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Madden 2010 News Post

Check out the new Madden NFL 10 blog, which features playbooks and CPU playcalling improvements.

Quote:
"Over the years we have continued to add more and more team-specific plays, formations, audibles, and the like, but one of the biggest things that we hadn't nailed was that the CPU teams didn’t play the same way that they do in real life. For example, when you were playing against the Vikings they wouldn’t utilize RB Adrian Peterson enough and would quickly abandon the run for the pass. Knowing that well over half of our audience plays offline games exclusively (mostly in Franchise mode), this year we made it a point to concentrate on getting teams to call plays that focus on their best players (while still differentiating team playbooks with unique team specific formations and plays). For some teams like the Vikings and the Falcons, that may be through the running game, while others like the Patriots and Saints, you obviously expect them to air it out a lot more.

To accomplish this, we used our Play Designer tool to totally re-vamp the "AI Groups" to change the way the CPU calls their plays. An "AI Group" is basically the same exact concept of a bucket of plays a team takes into the game geared around game situations. These situations include all the normal football situations like 1st and 10, 2nd Short/Medium/Long, 3rd and Short/Medium/Long, 4th and Short/Medium/Long, Goal Line, and many others. The AI Groups also cover all the “Special” situations like Special Teams plays, QB Kneel Downs, Conserve time (No-Huddle plays), Waste Time (when CPU is ahead and tries to run the clock out), and Hail Mary calls. In previous years, you'd see a much more generic smattering of plays in an AI Group - many of them would be balanced right down the middle between run and pass across all plays. The Head Coach 09 team did some great work and added some deeper support to tag exact plays and the percentages they should be run per situation. We zeroed out all of our previous situational numbers and started from scratch - making sure the CPU picked from a more team-specific subset of plays (no reason to have all those generic HB Dive plays in there if teams don't run them often)."

Game: Madden NFL 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 76 - View All
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Member Comments
# 61 Rback21 @ 07/06/09 07:39 PM
I think that the info in the blog was pretty good, especially for those playing offline franchises. This is ANOTHER GOOD step in the right direction.
 
# 62 roadman @ 07/06/09 07:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by adembroski
I'll answer for him. No. Not at all. Why would it be?
Well, of course it wouldn't be what he is looking for. I was just referencing that he mentioned all Madden does is slap a few formations and a few new plays every year.

I should have focused on that aspect instead.

Hopefully next year we get custom playbooks.
 
# 63 elsid13 @ 07/06/09 07:55 PM
Well that was cool blog, hopefully it works. The next step would be to update the playing percentage as the real season goes along and ability to expand the playbooks as team reveal new formation and play calls.
 
# 64 PanthersFanboy @ 07/06/09 08:12 PM
Lets just hope it works like they say it will.
 
# 65 SoxFan01605 @ 07/06/09 08:20 PM
All sounds good. Hopefully there are no hiccups in this newer setup. I would hate for the AI to become too predictable in it's approach. Still, it's definitely good news and another thing to look forward too. Once again, my wavering opinion on the game aside, I continue to be pleased with the attention this team has seemed to put into this iteration.
 
# 66 SteelerSpartan @ 07/06/09 09:14 PM
Man Ive been wanting for this for a while. Wish we could set tendencies too though

If this comes out bug-free...it should be a considerable upgrade for Offline Play

Great Blog Today
 
# 67 Sanchez_Mareno @ 07/06/09 09:17 PM
I always used to put Welker as my third receiver.
Problem solved
 
# 68 Smoke316 @ 07/06/09 09:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by elsid13
Well that was cool blog, hopefully it works. The next step would be to update the playing percentage as the real season goes along and ability to expand the playbooks as team reveal new formation and play calls.
sorta like they do with nba live and dna thing...good idea
 
# 69 Obelysk @ 07/06/09 09:21 PM
Thanks for the Blog Larry Richart! OK here is my criticism and questions. For starters let me ask, why does the predator look like the basic 3-4 defense? I mean, I know its supposed to be something like a "4-3 Strong" but I was hoping it would look more like the pure 4-3 with all the LBs line up behind the Dline. For some reason its just a minor detail that for some reason annoys me. Also when it comes to nickel plays for 3-4 defenses and the defense lines up in a 4 down lineman look does the WOLB line up at LDE? And do they remove the NT and add a pass rushing DT instead like most 3-4 teams do in real life? OK I also see that you guys have added a ton of plays (I noticed a lot of new plays on the E3 videos!) so since you guys added percentages and a "pool of plays" for the AI Playcalling does that mean that there will be certain plays or formations that the CPU will not call because they technically do not fall on the CPU play calling? Also since teams like the Eagles prefer to do more zone blitzing than lets say the Titans are their playbooks going to have a lot more zone blitz plays? Or are they all exactly the same and the only thing that varies is their play calling? Thanks! I just preordered my copy of Madden 10.
 
# 70 TheFiasco87 @ 07/06/09 09:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by elsid13
Well that was cool blog, hopefully it works. The next step would be to update the playing percentage as the real season goes along and ability to expand the playbooks as team reveal new formation and play calls.
In the franchise mode, updating the playing percentage would be useless as for instance lets say 10 seasons into your franchise the Pats have a below average qb and a stud running back, they would be running more. Wow, I love the fact that that can happen now in franchise But it would deff. be nice to get it updated for quick games against the cpu.
 
# 71 atc43 @ 07/06/09 09:39 PM
all i have to say is...one small step for EA
one giant step for madden gamers everywhere
 
# 72 RogueHominid @ 07/06/09 10:30 PM
That's pretty dope. The offensive playcalling AI sounds very deep, and I'm impressed.

The defensive AI needs more love to keep pace with the offense, but this is a great start.

Nice work!
 
# 73 JohnnyNutman @ 07/06/09 10:33 PM
wow, that actually sounds really good. it should have a pretty significant improvement over gameplay as well. if all the running/tackling etc. animations keep getting smoothed out then we r looking at a pretty sick game.
 
# 74 jzal8 @ 07/06/09 11:06 PM
Really really cool blog! I am excited to experience the new playcalling AI.

Any chance the giants have the any special blitz formations?
 
# 75 Von Dozier @ 07/06/09 11:42 PM
Seriously great news.
 
# 76 Mofficial @ 07/06/09 11:47 PM
shweet. the more madden is like HC09 = the better the game.
 
# 77 leo2k2ndc @ 07/06/09 11:50 PM
Cool if it works, I hope it has some kind of awareness when playing user controlled, because I hate money plays with the other 11 cpu controlled players not adjusting to the known situation ..
 
# 78 Steelerlad777 @ 07/07/09 12:02 AM
Looks fantastic.

If what they say works this edition of Madden could be tops..

What did it for me was this:

Quote:
With more and more NFL teams using the 3-4 as a base defense now (13 teams in Madden 10 will have a 3-4 base defense) we felt that it was important to continue to improve the functionality around the 3-4 and make it much more applicable to real life.
I know fans of those 13 teams (me especially considering I'm a Steelers fan) were asking a lot of questions about this. I know this blog is discussing the AI side of it, but AI also applies to 10 of you 11 players while playing on defense.

Looks great....
 
# 79 WDOgF0reL1fe @ 07/07/09 01:01 AM
Wow i didnt read any of the posts in this thread so im hoping everyone is staying positive

AHHH this game cannot come faster enough!
 
# 80 SeventhWard @ 07/07/09 01:59 AM
Fellas -

This might be the coolest thing they've done to Madden. IRL - what I see on EVERY Sunday - is 32 teams and 32 distinct styles of football being played, based around each team's respective personnel and philosophies.

There was this mental connection I had worked up when I was younger - throughout the season, watching NFL Teams is like watching a Heavyweight fight. Each team, or boxer if you will, has their own individual style. One example being that some teams 'jab' with the run, wearing down their opponents defense, before hitting them with the power shot - the deep vertical pass to a speedy receiver.

Sometimes I'd watch Saints games and just KNOW when they were going deep - you could feel them setting up that punch.

The idea of having just a tiny bit of this emulated in Madden is extremely cool. Just the idea that they did research and based the tendencies on real life statistics - that's just a solid approach from the core. Great foundation. And if they can evolve the feature - another legitimate reason to buy a new game every year.

-SeventhWard
 


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