****New Madden NFL 09 Question and Answer Thread for Ian Cummings.****

[daplayawitdafunk]

Will 4 Player Co-op return to madden on the next gen stage, as it has always been on last gen consoles? Is it too late to implement a simple controller slide over to allow multiple users?

[cowboysfan440]

can u practice ur team in franchise mode?

[convince]

I have played both madden and the other football game(Nfl 2K series and APf 2K8) for years now. I like the change of pace. Ala the two-back system. While both have their pros and cons,but the one thing that bother me for years in madden was the deep pass. When throwing a deep pass in the 2k series the camera seems to keep the ball, WR and DB on the screen. To me still lead to more realistic catches and interceptions. In madden when throwing a deep pass, the ball seems to go really high and dissappear off camera. And when it arrives to the WR and DB, it kind of falls out of the sky, which leads to a lot of jump balls. Now i know there are jump balls in the nfl, but with the deep passes in the game, there seem to be nothing but jump balls. Is there anyway to keep the ball in camera view for deep passes. This year? Next year? 2011?

[mdgoalie37]

Ian, here is a question I haven't seen mentioned on the boards, but it's always been a pet peeve of mine.

My example is a bit exagerated for effect, but i think you will follow what I mean:
Let's say you line up shotgun, 3 wide and pass the ball out of this formation 5 straight times, all for first downs. The D lines up up in a 'pass' defense, probably a nickle - this is just fine. Then you line up again in this formation on a 1st and 10 but call a running play, the D will line up in a 4-3, not even covering the slot receiver. Then if you audible to a pass play, without shifting the formation at all - the D shifts and lines up more to play the pass, includign covering the slot. Then you audible again back to the original play and the D shifts again back to a 'run' defense.

We all know the CPU 'knows' the play you called, of course, but this is a bit much as it takes soem of the play call strategy out of the game. Will the CPU do this in 09? Thanks.

[servo75]

Hi Ian,

My question regards Instant Replays. It annoys me that if I try to challenge a play after viewing the replay, the game will not allow me to do so. It seems that in the NFL, there are people in the booth who advise the coach on whether or not to challenge a play AFTER seeing the replay on the jumbo-tron. It seems silly that I can't look at a replay in the game to decide whether to challenge a call or not. It's very difficult to come to that decision in real-time.

And on that note, I wonder - to even have challenges in the Madden series would require the "computer refs" to purposely make a bad call. Is that so? If so, then the CPU would know when a bad call was made, which is why when the CPU initiates challenges it wins most of the time.

THanks for answering my (and all of our) questions.

[cowboysfan440]

i noticed on the celebration vids that theres a box on the leg cowboys helmet in the enzone can t.o. or anyway to the middle of the star on it and do his pose?
i remember he did it as a cowboy against the texans

and we all know when it originated lol

[ttantawy]

ian... i was wondering if guys are gonna be able to beat their men deep this year... in the past, guys would never have 3-4 steps on their man, especially on all-pro and all-madden... but in the league guys like chad johnson, terrell owens, and randy moss can often get that type of separation... another question i have is whether the double moves will be more effective like they are in the nfl

thanks ian

[Unforgiven]

Will the game go into a cinematic sequence during field goals which win the game like last gen? I loved that, it really added to the moment