Madden NFL 11 News Post

Madden NFL 11 Introduces Online Scouting

06:25 PM - June 1, 2010 by Kevin26385

Madden NFL 11 introduces online scouting. Check it out, over at ESPN.

Quote:


	"I like to throw the curl route on first down in "Madden." Prefer to throw it to the receiver on the right side of the screen. I have the timing down so perfect in my head that I can usually do it without even looking. Eight yards to open the drive. As John Madden used to say, "Boom!" And it's funny, I know my tendencies, a couple of my best friends know what I've been up to for years, but when I go online and play random people, that curl route is still always open. But not for long. With "Madden NFL 11," EA Sports is tracking your every play in order to deliver scouting reports to your online opponents. So now, whether I'm playing against a "Madden" vet in Sacramento or a newbie in Denver, all they need to do is order up my report and they'll know my tendencies as well as the people I've been playing "Madden" against since high school. "Online scouting tracks all of your play-calling and what you like to do in different situations," explains producer Donny Moore. "We're tracking every online game that you play: online ranked, unranked, and 'Madden Ultimate Team' head-to-head."

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Member Comments

# 61 datboitex8 @ 06/02/10 11:01 AM

was loving the feature until it said that you cant use it for online franchise. Now its a pointless feature......to me at least

# 62 ODogg @ 06/02/10 11:02 AM

Haha, exactly man, exactly! Better put all your virtual money in a virtual bank somewhere. Or maybe your virtual mattress!!

# 63 ODogg @ 06/02/10 11:04 AM

I don't think it's undermined much by allowing folks to pay real money for coins. Does anyone really think these punk cheesers who play the game constantly are going to put real money into the game? The number of people who really will pay for this instead of simply finishing games will be a very, very low percentage.

# 64 datboitex8 @ 06/02/10 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	Wait a minute!! Wait a minute!! WAIT - A - MINUTE!!! Did I read this correctly? So people that play in online franchises don't want the ability to scout their opponents? That makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Isn't someone that's a member of an online franchise a hardcore, competitive, head to head gamer as well? In fact, they may be more hardcore and more competitive than your average online gamer. Most people would think they would want to scout their opponents as well. In fact, members of an online franchise would want to scout their opponents MORE than regular head to head guys because they actually have something on the line when they play, like a chance to win the division or a chance to make the playoffs or a chance to play in the freakin ONLINE FRANCHISE SUPERBOWL!!! WTF? WTF? WTF? I really really really hope I don't get in trouble for this post, but that line is pure BS right there and I gotta call it. Think about this. You join an online franchise, build up your team with talent over several seasons, battle through a grueling 16 game schedule, and fight through 2 or 3 grueling playoff games to make it to the Superbowl. There you are, trying to win the ultimate prize of your online franchise and playing in the most important game of the season. You want to scout your opponent thoroughly because this is an important game, but you can't because someone over at EA thought that it wasn't important for opponent scouting to be in online franchise. Yet, you can go online for a quick meaningless game and have all the scouting tools you want. lol WTF EA? Now I have no problem with the feature itself. I think it is rather nice actually. The problem I have is with it not being in online franchise. Oh wait a minute, I get it now. Most online franchise groups would not allow members to purchase scouting tools to be fair, so EA would not make any money if this feature was in online franchise. Oh and you can't give coins for online games in franchise because they play so many of them and they could use those coins in online head to head so EA would not make money there as well. Ahh so I see why it's not in online franchise now. There is no money to be made by putting this in online franchise. All of the "features" that have been announced so far have been less than impressive to me and they finally announce something that I am very interested in and they half-a it..........again. This would be perfect for online franchise. sigh Well, what can you do? That's EA. Now to some other aspects of this before I really blow my gasket. I think their intentions are right with this idea, I just think that it won't be that effective against a real true cheeser. I mean if there is a guy that only runs 4 plays all game, then you know he's only running 4 plays by the end of the first qtr. If you can't stop it now, you want be able to stop it later either, even with a scouting report. Also, in those pics, it looks like they're in game while they're scouting. Well, if I remember correctly, during the live chat on gameplan/gameflow, the dev said you can't change your gameplan during the game, so you either stick to the gameplan whether it will work or not, which defeats the purpose of the scouting tool, or you have to start calling your own plays, which defeats the purpose of gameplan. Yep, it looks like, thanks to their own doing, you either use one of EA's features or the other. It just seems like scouting and gameplanning would go together, but that's not the case with EA lol. Oh well, I've said my piece. I surely hope the mods take it easy on me with this one. I just had to get it off my chest. EDIT: This also makes gameflow useless as well. It doesn't matter that YOU know that your opponent runs to the right on 3rd and short every time. What matters is if GAMEFLOW knows your opponent runs to the right on 3rd and short every time and, according to the devs, the defensive call is based on the formation of the offense. Sooo, just like with gameplan, you either use gameflow regardless if it will work or not, which defeats the purpose of scouting or you have to call your own play, which defeats the purpose of gameflow. sigh**

great post bro, eveything i wanted to say

# 65 ExtremeGamer @ 06/02/10 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ODogg


	I don't think it's undermined much by allowing folks to pay real money for coins. Does anyone really think these punk cheesers who play the game constantly are going to put real money into the game? The number of people who really will pay for this instead of simply finishing games will be a very, very low percentage.

The thing is, no one knows how many coins you will earn for playing games. If you are only earning a fraction of what it costs to get a report (even your own), then yes, it's a poorly implemented feature.

IMO, remove any aspect of paying any real money for these then removes any aspect of EA being "sneaky" in any way. That way people are forced to play games, and have to pick and choose your reports.

But no, the almighty dollar still comes into play, and by that ruining this "feature", IMO of course.

# 66 noshun @ 06/02/10 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExtremeGamer


	The thing is, no one knows how many coins you will earn for playing games. If you are only earning a fraction of what it costs to get a report (even your own), then yes, it's a poorly implemented feature. IMO, remove any aspect of paying any real money for these then removes any aspect of EA being "sneaky" in any way. That way people are forced to play games, and have to pick and choose your reports. But no, the almighty dollar still comes into play, and by that ruining this "feature", IMO of course.

Oh the way you put that down so eloquently, deserves the

. Hope people can see both sides of the debate here.

# 67 ODogg @ 06/02/10 12:05 PM

As long as they keep the options like these as a choice between doing something in game to earn it vs. real, cold hard cash I don't understand why anyone would oppose it. It's a choice. If you don't want to pay it then earn it in the game. Some people don't have time to play games all the time and don't mind spending $1 or $2 on some options in games. I agree with you it would suck if that was the only way to do something like this in a game but it's not, it's just one way of two.

In regards to how much you earn vs. how much it costs, I'm sure that it will be reasonable to assume that at very minimum you earn enough by completing one game to scout another. Otherwise it would force people to pay and EA knows that's a good way to outrage the community.

# 68 Koolie G @ 06/02/10 12:30 PM

I gotta agree with splff3000 above. This feature not being in online franchise is laughable. I like this feature and it would be very useful in an online franchise. If they can let you pay for a Recruiting Advisor or whatever it was called in NCAA 10 and it could be used in online dynasties, then they should let you use this in online franchise.

I also shouldn't have to pay for my own scouting report and it should keep this for ALL of the games I play, not just online games. I don't play randoms online because of all the cheese, but I do play a lot of NCAA and Madden online in franchises and dynasties. No reason I shouldn't be able to scout my own tendencies so I could call a more well rounded game or play the chess game on third down. For example, when my scouting report says I'm going to the slot receiver over the middle 80% of the time when it's 3rd down and more than 8, and I catch my opponent shading and playing for that and BOOM I throw a streak down the sideline to an outside receiver and beat his safety who was thinking I was going over the middle. I can figure those things out on my own if I've played that person enough, but if the game is gonna track it for me, it should be available to me to at least see my own.

# 69 Sausage @ 06/02/10 12:41 PM

If this works and my A.I. teammates are up to snuff, I will try online more. For Madden 10 I only played online 3 times; that is not a lot.

# 70 K_GUN @ 06/02/10 12:43 PM

some of you cats may want to check out something called *Twitter*

Ian tweeted earlier this AM that they are working to get it into OF

just an fyi

http://twitter.com/ian_cummings

# 71 oneamongthefence @ 06/02/10 01:06 PM

Maybe they'll add the ability to watch online franchise games instead to scout your oPponent.

# 72 Rocky @ 06/02/10 04:32 PM

Just a bad move by EA (I won't say the Madden team). It's about perception. People don't like almost unlocking a potentially solid feature only to find out you have to pay for it if you want the full capabilities.

Either it should be free or you have to play more online games to unlock the feature. This extra pay stuff really has no business in a $60 annual football title.

# 73 MattIntellect @ 06/02/10 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocky


	Just a bad move by EA (I won't say the Madden team). It's about perception. People don't like almost unlocking a potentially solid feature only to find out you have to pay for it if you want the full capabilities. Either it should be free or you have to play more online games to unlock the feature. This extra pay stuff really has no business in a $60 annual football title.

There is no extra pay. You earn the coins by completing online games which can be used for the scouting reports instead of real money. Using real money or MS Points are optional.

# 74 MattIntellect @ 06/02/10 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumervil


	Has this been confirmed? Would be excellent if true

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelman990


	And for ps3??? If this is free, and an award for playing online games, then its a nice addition.

I would think that the same thing would apply to both consoles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Robinson (ESPN videogames)


	But how do you unlock these scouting reports? "Madden" producer Phil Frazier provides the details: "Scouting is a consumable. So you earn coins in every online game that you play as long as you don't quit or disconnect. You can then spend these coins on scouting reports or other things within the game (gamers will also be able to use real money to buy coin packs or scouting packs, but the prices are not final). It's the same economy that drives 'Madden Ultimate Team.' So you can literally be playing 'Madden Ultimate Team' online, earn some coins, then turn around and either buy a pack of cards or a scouting pack. The economy drives a lot more this year than just 'Madden Ultimate Team, but we're not talking dollars per scouting report here. You're earning these coins by playing 'Madden' online, so this isn't a money-grab for us. This is about building up your online skills. We're trying to provide a competitive advantage and we're presenting it to you in a way that's authentic to the sport of football.'"

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/vide...more=fullstory

# 75 Valdarez @ 06/02/10 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ODogg


	For you guys complaining about having to pay even virtual coins for these reports, do you not realize that this is in our benefit to have it this way? Encouraging people to stick with games and finish to get coins is a great idea. Just making the reports free would only accomplish half of what this is trying to do. Not only is this allowing you to get a scouting report, it's encouraging people to quit just disconnecting from games, something almost all of us have always complained about.

People who quit are just going to quit. It's an emotional response. Doesn't Madden provide the ability to forfiet after you are behind? I seem to recall that from the last time I played online in Madden '07. I never minded when others forfeited. I actually liked that better than APF2K8 because there was no way to forfeit in APF2K8 and players did actually disconnect a lot.

I loved the VIP feature in 2K's game, and I'm sure I'll like it in Madden as well. Hope there's something like that available for the offline franchise when we play (some way to scout our opponents would be a neat addition). Now if I were playing online, I wouldn't want to have to pay $$$ simply to have it available at any time however. Just give us the feature and let us use it.

# 76 K_GUN @ 06/02/10 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelman990


	Would have been a cool free* feature. Remember when your $60 covered all the new features? I remember when $20 covered it. Good times.*

i remember when school lunch milk money was a dime....and gas was under a 1.00$.

THOSE were good times

# 77 ODogg @ 06/02/10 05:48 PM

Well for one, having it in-game for access by situation is a huge improvement IMO..

# 78 ODogg @ 06/02/10 05:56 PM

Yeah, a little bit of EA bashing makes some folks days a little less dreary..

# 79 ODogg @ 06/02/10 06:16 PM

No, our day is only made less dreary by demonizing uninformed opinions

# 80 splff3000 @ 06/02/10 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	Now to some other aspects of this before I really blow my gasket. I think their intentions are right with this idea, I just think that it won't be that effective against a real true cheeser. I mean if there is a guy that only runs 4 plays all game, then you know he's only running 4 plays by the end of the first qtr. If you can't stop it now, you want be able to stop it later either, even with a scouting report. Also, in those pics, it looks like they're in game while they're scouting. Well, if I remember correctly, during the live chat on gameplan/gameflow, the dev said you can't change your gameplan during the game, so you either stick to the gameplan whether it will work or not, which defeats the purpose of the scouting tool, or you have to start calling your own plays, which defeats the purpose of gameplan. Yep, it looks like, thanks to their own doing, you either use one of EA's features or the other. It just seems like scouting and gameplanning would go together, but that's not the case with EA lol. Oh well, I've said my piece. I surely hope the mods take it easy on me with this one. I just had to get it off my chest. EDIT: This also makes gameflow useless as well. It doesn't matter that YOU know that your opponent runs to the right on 3rd and short every time. What matters is if GAMEFLOW knows your opponent runs to the right on 3rd and short every time and, according to the devs, the defensive call is based on the formation of the offense. Sooo, just like with gameplan, you either use gameflow regardless if it will work or not, which defeats the purpose of scouting or you have to call your own play, which defeats the purpose of gameflow. sigh

It looks like some of you just glossed over these 2 paragraphs so I ask again, How will you be able to use gameflow and gameplan with this scouting feature? Since the scouting is in game and you can't change your gameplan for gameflow in game, doesn't that make using a gameplan useless. For example, if your gameplan is to run the ball up the middle on most of your plays and the scouting report shows that your opponent likes to jam the middle a lot, what are you going to do? You can't change your gameplan. So you either stop using gameplan and call your own plays based on scouting or you continue using gameplan and disregard what the scouting report showed you. Either way, the use of one defeats the purpose of using the other. None of this would be an issue though, if you got a scouting report before you played the game, you know, like in real life.

Also, with regards to gameflow, if you want to use it, what purpose does the scouting report have? Gameflow isn't looking at the scouting report. It's looking at the plays you have for certain situations (offense ) or the plays you have for offensive formations (defense) and what star rating you gave the plays. If you're gonna use gameflow the scouting tool is useless.

So if we decide to use scouting that means we can't use gameplan or gameflow.

Forget about all that though. What about the simple fact that scouting is part of the game of football, not just the NFL, but all of football. I remember when I was in middle school, our football coach, would go to other schools games if we didn't have one to check on our competition. They scout in middle school, high school, college, and in the pros. So why do I have to EARN the ability to scout? It's almost like saying I have to earn the ability to throw a pass. They're both a part of the game of football. What makes it even worse is by doing this for online head to head games, EA shows that they can do it, but they're not gonna do it for no one but online head to head guys. They're saying screw the rest of you guys. If you like to play head to head games offline.......F-U!!! You don't get to scout. lol, it's so funny because, in my head, I can see a guy in a tight Tiburon shirt giving the middle finger to all the offline head to head guys.

Also, to the Madden Security Team, I hope you guys realize that most people don't have a problem with the feature itself, it's just the implementation, or lack there of, that has people peeved. The fact that it's not in online franchise, even though it would be more suited for online franchise, is one example. I know Ian tweeted that they are working on getting it in OF, but that just makes me wonder, are they still working to get salary cap into OF? The same thing was said about salary cap last year and, to this day, there has been no sign what so ever of a salary cap in OF. So please forgive me if I don't fill my pants full of joy pee because he said he's TRYING to get it in. I fell for that one last year.

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