Madden NFL 15 Video & Blog - War In The Trenches 2.0

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

I messaged Clint about one of the issues we were seeing in the videos for war in the trenches. This is what is so frustrating because in the videos (all of which we have seen), are not only quick sacks. We saw gameplay video from E3 and you could clearly see O Lineman getting beat on the play and just standing there letting the guy run by unabated to the QB. The implementation seems to not line up with what Clint is saying. I would love to be proven wrong here. Also, simply chasing the pass rusher is not all that's needed. How about pulls, grabs and attempted shoves - basically a lineman struggling to catch up. I would also be curious to know how many "beat" animations there are. There doesn't seem to be many.

What we see is what we get. Probably will be the same story as the catch animations. It worked one day. The game ships with it not working due to time constraints. Either they don't want to pay to patch it, or the fix will take too long. It's put on the list for "next year". They'll say this NOW works because we tuned this, and it still won't be that great, lol.

Either you tolerate Madden or you don't. At least we have a forum to discuss it. It ain't the exclusive license, it aint the leadership, it's the coders/programmers/legacy code, and the suits who don't want to pay to have it fixed because it sells as is.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

Why is everyone always acting like it isn't happening? Madden sales were down almost 40% last year. http://www.operationsports.com/news/...tly-this-year/ I actually bought the game new for 5 bucks last year off a kindle offer. I wonder how many of the counted sales of 25 were at discount prices like mine or black Friday deals. People are speaking with their wallets. Maybe not as many as there should be but a noticeable amount. The NFL is just too greedy to give a Damn about what their fans really want.

That is a really misleading link. One, it only takes into account first week sales. Two, it doesnt take into account the next gen sales because its from September. Three, total Madden sales dropped but not by 40%. They dropped from 5 mil to 4 mil.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by treq21

Sales of the game are down...so is it really working anymore?

Yes because they are selling 4 million games! Its EA's biggest US sports game and the biggest US sports game.

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

What we see is what we get. Probably will be the same story as the catch animations. It worked one day. The game ships with it not working due to time constraints. Either they don't want to pay to patch it, or the fix will take too long. It's put on the list for "next year". They'll say this NOW works because we tuned this, and it still won't be that great, lol. Either you tolerate Madden or you don't. At least we have a forum to discuss it. It ain't the exclusive license, it aint the leadership, it's the coders/programmers/legacy code, and the suits who don't want to pay to have it fixed because it sells as is.

Also might have to do with egos. I remember when AJ went in on twitter he said they added all these nice features and one dude came in and ****ed it all up. Changed everything. It has got to be frustrating working at Tiburon on this series. Either their tech doesn't work as well as advertised, or they don't have the right people taking advantage of it.

[BezO]

Quote: Originally Posted by MajorSupreme

See, I agree but here's my problem with this logic. How do you get at least a third of consumers, a majority being MUT fanatics, to not buy Madden? I mean, even if you get the majority of OS to speak with their wallets, that's nothing to the millions they'd sell anyway.

You nor I have to get anyone to do anything. Folks unhappy with the game have to recognize the condradiction of funding a product they don't like.

But I don't want to derail the thread.

I'm not feeling the War In The Trenches. It SOUNDS good. But once I see it, it's the same win/lose scenario, with more controls. Nothing in between, no struggle, no attempts to recover. Everything is still based on engaging 1st. They talk about speed rushers but don't show speed rushing. They are confusing speed & finesse.

I did see 1 instance of an AI teammate doing something new. Packers DT collapsing the pocket at 1:21. Very nice!

The steering looks good. It's the best feature I've heard about so far. If it's implemented well and non-user controlled players use it regularly, and in the correct context, sweet! But none of the vids show this thus far. Hopefully it can be tuned.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

That report is only comparing first week sales in a console release year. Since we don't have anything but speculative figures otherwise it's a reach to claim victory either direction in that argument. Madden was still top 5 (#4) in December after the new consoles released, as it was the year before (#5) and then #6 the year before that. Relative to market changes that would seem to indicate it is doing OK. Sales are healthy or we'd see big changes in the organization because it's too valuable of a franchise. It's not a really strong position to debate over for either side, YoY first week sales are not an apples to apples comparison.

What does top 5 in December really mean either? Those are black Friday deals and gift sales. First week sales tell the better story. Are people willing to pay 59.99 for the title? Was it a highly anticipated release? EA just like every other developer is quick to point out strong madden opening weeks like madden 13.

It's like the movies. Opening weekend is what matters even it holiday DVD sales make studios good revenue.

[mestevo]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

What does top 5 in December really mean either? Those are black Friday deals and gift sales. First week sales tell the better story. Are people willing to pay 59.99 for the title? Was it a highly anticipated release? EA just like every other developer is quick to point out strong madden opening weeks like madden 13. It's like the movies. Opening weekend is what matters even it holiday DVD sales make studios good revenue.

It's context. They aren't just black friday sales (which mostly happen in November, last I checked - where Madden was also #4), but new console owners buying the game.

I don't expect you to change your opinion, you've hung your hat on this and have beat this drum in numerous threads now, so I'll leave it at that.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

That is a really misleading link. One, it only takes into account first week sales. Two, it doesnt take into account the next gen sales because its from September. Three, total Madden sales dropped but not by 40%. They dropped from 5 mil to 4 mil.

That's still a 20% drop. The was also an offer to upgrade to newer versions for 10 bucks with trade in. I expect they count those as sales as well which is misleading.

I don't want to go off topic so I'll drop it after this post, but I haven't seen a 20% rise in sales once since exclusivity started.