Operation Sports is proud to present our interview with Kathie Flood, Program Manager of NFL Fever 2003.

Operation Sports: Are free agents available in this years Fever actual NFL players, or are they fake players created like last year's version?

Kathie Flood: Unfortunately, we can only include players who have current contracts with the NFL players’ association (Players Inc.), so the free agents will be fictional, as they were last year.

Operation Sports: What are some of the gameplay changes this year?

Kathie Flood: We made numerous additions and changes to the AI this year, including better pass defense, more realistic behavior for power backs (including a new ‘Break Tackles’ attribute), and Defensive Hot Routes (pressing the white button at the line of scrimmage prior to the ball snap enables you to switch to Bump & Run or Loose coverage).

Other gameplay additions include:

• Super Bowl Challenge. If your team wins a Super Bowl, a previous NFL champion team will come on the field to challenge you to a game. If you beat that team, some of its players will be released into free agency for the following season, making the talent pool a bit tougher that year.
• Classic Challenge. This is a new ladder tournament in which the user must defeat 7 legendary NFL teams.
• My Plays addition to the Play Picker. User can have Custom plays (created by our Play Editor) and Favorite plays (selected by the user from the NFL Fever global playbook) available quickly and easily in the Play Picker.

Operation Sports: What are some of the improvements in the franchise mode this year?

Kathie Flood: The Super Bowl Challenge (described above) is a fun addition to this year’s Dynasty mode. We also provided a post-game DPP (Dynamic Player Performance) screen to show you how your players improved or declined as a result of your performance. Another cool addition is the User Trophy Case, so you can see all the hardware you have accumulated as the seasons pass.

Operation Sports: Has the floaty ball been fixed?

Kathie Flood: If you want to lob the ball, you can still do so by tapping on the receiver’s button. To throw a bullet, hold down on the receiver’s button to generate speed before releasing.

Operation Sports: What have you done to improve the graphics, are there any new animations?

Kathie Flood: We have made lots of improvements to this year’s graphics, primarily to deliver on a compelling user gameplay experience, but also some to just look cool. :) We added many new motions to provide more variety in our tackles, blocks, catches, and special moves, and to improve on the transitions between motions. We also added new player accessories, such as an animated towel, handwarmer, neck brace, neck roll, mouthpieces, and so on. We also added new post-play camera work to show off the new motions and model improvements, as well as variable weather, including lightning and thunder during some rainy games.

Operation Sports: How many custom plays can you create? Can you create defensive plays as well?

Kathie Flood: Each user profile has space for 30 Custom plays (20 offense, 10 defense) and 30 Favorite plays (20 offense, 10 defense). You can create as many user profiles as you want.

Operation Sports: In Dynasty mode, are stats realistic when playing 15 min. Quarters?

Kathie Flood: If a user plays a 5-minute quarter game, he will get statistics comparable to real NFL games with 15-minute quarters. Our research showed that most users didn’t have time to play 15-minute quarters, but wanted to score as if they did. So, this was a trade-off we made to provide more exciting gameplay for most users, rather than strict realism.

Operation Sports: What additions, if any, have been made to the playbooks?

Kathie Flood: We updated the playbooks to provide some new plays, and tuned the AI to accurately reflect each team’s coaching style for this year.

Operation Sports: How many plays can I take online? Rumor was 20, if so, what factors influenced the limit?

Kathie Flood: Each user can take one user profile online, so 30 plays are available (20 offensive plays, plus 10 defensive plays). We wanted to provide enough plays to give the user a unique style of play, but not so many that the Custom plays section of the Play Picker was too big and difficult to sort through quickly.

Operation Sports: What additions and modifications have been added to the DPP?

Kathie Flood: The post-game DPP notification screen is a fun and helpful addition, and we have made many tunes and tweaks to provide an even more direct and balanced impact of a user’s behavior on his players.

Operation Sports: Could you give a more vivid description of all the entities available for download with respect to the online portion of the game? For example, weather, stats, player ratings, rosters, etc.

Kathie Flood: For this year, we are providing downloadable rosters, as soon as Xbox Live officially launches in this fall. We have not yet determined all of the downloadable items that will be available next season.

Operation Sports: I have read that you have made additions to the audible system, could you elaborate?

Kathie Flood: This year, each user profile has 12 audibles (6 offense, 6 defense).

Operation Sports: What about gang tackling? Last year there was an animation where the RB would drag a defender until another defender either came to make the tackle or the RB broke lose and kept going? Did the team expand that and add gang tackling sequences into the game, and if so, is there a stats category that tracks assisted tackles and sacks.

Kathie Flood: Players can still drag defenders, and you’ll get more variations of that with the new ‘Break Tackles’ attribute being used, as well as momentum. We do not keep track of partial tackles.

Operation Sports: Will the CPU vs. CPU games that occur during a franchise season simulate realistic stats on longer quarters, say 10 minutes?

Kathie Flood: The statistics on CPU vs. CPU games are adjusted according to what quarter length the user is playing. If a user plays a 5-minute quarter game, he will get statistics comparable to real NFL games with 15-minute quarters. If a user plays with 10- or 15-minute quarters, the statistics in simulations will go up proportionately.

Operation Sports: From the early screens and movies from E3 reports a few things have been incorporated from NBA Inside Drive, like the camera flashes and one of the play by play guys. Will you incorporate Inside Drive's Injury and fatigue model?

Kathie Flood: We do include camera flashes in the crowd and Kevin Calabro is doing a stellar job on our play-by-play commentary this year. (Ron Pitts reprises his solid role as our color commentator.) NFL Fever 2003 includes its own injury and fatigue model.

Operation Sports: How is the online play and will there be system link play?

Kathie Flood: The online play and system-link play both rock! It’s been great fun helping the technology come together to support such an exciting and addictive online gameplay experience. The Xbox Communicator enables you to talk with your opponent(s) on the field and in the Play Picker, so you can chatter and trash-talk throughout the entire game.

Operation Sports: Can custom rosters be used in dynasty mode?

Kathie Flood: Sure. Whatever default roster is in place when you start your Dynasty is what’s used.

Operation Sports: Is there a dive over pile button?

Kathie Flood: Yes, it’s the black button and is great for diving a few extra yards for a first down or score.

Operation Sports: Are there more realistic physics and momentum in the game?

Kathie Flood: Yes, to both – far more realistic physics and momentum this year.

Operation Sports: Are there more weather effects that actually affect gameplay? Could you tell us more about the real time weather system?

Kathie Flood: The rain and snow will affect pass accuracy, as well as the catches and ball handling skills of receivers and ball carriers. We do support variable weather this year, so the intensity of the rain or snow will change during games, but we do not support real-time weather.

Operation Sports: Is there an import music option?

Kathie Flood: Not in this version.

Operation Sports: Will the fans wave white towels, chant, etc.?

Kathie Flood: The fans do chant according to what the real home team would say and what’s happening in the game.

Operation Sports: What was your reasoning for changing the game speed?

Kathie Flood: We wanted to provide a more realistic gameplay experience, especially regarding the improvements to physics and momentum users requested. The user can also adjust gameplay speed via Options, Game Settings.

Operation Sports: Will we see a College football game from Microsoft in the near future?

Kathie Flood: Unfortunately, we cannot discuss unannounced projects.

Operation Sports: Are there more natural ways to break tackles other than with the spin button?

Kathie Flood: Which moves will be most effective depend on the players involved and the specific gameplay situations.

Operation Sports: Has the trade system engine been tweaked to the point where the CPU offers or asks in return for draft picks as part of trades?

Kathie Flood: No, the CPU does not yet include draft picks in trade offers.

Operation Sports: Is the Fever 2003 game engine the same as last years?

Kathie Flood: We’ve made many, many improvements to all areas of the game, so we consider it different.

Operation Sports: I would like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview, is there anything you would like to add?

Kathie Flood: Thank you for taking the time to interview us! It was incredibly exciting and gratifying for us to be the best-selling football game on Xbox in its first year, and we look forward to delivering even cooler games in the future. The entire team has been on an intense and wild ride releasing two games in less than 10 months, but the team is even more pumped up as we begin work on next year’s game.