http://dpad.gotfrag.com/madden/story/41331/
Is the glitch-fest over? The Madden cheaters are quivering.A press release from EA Sports:
EA ANNOUNCES MADDEN 2008 UPDATE TO COMBAT MALICIOUS GLITCHES FROM USERS
Madden gamers will experience a significant decrease in the amount of unfair tactics following update.
REDWOOD CITY, CA — January 24, 2008 — Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the newest download able update for Madden NFL 2008™. For nearly two decades, the Madden™ series has been the most popular American Football title on the market.
This update will combat against many online tactics that video gamers have been using to corrupt their online contests with other users. Such tactics include freezing the opponent out of restarting the game during the pause screen, malicious attempts to disconnect from the opponent (particularly when the offending party is losing in the game), unfair or abused plays in certain default playbooks, and even user-controlled animations commonly known as "rocketing," "strafing," or "spectacular catching," that gamers abuse in order to gain an illegal edge.
"These tactics are and always have been cheating," said Chris Daniels, a programmer for EA.
"We have fixed a lot items in the game that were not bugs to begin with, but cheating online gamers turned them into bugs. It has gotten pretty out of hand, and we're putting our foot down."
The illegal tactics and "strategies" go beyond just tampering with game system hardware. There are a certain number of players -digital counterparts to real NFL stars- that online gamers have discovered can exploit the game.
"Randy Moss will not be jumping out of the building to make every catch anymore," said Daniels.
"We have toned his abilities down a great deal, both by limiting the jump animations and the advantage that taller wide receivers have over defenders in the game. We have altered the code by which some formations allow for only three defensive linemen to gain an enormously fast pass rush. You won't see that anymore after the update."
"Additionally, all quarterbacks are going back to vision based passing. We tried this in the past, and it worked very well. Bringing it back should be a great way to squelch the issues we've been having with online gamers using faster quarterbacks to run outside the pocket and throw to receivers that are 50 yards down field. Our cover man [Tennessee's Vince Young] might not be too happy about it, but our fans will be!"
Daniels also addressed the play calling aspect of the game.
"We have developed a system by which too much passing will result in more interceptions and sacks. Likewise, too much running the ball will result in your running back getting injured more often. We found too many online gamers were going into games and passing the entire game or running the entire game. After the update, if you call more than 5 passing plays in a row, you can expect that QB to get injured or throw a pick!"
In order to fit all of the new content into the game, EA knew they had to make some sacrifices. Luckily, the game is so deep with features, that there is room to delete some under-used aspects, while adding more important ones to the game.
"You're not going to have coaches challenges anymore, because I don't think they were being used. Likewise, the ability to change your audibles from the pause menu during a game will not be present after the update. It's never favorable to do away with certain features, because we worked hard on them, and the work costs us money- but I think if given the choice, any gamer would rather have his opponent experience some limits- like not being able to go for a 2 point conversion before the 4th quarter- than to have the ability to challenge a play."
It is clear that EA has gotten very serious about its game and the online experience of its buyers. This will mark the third time this season alone that Madden™ has received an update.
"We've always been the top dog in this game. We didn't get there by slacking. We keep our ear to the ground and we know what our gamers want. With advancing technology, we are now able to update millions of games in a small amount of time.
We aren't out to change people's strategies. That's not what this is about. But when you've got people throwing bombs and using cheating tactics to catch them, I think you've got a problem. When you've got certain people who know how to blitz a man so that he gets to the QB untouched, you've got a problem. I'm a big fan of football, and that's not football."
EA plans to announce a hard date for the online download able update in the coming weeks.
"Right now, the update is just for the Xbox 360 console. We are working on whether or not to update the game on other platforms as well."
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is
www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at
http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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01-25-2008, 01:50 AM
This may be the worst gameplay addition to a Madden game in its 19 year history. 
