Presentation Improvements Including NFL Network

[bafiofromgermany]

First off this game has got me off of just reading these boards to actually posting in them. I love this game for what it does and I hope more sports games like this one gets released. Also I love presentation, it give a franchise or career mode life like I’m actually living what I’m doing rather than simply playing it. I have seen posts on how to improve and add to the core game but I haven’t read much about improving presentation in the game. Since the designers of the game do look at these boards I thought what the heck I'll post my thoughts and maybe they'll look at this post and get some ideas on presentation for future Head Coach releases.

Gameplay

I do enjoy good color commentary, but this is about being a head coach so I understand why there is no commentary and probably won’t be for future releases. A PA announcer explaining what down it is, who caught the ball, how much farther till the first down, ect. would be a nice little touch. Also, a little ticker at the bottom giving player stats for the game, what the other scores around the league currently are, ect. would also be a nice little addition. I know these are kind of in the game but I’d like them to be improved greatly. I personally think the defensive and offensive coordinators shouldn’t talk as much as they do. I like the info they will give you, but I don’t like it when my offense gains 3 yards on first down and the offensive coordinator starts yelling at how bad the play went. This happens way too much in my opinion. A nice little touch I thought of is when the fans will boo. Basically if the fan approval rating for the coach is 100 then the fans won’t boo no matter how bad the home team is playing, if the approval rating is 0 then after the home team gets down 14-0 get ready to be booed out of the stadium.

NFL Network

What a great feature, especially during the draft. Of course this can be greatly improved on future releases. One example could be after gameday the NFL Network could pop up and go through all the game scores for the week. They could go through the score of a game then tell a couple break out players of the game, why the outcome was the way it was, and important information of the game. An example would be “The Vikings beat the Packers 24 to 17, Adrian Peterson had 132 rushing yards as the run game was too much for the Packers to overcome, Aaron Rogers injured his right wrist during the game X-Rays were negative but he is expected to miss 2 to 3 weeks which will be a big loss for the Packers.” Also, while the next game gets closer the NFL Network will pop up talking about the next game and who has the advantage and why. I find it silly when the NFL Network comes up and says that I haven’t prepared my team correctly, what I said above could replace that. There is a lot that could be added to the depth of the NFL Network, but I would really like to see game scores and team information added the most to the NFL Network at the moment.

Website

This is probably just the stat freak in me thinking of this, but looking at spread sheet stats is geeky fun to me. Under the NFL tab in the career there could be an option of www.nflnetwork.com or something to that extent. Click on that it will take you to a made up league website. On the front page it will show top stories around the league including game of the week, MVP outlook, playoff picture, mock draft, star injuries, ect. All the stories could be clicked on to read a full article on the subject. You can also click on links that will compare stats for all the players on the league. Also, there can be links for all the teams in the league you can click on. Click on these and it will open up a page just for the team selected. Now it will show top stories just for that team such as outcomes for the last game, how the team is preparing for the next game, injuries from last week and how it will effect the team, how the rookies are performing for the team, ect. Then there can be links that would include stats, depth charts, injuries, ect. for that team. Small touches could be added to these web pages such as weekly polls for the overall league and teams to see what the fans are thinking. Finally, the medias coach approval rating could effect the NFL Network and the website area. If the approval rating is 100 then the media will praise the head coach for everything that goes well for the team, but if the approval rating is 0 then all the blame will always go to the head coach.

I know this was a long post, but I hope it was a good read. What would you guys like to see added to the presentation and what do you think of my thoughts for it?

[Heshi]

"An NFL team is negotiating a new contract with one of its key players."

That's my favorite Schefter line. No information at all.

I read somewhere on these boards that there actually is an announcer - he just doesn't work. The PA announcer is there, but you can hardly hear him.

[TCF]

very good 1st post.

[Caveman Mafia]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heshi

"An NFL team is negotiating a new contract with one of its key players." That's my favorite Schefter line. No information at all. I read somewhere on these boards that there actually is an announcer - he just doesn't work. The PA announcer is there, but you can hardly hear him.

i hate that line so much...

[havlen]

You can hear the PA Announcer if you turn up the PA to 100 and turn everything else down to 50 or less. However, the PA announcer isn't all that great -- it was designed to add a little color to the sound going on behind Madden, not to be the primary source of information. As such, it often doesn't even give info for a play.

Also, there's no real good reason why not to add real commentary. Games like this have to balance between realism and what will make a better game. We don't have "coach vision" because the view from the sidelines stinks. Unfortunately, the designers didn't apply the same concept to the sound and so we get a poor sounding experience.

What the game really needs is unique commentary. They can take one of the NFL announcer teams (though they should avoid the ESPN MNF team like the plague) and have them record commentary specifically for HC -- so we can hear them talking about what a bad playcall that was or how excellent a job the coach is doing, etc.

Basically, the games should have the excitement of an NFL game. Right now, because of the poor sound, they are very detatched.

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heshi

"An NFL team is negotiating a new contract with one of its key players." That's my favorite Schefter line. No information at all.

Not his fault, I've got the original source.

NFL Team Negotiates New Contract with Key Player
- United States, by Staff Writer
Recently, an NFL team was said to have begun negotiations with a key member of its squad. According to one source, the team is "in the process of discussing contract options with (a key player)". The General Manager of the NFL team was unavailable for comment.

The team's Head Coach was quoted as saying, "He's a good football player, and we'd like to retain him. He is key to winning football games, which is our primary goal."

[bafiofromgermany]

Yeah there is a PA announcer. I was just talking about the fact that the announcer isn't very good and doesn't talk much about the plays and should be improved on greatly especially with no in game commentary.

I also love commentary and I'd have no problem with commentary added to the game.

I just think the in game sound is trying to simulate what it sounds like for a head coach on the sidelines, that's why you get people talking in there headsets instead of there being any in game commentary.

Yeah that would be really cool if there was in game commentary that would look closely at play calling and hammer the coach on bad calls.

[MeSlayer]

or rather than announcer commentary, i wouldnt mind an expansion to the OC/DC commentary between plays and work that into it

You could easily convey the sort of information an announcer would give you while keeping it 'in character' from the coordinators and it would be an interesting change from the standard play by play guy in the booth