Madden NFL 12 to Kick Off Another 3-Year Plan

[GGEden]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Good post, WakeUp.

[GGEden]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

EA's Madden is never going to change. In the end, all our wishes and complaints are in vain.

[Bgamer90]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I don't think that it's all that different. At all. I always have a scratch-my-head moment when people praise NCAA and belittle Madden. There are marked differences, but not enough to say one game is lightyears ahead of the other.

NCAA 11 is just a more enjoyable game to play than Madden 11. Gameplay feels better, hurry up offense is better replicated, lighting is better, it's dynasty modes are better than Madden's franchise modes, etc.

I mean, yeah, as a whole NCAA 11 isn't lightyears ahead of Madden though I will say that the game made Madden 11 look like "Madden 10.5" (at least in my opinion).

[Pared]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Enough with the rants. They are getting extremely old.

Some of you are repeating yourselves in multiple threads now.

[PVarck31]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Gentlemen, I understand the frustration a lot of you feel about Madden. However, the personal attacks and insults stop now. Whether it be attacking the dev team, another member for any reason. This goes for both sides of the spectrum. If you can't get your point off constructively then think twice before you post.

This goes for all threads in the Madden forum.

[FootballDetails]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

So Madden NFL 12 is the culmination of a 3-year plan while also being the start of another 3-year plan?

Hey, look. Overlapping plans! That's some funny stuff.

[Bgamer90]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

So Madden NFL 12 is the culmination of a 3-year plan while also being the start of another 3-year plan?

Hey, look. Overlapping plans! That's some funny stuff.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[lofeazy]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I like the ideal to add more staff members.Hope they can final fix most of the Madden legacy problems.(skateing,psyhic corners,Animations,Bad sound,Bad commatary, and other things.)

[marshallfever]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

three year plan” underway with features already mapped out through Madden 14. The size of the development team is expected to be doubled as well

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats the biggest news i've heard on this entire issue yet!!!!!!!! Doubling the team sort of implies a lot more things getting done doesn't it? The the size of the team doubling, i'm thinking they're really going to try to push a lot of new content or really dig deep into their engine to get it to perform the way the fans what it too.

Or maybe i'm reading too much into it, but thats a big thing right there if its accurate.

[Crimsontide27]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

IDK man, I cant believe they are throwing the "3 year plan" out there again. This is the most overused gimmick on this generation of consoles. its almost unbelievable that this company is still fumbling around trying to put out a quality NFL game, I mean seariously what is the issue tiburon?

The issue at hand is the target market for the game. For the record, I am not talking about the sim vs hardcore vs casual market either. EA has a plan in place for each iteration of Madden to be only 1 step forward and 1 step back of each previous installment to limit production costs. They do not care to hold onto the long term fan, instead there is a new " generation" of Madden fans approx every 6 years.

While one segment leaves the market, the new ones come into it thinking it is an amazing product and will support it for the next 6 years..give or take.

Many goal presentation and focus meetings have addressed these same core issues. If Madden was to come out and blow you away, what would they add next year? Sales would decline even in their target group.

Studies have been done on several major sports titles ( EAs included ), and it has been found that when one product is so good that you dont feel the need to upgrade, the consumer doesnt feel it necessary to buy the next years product.

Madden has been seen as free money over the past years due to no competition. Yes, they spent several hundred million to lock up the name, but spend very little on development and improvement...so it almost cancels itself out.

The goal there was to make Madden "the name" of football for the next 2 generations of video game players. When all is said and done, there will be 2 generations of players that have never played any other game than Madden...which they feel will lock up their title for next 2 generations of hardware.

[HealyMonster]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

The issue at hand is the target market for the game. For the record, I am not talking about the sim vs hardcore vs casual market either. EA has a plan in place for each iteration of Madden to be only 1 step forward and 1 step back of each previous installment to limit production costs. They do not care to hold onto the long term fan, instead there is a new " generation" of Madden fans approx every 6 years.

While one segment leaves the market, the new ones come into it thinking it is an amazing product and will support it for the next 6 years..give or take.

Many goal presentation and focus meetings have addressed these same core issues. If Madden was to come out and blow you away, what would they add next year? Sales would decline even in their target group.

Studies have been done on several major sports titles ( EAs included ), and it has been found that when one product is so good that you dont feel the need to upgrade, the consumer doesnt feel it necessary to buy the next years product.

Madden has been seen as free money over the past years due to no competition. Yes, they spent several hundred million to lock up the name, but spend very little on development and improvement...so it almost cancels itself out.

The goal there was to make Madden "the name" of football for the next 2 generations of video game players. When all is said and done, there will be 2 generations of players that have never played any other game than Madden...which they feel will lock up their title for next 2 generations of hardware.

yeah thats actually a good point about the generations, Ive never really thought about how 17-18 year old dudes really never had much of a choice other than Madden, unless they were hardcore under 10 which, at what age do kids start really getting into videogames these days? But those same people who were just getting into gaming in 05-06 when the license was done, are now going to be the target market, and the majority of Madden players will be just madden only players.

[LiquorLogic]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I like the fact that they're doubling the size of the development team.

[Hooe]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats the biggest news i've heard on this entire issue yet!!!!!!!! Doubling the team sort of implies a lot more things getting done doesn't it? The the size of the team doubling, i'm thinking they're really going to try to push a lot of new content or really dig deep into their engine to get it to perform the way the fans what it too.

Or maybe i'm reading too much into it, but thats a big thing right there if its accurate.

The intention is to get more done, certainly.

That said, there's the whole idea of the mythical man-month, the law of diminishing returns, or whatever you want to call it. Adding programmers to a project is not always a good thing for productivity. I'm going to assume EA thoroughly looked into the matter and decided the investment was worth the risk.

[Bgamer90]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Adding programmers to a project is not always a good thing for productivity. I'm going to assume EA thoroughly looked into the matter and decided the investment was worth the risk.

Yep.

"Social Loafing":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_loafing

..Hopefully that won't happen.

[evad]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Maybe this 3-year plan will help in defining the direction of the game. To me, Madden seems to be going through an identity crisis and cannot pick between arcade or simulation.

I think the last few Madden's have proven that it is impossible to create a football game that excels in both areas.

But EA please prove me wrong on this