IMO, this is good news. That means they're not trying to use most( or all) of their resources on graphics and stadium design like it seems they did with Madden 06 on the 360. Hopefully, this means that most of the resources were put to gameplay and things like that.
I can't wait to see them. Yeah, I'm interested in pretty much anything gameplay related. I'm tired of hearing about art and graphics. I want to hear about the gameplay.
As much as the statement about "visuals not changing much" makes me feel good, this one does nothing for me. In fact, it kinda worries me a little. It means EA is still using the same tag lines of previous years. How many times over the years have we been told pre-release, that you have to "feel" the game to see the difference then we get it and it "feels" the same as previous maddens. The "you have to feel it" line from EA has gotten pretty old.
Hopefully, the reason for the change in the visuals is due to processing power ie they are using more power for gameplay so they had to reduce the visuals some from their initial projections. Personally, the game can look exactly like this gen, with dramatically upgraded gameplay and I'd be a very happy camper. I will admit, I am very curious to see what this game actually looks like graphically and gameplay wise. EA needs to stop with all the trailers and give us some raw gameplay footage.