Insight into how EA handles Madden console transitions.

[deejay8595]

Originally posted by "Packwolf" at MaddenMania...


Packwolf-"I posed a question to EA regarding Madden 06 for Xbox and Madden for the next gen consoles. I was interested to know how resources are delegated when you are working on 2 versions of the game during a console transition. How does it get pulled off. I received a great response from an acquaintance that is a programmer for EA. I thought the response was very insightful and educational and I wanted to share it with the community. Enjoy"
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EA-"I can't really talk details about your questions, although you could compare the first PS2 version of Madden with the same PS1 version of Madden in that year to get an idea of how EA handles console transitions. Typically, you'll see far less "features" and a focus on gameplay and graphics at transitions. Many publishers use it as a time to "house clean" feature sets that have become tired.

Also, normally you'll see two types of games at launch of any new platform - ones that were ported from the current generation of platforms, and ones that weren't. They're typically easy to tell apart, because the ports will have all the same features as the current generation of the game, with the graphics looking better in most cases. When a developer rewrites a game for new hardware from the ground up, the first thing that goes are all the ancillary features like game modes, and they tend to focus on gameplay and graphics first, and everything else second. How many features you end up with in a launch title is then determined by how large your team is, which is determined by your budget.

Glad you're excited about the new Madden - know that it was a lot of work for a lot of people to put together, and just like when we released the PS2 version, expect to be blown away by the quality of the graphics and gameplay, and know that we'll always be hard at work improving it every year.""

[tmac2k3]

aka, they'll take all of our favorite features away and reintroduce them every year for the next 5 years as new features.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Quote: Originally Posted by tmac2k3

aka, they'll take all of our favorite features away and reintroduce them every year for the next 5 years as new features.

True, but you kinda have to give them the benefit of the doubt on the first nextgen game. For me, graphics and gameplay are first and foremost. I'd get Madden on Xbox or PS2 for all the bells and whistles.

[AndyP]

Yea Packwolf posted the same quote at our site. It's interesting because this year EA need to work hard at convincing those sceptical about the impact the NFL deal would have that they are indeed maximising their efforts.

[bergie56]

Sounds to me like they are saying that the Next-Gen version will have less features than the Current Gen game. Oh well, I guess he just saved me $250-350 for a little while.

[marshallfever]

Quote: Originally Posted by bergie56

Sounds to me like they are saying that the Next-Gen version will have less features than the Current Gen game. Oh well, I guess he just saved me $250-350 for a little while.

I don't agree with you. I rather the developers take thier time and effort to develop a good physic engine, i rather have good gameplay and grahics than alot of features and not a real fun game to play

[backbreaker]

Sounds similar to a post I made over 3 weeks ago about "regret of next gen"


Regret of Next Gen

[bergie56]

Quote: Originally Posted by marshallfever

I don't agree with you. I rather the developers take thier time and effort to develop a good physic engine, i rather have good gameplay and grahics than alot of features and not a real fun game to play

Thats cool. I am prolly just spoiled and enjoy so much of the current features so I will stick with this Generation for a year or two more thats all. I will eventually get the new consoles but maybe I will hold out for a little longer than I was planning.