What are the major issues of the Madden NFL series?

[DCEBB2001]

The biggest flaw to me is one that is easily avoidable given the proper development methodology:

No primary source material in rating players.

How on Earth is it that EA's dev team for one of their top selling games cannot bring in or at least utilize real NFL scouting data to rate their players!?

If you brought in a professional scouting organization or a 3rd party that is unbiased to rate the players accordingly, you wouldn't have so many people complaining about bias or ignorance on behalf of Donny Moore and the ratings team. Instead, you could simply point to the fact that the scouting consensus dictates that x player is rated in a particular way.

If the source material is more reliable, then it is harder to argue against professional opinion, which IMO, carries far more weight than that of a bunch of guys who never scouted the game professionally.

Look at the hoards of scouts at NFL Draft Scout for rookies or Scouts, Inc., who provide grades on NFL players every year. In fact, I just saw on ESPN Insider that they have already begun to rate players for this year. The highest rating? A 97 for Aaron Rodgers. In fact, they only gave 19 players a grade over 90 and the distribution of player grades was far more spread out than that of EA.

Imagine if EA simply utilized a 3rd party to do the ratings. Kind of like, "Madden 14 Ratings Powered by Scouts, Inc." or "Madden 14 Ratings Powered by FBG Ratings". Something like that would be awesome. It takes the pressure off of the dev team and allows DEVELOPERS to do what they do best and SCOUTS to do what they do best.

I am sure that a scouting team or a scouting service would also have some great advice on how to scout players in-game during your offseason scouting mode in franchise as well. In fact, why don't they run a system kind of like NBA2K12 where you can hire scouts for your team in franchise mode that either specialize on professional or college scouting? NFL teams do the same thing! They often have two departments devoted to each, respectively. I want THAT in the game. You spend scouting hours on either rookies or other pros like in real life. Some scouts utilize more time to fewer prospects to attain greater detail while others utilize more time to cover a higher number of prospects. This, of course, could be based on your franchise and how well you draft and develop. Personal preference could also be included.

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by DCEBB2001

The biggest flaw to me is one that is easily avoidable given the proper development methodology: No primary source material in rating players. How on Earth is it that EA's dev team for one of their top selling games cannot bring in or at least utilize real NFL scouting data to rate their players!? If you brought in a professional scouting organization or a 3rd party that is unbiased to rate the players accordingly, you wouldn't have so many people complaining about bias or ignorance on behalf of Donny Moore and the ratings team. Instead, you could simply point to the fact that the scouting consensus dictates that x player is rated in a particular way. If the source material is more reliable, then it is harder to argue against professional opinion, which IMO, carries far more weight than that of a bunch of guys who never scouted the game professionally. Look at the hoards of scouts at NFL Draft Scout for rookies or Scouts, Inc., who provide grades on NFL players every year. In fact, I just saw on ESPN Insider that they have already begun to rate players for this year. The highest rating? A 97 for Aaron Rodgers. In fact, they only gave 19 players a grade over 90 and the distribution of player grades was far more spread out than that of EA. Imagine if EA simply utilized a 3rd party to do the ratings. Kind of like, "Madden 14 Ratings Powered by Scouts, Inc." or "Madden 14 Ratings Powered by FBG Ratings". Something like that would be awesome. It takes the pressure off of the dev team and allows DEVELOPERS to do what they do best and SCOUTS to do what they do best. I am sure that a scouting team or a scouting service would also have some great advice on how to scout players in-game during your offseason scouting mode in franchise as well. In fact, why don't they run a system kind of like NBA2K12 where you can hire scouts for your team in franchise mode that either specialize on professional or college scouting? NFL teams do the same thing! They often have two departments devoted to each, respectively. I want THAT in the game. You spend scouting hours on either rookies or other pros like in real life. Some scouts utilize more time to fewer prospects to attain greater detail while others utilize more time to cover a higher number of prospects. This, of course, could be based on your franchise and how well you draft and develop. Personal preference could also be included.

Love this part and it makes all the sense in the world. I have a bias towards FBG because I am confident you have a universal method for ratings but EA/Tiburon bringing in an actual pro Scouting service to do ratings would add INSTANT universal credibility to Madden's ratings and would be a great back of the box accolade. Brilliant idea DCEBB IF EA/Tiburon was actually interested in Madden player ratings being objective and realistic as possible.

[cuttingteeth]

I don't know if EA has the budget that NFLdraftscout or scout(dot)com would charge them. That's got to be taken into account. Then you have to brand the game throughout with said company's name/logo as well, and using their logo would be another cost in and of itself.

I'm just saying, that's likely the reason for ratings not as good as from those other companies.

[DCEBB2001]

Quote: Originally Posted by cuttingteeth

I don't know if EA has the budget that NFLdraftscout or scout(dot)com would charge them. That's got to be taken into account. Then you have to brand the game throughout with said company's name/logo as well, and using their logo would be another cost in and of itself. I'm just saying, that's likely the reason for ratings not as good as from those other companies.

Here is a cost effective way to do it.

Hire the guy who runs FBG Ratings as a full-time employee to rate the players. Utilize his scouting material and resources. Yes, I know it is using a middle man, but he may very well already have all the primary source material and an objective methodology for rating players.

Who knows...maybe you can get him for far less than it would be to get the naming rights to Scouts, Inc. or NFL Draft Scout.

[cuttingteeth]

Quote: Originally Posted by DCEBB2001

Here is a cost effective way to do it. Hire the guy who runs FBG Ratings as a full-time employee to rate the players. Utilize his scouting material and resources. Yes, I know it is using a middle man, but he may very well already have all the primary source material and an objective methodology for rating players. Who knows...maybe you can get him for far less than it would be to get the naming rights to Scouts, Inc. or NFL Draft Scout.

The theory is great, I agree, but the business reality is what hinders it. You have to offer this extra person or persons a salary/benefits maybe/points on the backend most certainly, and you end up increasing your budget no matter what. That first has to be presented as a business plan, several meetings or planning sessions and then finally possibly making it happen. There's more so the issue of "how long do we hire this guy?" Dude at FBG probably wants a long-term contract of more than just one year, you know. What happens after one year, though, and no one likes his ratings anymore than they like Donny's? You're stuck with the guy - too bad. Speaking of...what happens to Donny and crew? Did they just get fired? I don't think anyone wants to have to fire anyone with a job in America currently. It's bad enough out there. If they can switch them all to equal positions on another dev team, that's awesome, but it's not as likely.

Red tape, Sir. Red tape. I see it all of the time.

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by cuttingteeth

I'll be serious: I would like a new camera view that is quite reminiscent of Tecmo Bowl and/or what we see on Sundays via TV...that sideways angle of everything and also a good ways downfield.

Did you ever use the broadcast camera? Just wondering

[cuttingteeth]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpdavis82

Did you ever use the broadcast camera? Just wondering

Oh, yeah, it was close, but it never let me really see far enough "downfield," so I'd love it if they redid it. You know, especially with most folks having widescreen tv's, now, it would be awesome.

[StrawHat Patriot]

For Gameplay Right Now It's:

Weight/Momentum
Blocking
PA Blocking
Player Movement (of all kinds)
Ratings
A.I
Challenges/Penalties
Lack of signature or individual movement/skill/playstyle
(teams, players,)

For me:

all of the above
Graphics
Strategy/Preplay Adjustment Panel