What Can't Be Done?

[Ian_Cummings]

* Historic teams = there's no way to get all or even some of the correct players within the budget we have (I guess we could cut half of our development cost but I don't think anyone would dig that). Putting in the teams but scrambling the rosters doesn't really make it worth the effort on our side IMO (it takes a pretty large amount of time to make a team from scratch - uniforms, rosters, salaries, depth chart, stadium, coaches, tendencies, etc). Even if we ignore all that and choose to add the teams with dummy rosters and allow our fans to edit and/or share them, this is high risk. There will undoubtedly be youtube videos all over the place of people playing games with historic players that we don't have the rights to, which opens the door for all kinds of problems for us.

* Team-related changes (i.e. moving a team in owner mode) = Teams and NFL don't want the marks to be changed. Again, if/when screenshots and videos start leaking out of a team with pink pants in Boise Idaho for example with official Oakland Raiders marks, with Madden being as big as it is means we have a huge target on our back. So we play it safe.

* Historic stadiums = fine to create, just a resource issue. The current stadiums take upwards of a full man-month to create based on the detail. We've had other tasks that have taken priority (i.e. new stadiums like Dallas, Indy, etc). I'd love to get more of these in, even as online releases throughout the year.

* Historic uniforms = same as above. Just because "other games" had them doesn't mean anything nowadays unfortunately. Uniforms just used to be made of a simple rectangular texture, as many folks (like Nza) know in the PC mod community. Unfortunately now they rely on a combination of shaders and textures, and they are run through a much more complex pipeline. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying it's not as easy as you (and I) would hope it would be

[lgxjames]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

* Historic teams = there's no way to get all or even some of the correct players within the budget we have (I guess we could cut half of our development cost but I don't think anyone would dig that). Putting in the teams but scrambling the rosters doesn't really make it worth the effort on our side IMO (it takes a pretty large amount of time to make a team from scratch - uniforms, rosters, salaries, depth chart, stadium, coaches, tendencies, etc). Even if we ignore all that and choose to add the teams with dummy rosters and allow our fans to edit and/or share them, this is high risk. There will undoubtedly be youtube videos all over the place of people playing games with historic players that we don't have the rights to, which opens the door for all kinds of problems for us. * Team-related changes (i.e. moving a team in owner mode) = Teams and NFL don't want the marks to be changed. Again, if/when screenshots and videos start leaking out of a team with pink pants in Boise Idaho for example with official Oakland Raiders marks, with Madden being as big as it is means we have a huge target on our back. So we play it safe. * Historic stadiums = fine to create, just a resource issue. The current stadiums take upwards of a full man-month to create based on the detail. We've had other tasks that have taken priority (i.e. new stadiums like Dallas, Indy, etc). I'd love to get more of these in, even as online releases throughout the year. * Historic uniforms = same as above. Just because "other games" had them doesn't mean anything nowadays unfortunately. Uniforms just used to be made of a simple rectangular texture, as many folks (like Nza) know in the PC mod community. Unfortunately now they rely on a combination of shaders and textures, and they are run through a much more complex pipeline. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying it's not as easy as you (and I) would hope it would be

So is there anymore u'd like to add, this is actually a nice topic to play around with, I like the knowledge and explanations

[PGaither84]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

Even if we ignore all that and choose to add the teams with dummy rosters and allow our fans to edit and/or share them, this is high risk. There will undoubtedly be youtube videos all over the place of people playing games with historic players that we don't have the rights to, which opens the door for all kinds of problems for us.

I really don't like to nit pick, but I don't see how that a legeit reason. I can go in now and just edit/create players all I want NOW and make a video of me using Joe Montana and Throw to Jerry rice just as Lawrence Taylor misses a sack and play them in the "retro" uniforms and put it up on youtube.

I get a lot of your points, but some of them seem to more than stretch the imagination.

[PGaither84]

Also, to Ian, I know people like myself would like to know if this would be a progect for future madden games like 11 or 12? We know the goal of this year is CORE mechanics and "just football" and we LOVE this and are very happy this is the direction you are taking the madden team in M10. Why can't as the gameplay is refined/fixed can we not start to get more "fluff features" into the game like prior Maddens? I am looking forward to the day when gameplay is so well tunned that all us gamers have ot complian/ask about are fluff presentation details and not rocket catch and WR direct snap glitches.

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

I really don't like to nit pick, but I don't see how that a legeit reason. I can go in now and just edit/create players all I want NOW and make a video of me using Joe Montana and Throw to Jerry rice just as Lawrence Taylor misses a sack and play them in the "retro" uniforms and put it up on youtube. I get a lot of your points, but some of them seem to more than stretch the imagination.

That is certainly true that you can edit them now - but it is a quite different situation when it says the 1983 49ers or 1986 Giants on the way into your game.

The unfortunate long and short of it is that you or I don't have to see it as a legit reason at all - this is an extremely litigious world today I'm not going to be the one that makes the call to get my company sued for large sums of money. Especially given that this happened so recently: http://sports.ign.com/articles/896/896070p1.html

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by lgxjames

So is there anymore u'd like to add, this is actually a nice topic to play around with, I like the knowledge and explanations

I don't know what all I'm really able to talk about here given my limited knowledge. Phil Frazier would be able to shine more light on it (if he's allowed) since he deals with our partners directly. The NFL wants the game to reflect their beliefs and standards.

[lgxjames]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

I don't know what all I'm really able to talk about here given my limited knowledge. Phil Frazier would be able to shine more light on it (if he's allowed) since he deals with our partners directly. The NFL wants the game to reflect their beliefs and standards.

Ok one last question...As far as stadium attendence is concerned in the game...Is there some sort of rule that you can't make stadiums half full??

Seems like a nitpick NFL thing....

[Perfect Zero]

I still don't buy the idea of not putting in historical teams without rosters, mainly because 1) it has been done without legal action before, and 2) you can have 117 teams in NCAA football with authentic stadiums, much less uniforms. I think that because you are all focused on a lot of things this go around, it is more forgivable. I would say though that it would be a welcome addition for the future.