Madden NFL 10: First Look

Discussion in 'Video Games' started by wildthing202, Feb 2, 2009.

  1. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 21018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    The worst part of Madden for me was always how great my Jets team was in comparison to reality. I had to stop using the Jets after a while.
     
  2. ........

    ........ Trolls

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    There's one update I want above all others. 1080p native for the PS3.
     
  3. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    Then do some research before responding.

    That one was a joke, 2k = Arcade, Madden 10 & the Show = Simulation. As for the other stuff realism & research.
     
  4. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    Why would I randomly research Madden NFL 10 tagline? Without researching that I guess I'm not entitled to post in a thread about the game. I mean... what could be more important then "Fight for every yard."
     
  5. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    Head over to Operation Sports sometime, they cover every sports game.
    http://www.operationsports.com/
    They have producers from most of the games post there.
     
  6. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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  7. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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  8. ukilledkenny

    ukilledkenny You bastards!

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  9. ace_o_spades

    ace_o_spades New Member

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    Yes, please. I got a new 1080p after my 720p TV broke (damn Samsung DLP, thank god for extended warranty) and Madden 09 doesn't look great. The player models look awful
     
  10. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    http://insideblog.easports.com/archive/2009/04/01/april-fool-s-plus-some-real-info.aspx

    Many caught on right away, but I wanted to officially clarify that the image we released this morning was an April Fool's joke.
    http://insideblog.easports.com/arch...-gen-quot-quarterback-play-in-madden-nfl.aspx

    Some may say it was cruel, so we are sorry if you feel that way, but after all we are making video games here, we aren't government officials so it seems fitting to have a little more fun right?



    Here are the key details I thought would give it away:
    - Calling the feature 3.0 when there hasn't been a 2.0
    - Green being worse than yellow
    - Different shading for lob / bullet
    - Jagged lines seemed like a dead giveaway to me - that would be absolutely impossible to understand
    - Removing the ability to actually run with your QB (eek!)
    - Using an extremely complex button combo to even activate (or de-activate) the feature

    In our first blog for the year we made clear that we weren't about delivering gimmicks...we wanted to deliver a PURE and authentic NFL experience. This went pretty much 180 against that vision. :)

    To be clear, there will not be a QB Vision 3.0 in Madden NFL 10. But it looks like we still tricked a few of you. Kudos to Josh Looman for coming up with QB Vision as our piece to play the joke.

    To extend an olive branch and show that we're not totally heartless, I figured I'd touch really quickly on a REAL improvement to gameplay for Madden NFL 10 (via new animation technology and AI) in touch any version of Madden, this has probably happened to you:
    [​IMG]

    You throw a nice pass to your receiver as he breaks open on an out route towards the sidelines, but your WR plays a catch animation that gets his foot just out of bounds, nullifying your perfect vision as a QB (sorry, bad pun). This is one of the more frustrating occurrences across all skill levels for every Madden player. We knew we had to fix this.

    There are three main things that we will do for Madden NFL 10 to improve this area:
    1. Added AI to make players dynamically slow down as they approach the sideline (instead of running full speed)
    2. Allow early animation branching at the end of certain animations so they learn to better drag their feet
    3. Dynamically "steer" the catch animation as he approaches the sideline. This emulates what a real NFL player does as he tries to keep his feet in bounds...he will try to 'curve' upfield to maximize his shot at getting his feet down where possible.

    Check out the video below - an example from Madden NFL 09 is on the left while the new technology you'll see in Madden NFL 10 is at work on the right. You can pretend that the out of bounds line is the edge of the grid. In the example, you can see how just a slight bit of "steering" on a catch animation can mean the difference between a pass being incomplete and complete. You'll also notice how the same animation can branch into a more realistic "toe drag" ending and make the player look much more aware of his surroundings. We can also make players with higher awareness and agility ratings actually "steer" even more upfield, which could hypothetically even keep guys in bounds and able to keep running up field (probably wouldn't apply in this example though).

    In summary, we hope this makes up for our little April Fools prank. This new "steering" technology is being used in many other areas that we'll be talking about soon, but even in this simple example I think it's evident how we can really improve the passing game with this addition.

    - Ian Cummings
    Lead Designer, Madden NFL 10

    There's a video but I can't post it here just click the link.
     
  11. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    http://insideblog.easports.com/archive/2009/04/06/madden-nfl-10-franchise-mode-improvements.aspx

    Hey Madden fans, it's that time again...time for another weekly blog update! I’m Josh Looman, senior designer on Madden NFL 10. First some background on me…my most recent role was as the lead designer on NFL Head Coach ’09. Prior to that, I was the ‘Franchise Designer’ on Madden 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 for PS2 and Xbox. When the opportunity was presented to me to re-join Phil Frazier, Ian Cummings, and Donny Moore on the Madden team, I dropped everything and came aboard.

    This week I wanted to give you an update on what we’re addressing in franchise mode this year. We’re probably going to have a few blogs about franchise mode from now until August, so I’m just going to touch on a couple of things we’ve been working on since I joined the team.

    One thing we learned on NFL Head Coach ’09 was that in order to have a great franchise mode, you need a solid base. You wouldn’t put a 2nd or 3rd addition on your house if the foundation is crumbling, right?

    Since our ‘foundation’ is the logic behind every decision made in franchise mode, we knew we really wanted to address that foundation before anything else major was applied. I know some folks may be expecting the entire NFL Head Coach ’09 game to be dropped into Madden this year, but that’s not going to happen. We have a lot of work to do and it’s going to take us some time to start with the core of franchise mode and take it where we all want it to be.

    I’ll break down some of the problems we’ve encountered so far and talk about how we’re addressing them below.



    Offseason Player Signing Logic

    When we sat down and started taking a look at the logic, the #1 area that stood out to us was how teams handled player decisions in the offseason. After a simulated season, many teams were cutting players left and right in free agency to upgrade much lesser needs (like punter and full back). In fact, that first year we saw the Colts cut Peyton Manning to sign a punter.

    We dug through some of the logic and found out that CPU teams were just being too rigid when it came to upgrading positions on their team. They all felt like their #1 priority was to field the best team possible, but when it came to clearing cap room they could possibly just cut the player who would save them the most. Thankfully, this has been addressed. Teams are much more mindful of the amount of cap room they have in free agency now…if they have no room, they’ll pass on that new punter.

    Another thing we addressed was contract amounts. We’ve scaled player ratings differently this year, so we needed to make sure a starter in the league was paid like a starter. It’ll be tougher to cherry pick in free agency now, as an 80 overall defensive end is going to ask for the money he’d be paid in real life. We also increased signing bonuses and salaries for elite players. We found that the max a player could get paid was about 60 million over 7 years in previous versions of the game. We fixed that so you’ll see elite players like Asomugha and Haynesworth sign those $100 million dollar deals.

    We’re also focusing on the re-sign player stage, making sure that teams intelligently decide whether to keep or release their upcoming free agents. If a team cannot afford to re-sign a player, he’ll become a free agent. It’s that simple.


    The Draft

    The other big thing we’ve looked at so far is everything surrounding the Draft. After joining the team, I ran through a season and started doing some in-season scouting. Three issues presented themselves immediately:

    • When I scouted a player, it was a pretty cumbersome experience. I had to click on a player, enter a sub-screen and then click on him again just to start the first level of scouting.

    • After I scouted a player for a few weeks, the comments never seemed to change. Beyond that, they were pretty vague and really told me very little about the player.

    • The screen for in-season scouting was actually quite buried as well. Placing it within the “owner mode” sub-menu meant that very few people would necessarily know to go use it.

    To fix these issues, we first made the interface a lot easier to use (which we’ll show screenshots of quite soon). Second, we re-vamped the scouting system so that you unlock more comments as you scout the player longer. The comments can go from being broad (We think his awareness is no higher than 80) to telling you exactly what his key ratings are if you scout him the entire time. It won’t tell you his overall rating, but it will give you his potential, which is what you should make your decision off of.

    One nice addition that we were able to take from Head Coach was how we handle the rookies in the Draft. We now create every rookie by hand, just like you saw in NFL Head Coach ’09. You might even see a few famous rookies make a re-appearance from those drafts.

    In addition, we also have the ability to determine where a player SHOULD be drafted and what his potential is. So we can create busts and sleepers just using those systems. Drafting a player in the top 10 will no longer guarantee that he is a great player in Madden NFL 10. Unless you do some scouting (like the real teams do), you might just pick up this year’s Vernon Gholston. On the flip side, you might also find the next Tom Brady or Marques Colston in later rounds. One piece of advice…don’t be enamored with workout warriors. Running a 4.2 forty or benching a small concrete block does not automatically make you a good football player.

    The big thing we’re working on as we speak is the Draft logic. I promise you…you will not see the Colts take a QB in the first round and then in the 3rd, 5th, etc. These type of logic tweaks are happening across the board and the draft is no different.



    NCAA Import Draft Class tuning

    We have been doing quite a bit of tuning on the NCAA Import Draft classes, as we saw a lot of feedback on the forums regarding this area in general. Here are a few of the changes:

    • Added the 5 new QB ratings (Throw on Run, Play Action, Short Accuracy, Mid Accuracy, Deep Accuracy). Since NCAA Football does not have the new ratings in their game to use as a base, we will be using Throw Accuracy for the 3 Madden Accuracy ratings. For Throw on Run, we take a combo of their Speed + Throw Power. For Play Action, we use a combo of Awareness + Throw Accuracy.

    • Tuned the import draft class feature to be more superstar based. The community feedback matched our own in the feeling that were too many superstars coming in from NCAA. There was not much of a difference from the 1st Round Picks to the 5th round picks. Nearly all the players were 75+ OVR rated and we felt like that was too high for your average draft picks. We have tuned this quite a bit to ensure that the elite guys will still be elite, but you should expect the middle and lower round guys to be rated much lower in Madden 10 (with a few gems buried in there as well).


    Progression

    Finally we get to progression, easily one of the most often-discussed areas of Franchise mode in the community for Madden NFL 09. Donny Moore did a lot of good work with progression prior to my joining the team and I’ve been able to keep tweaking it since. Here are the major changes we’ve made so far:

    • Older players will digress much faster. In fact, when a running back hits 30, he’s going downhill at warp speed.

    • Younger players will progress quickly if they play well. We’re talking up 10 points in overall if he has a great year.

    • Veteran players will still progress, but not substantially. They can also digress if they play poorly.

    • We added more stat categories to determine a player’s success/failure for a season. For example, if you lead the league in rush TD’s but don’t do all that well in total rushing yards, you’ll still be able to progress accordingly. And it’s not just yards, and TD’s, it’s other stats like rushing attempts and rush yards per carry. This was done across the board for all positions.

    • Removed age from ranking players. Some people may not know this but our previous progression systems would ranked each player statistically against players around the same age. Meaning that older players would only be ranked against other older players when determining how well they performed. This often created the situation where those older players never dropped even with sub-par years because other players in their ‘age group’ weren’t performing well either. Now, all players are ranked against all other players at that position, regardless of career phase.

    The “potential” rating is another sort of ‘hidden’ addition that we are changing up this year to impact progression (and Franchise mode overall). Every player in the game has a potential rating that he cannot exceed (a la NFL Head Coach 09). This year, we’re actually exposing that rating so you’ll have an idea why your player is not progressing - typically a situation where his potential is maxed out. Exposing this rating also help quite a bit in making personnel decisions when contracts are up. One key detail here is that you’ll only see potential for players on your own team. CPU player potentials will be hidden.

    Ok, guys…I’ve probably gone on long enough. Next time I’ll talk about trade logic, hall of fame logic, regular season free agency, salary cap tuning, coach boosts and tons of other franchise stuff.


    - Josh Looman
    Senior Designer, Madden NFL 10
     
  12. NDmick

    NDmick Revis Christ

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    did they fix the gay XBOX playcalling yet? I want the old screen back, the new one ruins the game.

    I haven't bought madden in 4 years.
     
  13. Joe Will E 69

    Joe Will E 69 New Member

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    remember when video football game were only two buttons, like tecmo bowl
     
  14. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    Nothing like spam to start a short posting career.
     
  15. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    Wildcat Formation

    Hello Madden faithful! This week marks a very big week across the Madden Nation in terms of news - gameplay footage, the cover athlete, and some feature / technology releases. What you might imagine is that is that we (the development team) are extremely busy trying to get the game in good shape for everyone to see. So since we don't actually have a ton of time to spend on the blog, and the marketing / PR folks will be releasing a ton of news about the game anyway, we thought the least we could do was just drop a few quick screenshots to showcase some new stuff we've added.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    After our official gameplay footage is released on GameTrailers this week, our playbook gurus are going to follow up soon after that with a full blog detailing the Wildcat in Madden NFL 10 - it's implementation, it's usage, and even footage of it being run. So we hope this holds you over until then.

    (P.S. we already are working on the Dolphins helmet logo being too large)

    - Ian Cummings
    Lead Designer, Madden NFL 10
     
  16. SameOldJets2008

    SameOldJets2008 New Member

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    yeah they did you just hold like right trigger and it turns into the old playcalling screen
     
  17. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    While the whole idea of having the Wildcat is cool, I can see it getting very, very annoying online. Gonna be fucking abused by teams like New Orleans, Oakland, etc.
     
  18. southparkfanciz

    southparkfanciz Active Member

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  19. Royal Tee

    Royal Tee Girls juss wanna have fun
    Moderator

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    Wow, good to see that Madden is still playing catchup to shit that 2k did years ago.

    No $60 from me this year.


    [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJLkaSKUf8[/YOUTUBE]
    [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg_DpwVAkQE[/YOUTUBE]
     
    #59 Royal Tee, Apr 23, 2009
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2009
  20. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    Trailer..

    [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QDQZQZlsyg[/YOUTUBE]
     

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