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Brandwin · 05-20-2004, 12:12 AM

Hopefully the weather is like that adds to the feel of the game.

GridironGamer · 05-20-2004, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Spin said:

Quote:

First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise.

this sounds pretty sweet

That is sweet as hell. Especially when the lights come on for the 4:00 games. I may have to do something i havent done in 4 years: Buy Madden.

Dagreat1 · 05-20-2004, 01:55 PM

One of my missions during E3 was to hit the sports titles. With all the talk about Sega and ESPN making huge strides in ESPN NFL 2005, I was determined to find out which NFL title is set to eat up our time between the Sunday and Monday night games this season.
First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise.

On the gameplay side of things, it looks like EA is working hard to make things better on the defensive side of the ball. 2005 will bring in the addition of the hit stick, a new way to really lay into the ball carrier and even cause a fumble or force a dropped pass in the process. This move is all about timing and is conducted by simply tapping the right analog stick at the right time. Be careful though, as I found out the hard way, a miss timed hit stick move will result in a broken tackle and in my case, a touchdown in your face! An EA rep also explained that you now have the ability to change defensive assignments on individual players which will help in reacting to an unexpected offensive formation.

At E3 we did not have a chance to check out the franchise mode but Gaming Horizon has learned of a new addition called “storyline central”. This will bring off-the-field issues into play as you learn about what kind of mischief your players have been getting into by reading news stories from several different national and regional newspapers. From these stories, you will be able to access menus that allow you to take the appropriate action.

Now it’s on to ESPN NFL 2005, one of the surprises of E3 to me. The overall presentation of this title is what struck me right away. Sega and ESPN have pushed the whole ESPN Sunday Night Football look and feel into another gear and it works great. From the Sports Center opening, the Chris Berman Half-Time Show, Suzie Kolber’s sideline reporting, and Mel Kiper’s Draft analysis, this is one impressive looking football title.

For this one I did not have a representative or developer along with me so I will just explain what I saw and experienced while playing. From the first tackle I witnessed off the opening kickoff, it was evident that the developers spent a lot of time working on realistic player physics. I was playing as the Vikings so I will relate to them and their players for this. While taking the kick off with Howrey, I ran a middle-blocking scheme and sidestepped the first defender. Then I got hit low but was still able to pick up a few yards as I literally dragged the defender a few more yards. It took a few more defenders to bring me down and the overall hits looked very realistic. The way in which Howrey got tackled and taken down is something you see during a real NFL kick-off. For the record, on the next kickoff I took, one defender blew me up with a great open field tackle, again, showing great realism in the player physics of the game.

The feel of the players took some time to get used to and that is because they move realistically depending on whom they are. Michael Bennett took a while to get to the outside on a sweep play but took off like a bullet once I got him into the open field. Once again, Moss appears to be a Superfreak in this series as I scored on two 50+ yard bombs with him, but then again, he does it all the time in real life.

The overall presentation of ESPN NFL is straight out of their TV presentation. During replays, you will notice deep details like a receivers eyes watching a ball into his hands or a running back with his hand on the back of a leading blocker looking for a hole to burst through. All the little graphics for stats, scores, and so on are there and correspond with their TV counterpart. Sega has also worked heavily on the crowd and how they react. In between series the camera will pan the crowd and they no longer look like paper cutouts of the same person. While playing at the Metrodome during a crowd shot, I saw many faces painted in purple and yellow and they all had different designs. Some fans were wearing hats and jerseys while some had Vikings t-shirts and banners. I even saw a vendor throw a fan a bag of peanuts and the fan caught it and acknowledged him.

It’s hard to say at this point as to which game will be better than the other. It is still early and there are lots of questions still left unanswered. Madden made major improvements to visuals and defense and ESPN made major improvements all around. I left E3 actually looking forward to the ESPN title more this fall than Madden, a first for me. The ESPN title just had a feel that I have not gotten from a football title in years. This may all change when they actually release so make sure you continue to follow us here at Gaming Horizon as we will give you a full report on both once we get our grubby little hands on the review copies.

-Keith Michaels

wwharton · 05-20-2004, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Dagreat1 said:
One of my missions during E3 was to hit the sports titles. With all the talk about Sega and ESPN making huge strides in ESPN NFL 2005, I was determined to find out which NFL title is set to eat up our time between the Sunday and Monday night games this season.
First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise.

On the gameplay side of things, it looks like EA is working hard to make things better on the defensive side of the ball. 2005 will bring in the addition of the hit stick, a new way to really lay into the ball carrier and even cause a fumble or force a dropped pass in the process. This move is all about timing and is conducted by simply tapping the right analog stick at the right time. Be careful though, as I found out the hard way, a miss timed hit stick move will result in a broken tackle and in my case, a touchdown in your face! An EA rep also explained that you now have the ability to change defensive assignments on individual players which will help in reacting to an unexpected offensive formation.

At E3 we did not have a chance to check out the franchise mode but Gaming Horizon has learned of a new addition called “storyline central”. This will bring off-the-field issues into play as you learn about what kind of mischief your players have been getting into by reading news stories from several different national and regional newspapers. From these stories, you will be able to access menus that allow you to take the appropriate action.

Now it’s on to ESPN NFL 2005, one of the surprises of E3 to me. The overall presentation of this title is what struck me right away. Sega and ESPN have pushed the whole ESPN Sunday Night Football look and feel into another gear and it works great. From the Sports Center opening, the Chris Berman Half-Time Show, Suzie Kolber’s sideline reporting, and Mel Kiper’s Draft analysis, this is one impressive looking football title.

For this one I did not have a representative or developer along with me so I will just explain what I saw and experienced while playing. From the first tackle I witnessed off the opening kickoff, it was evident that the developers spent a lot of time working on realistic player physics. I was playing as the Vikings so I will relate to them and their players for this. While taking the kick off with Howrey, I ran a middle-blocking scheme and sidestepped the first defender. Then I got hit low but was still able to pick up a few yards as I literally dragged the defender a few more yards. It took a few more defenders to bring me down and the overall hits looked very realistic. The way in which Howrey got tackled and taken down is something you see during a real NFL kick-off. For the record, on the next kickoff I took, one defender blew me up with a great open field tackle, again, showing great realism in the player physics of the game.

The feel of the players took some time to get used to and that is because they move realistically depending on whom they are. Michael Bennett took a while to get to the outside on a sweep play but took off like a bullet once I got him into the open field. Once again, Moss appears to be a Superfreak in this series as I scored on two 50+ yard bombs with him, but then again, he does it all the time in real life.

The overall presentation of ESPN NFL is straight out of their TV presentation. During replays, you will notice deep details like a receivers eyes watching a ball into his hands or a running back with his hand on the back of a leading blocker looking for a hole to burst through. All the little graphics for stats, scores, and so on are there and correspond with their TV counterpart. Sega has also worked heavily on the crowd and how they react. In between series the camera will pan the crowd and they no longer look like paper cutouts of the same person. While playing at the Metrodome during a crowd shot, I saw many faces painted in purple and yellow and they all had different designs. Some fans were wearing hats and jerseys while some had Vikings t-shirts and banners. I even saw a vendor throw a fan a bag of peanuts and the fan caught it and acknowledged him.

It’s hard to say at this point as to which game will be better than the other. It is still early and there are lots of questions still left unanswered. Madden made major improvements to visuals and defense and ESPN made major improvements all around. I left E3 actually looking forward to the ESPN title more this fall than Madden, a first for me. The ESPN title just had a feel that I have not gotten from a football title in years. This may all change when they actually release so make sure you continue to follow us here at Gaming Horizon as we will give you a full report on both once we get our grubby little hands on the review copies.

-Keith Michaels

you may want to credit the source on this. your post gives the impression that it's your original thought.

PSU · 05-20-2004, 05:06 PM

Quote:

wayne23 said:

Quote:

SportsmanTO said:
Whoa the sun sets and the lights in the stadium come on during the 4 PM games late in the season......DAMN!

That'll be sweet to see!

Man this has been in both Madden and NCAA for years... you guys probably never noticed but it's been in both games.

this has never been in madden, and the it was only in ncaa this past year

JRod · 05-20-2004, 06:02 PM

I don't know about this post...

I mean I think it's a bit extreme to say that it's an all new player model and upgrade.

The textures look good or atleast better from what I saw. Fetter did say that some of the visuals in the screens were not what he saw playing the demo version at e3.

I do think we are in for a better looking game but some of these grahpics posts are getting a bit out of hand because we all know Madden didn't revamp it's entire graphical system. They just tweaked it to look a little better.

I personally have no problem with the way it looks as long and the skys and animations are improved. Which it seems they are.

05-20-2004, 12:12 AM	#9
Brandwin Hall Of Fame OVR: 50 Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 30,643	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon Hopefully the weather is like that adds to the feel of the game.

05-20-2004, 04:21 AM	#10
GridironGamer Rookie OVR: 5 Join Date: Jul 2002	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon Quote: *Spin said:* Quote: First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise. this sounds pretty sweet That is sweet as hell. Especially when the lights come on for the 4:00 games. I may have to do something i havent done in 4 years: Buy Madden.

05-20-2004, 01:55 PM	#11
Dagreat1 Banned OVR: 2 Join Date: Feb 2004	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon One of my missions during E3 was to hit the sports titles. With all the talk about Sega and ESPN making huge strides in ESPN NFL 2005, I was determined to find out which NFL title is set to eat up our time between the Sunday and Monday night games this season. First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise. On the gameplay side of things, it looks like EA is working hard to make things better on the defensive side of the ball. 2005 will bring in the addition of the hit stick, a new way to really lay into the ball carrier and even cause a fumble or force a dropped pass in the process. This move is all about timing and is conducted by simply tapping the right analog stick at the right time. Be careful though, as I found out the hard way, a miss timed hit stick move will result in a broken tackle and in my case, a touchdown in your face! An EA rep also explained that you now have the ability to change defensive assignments on individual players which will help in reacting to an unexpected offensive formation. At E3 we did not have a chance to check out the franchise mode but Gaming Horizon has learned of a new addition called “storyline central”. This will bring off-the-field issues into play as you learn about what kind of mischief your players have been getting into by reading news stories from several different national and regional newspapers. From these stories, you will be able to access menus that allow you to take the appropriate action. Now it’s on to ESPN NFL 2005, one of the surprises of E3 to me. The overall presentation of this title is what struck me right away. Sega and ESPN have pushed the whole ESPN Sunday Night Football look and feel into another gear and it works great. From the Sports Center opening, the Chris Berman Half-Time Show, Suzie Kolber’s sideline reporting, and Mel Kiper’s Draft analysis, this is one impressive looking football title. For this one I did not have a representative or developer along with me so I will just explain what I saw and experienced while playing. From the first tackle I witnessed off the opening kickoff, it was evident that the developers spent a lot of time working on realistic player physics. I was playing as the Vikings so I will relate to them and their players for this. While taking the kick off with Howrey, I ran a middle-blocking scheme and sidestepped the first defender. Then I got hit low but was still able to pick up a few yards as I literally dragged the defender a few more yards. It took a few more defenders to bring me down and the overall hits looked very realistic. The way in which Howrey got tackled and taken down is something you see during a real NFL kick-off. For the record, on the next kickoff I took, one defender blew me up with a great open field tackle, again, showing great realism in the player physics of the game. The feel of the players took some time to get used to and that is because they move realistically depending on whom they are. Michael Bennett took a while to get to the outside on a sweep play but took off like a bullet once I got him into the open field. Once again, Moss appears to be a Superfreak in this series as I scored on two 50+ yard bombs with him, but then again, he does it all the time in real life. The overall presentation of ESPN NFL is straight out of their TV presentation. During replays, you will notice deep details like a receivers eyes watching a ball into his hands or a running back with his hand on the back of a leading blocker looking for a hole to burst through. All the little graphics for stats, scores, and so on are there and correspond with their TV counterpart. Sega has also worked heavily on the crowd and how they react. In between series the camera will pan the crowd and they no longer look like paper cutouts of the same person. While playing at the Metrodome during a crowd shot, I saw many faces painted in purple and yellow and they all had different designs. Some fans were wearing hats and jerseys while some had Vikings t-shirts and banners. I even saw a vendor throw a fan a bag of peanuts and the fan caught it and acknowledged him. It’s hard to say at this point as to which game will be better than the other. It is still early and there are lots of questions still left unanswered. Madden made major improvements to visuals and defense and ESPN made major improvements all around. I left E3 actually looking forward to the ESPN title more this fall than Madden, a first for me. The ESPN title just had a feel that I have not gotten from a football title in years. This may all change when they actually release so make sure you continue to follow us here at Gaming Horizon as we will give you a full report on both once we get our grubby little hands on the review copies. -Keith Michaels

05-20-2004, 02:22 PM	#12
wwharton ll Str OVR: 28 Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 26,978	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon Quote: *Dagreat1 said:* One of my missions during E3 was to hit the sports titles. With all the talk about Sega and ESPN making huge strides in ESPN NFL 2005, I was determined to find out which NFL title is set to eat up our time between the Sunday and Monday night games this season. First thing I did was jump on Madden 2005 as I’ve been a huge fan of the series for years. Right away I noticed a definite upgrade in the visuals overall. The player models look all new and have a much more life-like animation to them. The jerseys and helmets have also been overhauled in a big way. As the game goes on, you will notice the jerseys getting wrinkled and dirty, a very nice and noticeable touch. With the helmets, they are a lot sharper now and show off light reflections, something that is evident when playing in a dome or under the lights. This year EA also added dynamic skies with realistic day and night cycles. In the mid afternoon games, the sun will start to set and shadows start to encompass the field. As soon as it gets dark enough, the lights automatically come on and the moon will even appear in the sky. This is a very nice touch and adds more to the realism of this franchise. On the gameplay side of things, it looks like EA is working hard to make things better on the defensive side of the ball. 2005 will bring in the addition of the hit stick, a new way to really lay into the ball carrier and even cause a fumble or force a dropped pass in the process. This move is all about timing and is conducted by simply tapping the right analog stick at the right time. Be careful though, as I found out the hard way, a miss timed hit stick move will result in a broken tackle and in my case, a touchdown in your face! An EA rep also explained that you now have the ability to change defensive assignments on individual players which will help in reacting to an unexpected offensive formation. At E3 we did not have a chance to check out the franchise mode but Gaming Horizon has learned of a new addition called “storyline central”. This will bring off-the-field issues into play as you learn about what kind of mischief your players have been getting into by reading news stories from several different national and regional newspapers. From these stories, you will be able to access menus that allow you to take the appropriate action. Now it’s on to ESPN NFL 2005, one of the surprises of E3 to me. The overall presentation of this title is what struck me right away. Sega and ESPN have pushed the whole ESPN Sunday Night Football look and feel into another gear and it works great. From the Sports Center opening, the Chris Berman Half-Time Show, Suzie Kolber’s sideline reporting, and Mel Kiper’s Draft analysis, this is one impressive looking football title. For this one I did not have a representative or developer along with me so I will just explain what I saw and experienced while playing. From the first tackle I witnessed off the opening kickoff, it was evident that the developers spent a lot of time working on realistic player physics. I was playing as the Vikings so I will relate to them and their players for this. While taking the kick off with Howrey, I ran a middle-blocking scheme and sidestepped the first defender. Then I got hit low but was still able to pick up a few yards as I literally dragged the defender a few more yards. It took a few more defenders to bring me down and the overall hits looked very realistic. The way in which Howrey got tackled and taken down is something you see during a real NFL kick-off. For the record, on the next kickoff I took, one defender blew me up with a great open field tackle, again, showing great realism in the player physics of the game. The feel of the players took some time to get used to and that is because they move realistically depending on whom they are. Michael Bennett took a while to get to the outside on a sweep play but took off like a bullet once I got him into the open field. Once again, Moss appears to be a Superfreak in this series as I scored on two 50+ yard bombs with him, but then again, he does it all the time in real life. The overall presentation of ESPN NFL is straight out of their TV presentation. During replays, you will notice deep details like a receivers eyes watching a ball into his hands or a running back with his hand on the back of a leading blocker looking for a hole to burst through. All the little graphics for stats, scores, and so on are there and correspond with their TV counterpart. Sega has also worked heavily on the crowd and how they react. In between series the camera will pan the crowd and they no longer look like paper cutouts of the same person. While playing at the Metrodome during a crowd shot, I saw many faces painted in purple and yellow and they all had different designs. Some fans were wearing hats and jerseys while some had Vikings t-shirts and banners. I even saw a vendor throw a fan a bag of peanuts and the fan caught it and acknowledged him. It’s hard to say at this point as to which game will be better than the other. It is still early and there are lots of questions still left unanswered. Madden made major improvements to visuals and defense and ESPN made major improvements all around. I left E3 actually looking forward to the ESPN title more this fall than Madden, a first for me. The ESPN title just had a feel that I have not gotten from a football title in years. This may all change when they actually release so make sure you continue to follow us here at Gaming Horizon as we will give you a full report on both once we get our grubby little hands on the review copies. -Keith Michaels you may want to credit the source on this. your post gives the impression that it's your original thought.

05-20-2004, 05:06 PM	#13
PSU Banned OVR: 9 Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: PA	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon Quote: *wayne23 said:* Quote: *SportsmanTO said:* Whoa the sun sets and the lights in the stadium come on during the 4 PM games late in the season......DAMN! That'll be sweet to see! Man this has been in both Madden and NCAA for years... you guys probably never noticed but it's been in both games. this has never been in madden, and the it was only in ncaa this past year

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05-20-2004, 06:02 PM	#14
JRod MVP OVR: 17 Join Date: Jul 2002	Re: About the visuals from gaminghorizon I don't know about this post... I mean I think it's a bit extreme to say that it's an all new player model and upgrade. The textures look good or atleast better from what I saw. Fetter did say that some of the visuals in the screens were not what he saw playing the demo version at e3. I do think we are in for a better looking game but some of these grahpics posts are getting a bit out of hand because we all know Madden didn't revamp it's entire graphical system. They just tweaked it to look a little better. I personally have no problem with the way it looks as long and the skys and animations are improved. Which it seems they are.

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About the visuals from gaminghorizon