Madden NFL 13 Team Focuses on Making Defense Fun Again, What Do You Hope to See?

[Gotmadskillzson]

GameInformer recently sat down with Richard Hilleman, Electronic Arts Chief Creative Officer, as they discuss Madden NFL 13's focus on making defense fun again.

What are you hoping to see on the defensive side of the ball?

Electronic Arts chief creative officer Richard Hilleman says the new leadership group at EA Tiburon is focused on making defense fun again.

Hilleman is no stranger to the Madden franchise, having designed the original game alongside Scott Orr and John Madden back in 1988. When I sat down with him at DICE, one of the big questions on my mind was what fans should expect from Madden NFL 13 given the large turnover at the top of the development team. Hilleman seems optimistic.

"They are doing big things this year," he said. "They're making big changes. Those are big changes that are going to break a lot of stuff, and they know that. What we're after is a better defense that's more fun to play."

The defensive side of the football has been long overdue for a revamp. The last major change to the defensive controls came in Madden NFL 05 with the introduction of the hit stick. Hopefully this retooling will also address the poor awareness demonstrated by the secondary in last year's game and mark the return of true gang tackling. If the new approach to defense was developed by EA Tiburon's shared technology group, there is a chance these features could extend over to NCAA Football as well.

[roadman]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

Sounds good.

[BezO]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

Nice to hear but without specifics, it sounds no different than years past... the game in general, not necessarily defense.

[illwill10]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

Good to hear. But changes to offense will help defense too.
Wr/DB and OL/DL interaction, tackling, and Player Awareness needs to be fixed to make defense more fun. Players need to have a mind of their own.

[Patscanes]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

Does this mean the 3-4 defense will be fixed? I hope so

[kjcheezhead]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

The Madden engine is an acquired taste that requires specific knowledge.

He's EA's chief creative officer. Someone needs to tell this guy Madden doesn't have an "engine".

[LambertandHam]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

"They are doing big things this year," he said. "They're making big changes. Those are big changes that are going to break a lot of stuff, and they know that. What we're after is a better defense that's more fun to play."

Hopefully before the final product ships.

I kid, I kid. Would be nice to see some more CB vs WR interaction and fighting for the ball.

[DJ]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

I really hope they add in the NCAA Player-Lock camera for defense this year.

[adfletch71]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

Ok here we go again.

So he want too focus on defense, but what about offense, special teams...etc? Are we going too finally get defensive pass interference, what about physic LB and CB...there guys can talk all they want, but until the videos start showing pass interference flags for defense and other interactions, it's all talk. They going down the same road with this hype train, but getting a little tired of that EA.

[m1ke_nyc]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

sounds good but offense needs to be touched just as bad. I seriously hope they fix the terrible ball trajectory, and make WRs attack the ball instead of playing a animation hoping the ball falls into their hands.

[iAM-IncReDiBLe-]

Sounds good.

What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs.....

Sent from Jesus EVO

[N51_rob]

Sounds good.

What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs.....

Sent from Jesus EVO

QFT.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[Danimal]

Re: EA Exec - Madden 13 to focus on Defense- Game Informer Article

If there are two more telling statements then these online I would love to see them.

The Madden engine is an acquired taste that requires specific knowledge. We go through that all the time – I get phone calls I still shouldn't get as far as I'm concerned.

What I like about the new team is that they haven't accepted any of the conventional wisdom about the product. I found that when I went down there a lot and talked about change I wanted to see in the product, I was considered a raving lunatic because I advocated more change than almost anybody else did.

[Greene_Flash03]

Re: Madden NFL 13 Team Focuses on Making Defense Fun Again, What Do You Hope to See?

Pass interference.

[rudyjuly2]

Improved player physics alone will make defense more fun, particularly when playing as a DB which I have found very frustrating this gne. Better DL play with specific controls for types of moves would be nice. The engage/disengage battle is pretty bland.