yes, the innovation at EA continues with user controlled end zone dances. Dance Dance Madden anybody? what's next, GTA style free roaming on the sideline to collect 100 penalty flags in the stadium? first person shooter mini-game? but the sheep will pre-order and stand in line for roster update.
Just keep pissing on it won't ya.:lol: I know '08 was crap(first time I've ever returned a madden game) but at least they got new people for '09.
I guess I'm in the minority, but I still think Madden is a good football video game. The game play IMO is bar none. I could do without a lot of the new features they come out with from year to year (player weapons, passing cone ...), but generally speaking I love the game. Maybe if other companies had the ability to use NFL players someone could out do them, but I've played the other games that do come out (minus nfl players) and find them clunky compared to madden.
it's not that it is a bad football game, it is that it is the same football game. and if players didn't jump on it year after year for nothing more than a roster update and few added touches that haven't made the game better or simply more enjoyable, EA wouldn't have the resources or the clout to gobble up the exclusive licensing, and in turn just continue to churn out the same game year after year without competition. there is simply no reason for EA to make a better game if the market doesn't demand one.
I was extremely dissapointed with Madden 08... From now on I will wait until I can rent it at blockbuster before buying it.
i liked 08 alot especially drafting my own team.it was like fantasy football but then you played with your team
do we know when we will hear about some new updated "things" being thrown into 09? I heard that since the old PS2 guru's of Madden are now running development, 09 is going to be picking up all of the old features, as well as adding many more than ever before. Now that being said, they refused to say what they were adding in the article...
I'm not one for swearing on a forum, but geewhizz!!! That snow looks amazing, hope theres mud too (Mudbowl II) I'm with you WhiteshoeWillie, Maddens not that bad. There are a plenty of mistakes in the game, but I would prefer to have it than not. I would like to see a new online feature that allows you to electrocute your opponant when they start doing shit like going for it on 4th and 7 in the 1st qtr. Think that might be added in? http://talkingaboutgames.com/content/view/674/56/
Funny you say that. I actually remember getting electrocuted by lightning in games in which there were thunderstorms in the NFL Xtreme 2000 game.
http://forums.ea.com/mboards/thread.jspa?threadID=359444&start=0&tstart=0 Phil Frazier(The Producer) answering questions about the game. Hint - FG Nets are back w00t!
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/scoop-brett-favre-to-cover-madden-nfl-09/?biz=1 Looks like Favre is the coverboy.
Which Favre will we get, clean shaven clean uni, or Unshaven mud covered? I'll go for the mud. I feel dirrty now
I posted this in the other Madden thread but it bears repeating http://www.easports.com/madden09/fullsite/news.jsp?itemID=mpr224 REDWOOD CITY, Calif., - April 25, 2008 - Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will be featured as the cover athlete of Madden NFL 09, coming to stores across North America on August 12 from EA SPORTS. Madden NFL 09 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the best-selling and most critically-acclaimed videogame franchises of all time, and the game will feature adaptable gameplay tailored to every type of gamer, online enhancements and a broadcast style presentation delivering an authentic NFL experience. "Madden NFL Football and Brett Favre are sports icons who have set the standard and revolutionalized their positions within their respective genres," said Madden NFL Executive Producer Dale Jackson. "Brett Favre is a perfect fit for the Madden NFL 09 cover, as he epitomizes everything the franchise has stood for the past 20 years - longevity, excellence, and a love of football." For passionate Madden NFL fans, this year's iteration will take authenticity and depth of gameplay to an entirely new level with more than 85 new features and enhancements, including the all-new Virtual Trainer tutorial mode. Utilizing a holographic environment, this mode teaches gamers simple concepts about playing football and how to use the controls in quick, fun and stylized drills. In Madden NFL 09, the game engine is continually assessing the player?s performance and will adapt a custom experience to every type of gamer, from newcomer to the veteran Madden NFL player. Madden NFL 09 will also feature a network-inspired broadcast presentation. Players will benefit from the authentic football knowledge of an in-booth play-by-play and color commentary team featuring Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond. In addition, numerous graphical enhancements have been made, including realistic weather and grass, sleeker player models and exterior stadium views. Madden NFL 09 gives gamers the ability to create online leagues. Avid Madden NFL fans can now take their rivalries online and compete in leagues with up to 32 teams. Online league play will feature in-depth stat tracking, player trades and a flexible scheduling option. Favre's legacy is cemented as one of the most beloved players of his generation and one of the most admired NFL players to ever grace the cover of Madden NFL. The future Hall of Famer is the league?s only three-time Most Valuable Player and he holds the NFL record for most consecutive starts for quarterbacks. He completed his 17-year career as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns, completions, attempts, yards, and wins. http://www.operationsports.com/foru...new-features-enhancements.html#post2038316275 -"my skills" custom fueled by the all new madden IQ -total controll animation system -all new network-inspired beyond broadcast presentation -all-new rivalry games& specialized presentation -all-new easports rewind -"madden-moments" mode -holographic virtual training center -ONLINE LEAGUE UP TO 32 PLAYERS -advanced gameplay sliders -all-new easports backtrack -all-new madden skills test -enhanced play call -innovative options ondemand PIP -playcall formation subs -all-new dynamic ticker -tailored madden tips -new weather effects -improved player shadow system - return field goals -bobble catches -all-new pass tuning system -set/formation auds. -slide protection -smart routes -authentic exterior stadium intros -all-new wrap tackling system -improved foot pinning -all-new break-out tackles -all-new dynamic catches -fumble refactor -next-gen grudge match -most realistic sim engine in madden history -bluff art -all-new player models Just so people know Hammond does the Notre Dame games for NBC, he also covered a few games on NFL network I think.
Yes, he did. He called the Broncos-Texans game and maybe one other one. I find Hammond to be very good.
http://www.gametap.com/articles/gamefeatures/madden_nfl_09_interview-04252008 GameTap: What features are you most excited to finally showoff in Madden 09? Phil Frazier: There are three really big things this year that I'm really excited about. The first is actually a collection of features that we call Real Football Intelligence. That's the theme for this year's product. Part one of that is a feature that looks really cool and that's a holographic training environment. In this mode, you choose to go to the holographic training center and you have a bunch of training drills for you to practice. You can do things like work on pocket presence, you can work on receiver timing, focus on defense. I believe we have a total of 12 different drills that you can try. The mode looks really nice -- the players are holographs, you're in a holographic stadium -- it's pretty cool looking. And coming out of that mode, we actually assess your Madden skills, giving you a Madden IQ. Obviously, you want to do as good as possible in those drills, and from your Madden IQ, we actually set your game skills, so if you have a high score, we're going to make the game really challenging for you. So the folks that are really hardcore with the game are going to get a really challenging experience right out of the gate. Those who aren't so good, we'll adjust the game accordingly so the game is still fun for them, just not quite as hard. This is what we call Adaptive AI, setting the game up to be played on your level. It's one of the first sports experiences where the game actually adapts to you without having to adjust the game yourself. The last part of the Real Football Intelligence feature set is something we call the EA Sports Backtrack. This is our chance to give you feedback as you play our game. What good is letting you practice these drills if we're not going to give you feedback along the way. As you're playing the game, when the game recognizes that you're doing something improperly, we're going to break the moment down for you. It's a higher, nicer version of instant replay with the graphics laced on the field. We actually showcase guys with colors and arrows -- very cool. So if you take a sack for example, when there was a receiver wide open in the field, we're going to tell you that. We're even going to show you why he was wide open and how he ran into the space between the zones. And for those who have a high Madden IQ, we even add another layer of information where we break down the actual plays that were used, the hot routes that were called, and we show you on a statistical basis how successful that play typically is versus that defense. And the nice thing with backtrack, we don't want to just tell you what you did wrong. We're actually letting you rewind a play now. We call it EA Sports Rewind, and by just hitting a button, that situation actually rewinds and you're able to try the situation again, and hopefully take the game's advice. That's the big feature. Outside of Real Football Intelligence, the next thing that really has me excited are the visuals. I believe this is the biggest graphical improvement we've ever had year-to-year in Madden. You could argue that the jump from PS1 to PS2 was a pretty big jump, but Madden 09 looks absolutely stunning. All new lighting models, all new player models -- we actually went in and did full body scans of real athletes. We have shadows over the field, we have field goal nets, and footprints in the snow. We actually have snow. Last year, the rain and particle effects were so expensive that we couldn't put too many on the screen at the same time without impacting the framerate, but this year we've actually upgraded our particle system and we can have lots and lots of snowflakes. The field is covered in snow. There are shoveled lines on the field. Then lumped in with these visuals, we have all new presentation. We're going back to broadcast. We've used the radio guy ever since next-gen came out, and I think at first people were okay with it, but we received a lot of feedback from fans and media that said this guy's got to go. We've got Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth as our play-by-play and color guys. We didn't have any in-game stat banners in next-gen at all, but we have a lot of them now. After every play almost, we have banners animating in like you see on broadcast, and I'm pretty sure a lot of our fans will appreciate this level of polish and presentation. GameTap: How are online leagues going to be implemented in Madden 09? Phil Frazier: For the first time ever in Madden, you'll be able to get together with 32 of your friends and participate in a league where you can play through a schedule, play through the playoffs, play your own Super Bowl. There's draft support, there's trade support, and we actually implemented flex scheduling in the online leagues. We've had tournaments before online, but the problem with tournaments is that having more than two or three people together at the same time to complete a series of games is very, very challenging. So with flex scheduling, you can actually play your games in any order. It's more like a round-robin style. We did this because it's online and we wanted to make sure people can actually play through their seasons. If you and I are scheduled to meet in Week 10 but we're both online today, we can just play our Week 10 game now. I know there are possible issues or questions about what happens to the rosters if you get injured, but we're not worrying about that right now. We wanted to set up a system where leagues would actually get used and are very user-friendly in terms of the coordination required. It's all server based. There are no files to manage. There's no data whatsoever being saved on your box. GameTap: With the online leagues, are gamers going to be able to make trades online using their computer or is it all through the game system? Phil Frazier: You'll do it through the game. Everything is done through the product itself. Web support is a big factor and we definitely want you to be able to go to the Web and take a look at league statistics, but a lot of the interaction will have to take place using the product itself. GameTap: Favre is on the cover, but not currently in the league. How are you going to incorporate him into the game? Phil Frazier: Favre isn't on the Packers roster…at this point, but if that was to change we could always add him back in the game using a roster update. Brett will be the starting quarterback of our NFL Greats team. You'll be able to play as him on the team and you'll also be able to bring him into franchise mode because those players are available in franchise. So if you want to sign him to your Packers roster as part of your franchise, that's all you. If you don't want to have to admit the fact that he's officially retired, you can live the dream through our game. GameTap: Last year saw the addition of player weapons. Are there any new weapons in the game or anything included to enhance the old ones? Phil Frazier: Weapons are back in the game. People liked the fact that you could easily identify who are the go-to guys on your team. It's back and there will be new players in each category. Players who might have been weapons last year aren't necessarily weapons this year. As far as new weapons, I think a lot of the weapons have stayed the same, it's more about switching out the players and making sure the guys who had breakout seasons last year are rewarded by becoming an official Madden weapon. GameTap: Have there been any enhancements to the game's franchise or owner mode? Phil Frazier: The big thing we did with franchise, and it's a really big one, is that we completely re-did our simulation engine within franchise. The simulation is what drives the games you play, the statistics, the offseason, whether or not players get traded, and last year we received a lot of feedback that our simulations weren't perfect. The simulated statistics -- we had too many running backs over 2,000 -- so now the results you'll see in Madden 09 will be much more realistic. Now when you go to make trades or go through the various functions in the game, it should be a much more realistic experience. We've also added a rivalry mode so when you play a rivalry game, we really up the intensity. Graphically, rivalry games look different. The colors of the game are a little more dark or colorful, and on top of that, rivalry games are going to be a little harder. Even if you have the two worst teams playing against each other, when they're rivals, they still bring their A-game and it's special. We want you to have that same feeling when you're playing Madden, so if you're playing a rivalry game in your season, it's going to feel special. We even use specific cameras in rivalry games that you won't see anywhere else. For example, if your running back has a breakaway run, the camera will zoom in on the player to help heighten that intensity. GameTap: Celebrations have also been given an overhaul with hot spots in the end zone. How is that going to work? Phil Frazier: When you cross the line of scrimmage, we leave you in control of the player. Typically in Madden, when the play is dead, we give control over to the AI, but now when you score a touchdown, you still have control and if you run to one of the hot spots and hit the Y button on the 360 or the triangle button on the PS3, he'll do a celebration depending on where you are. So if you're under the goal post, he might dunk the ball or if you run to the hot spot by the wall and you're in a stadium that supports it, you can do the Lambeau leap. Hit the button and jump up in the crowd. You won't be able to do anything that would draw a penalty in the NFL, but that doesn't mean that you can't have a little fun.
GameTap: What other AI tweaks have been made to the gameplay? Phil Frazier: Everything. The biggest thing in gameplay is something we call Total Control Animation. The game is much more responsive now and you don't need to wait for animations to completely play out before starting a new animation. Now you can string together jukes or do a double juke or a triple juke as you come up on a guy. You can also now do animations while you're involved in a wrap. That's something we've never been able to do in Madden before. In the old days, once a tackle animations started, you were done. The game determined whether or not that tackle was successful. But now, once a tackle starts, you still have a window where you can hit spin and try to break out of the tackle. The play lasts longer now as a result giving you an added level of control. Other things of note: Smart routes are back, we have formation subs, you can return field goals this year. Just all around Madden you're going to see improvements. GameTap: What's the one new animation you've seen in the game that has blown you away? Phil Frazier: The biggest thing is bobble catches. We had a lot of drops in the game last year and it's no fun when you drop a pass. We're going to turn a lot of those drops into bobbles. It's definitely cool when you see the ball hit a guy's hands then it goes flying into the air and then he goes and tries to make that catch. It looks really cool the first time you see it because you think he's going to drop it but then he turns around and makes the catch. GameTap: What about the PlayStation 3 version? Are we finally going to see a Madden that's equal on the 360 and PS3? Phil Frazier: They are equal, and they're both running at 60 frames-per-second this year. An interesting thing to point out is not only are they both running at 60 fps, but we've also made a huge leap in terms of graphics. It was definitely a struggle. We had to go back and rebuild assets. We had to rebuild stadiums and players so they were a little more economical in terms of how much memory they took and how much space they took, but we finally found a way to get to 60 fps on both and the game looks better than ever. We're proud of that and I think our fans on PS3 this year should have no reason to feel disappointed.
