds like it will be a welcome change.

[DeuceDouglas]

I won't be convinced one way or another until we get at least a half or hopefully a full game of commentary. It could be great or it could be more or less the same as it's been the last several years. I went back and watched Madden 13's presentation trailer and they play the same exact bit of intro as they do here and it sounds just like Nantz does on Sunday. But obviously that didn't exactly pan out as well as we would have hoped. The fact that they can record more and provide weekly updates could be great as long as it's executed well and provides new, useful content. If I'm hearing the exact same QB intros every game or hearing about Cam's tough SB50 loss in 2024 and the flow isn't natural from pre to post play then it's still going to suffer.

[aguero90]

I agree, reserve judgment until we hear it in game.

[jpdavis82]

Sim and the guys on the sim standard said the commentary is probably one of the best in sports games now and definitely the best football game commentary to date and they were still early in development.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpdavis82

Sim and the guys on the sim standard said the commentary is probably one of the best in sports games now and definitely the best football game commentary to date and they were still early in development. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Of course we can't accurately judge this claim until we've heard it in-game and we all would like it to be the case but it does seem a bit premature for anyone to make this claim in June. Until at least about a month after release, having had the opportunity to hear it in many modes and repetitively, I don't see how it can be compared against past sports or football game commentary.