Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

[BritPitbull]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

I've played Madden since it was on the Commodore Amiga but I lost interest as it turned into a disinterested, lazy and soulless annual cash grab. The monopoly over the NFL licence basically meant the death knell for the game as there was no reason for EA to release anything more than a roster update each year. Because of this, I stopped playing Madden for many years but with online transactions EA have a new reason to improve the game - the better it is, the more money people will spend with them throughout the year, not just in August.

The last two releases have piqued my interest once again and contained some real improvements (penalties, better oline play, reimagined defence, etc). In Christian, Madden seems to finally have a director who genuinely understands what the game is lacking and how it should be improved. This new commentary is a prime example of how the game is changing for the better. It's a fantastic change. Creating a Madden broadcast style is so much better than a half-hearted attempt to ape the real TV production. This will ensure that the commentary remains relevant for years and can be constantly improved upon and broadened. I'd be surprised if, after a couple of years, the result is anything less than the best commentary ever in a sports video game.

Things seem to be looking up for Madden. Now please fix the AI, special teams, stats and attributes progression, trade logic and franchise mode experience and I will be a happy Madden player once again and for years to come.

[capa]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

From the video it looks like another year of turning the commentary volume all the way down

The very definition of trolling.

C

[ryan36]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

Well, I like it but I wonder how much is new vs. how much is re-recording old lines?

[NateDogPack12]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

Well, I like it but I wonder how much is new vs. how much is re-recording old lines?

From a conceptual perspective, I'm sure they had to record a lot of basic / generic lines.

That said, I doubt they literally recorded scripts from Nantz / Simms.

[strawberryshortcake]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis

Excited, optimistic, but I do have my reservations for the simple fact that live broadcast is unscripted.

My concern comes down to the fact that they're not in their "natural" environment so to speak. The emotional expression conveyed through live TV broadcast isn't scripted. The atmosphere is undoubtedly different. The external stimuli are different. Stadium crowd noise dictated by the play on the field is missing during in studio recording sessions. The adrenaline rush is missing in action. Madden is a video game and the "stakes to make the real playoffs and win the ultimate prize" are missing. If the Seahawks lose in Madden, it's no big deal. But if the Seahawks lose in the real NFL for multiple consecutive weeks, it is a big deal.

I am interested in hearing how the collaboration with the Madden team, Brandon Gaudin, and Charles Davis will play out in video game form. Sitting in a recording studio is different from a booth in a stadium.

My other concern is "dead air." Are they going to be talking/analyzing replay? There is a major difference between Madden Simms/Nantz and live NFL Simms/Nantz. I just hope Madden 17 hits the jack pot and truly captures the feel of a real live broadcast.

@25:40 - 25:55 (real broadcast team talking during replays). Broadcast team will talk, talk and talk throughout the entire broadcast, but for brief moments when they're not talking, the crowd noise makes up for the "dead air."
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MUF5k9LtQSQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

[jfsolo]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

Excited, optimistic, but I do have my reservations for the simple fact that live broadcast is unscripted.

My concern comes down to the fact that they're not in their "natural" environment so to speak. The emotional expression conveyed through live TV broadcast isn't scripted. The atmosphere is undoubtedly different. The external stimuli are different. Stadium crowd noise dictated by the play on the field is missing during in studio recording sessions. The adrenaline rush is missing in action. Madden is a video game and the "stakes to make the real playoffs and win the ultimate prize" are missing. If the Seahawks lose in Madden, it's no big deal. But if the Seahawks lose in the real NFL for multiple consecutive weeks, it is a big deal.

I am interested in hearing how the collaboration with the Madden team, Brandon Gaudin, and Charles Davis will play out in video game form. Sitting in a recording studio is different from a booth in a stadium.

My other concern is "dead air." Are they going to be talking/analyzing replay? There is a major difference between Madden Simms/Nantz and live NFL Simms/Nantz. I just hope Madden 17 hits the jack pot and truly captures the feel of a real live broadcast.

@25:40 - 25:55 (real broadcast team talking during replays). Broadcast team will talk, talk and talk throughout the entire broadcast, but for brief moments when they're not talking, the crowd noise makes up for the "dead air."
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MUF5k9LtQSQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Of course it's never going to really compare to live broadcasting, but given the constraints of the medium right now, it looks to be a significant improvement from what has come before. So people are excited within the context of the recognizing the limitations of it being a video game.

[Pixx4Sixx]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

Willing to give it a chance is the same thing as saying a promotional video that shows absolutely zero in game retail commentary makes you automatically turning it off?

Blew my mind there.

The beginning of the trailer was actual in game sound. When he introduces the teams.

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[TheDominator273]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

In what shape or form did you come to this conclusion? Talk about jumping the gun!

While I like Charles Davis as an analyst, I find him to be terrible as a color guy. Add in the fact I was already annoyed by the other guys voice in the little bit we heard in the video and it's a simple conclusion.

[oneamongthefence]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

Of course it's never going to really compare to live broadcasting, but given the constraints of the medium right now, it looks to be a significant improvement from what has come before. So people are excited within the context of the recognizing the limitations of it being a video game.

I think the biggest flaw in the commentary has always been the lack of replay analysis. We just get generic lines during replays. Hopefully the new team has more specific play breakdown. Instead of a generic the quarterback threw a nice pass and the receiver caught it I would like to hear for example "Andrew Luck saw Von Miller coming on the blitz and threw the pass underneath to TY Hilton who was running a crossing route." Or "Carson Wentz is a young quarterback who is still learning the game at the pro level has to see that Clay Matthews is mismatched against the TE who is not known as a blocking TE. He should have kept a running back in to block or found the hot receiver to avoid taking a sack there." Actual breakdown of the play and also as a teaching tool.
Imagine if instead of having to go into the replay menu the announcers and replay highlights why the outcome of the play happened. Hopefully we get some form of this in 17 especially since the name database sounds like it will be huge.

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[jpdavis82]

Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp;amp; Charles Davis

The beginning of the trailer was actual in game sound. When he introduces the teams.

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Sounds like NFL on Fox Pregame, coincidentally Brandon sounds like Thom Brennaman, Davis' real life NFL on Fox broadcast partner. I made a post about this earlier in the thread comparing madden 17 to Thom on NFL on fox and they are very similar sounding.


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[Big FN Deal]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

I think it's a good thing they have gone with more available commentators which hopefully increases the time they have to record together and amount of content. It's also nice to see them reference the voice actor element, something done well in other games, that can hopefully all mesh to create a much improved experience. I'm personally not looking for commentary that blows me away, the bar for me is just don't hurt my immersion by being so disjointed or having jarring moments, that make me immediately take notice in a bad way. If by some chance there are some cool, rarely heard moments that make me laugh or fit well with a unexpected situation, all the better but I'm happy if it all just flows well.

What I wonder is even with the potential of a new commentary team, have they been able to address the dead air issues or just the general issue with commentary flow. I'm inclined to think not enough because it seems to me, at least part of the crux of the issue with commentary flow and timing is the lack of controlled pacing on the field. I harp on real time this and that alot because pacing in football and consequently a football video game, have a large impact on timing and flow. While I'd like to see complete real time pacing with personnel coming on/off the field, until that is achieved, it seems Madden still needs some kind of organized intervals for pacing, so commentary, as well as overall presentation, can flow.

Over the years Madden had cultivated a "button through" mindset and focused on getting a game over with as fast as possible, which is fine if you have a separate "quick play" mode of some kind, where it's probably best commentary and most presentation just be turned off but it doesn't work well when applied to traditional game presentation. I think something like an option for real time presentation, which has been done in other games, would inherently provide better flow and elevate Madden commentary and presentation as a whole.

[strawberryshortcake]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

Of course it's never going to really compare to live broadcasting, but given the constraints of the medium right now, it looks to be a significant improvement from what has come before. So people are excited within the context of the recognizing the limitations of it being a video game.

The hope is to get it as close to live broadcast as possible.

Let me reworded this way.

Even if we take out all the external live broadcast cues, my hope is that these two individuals aren't simply voice acting a handed script. My hope is for them to either commentate on multiple real NFL games or the replay of a real NFL game weekly in studio, with the Madden team extracting commentary from these sessions. There's a difference when trying to commentate on live real NFL footage versus commentating on someone playing Madden or watching a Madden CPU vs CPU matchup.

If the team needs more specific lines for specific video game situations, then try to match it up with these mock broadcasts. Or better yet, team Madden compile real game footage that meets the video game situations and have Gaudin and Davis commentate on those.

My hope is the expressions conveyed are consistent.

[aguero90]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

I can hear that, a bit. Same cadence, but Tom's voice is a bit deeper, with a little more twang.

[Nature_Boy]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

I never cared much for Phil Simms. He and Cris Collinsworth are like nails on a chalkboard to me so I'm not sad to see Simms go. I'm liking what we have read about the new commentary team so far. It sounds like it will be a welcome change.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Gets New Commentary Team Featuring Brandon Gaudin &amp; Charles Davis

I won't be convinced one way or another until we get at least a half or hopefully a full game of commentary. It could be great or it could be more or less the same as it's been the last several years. I went back and watched Madden 13's presentation trailer and they play the same exact bit of intro as they do here and it sounds just like Nantz does on Sunday. But obviously that didn't exactly pan out as well as we would have hoped. The fact that they can record more and provide weekly updates could be great as long as it's executed well and provides new, useful content. If I'm hearing the exact same QB intros every game or hearing about Cam's tough SB50 loss in 2024 and the flow isn't natural from pre to post play then it's still going to suffer.