"In defense of the Madden Machine" - New Game Informer interview

[Pared]

You can't incorporate the various levels of coaching in the game, however, which is what we are discussing. This is an NFL football game mind you, and very rarely would you see an NFL team running the same play over and over.

If you are using "pop warner" strategies to try and succeed in an NFL video game... you should not have success.

[clarkerots]

Quote: Originally Posted by Briankingsfan

And holding calls because the LT is on the road has a low composure and skill rating and is faced up against Dwight Freeney. He SHOULD be false starting and holding until the coach gives him blocking help or starts calling playcalls that don't have him in that scenario until he gets some confidence back

Oh how awesome it would be for a scenario like this to exist in a game. You know, if it was my LT that was holding it would be extremely frustrating, but at the same time I would totally accept it with the thought that "the fact that it's there is super cool and super realistic and I have to suck it up."

[BrianFifaFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

You can't incorporate the various levels of coaching in the game, however, which is what we are discussing. This is an NFL football game mind you, and very rarely would you see an NFL team running the same play over and over. If you are using "pop warner" strategies to try and succeed in an NFL video game... you should not have success.

Exactly what I was gonna say, but then is the game too "hardcore?" I think that there needs to be that fun/strategy balance. You should have to read the D and adjust. And also have to come up with a plan based on down and distance. And game situation. And the game should be smart enough to stop that 4th and 5 95% of the time. Put some Chess in with the Super Mario. Any game that is about football should make you smarter about it when you get done playing it.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

You can't incorporate the various levels of coaching in the game, however, which is what we are discussing. This is an NFL football game mind you, and very rarely would you see an NFL team running the same play over and over. If you are using "pop warner" strategies to try and succeed in an NFL video game... you should not have success.

But I think that's just it. You say you can't incorporate the various level, but I think that is left up to the user. This is an NFL football game, but we have already said that it is not what? "Sim." Isn't that the reason why most people are complaining? If it is not sim as we have said then I don't see the weight of the argument being postulating here. You can play it using NFL strategy, HS or pop warner. There seems to be a fissure in understanding here. We want the game to be realistic but at the same time we are consciously grasping the game as not sim. We have admitted that. Given what we want it to be and what we say it is, then you can't have it both ways by superimposing a certain style of play and strategies as normative over others. All we can say is this is how I play it.

Secondly, when you say "rarely would you see an NFL team running the same play over and over." You are right, but I wouldn't take that as an absolutist statement. They might not run the same play right behind itself, but they will run the same play more than once or even twice in the same game. Let me provide an example. There was one passing concept the Colts used EVERY week in their SB season and they used it at least 5 times a game: The Multiple Smash Route. Mind you they tagged the hell out of the routes but the concept was the same. Teams had difficulty stopping it. If they were not running that they were running the Texas route and they were running one of two run plays, one was their stretch play the other was a pin and pull scheme with linemen pulling and kicking out on the second level. Manning himself even said their offense is not as sophisticated as people make it out to be.

[yamabushi]

I still dont know what a 'nano blitz' is....

youtube powers activate!

Its just the crappy madden O-Line AI.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by yamabushi

I still dont know what a 'nano blitz' is.... youtube powers activate! Its just the crappy madden O-Line AI.

The best I can describe it for you is, I don't know if you got a chance to see the Cowboys face the Dolphins last year. Bradie James timed his blitz and ran right up the right A gap. As soon as the center hiked the ball James was on time and nobody blocked him. Trent Green took 1 drop step and was sacked. Now imagine in a video game that you can take defensive plays and get that type of pressure on every play and there isn't much the offense can do about it except go through some really laborious stuff to block it that nobody would think about. That's a nano blitz. It's not that teams don't get that pressure in real life, but they do not get that type of pressure against EVERYTHING on offense run or pass. In Madden/NCAA you can get it at will.

[yamabushi]

Quote: Originally Posted by LBzrule

The best I can describe it for you is, I don't know if you got a chance to see the Cowboys face the Dolphins last year. Bradie James timed his blitz and ran right up the right A gap. As soon as the center hiked the ball James was on time and nobody blocked him. Trent Green took 1 drop step and was sacked. Now imagine in a video game that you can take defensive plays and get that type of pressure on every play and there isn't much the offense can do about it except go through some really laborious stuff to block it that nobody would think about. That's a nano blitz. It's not that teams don't get that pressure in real life, but they do not get that type of pressure against EVERYTHING on offense run or pass. In Madden/NCAA you can get it at will.

Yeah, in my search I ran across a madden forum (not here) that explained what to do to stop the 'nano blitz'. sounded fun .
All I know is that isnt, in any shape or form, football.

[BezO]

I think most of this is BS.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- Dev cycle being usually about 10 months for a Madden game in response to why things don't move along as quickly as fans woul like.

But after 3 10 month cycles and folks are still waiting for football basics.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- EA reads the major message boards and pays particular attention to the "wish List" threads.

If they do, they must skip a lot of the gameplay & presentation wishes. They haven't addressed a lot of what I've been seeing since I've been visiting these type sites.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- Addresses the issue of the pressure of being the sole licensee of the NFL and the fan backlash prevalent in the online community.

Pressure? They RELIEVED the pressure by becoming the only NFL game.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- Some members of the Madden dev team were pulled from the tournament circuit

Wow! I always wondered why tournament tactics have remained in the game. I'd imagine there are just as many hardcore gamers, but tournament elements & strategies always trump the actual football ones.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- where ideas come from for new features and how they go from pre-production to implementation. They looks at these the major boards for ideas as well as look at competition like APF2K8

I wish they would pay more attention to the gameplay & presentation when they get ideas from these sources.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

- the perception that "EA is just a big company and don't care what the fans want"

I may actually have to check this article out. If they're honest, they have to mention that their tournament fans get preferential treatment, especially after mentioning part of their staff was pulled from tournaments.

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

That's all I can remember. It's an interesting read.

Thanks for the heads up. This does sound interesting.