Madden NFL 11: Ian Cummings Interview

[DaSmerg]

Interesting interview. Interesting insights. Myself, this was the telling line from the interview.

Quote:

IAN: "...We had to switch our entire server architecture on the back end this year to get aligned. All the major EA Sports games had to incur some pretty major costs. So we had to re-implement a lot of our existing features..."

I own and operate my own business...I get it. Operating within a budget and project costs.

Here's where I have a ...Shaggy? though...are any of the current EA Sports titles dollar losers? Between the dollars that just Madden and FIFA alone generate. Ian I hope you aren't saying that development dollars were taken away from the past Madden cycle (and potentially next) because of short sited corporate penny pinching.

While I found the interview on a whole (as in questions asked and answered) to be positive, it just left me...I don't know...for lack of a better word...wanting.

I get the whole positive relationship thing. But once in a while, it's good to hold someone accountable's "...feet to the fire...", so to speak. There's a couple of non-answers in there and questions regarding game play really could have been more pointed leaving less wiggle room in the answer. On a personal level, it would be terribly amusing to see a Bill O type grilling with Ian and the responses that would generate, I don't think dear olde OS would be such a beneficiary of such treatment. That being said, some of us out here in Madden land are running short on optimism and happy thoughts.


I really wish that Ian would simply take ownership of some of the pretty blatantly obvious build decisions that the team has made for Madden in the past 3 years. This current team seems more inclined to make a more watered down game for the masses. I am not implying some sort of wrongedness or a gotcha type thing. If that's what they want to do, and they can make money doing it, awesome! But at least some folks out here can just worry about looking elsewhere.

Thanks for the interview OS. It's nice that Tiburon has opened up on what used to be the black box of Madden development.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaSmerg

I really wish that Ian would simply take ownership of some of the pretty blatantly obvious build decisions that the team has made for Madden in the past 3 years. This current team seems more inclined to make a more watered down game for the masses. I am not implying some sort of wrongedness or a gotcha type thing. If that's what they want to do, and they can make money doing it, awesome! But at least some folks out here can just worry about looking elsewhere. Thanks for the interview OS. It's nice that Tiburon has opened up on what used to be the black box of Madden development. [/left]

I agree up to that point.

I think 10 was a huge leap from 9, but I don't think that 11 was as much of a leap as 10.

Also, I don't know if you can put the whole thing on Ian's head and shoulders. There is also upper management to contend with plus marketing.

I'll take the direction that 10 and 11 appear to be headed vs 06-09 any day of the week.

It has a ways to go, yet, though.

Plus, Tibouran is build in a different studio than FIFA. Budgets might be tighter than anyone thinks, Tibouran laid off a good chunk of their work force a year ago.

[Tengo Juego]

Quote: Originally Posted by dannyr326

Does anybody know when they will re-implement the old pre-play adjustments back instead of being forced to use the strategy pad? I really hope they bring back the old PS2 pre-play controls with the ability to shade an individual WR, bump an individual WR/ Double Cover. What happened to "spotlighting" a WR from last years game?? Why do they keep trashing the great pre-play controls?

It's supposed to be included as DLC around the start of the NFL season. So, early September.

[DJ]

Would've liked to have seen a question about if the CPU QBs throwing out of sacks will be addressed. I do get sacks but still most of the time you get close to the QB, they throw it away (and it's a perfect spiral, too, not a wobbler) just before they get hit.

[DaSmerg]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I agree up to that point. I think 10 was a huge leap from 9, but I don't think that 11 was as much of a leap as 10. ...I'll take the direction that 10 and 11 appear to be headed vs 06-09 any day of the week. It has a ways to go, yet, though.

I'm just going to have to very strongly disagree with you on what you have perceived to be the evolution of Madden.

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Also, I don't know if you can put the whole thing on Ian's head and shoulders. There is also upper management to contend with plus marketing. ...Plus, Tibouran is build in a different studio than FIFA. Budgets might be tighter than anyone thinks, Tibouran laid off a good chunk of their work force a year ago.

Ian directly said EA Sports titles. 90% of my beef wouldn't be with Ian if this was a decision from above.

I'm afraid I would end up totally derailing this thread by going into more details plus I'd prefer to read what others are thinking. That is the nature of a lurker shall we say . It sounds like we might agree more than disagree though.

[Benicio10]

The biggest problem is that Madden is in an identity crisis phase. Ian mentioned tuning the game towards offense to keep the fun. But he doesn't realize that that isn't fun for us. It's frustrating because you can't play D.

Realism = fun.

[xylocaine]

The Online quitter part confused me... is he saying it's a "bug"

it seems to me then the same bug is in NCAA 11?

[gabs485]

Quote: Originally Posted by TreyIM2

Many of the issues I posted about on the feedback site are touched on here, and even two I forgot to include which was CPU QB quick snaps(btw, I ONLY play with accel. clock OFF and that doesn't make a diff) and kick return blocking but I did mention blocking, overall, because as a point of reference, NCAA 11 is not AS bad since the blocking in that game feels much better than in Madden 11, overall. I've taken it to the house on kickoffs AND punts in NCAA 11. Not at all in Madden 11. Ian - If you are reading, CPU QB quick snaps not only affects pre-snap adjustments but the realism the game. QBs IRL don't always quick snap. We just need varying snap times. Many times, teams are trying to milk the play clock before snapping, unless, of course, they are in hurry up O. It would be easier to accept that I couldn't complete my adjustments if I the CPU QB suddenly goes quick snap on a given play than if he were doing it all the time, which is the case in Madden 11, still. Remember how for Madden 09, u guys patched that? As for kick return blocking, we just ask that our blockers do their job. I stated in my post on the feedback site that I believe that the locomotion is now affecting some things such as blocking with slow, over-animating turns by blockers and the coverage deally where guys are just standing and watching the plays unfold instead of just reacting, at times. Kick return blocking has always been an issue, though. We need that fixed, mayne I do agree about the twisty-turny deally. I usually don't do it because the heat of the moment and if I do remember to twist, I usually do it the wrong way because of the "inverseness" of which way the players' back turns in relation to the right joystick motion. Doesn't seem intuitive to me...Actually, I don't think I've done it in Madden 11; only in NCAA 11. Eh. PA DEFINITELY needs to be fixed. Feels like too many jail breaks going on there. Lol. I'll be lucky to hit my FB out in the flat many a time. Plus, I think Sanchize should be faster than many of these D-linemen who seem to be able to chase me down when I have to turbo-ize the situation. I play with auto-turbo but, of course, u have to use turbo to scramble past the LOS as the QB. Maybe that's making some weird difference but then again, in NCAA, my QB(s) outrun(s) the linemen. Anyway, I'm getting used to Madden 11. Still frustrating aspects of the game that make me wanna throw ish but if things can be patched, I'll be more than happy.

That is what really makes me angry at Madden developers, I dont like EA that much but this is entirely on the developers. Every time that there's an issue with the game, they just make corrections. Instead of eliminating the root cause of the problem that guarantees that it wont happen again. These developers have not knowledge in quality control whatsoever.

They are unable to meet our requirements, they do not have the competences to guarantee their customer satisfaction. Recurring issues are not EA directors faults, its the Developers that do not take the correctives/preventive actions when issues afloat. EA needs to form their developers with quality control knowledge, who are process oriented and think about improving continually.

For me it is unacceptable that Madden 11 have some of the same issues Madden 06 had. Even more, issues that were fixed in between version, reappear in the latest.

That is just shameful.

P.S. Im not judging the developers competence to design or create video games, I recognize that they are more than capable. But there are certain areas (Quality Control, Process Standardization) in which they have not knowledge of.