Some clarification wanted on "More than 85 new features and enhancements"

[Guillotine 1]

Quote: Originally Posted by JB_BE

I'm not sure I understand your post, but I certainly didn't mean to make this an "EA Marketing Sucks" thread, so I'm sorry if that's how it comes across. It's just that we're a community here that looks for a little more detail in their sports games than others do. So I figured I'd use the opportunity of having some of the devs around to get some details on these enhancements. When they advertise "Franchise improvements" or "Video Highlights", I'd like to know exactly what that means in practice. Thanks for all the replies btw.

i don't mean to be an EA apologist, and I definately don't mean to be rude to you. I guess, I'm just saying...we are pretty sure that we can't find 85 or more excatly. Maybe someone for EA can post a list that has all 85, I'm not sure, but I love what I do know the game has for sure.

also, I think EA targeted 85 and they'll prolly get something to us in the form of a patch at one point or another...so...anyway. I just think 85 is a lot, and to even come close to that is fine with me...lol

[94niners]

Quote: Originally Posted by Guillotine 1

Why are you guys taking the marketing department to task on this one? We think its not 85 exactly, we have tried to add them up 7 some people have gotten as high as 53 features or enhancements. I really want to put this to rest...so lets count 'em off one more time. 1. Better Sidelines 2. New Player Catch Animations 3. tuned physics 4. New grass 5. Beyond broadcast presentation 6. New commentary 7. foot pinning 8. new tackle system 9. rewind 10. backtrack 11. online leagues 12. better AI 13. Madden moments 14. virtual trainer 15. Madden IQ 16. user celebrations 17. editing options 18. online weather (unranked games) 19. grudge match mode 20. all new weather 21. new player models 22. outside stadium shots 23. new alt. uniforms 24. open animation thing 25. disappearing icons 26. new camera angles 27. field goal nets 28. return missed FG's 29. Better Playbooks 30. All new hot routes 31. post play action 32. New QB movement 33. new sound track 34. new player banter 35. new playcall interface 36. tuned passing game 37. tuned running game 38. tuned special teams 39. Adaptive AI 40. enhanced franchise mode 41. enhanced superstar mode 42. new madden legends 43. All new lighting 44. tuned fatique system 45. all new save options 46. all new tackling engine 47. new tackling animations 48. sycing with head coach

49. updated rosters
50. Brett Favre on the cover
51. Brett Favre as a free agent
52. Brett Favre NOT as a free agent
53. updated coaches
54. more promises
55. more fluff
56. more alt. uniform screw ups
57. more lack of playbook editor
58. more skepticism from me

[X*Cell]

Quote: Originally Posted by 94niners

49. updated rosters 50. Brett Favre on the cover 51. Brett Favre as a free agent 52. Brett Favre NOT as a free agent 53. updated coaches 54. more promises 55. more fluff 56. more alt. uniform screw ups 57. more lack of playbook editor 58. more skepticism from me

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by JB_BE

Now there are a few things on screen there that I'd like some more info on since the way they are presented in the trailer is very brief with a few generic marketing terms in there. If they've been adressed earlier I apologize in advance but I've mainly been in the NCAA forums lately. If anyone (Ian hopefully) knows more about the following new features I'd love to hear it. - What exactly is improved on the sidelines? - What exactly are the video highlights and how/where will we see them? (halftime/endgame/around the league franchise highlights?) - What's new about the catch system? - What exactly are the franchise improvements? - What's enhanced about the play calling? - What's total control animation? - What type of post-play continuation will we see? - How are rivalries incorporated in the game? - What exactly is hardcore game mode? (It's spelled harcore in the trailer by the way. )

Great question. I actually sent out an email last week for someone to give me the list of the 85 so I could share with you all. I'll clarify:

- What exactly is improved on the sidelines?
We almost doubled the population of the sideline characters and also improved the visual quality as well as animation quality. This was actually a really major (and difficult) task for us because we also had to get the PS3 back up to 60 fps.

- What exactly are the video highlights and how/where will we see them?
This is mainly the ability to save your replays as EA Sports Highlights and watch them over again. The halftime and post game "Top 5" are basically the same as last year except for a little extra John Madden in the mix

- What's new about the catch system?
As Nza said above, this allows us to dynamically move the arms around a spherical volume at run-time, which in essence means MUCH less warping and sliding (which I think all of you know were major issues in 08 and before).

- What exactly are the franchise improvements?
I think this probably refers to the all new stat stuff. More info here: http://www.easports.com/madden09/ful...D=new_statblog

- What's enhanced about the play calling?
http://www.easports.com/madden09/ful...=playcall_blog

- What's total control animation?
This is the ability to branch out of animations after they've already started. We introduced this in a small way last year...then in NCAA for jukes/spins/etc...and now for Madden where you can break out of tackles that have already started. So a guy wraps you up, you're going down, and you can still hit the spin button to break out of it.

- What type of post-play continuation will we see?
We really wanted to go much deeper with this, but for this year you will see what we call "continuation" when defenders jump on a ball that they *think* is a fumble even though the play is dead.

- How are rivalries incorporated in the game?
Number 1, the games are more difficult. Along with that, there are special camera angles, clutch kicks have a special presentation, and the actual coloring and lighting of the game is altered. There is also some rivalry tracking throughout Franchise as well.

- What exactly is hardcore game mode?
This is a way for us to make differentiations in the game without just cramming it all in All-Madden. The hardcore mode disables a lot of the bells and whistles like weapon icons and post play hot spot zones.

Hope I explained those well enough...

[MaxMan1000]

Sidelines... in prior years the complaint I saw all the time was that the guys on the sideline looked bad but not that there weren't enough people (although I thought they looked fine in '07 except everyone was really plump, lol). I honestly never thought the population was a problem. But now that there are improvements with more population included, I wonder if the graphic quality of the sideline in '09 could've been even better with the same population as prior years (i.e. more resources going to less models = even higher quality)? Could the sideline players almost have reached the level of what's on the field by doing that? Just thinking out loud...

Video highlights... I've heard in some places we'll be able to upload to Youtube, and then in some places I've heard Facebook and Myspace. I don't use Facebook or Myspace. I wish Gametrailers was in there (much better quality) maybe next season?

Total control animations... I've had a chance to play NCAA '09 a bunch. It plays great. Good job Ian. I haven't been able to pull off any of the TCA moves though (tackle breaking and such). Is this not in NCAA '09?

Rivalry mode... is it exclusive to franchise? And can it be switched on or off at any time?

[PVarck31]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

Great question. I actually sent out an email last week for someone to give me the list of the 85 so I could share with you all. I'll clarify: - What exactly is improved on the sidelines? We almost doubled the population of the sideline characters and also improved the visual quality as well as animation quality. This was actually a really major (and difficult) task for us because we also had to get the PS3 back up to 60 fps. - What exactly are the video highlights and how/where will we see them? This is mainly the ability to save your replays as EA Sports Highlights and watch them over again. The halftime and post game "Top 5" are basically the same as last year except for a little extra John Madden in the mix - What's new about the catch system? As Nza said above, this allows us to dynamically move the arms around a spherical volume at run-time, which in essence means MUCH less warping and sliding (which I think all of you know were major issues in 08 and before). - What exactly are the franchise improvements? I think this probably refers to the all new stat stuff. More info here: http://www.easports.com/madden09/ful...D=new_statblog - What's enhanced about the play calling? http://www.easports.com/madden09/ful...=playcall_blog - What's total control animation? This is the ability to branch out of animations after they've already started. We introduced this in a small way last year...then in NCAA for jukes/spins/etc...and now for Madden where you can break out of tackles that have already started. So a guy wraps you up, you're going down, and you can still hit the spin button to break out of it. - What type of post-play continuation will we see? We really wanted to go much deeper with this, but for this year you will see what we call "continuation" when defenders jump on a ball that they *think* is a fumble even though the play is dead. - How are rivalries incorporated in the game? Number 1, the games are more difficult. Along with that, there are special camera angles, clutch kicks have a special presentation, and the actual coloring and lighting of the game is altered. There is also some rivalry tracking throughout Franchise as well. - What exactly is hardcore game mode? This is a way for us to make differentiations in the game without just cramming it all in All-Madden. The hardcore mode disables a lot of the bells and whistles like weapon icons and post play hot spot zones. Hope I explained those well enough...

Thanks Ian. As far as the 85 enhancements and features, would some of those include under the hood type fixes that really can't be given a marketing tag line?

[PVarck31]

Oh I also want to say the whole rivalry mode thing sounds amazing. That brings a whole new dimension into the game IMO.

[JB_BE]

Thanks for the answers Ian, just what I was looking for.