Madden NFL 10 Hands-On Preview (IGN)

[dave374]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Dave, can you comment at all on how the framerate looked at CD? The IGN article talks about a myriad of framerate hiccups, which has me somewhat worried at this late stage of development.

I honestly never saw any framerate hiccups, though IGN could have been using a different alpha than we used at the community event.

[xX CASCABEL Xx]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Hmm.

Let's say there are 5 million copies of Madden sold this year. Of those Madden 10 buyers, how many do you think have played more than one previous Madden iteration? 1 million? 2 million? 4 million? It's definitely way over half.

Now, how many Madden 10 buyers played APF 2k8? 10,000? (How many copies did they sell?) And in respect to 2k5, even if say 500k of the Madden 10 players played 2k5, that was 5 years ago...I can't expect someone to remember their game style from back then.

A very high percentage of the Madden fanbase is used to "not" having a pocket. So on pro mode, we make the pocket a much safer place to be than we do on all-pro. So if Nate wasn't "feeling the pressure" that much, that's actually how we want it to be. It would be a total dumb move to make it so casual Madden fans get sacked every other play the first time they boot up Madden NFL 10. Nate (and everyone) can always step up a skill level if they want it to feel like an NFL experience.

However, the end tuning goal is to make you pay if you actually drop way out of the pocket...but it's early and that's not there yet.

I just hope it is like what we see on Sunday, you run out of the pocket you get killed...

[Lava]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Ian, it's tough to tell from these couple of screenshots involving my Titans (which I love! ) but it looks like you did fix the helmet stripe stopping near the top of the helmet. Can you confirm?

[Valdarez]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Was there a reason he didn't talk about the passing in detail, and zone versus manage coverage on defense? We really haven't received any information on the passing game, or how the defense covers the pass.

[Da Bears]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Was there a reason he didn't talk about the passing in detail, and zone versus manage coverage on defense? We really haven't received any information on the passing game, or how the defense covers the pass.

I guess we will have to wait until june (E3)

[jfsolo]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Hmm.

Let's say there are 5 million copies of Madden sold this year. Of those Madden 10 buyers, how many do you think have played more than one previous Madden iteration? 1 million? 2 million? 4 million? It's definitely way over half.

Now, how many Madden 10 buyers played APF 2k8? 10,000? (How many copies did they sell?) And in respect to 2k5, even if say 500k of the Madden 10 players played 2k5, that was 5 years ago...I can't expect someone to remember their game style from back then.

A very high percentage of the Madden fanbase is used to "not" having a pocket. So on pro mode, we make the pocket a much safer place to be than we do on all-pro. So if Nate wasn't "feeling the pressure" that much, that's actually how we want it to be. It would be a total dumb move to make it so casual Madden fans get sacked every other play the first time they boot up Madden NFL 10. Nate (and everyone) can always step up a skill level if they want it to feel like an NFL experience.

However, the end tuning goal is to make you pay if you actually drop way out of the pocket...but it's early and that's not there yet.

Whats interesting, if not ironic, is that most of the reviews for Madden 10 will be based off a difficulty level that isn't going to show the best that the game has to offer concerning gameplay and A.I.

This happens with all sports games of course, but it seems like it may have extra significance this year when the D Team is making such a concerted effort to create an authentic NFL experience.

We know the OS reviewer will put the game through its paces, and give a thorough itemization of all the areas in which the game has improved, but many, if not most, of the general gaming sites will probably stick to Pro, thus painting an inaccurate picture of the games' actual progress as it pertains to mimicking real life football.

[deltroy]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Ye of little faith...and from a fellow Giants fan no less!

I have faith Ian as well I should I am a die hard Bills fan

[Sauk]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Is it me or does Ian Cummings look like Tony Romo and even talk like him

[Candyman5]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Ian, it's tough to tell from these couple of screenshots involving my Titans (which I love! ) but it looks like you did fix the helmet stripe stopping near the top of the helmet. Can you confirm?

Is that a hole in the middle of the line, and its not even a run play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dman1976]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Is it me or does Ian Cummings look like Tony Romo and even talk like him

lol yep

[Bgamer90]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Whats interesting, if not ironic, is that most of the reviews for Madden 10 will be based off a difficulty level that isn't going to show the best that the game has to offer concerning gameplay and A.I.

This happens with all sports games of course, but it seems like it may have extra significance this year when the D Team is making such a concerted effort to create an authentic NFL experience.

We know the OS reviewer will put the game through its paces, and give a thorough itemization of all the areas in which the game has improved, but many, if not most, of the general gaming sites will probably stick to Pro, thus painting an inaccurate picture of the games' actual progress as it pertains to mimicking real life football.

Yeah and that kinda makes it bad since they'll consider it a problem with the game when that's just what happens in the lower difficulty settings.

I know EA places an embargo on the reviews... I wonder if they could also force the sites to base their review on all-pro and/or all-madden...

[adembroski]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Hands-On Preview (IGN)

For the record, there were 33 throwing styles at Community Day... not all of them were working, so maybe they've removed them, and maybe they've addeds some. From what I remember, I think it was every starter LAST year plus one generic one (meaning Favre and Garcia... not currently starters... were there... strangely, Alex Smith is the 49ers QB from last year to get in, not O'Sullivan or Hill).

[NYG 5]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Hands-On Preview (IGN)

maybe they don't think hill will be the starter for long? they definately know o'sullivan won't unless he REALLY turns it around

btw, where are you guys getting the community day info from?

[Moostache]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

Well, first of all, I don't really see this as a bad preview. Sure he can have gameplay and camera feedback about an alpha build that's in progress, but all the rest of the rather glowing praise seemed to make me feel pretty good.

Regardless, his concerns are all valid, but again all things are still very much in progress. The entirety of the pocket stuff is still being worked on and tuned...the pocket and gang tackles are our big remaining items...making sure you can't scramble out, making sure you actually get pressure, etc. Just so everyone knows, Nate was also playing on Pro mode - a mode where we are very purposely making it easier to stay in the pocket. It's quite a culture shock to have defenders right in your face after 20 years of not worrying about it.

We all know the fumble pileup thing is going to be totally subjective within the community, and though it is extremely rare (played a full 10 min qtr game yesterday, had 3 fumbles, and didn't see it), you still have the option to turn it off.

Anyway, I am hoping that you can take more away from the article - the gameplay tuning items are very valid but they are also in progress.

Oh well, worry away.

Ian - the general tone of the preview and the blogs and the CD-attendee feedback has been overwhelming positive on balance. The graphics are stunningly good - as good as anything I have ever seen for a videogame football title. The desire to be as authentic as possible is palpatable - the amount of pride and sweat equity you are putting into this game is truly admirable. It is VERY clear that Madden NFL 10 is making very large strides over 09 and will be light years ahead of anything seen on Madden this generation and yet....

The single biggest alarm bell is the drumbeat of feedback stating that the QB pocket play is lacking - despite the addition of new animations and PRO-TAK tech - and that the "roll-and-chuck" offense survives yet again. I have many, many ideas on how to remedy this situation permanently, but allow me to offer a pair that may or may not be on the agenda for tuning and implementation.

It really boils down to using penalties and physics to control people's desire to pretend Marc Bulger is as effective as Fran Tarkington was outside the pocket for passing.

If the animations themself cannot fix this issue - if players can still take the QB and breakdown the pass rush and toss aside pocket presence at will - then utilize penalties to make people play football rather than continue to play "roll-chuck" (which inevitably becomes "roll-chuck-glitch" nearly every year..."motion glitch" becomes "jetpack" becomes "rocket catch" etc. etc. etc.).

It should be a relatively simple thing to code (from an admitted total coding novice...my opinion and a buck will get you that McChicken sandwich!) - just make it a sliding scale relative to the frequency and duration of a user moving the QB around off the pre-set 3, 5 or 7 step drops.

Holding and illegal man downfield are the two offensive penalties that immediately come to mind, but I could also envision illegal hands to the face, chop blocks and clipping coming into play more frequently as well. This is not to imply that every time a player scrambles with his QB it should be an immediate penalty; but the PROBABILITY of drawing an offensive penalty should increase with the time the QB has the ball and the distance the QB runs around without crossing the LOS or throwing. Something similar to the linking of plays in NCAA could be an effective model here...

Flatly stated, and this is nothing new or revolutionary in thought or suggestion, there needs to be a better balance of risk and reward for the way the player can use the QB in Madden versus what you see on Sundays. There is very little downside to the "roll-chuck" offense and never has been - every previous attempt to curtail this behavior, from vision cone to reduced accuracy to disappearing WR icons - has been ineffectual. If PRO-TAK and new pocket forming OL-DL interactions still prove equally ineffective at curbing this, then using the actual rules of the game as a method of introducing some downside risk to the tactic would be welcome.

The second way to do it is to ensure that the QB physics make sense, that he must gather himself and set his feet to throw anything remotely close to an on-target pass. I hate to beat the drum and stir the pot again, but 2K8 handed you guys your lunch on this gameplay mechanic and these reports are starting to sound like Madden NFL 10 has still not caught up. I have not played nearly the number of games on APF2K8 that I have on Madden 08 or 09, but I can confidently say that among the differences in the two games, the way the QB must be handled is easily one of the widest gulfs in gaming.

Finally - since you were on Twitter this week discussing work on camera angles, what about offering up a new default camera, a more visceral one that is closer to the players and the field and less of the "god" camera that we have used for damn near the entire lifespan of Madden across ALL generations! Something closer to this:



By using this camera angle - making the QB unable to see the entire field without actually moving his head and LOOKING around - the other flaws could be massively downplayed. The lack of an immediate pass rush would not be a potential game killer. The ability of the QB to read the D and break it down would become much more skill and a lot less pattern recognition (as it is now). The immersion and realism of playing from this angle - and having to use the right stick to move the QB's head (and the camera angle to see the other side of the field) would be a huge benefit.

Even if this NEVER gets to become a default game setting, please, please, please consider making it a user selectable option!

Keep up the great work and make me wrong! I would LOVE to eat my words on August 21 (a week after the drop) and have to say none of what I am suggesting is needed or helpful and that you guys NAILED it on 10....

[kjcheezhead]

Re: IGN.....Hands on

I don't know about changing the angle, but damn that pocket looks pretty! I love what i am seeing and hearing but then again, IGN said this about madden 09...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJojFdUfjnM&feature=related

I've lost my faith Ian, but I am searching and praying as we speak..

"Oh God, Please let this game be the Megan Fox of all football video games!"