Madden development cycle/release date

[crenk]

I know this will never happen but seeing as how we scan annually expect 2 patches to get Madden into decent playing shape they should release the game earlier. Since I have bought the game i have spent countless hours tweaking and adjusting, moving sliders this way and that just to get it to a state that I am comfortable playing.

Add in a patch and I have to re-work many of those sliders. I can't start a playable franchise until what, maybe week 6! Release the game early, say June 1st and use the summer to work out kinks so that I can enjoy a decent Madden all football season long.
my 2 cents

[43Chargers4Now]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

There's even some rumors about an expected 3rd patch. But that's just a rumor...

P.S. EA wouldn't be able to release madden early because then there would be WAAAY too many problems that wouldn't have been fixed. Your idea of releasing the game early would probably disregarded by much of the OS community because most people would rather wait for a playable madden rather that an early madden. Just my 6 cents lol

(not trying to be a jerk or anything, I usually call my opinion 6 cents to portray that my opinion is 3x better than the next guys...)

[crenk]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

I'm saying year after year release on June 1st or whenever. They get the same 12 month cycle. Same amount of time just do it earlier to work out all the BS so that we have a playable game all season long.

[RumbleCard]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

Rather see them just skip a year.

[z Revis]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

(not trying to be a jerk or anything, I usually call my opinion 6 cents to portray that my opinion is 3x better than the next guys...)

lmfao. I feel the same way sometimes though.

[Herky]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

Rather see them just skip a year.

Madden used to come out in November back in the day I think. I'd be all for a September/October release if it meant a better product right away.

[boooey]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

Madden used to come out in November back in the day I think. I'd be all for a September/October release if it meant a better product right away.

yup..
Madden NFL '97 (PSX)

Release Region: United States
Release Date: November 15, 1996

the solution is not to release early, but to get another publisher/developer to make this game who knows how to get it right..
Its obvious that EA/Tiburon cannot or will not.

[Poetique]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

The real issue is that there's absolutely 0 reason for Madden to be released yearly if it weren't for EAs strong desire to add some ridiculously unrealistic gimmick every year.

Madden should be released biennially at most. Every 3-5 years wouldn't be out of the question for that matter. The NFL doesn't change at a very fast pace at all excluding player performances, drafts, and trades, which only require roster updates.

Of course that's not smart from a business sense, and because:

1. Given they have the exclusive license, they have no reason to make a product good enough to last that long.
2. They have failed to even implement all of the most basic parts of football, and usually work at a pace of adding 1-2 BASIC elements per year... one of which will be implemented tangled up in some unrealistic gimmick.
3. Most of us will buy any ole crap they produce, like we've been doing since the last decent version of Madden (which was uhh... what, 5 years ago now [Madden 05])

[KamikazeBlaize]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

The real issue is that there's absolutely 0 reason for Madden to be released yearly if it weren't for EAs strong desire to add some ridiculously unrealistic gimmick every year.

Madden should be released biennially at most. Every 3-5 years wouldn't be out of the question for that matter. The NFL doesn't change at a very fast pace at all excluding player performances, drafts, and trades, which only require roster updates.

Of course that's not smart from a business sense, and because:

1. Given they have the exclusive license, they have no reason to make a product good enough to last that long.
2. They have failed to even implement all of the most basic parts of football, and usually work at a pace of adding 1-2 BASIC elements per year... one of which will be implemented tangled up in some unrealistic gimmick.
3. Most of us will buy any ole crap they produce, like we've been doing since the last decent version of Madden (which was uhh... what, 5 years ago now [Madden 05])

What are you going on about considering you admit it's not smart in a business sense? And the NFL does change...there are rule changes (people still don't seem to get that if you are hit before going out of bounds the clock still runs by the new rules), stadiums, coaching changes, uniforms (I know we're getting the Seahawks alternates but they have to pay for further patches anyway), and many people do consider the gameplay engine changes from 09 to 10 to be well worth it.

Roster updates don't solve those things, but DLC would. The problem with that argument is that none of the sports game developers are willing to sacrifice the bulk sales they know they'll get over downloads which some people still can't access, or have a vendetta against paying for.

Also, as others have said on here, their contract requires an annual release.

[bang911]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

What are you going on about considering you admit it's not smart in a business sense? And the NFL does change...there are rule changes (people still don't seem to get that if you are hit before going out of bounds the clock still runs by the new rules).

Come on Kamikaze... you know Madden doesn't need to worry about rule changes, they need to worry about getting all the current rules right. Such as, a WR running out of bounds then catching a pass from the QB, how many year's has this still not been fixed?

[Poetique]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

What are you going on about considering you admit it's not smart in a business sense?

-What I'm "going on about" is the fact that financially it's better for EA to release games yearly and make double the revenue they'd make releasing a game every other year, or later. And I can speak on it as much, as often, for as long as I please.

And the NFL does change...there are rule changes (people still don't seem to get that if you are hit before going out of bounds the clock still runs by the new rules), stadiums, coaching changes, uniforms (I know we're getting the Seahawks alternates but they have to pay for further patches anyway)

-Read what I wrote and not what you thought I wrote. Nobody said the NFL doesn't change. I said it doesn't change fast, and it doesn't. The same basic elements (some of which are still non-existent in Madden) have been driving the game since before either of us was born. And the rest of the stuff you mentioned requires nothing but a simple yearly download package. There's nothing there requiring a yearly game, period.

-And rule changes are generally irrelevant in Madden at this point. Most of the rules in the NFL don't even seem to apply to Madden, and the ones that do are often end up either over-exaggeration or incorrectly implemented... sadly enough, you'd end up with a more realistic game of Madden by turning them off, heh.

and many people do consider the gameplay engine changes from 09 to 10 to be well worth it.

-And most people paying any attention to even the most obvious details of the game realize that half the "changes" they make are simply things from the past being re-added, another quarter of them are things that should have been already done, and the remaining quarter tends to range from insignificant crap to silly gimmicks most of the time. Most > Many

Roster updates don't solve those things, but DLC would. The problem with that argument is that none of the sports game developers are willing to sacrifice the bulk sales they know they'll get over downloads which some people still can't access, or have a vendetta against paying for.

-Yep... quantity over quality. Although I'm sure some of us are old enough to remember when EA didn't seem to be so devoted to such a practice. Hence the reason many of us have no problem telling them off about it frequently and harshly.

Also, as others have said on here, their contract requires an annual release.

-That's irrelevant. Madden was a yearly product before the contract existed.

.

[burne]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

people still don't seem to get that if you are hit before going out of bounds the clock still runs by the new rules

Dude... what? There were no rule changes this year regarding going out of bounds and the clock running, besides fumbles going out of bounds.

If you step out of bounds with the ball in the last 2 minutes of the first half or the last 5 minutes of the second half, the clock stops.

[KamikazeBlaize]

Re: Madden development cycle/release date

Dude... what? There were no rule changes this year regarding going out of bounds and the clock running, besides fumbles going out of bounds.

If you step out of bounds with the ball in the last 2 minutes of the first half or the last 5 minutes of the second half, the clock stops.

If your forward progression is stopped by a tackle as you are going out of bounds, the clock is supposed to keep running. The problem is this doesn't work properly in Madden 10, but it's just a poor representation of a rule that was added recently. It keeps running even if you were going out and get tackled as you step out...