Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

[zanner]

I think it's natural that the sales would rise 10% ... I just bought it as a matter of fact after not purchasing Madden for the last 2 years (since 09) and 09 was only purchased because of Head Coach was included. I'm sure I'm not the only one of the original Madden fans that are doing similar things now.

I didn't buy NCAA this year as it got into the same bucket as Madden in my eyes. Fact is, EA hasn't presented the improvements needed year in and year out to warrant an every year purchase anymore. Having only played last night, I enjoyed the game, it's a refreshing Madden having not played in basically 3 years; however, at the same time it's those things that haven't got fixed or that get overlooked or in the terms of PS3 graphics that really leave you scratching your head and foregoing next year.

The Madden/NCAA teams really need to stand back and reapply themselves because other EA teams are really putting them to shame year in and year out as it stands now.

[scottyo60]

On their MUT team statement I will say they are responsible for my 1 DNF I've ever recorded in a game. I played online against a guy who basically had the same team and I couldn't take it anymore after the first quarter.

To each their own though? I am enjoying the heck out of the game

[Lovesports]

The sales mean nothing to me. The game is still mediocre. People can come out and hype the game up all they want, those are the folks that do not understand the true meaning of sim and/or do not want true sim. If you disagree, pick up a copy of MLB the show so you can understand what true sim is. I'm not hating on madden and I agree that improvements have been made (from a madden standard) however compared to other sports titles this game is trash.

[Giants4Natic]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

The sales mean nothing to me. The game is still mediocre. People can come out and hype the game up all they want, those are the folks that do not understand the true meaning of sim and/or do not want true sim. If you disagree, pick up a copy of MLB the show so you can understand what true sim is. I'm not hating on madden and I agree that improvements have been made (from a madden standard) however compared to other sports titles this game is trash.

This is a madden thread but I can punch many holes in your MLB the show is true sim. NO game will ever be true sim.

Unless you want EA to take away user control then you will never get true sim.

The show takes more user control away then any other sports game ever because if they don't then they would not be so highly touted.

Why do you think they can't get a real collision system in that game?

Because even their devs said that causing real collision like at second base instead of canned animation would lead to crashes in the overall package element.

No game is true sim so please do not use that word for a video game.

Madden may not be exactly as polished as MLB the show but it could if it took user control away like MLB does.

Much easier to get away doing that in a baseball game then a football game or basketball game.

[AgustusM]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

to each his own - but I loved Madden 11 and preodered 12 when I heard Josh Looman (Head Coach Designer) was leading the offline Franchise design and the only thing I care about wiht Madden is offline Franchise.

I was shocked and extremely disappointed to see they not only didn't improve franchise they actually made it much worse - I am back to Madden 11 and Head Coach and not playing 12 at all.

Of course to EA it just looks like I am another happy customer

[BlackJackRabbit]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

Ditto.

Not only that, I think people have to look at the feature set. Gameplay, franchise, and presentation were all a major focus this year. If sales stunk in response, who's to say the direction they would take this franchise in.

I mean, yes, they are committed to getting this game to the level of NBA2K and The Show. But it would make me a bit nervous if sales stalled when they clearly focused on the things that I wanted as a sports gamer.

I don't agree with that. This game is an improvement, but there are still a lot of things in presentation, game-play, and franchise mode that are simply incomplete. Aside from DPP, there's nothing really new about Madden 12. On the field, when playing the game, what can we do in Madden 12 that we couldn't on the PS2/xbox.

Further dwindling sales would (more than likely) push EA to innovate a little bit more.

[bichettehappens]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

Bought it day 1 and am enjoying it. Completely satisfied with my purchase. Still haven't tried MUT though and probably never will. Doesn't seem like something that would appeal to me

[Lovesports]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

Just because a game has canned animations it doesn't mean it's not sim. People have different ideas of what sim means. A realistic interaction between players and less robotic movement is an example of sim to some. I'm sick of excuses that football is more difficult to make into sim then other titles because there was a game that came out almost 8 years ago that not only was sim but it captured our imaginations for years to come and is still considered the greatest football game made. Enough about all that. Madden gameplay needs a complete overhaul, from player interactions to running styles and for God's sake no more ice skating please.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

I don't agree with that. This game is an improvement, but there are still a lot of things in presentation, game-play, and franchise mode that are simply incomplete. Aside from DPP, there's nothing really new about Madden 12. On the field, when playing the game, what can we do in Madden 12 that we couldn't on the PS2/xbox.

Further dwindling sales would (more than likely) push EA to innovate a little bit more.

This sums up my feeling exactly. There is nothing revolutionary at all about the gameplay in Madden 12. In fact, I would argue that it's barely as good as the PS2 days (at that time). The same old issues are still there - challenge system is terrible, commentary atrocious, OL/DL interaction still bad with DTs slipping by guards and getting 3 sacks/game, penalties are awful and missing, game audio feels like you are in a dentist office as opposed to a football game, no footplanting so fast players can zig zag around defenders at will, online franchise is incomplete and bare bones with no sliders or adjustable settings - also requires a 3rd party tool to be playable, pass trajectory is bad causing way too many LB bat downs still, WR/DB interaction looks very dated and players still do the eyes in the back of the head animations when catch balls. That's just a few. It seems that they are very delusional about their game. They do a few things over a couple of years time and all of a sudden they want a huge pat on the back. They apparently worked on franchise mode for over 2 years re-writing it. Really? There's not a lot there to warrant 2 years worth of work. That's the problem when you think you are better than you really are at something. This game is not a next gen title, not even close. It's an allright football game with a lot of stale and dated features that are either copied from other games or 3 years late in the making. It's certainly not a bad game, it's just average at best. I think the developers have gotten so full of themselves with this title because it's the only game in town that they feel entitled to get high review ratings and praise just because they improved a few things over the span of many years. In reality, what have they improved? There's nothing in the game that wasn't in the last generation of consoles, in fact there is even LESS. Having been around these games for 30 years, and playing Madden since it's inception in 1988, I really want Madden to be great. I really do, but if you really think there is a dedication over at Tiburon to make this game something like what NBA 2k or MLB the show is, you are simply kidding yourself. In 6 years Tiburon has managed to make a colossal mess out of sports gaming's most storied franchise. It's been an absolute failure on all counts and has succeeded at alienating fans of the series while struggling to find an identity as to what it really wants to be. When I play Madden I don't see or feel dedication at all. I see complacency, laziness and lack of attention to detail. A rushed project that was written by college interns that is riddled with bugs and incomplete features that met a deadline and put a smile on the face of an executive in a corner office. Hopefully someday it all gets turned around either by EA themselves or by the exclusive deal being lifted and allowing other games to enter into the market.

[Araxen]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

I regret my purchase I'm putting it up on Ebay next week. Superstar hasn't improved at all since I last bought the game(2010) and I loved RTG in NCAA and was hoping they brought that mode finally up to par but no dice sadly. /sigh

[Giants4Natic]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

Just because a game has canned animations it doesn't mean it's not sim. People have different ideas of what sim means. A realistic interaction between players and less robotic movement is an example of sim to some. I'm sick of excuses that football is more difficult to make into sim then other titles because there was a game that came out almost 8 years ago that not only was sim but it captured our imaginations for years to come and is still considered the greatest football game made. Enough about all that. Madden gameplay needs a complete overhaul, from player interactions to running styles and for God's sake no more ice skating please.

If canned animations and taking user control away in a lot of sports is SIM to you then why bother buying the game. There is NFL head coach out there and front page football from the old days that would give you all you need.

This is a sports video game. Baseball is a tedious sport that requires interaction between batter and pitcher only. What happens after that is just one player interaction most times.

Football is 22 players on screen at the same time all interacting at the same time.

You want EA to allow you to snap the ball and then take control of your RB and put him through the correct holes that the game has designed to make it look sim.

Sorry but the day that I have to resort to watching a game over playing a game is the day that Video games are lost on me.

I love realism as much as the next guy but not at the expense of taking the user fun factor out of it.

If you feel that canned animations and user restriction will give you the video game fun factor then you are in the major minority and EA is NOT going to revamp their game because about a 10% of their fans want SIM at the expense of user control.

The term stick skills is not sim is the dumbest thing I ever heard.

Why not just put the controller on the floor and run the game like that. Then you can have all the fun watching the game play you instead.

[Brando70]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

I really don't understand how anyone can say Madden 12 is not a big improvement in the gameplay department compared to previous Maddens. If you don't like it, that's fine -- I don't think this year's game will necessarily change anyone's mind about Madden in general. It's still Madden. But to someone like me who has played Madden for 20+ years, it's way ahead of any other edition on the field.

There are certainly issues, with things like pass interference being nonexistent and DTs being a bit overpowered. But for me, I'm having more fun because there's a dynamic quality to the AI I haven't seen before, especially on offense. Nearly every Madden I've ever played had a very generic quality to how the AI played offense. This year, I think teams do tend to play to their strengths and resemble their real life counterparts. In fact, and I say this as a big fan of The Show and NBA 2k, I feel like there's a little more variety in the team tendencies in Madden this year than both of those games. The Show has issues with lineups that don't take into account player strengths and roles, and NBA 2k AI offenses tend to run the same plays over and over and don't necessarily play to their strengths.

In Madden, at least after a dozen games, I'm seeing teams like the Panthers run a lot and teams like the Saints pass a lot. It's not perfect, but it's way better than anything on this generation or even the very solid offerings we had at the end of the Xbox/PS2 era.

Like others have said, I'm glad to see that a focus on gameplay has resulted in an uptick in sales. For years, we've complained about how the Madden team focused on all the wrong stuff, and sales have slipped. This year, while there still is a lot of room for improvement, they focused on a lot of the right things, and I hope the sales increase pushes them to continue in that area.

[ultralow36]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

I find it stupid to get mad at ea because they do what every other company does and show there sales:....I think the people getting upset need to step away....find a new hobby because the lastthing a hobby is suppose to do is upset you......

[BlackJackRabbit]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

This sums up my feeling exactly. There is nothing revolutionary at all about the gameplay in Madden 12. In fact, I would argue that it's barely as good as the PS2 days (at that time). The same old issues are still there - challenge system is terrible, commentary atrocious, OL/DL interaction still bad with DTs slipping by guards and getting 3 sacks/game, penalties are awful and missing, game audio feels like you are in a dentist office as opposed to a football game, no footplanting so fast players can zig zag around defenders at will, online franchise is incomplete and bare bones with no sliders or adjustable settings - also requires a 3rd party tool to be playable, pass trajectory is bad causing way too many LB bat downs still, WR/DB interaction looks very dated and players still do the eyes in the back of the head animations when catch balls. That's just a few. It seems that they are very delusional about their game. They do a few things over a couple of years time and all of a sudden they want a huge pat on the back. They apparently worked on franchise mode for over 2 years re-writing it. Really? There's not a lot there to warrant 2 years worth of work. That's the problem when you think you are better than you really are at something. This game is not a next gen title, not even close. It's an allright football game with a lot of stale and dated features that are either copied from other games or 3 years late in the making. It's certainly not a bad game, it's just average at best. I think the developers have gotten so full of themselves with this title because it's the only game in town that they feel entitled to get high review ratings and praise just because they improved a few things over the span of many years. In reality, what have they improved? There's nothing in the game that wasn't in the last generation of consoles, in fact there is even LESS. Having been around these games for 30 years, and playing Madden since it's inception in 1988, I really want Madden to be great. I really do, but if you really think there is a dedication over at Tiburon to make this game something like what NBA 2k or MLB the show is, you are simply kidding yourself. In 6 years Tiburon has managed to make a colossal mess out of sports gaming's most storied franchise. It's been an absolute failure on all counts and has succeeded at alienating fans of the series while struggling to find an identity as to what it really wants to be. When I play Madden I don't see or feel dedication at all. I see complacency, laziness and lack of attention to detail. A rushed project that was written by college interns that is riddled with bugs and incomplete features that met a deadline and put a smile on the face of an executive in a corner office. Hopefully someday it all gets turned around either by EA themselves or by the exclusive deal being lifted and allowing other games to enter into the market.

Judging by your post, you're at least in your thirties. I'm in my early thirties and I think people around my age or older have a appreciation that younger gamers don't have. We've witness everything from Xbox 360 to Atari, and we've experienced all of the the jumps that games have made when new more powerful consoles come out. All this " you have to wait to you play it " or " it's only a trailer" is nonsense. When a game comes out on a new console with some new ****, it's doesn't take that long to realize it.

Madden has yet to make that jump. EA has made some improvements, but Madden is still the same game as it was on the PS2 and xbox, and the animations looked better last generation.

Some days I enjoy Madden; then I'll go for a stretch where I have absolutely no desire to play it. I could have nothing planned; I could have loads of free time, and I still have no desire to play it.

[Giants4Natic]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Sales Rise 10% in Week One Over Last Year

Judging by your post, you're at least in your thirties. I'm in my early thirties and I think people around my age or older have a appreciation that younger gamers don't have. We've witness everything from Xbox 360 to Atari, and we've experienced all of the the jumps that games have made when new more powerful consoles come out. All this " you have to wait to you play it " or " it's only a trailer" is nonsense. When a game comes out on a new console with some new ****, it's doesn't take that long to realize it.

Madden has yet to make that jump. EA has made some improvements, but Madden is still the same game as it was on the PS2 and xbox, and the animations looked better last generation.

Some days I enjoy Madden; then I'll go for a stretch where I have absolutely no desire to play it. I could have nothing planned; I could have loads of free time, and I still have no desire to play it.

You lost me with last gen had better animations.

SMH