Operation Sports is proud to present our interview with Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts.

Operation Sports: A lot of people complained about the lack of sacks last year, how has this been improved?

Greg Thomas: Like always, we looked at all the feedback from the consumers and his was one of the top complaints in our game last year. You won’t be able to come out of a game with 20 sacks (unless you’re playing against the Texans), but it should be really well balanced for ESPN NFL Football.

Operation Sports: How has the offensive and defensive AI been tweaked?

Greg Thomas: One big complaint of the AI on the offensive side was that it wouldn’t be that aggressive; you wouldn’t see the QB take off too often or the CPU wouldn’t try the long bomb too often. This year, the AI will take a couple more chances that will definitely keep the player on his toes. On the defensive end, last year we really had some good DB/WR interaction but it could definitely be improved; you’ll really see that this year as DB’s and WR’s jostle for position. The CPU will also make defensive AI adjustments before the snap of the ball, and you’ll often see the defense shift their players to play closer to the line when they think you’re running the ball. These are just a few of the things we’ve done to really tune the game and make the AI play a good challenging, but most of all, fun game of football.

Operation Sports: We have some hardcore readers and they ask about real injuries? If a guy breaks a leg, can they see it happen on the replays?

Greg Thomas: Heh… beyond the gruesomeness of seeing such things on the football field (a la Joe Theisman), we wanted to make sure our football game was a video game anyone could play… besides, even I get a little squeamish when I see a really bad injury like that on a Sunday morning. Still when an injury occurs, it is because the player was injured and if you go look at the replay it will be apparent.

Operation Sports: If I was whistled for a face masks, holding, or any other penalty, will I be able to see it on the replay?

Greg Thomas: Most definitely… in fact, if a penalty like a facemask makes a huge impact to the flow of the game (i.e. 3rd down and 10) you’ll definitely have the commentators replay the penalty and even talk about it. Then of course if you go into replay you will be able to visually see all of the penalties.

Operation Sports: Will we see any late hits this year?

Greg Thomas: While late hits are part of the game in the NFL at times, the NFL is not proud of this and severe consequences occur to players who cause them as it should be. For this reason we do not include them in our game.

Operation Sports: What kind of sliders will we have? Can we adjust turnovers this year?

Greg Thomas: Last year, we had sliders for the first time in our football game. However, we didn’t have separate sliders for both the player and the CPU. This year, we’ve definitely added that ability as well as a lot more sliders to edit.

Operation Sports: Can you move your defensive players without them moving back to their original position?

Greg Thomas: We’ve added this and, additionally, the ability to set different line adjustments for your defensive line, linebacker core, and defensive back players. So, you can set your d-line to pinch, your linebackers to play a little to the left, and your DB’s to play a tighter coverage to the WR’s – all of this right before the snap of the ball.

Operation Sports: Can we now sub in players from different positions in the depth chart, such as moving a Guard to Tackle?

Greg Thomas: Yes, we have added this ability this year as we heard a lot about this from all of the Operation Sports guys!

Operation Sports: When in a game, can we pause and see player’s ratings such as Speed, Agility, etc?

Greg Thomas: Definitely… you’ll be able to go into the depth charts and see your player’s attributes through his player card. And it is much easier to see this year than it has been previously.

Operation Sports: Has the amount of dropped passes been lowered, and do defenders make more plays on the ball?

Greg Thomas: This was among the top complaints from last year’s game and we’ve addressed it two-fold. As I explained above, the AI will make a more aggressive attempt to get to the ball and/or make it more difficult for your player to catch the ball. Additionally, we have made a really big effort to balance out the amount of dropped passes. Dropped passes occur often in the NFL, be it a mistimed route by the WR or a missing drop step from the QB, and this was translated into last year’s game. While our passing game last year was very realistic to what you see in an NFL game, it was TOO realistic to the point where it became a bit too frustrating for the video gamer. You’ll see in ESPN NFL Football that the amount of dropped passes has been really balanced, to the point where if a dropped pass occurs, the player should have a very good idea why it happened. However, I do not suggest that you go passing into double or triple coverage, as the ball will be picked.

Operation Sports: Will we see fumbled snaps in the game?

Greg Thomas: Yes, while they happen very infrequently, fumbled snaps do happen in the game.

Operation Sports: Can you tell us more about player momentum?

Greg Thomas: We take all players’ momentum into account whether you are a huge fullback or a nimble halfback – they feel completely differently. This is true of ALL players on offense and defense. We have added this while also staying true to our very tight control of the players that we love so much. While we feel that other football games make you feel like you are running in mud or trying to steer a large yacht in a harbor, we really like the feel of the momentum in our game this year.

Operation Sports: Have the Playbooks been expanded?

Greg Thomas: Every year, we have the most comprehensive playbooks in any football video game and we’ve done the same work again. In fact, in my opinion, the most interesting playbooks right now in ESPN NFL Football are the New York Giants and the Arizona Cardinals. We take into account coaching changes, new plays and everything to make sure that we are getting the most realistic plays we can. We are especially proud of our plays this year.

Operation Sports: Will the team substitute packages stay set after they've been adjusted? Instead of having to set them for each game?

Greg Thomas: Yes, this was one complaint we’ve definitely kept hearing about from last year and something we added this year, so that any changes made when you substitute by package will remain.

Operation Sports: Can you please tell us about the franchise mode?

Greg Thomas: Wow… such an open-ended question about one of our most complex modes in the game. Last year, we really made a dedicated effort in presenting Franchise mode in a totally different way. In the past, most football franchise modes were presented in the same boring way – menus, menus, and more menus. Last year, we did away with the “sea of menus” format and really presented franchise mode so you felt like you were walking from office to office, you really felt like you were on the clock in the draft and so on. The one problem in our franchise mode was that, even though we got people to check out this completely new way to look at a football franchise, it should’ve been much more organized. So, at the beginning of development of ESPN NFL Football, we thought about how was the best way to organize all the elements in being a general manager. With that mindset, we thought, “What’s the first thing a general manager would do when he gets in his office?” Well, he would check his email and so we started this email system that not only organizes everything for the player, but also gives him a gauge of how good/bad he’s doing during the season. For example, if you’re playing up to your expectations, you might get an email from your owner commenting on the job you’ve done so far. If there’s an injury to a player, you will get an email from your trainer telling you how long he’ll be out and that you better make adjustments to your roster. Of course, we’ve updated the look and overall menu presentation to Franchise mode, but the biggest addition is the email system in that it is a very large system that encompasses many elements and makes our Franchise Mode much easier to understand and much better to play thru. We also addressed all of the problems that we had heard about with our Franchise Mode last year as far as logic goes. This year’s Franchise Mode will be our best ever and will give anyone a great challenge AND a fun time!

Operation Sports: Where do you feel the gameplay has improved the most?

Greg Thomas: That’s a very difficult question to answer, especially this year. Every year since we’ve introduced the 2k series, we’ve always been trying to add new and innovative features. Whether it was having the game run at a standard 60 frames per second or being the first console football game with online play, we have always been pushing the envelope. While we will always keep looking for new and innovative ways to bring the player closer to the action, this year we made a BIG emphasis on polishing the overall gameplay in every department. We do listen and take into account every post on many message boards, especially complaints about difficulties while playing the game. It’s hard to focus on one aspect that has been improved the most in gameplay but if I had to point out one thing, I believe it’s how easy you can get into the game and REALLY get immersed into the gridiron battle. This is a combination of several elements: the ESPN presentation elements, the new play calling screen, the polished feel of the controls, the much smoother animations, high resolution crowd cut sequences… all of these elements really get you absorbed into the football atmosphere.

Another big enhancement we’ve made this year is that we have really introduced the new NFL-style QB. No longer is everyone like a Dan Marino-type pocket passer but many of them are great scramblers and very capable of throwing well on the run. I feel that we have implemented this very well. When you go up against these QB’s you really need to strategize differently as the real NFL teams do.

We’ve also added over 1000 NEW animations this year including gang tackles, players can push the pile now, sideline catches, shoving out of bounds, real DB/WR interaction, all new celebrations and many others. We have made huge strides this year in the quality of our animations and we think the competition will be playing catch-up in this area once again.

Operation Sports: Will there be random weather effects?

Greg Thomas: Yes, in the appropriate time and year, all the elements of rain, wind, and snow will decorate the field and this year those effects look nice than in previous years.

Operation Sports: In franchise mode will the super bowl be in different stadiums?

Greg Thomas: Yes we have the Super Bowls played in the proper places based on as many of them that are known (I think like 7 years into the future). For those that aren’t, we took our best educated guess.

Operation Sports: What can you edit on a player?

Greg Thomas: We’ve added some really cool accessories in our create-a-player mode, including the new Revolution™ helmets. And like always, you can edit every single attribute on any player, so if you disagree about our speed rating for Eddie George, you can go into the edit player feature and make him the fastest back in the game.

Operation Sports: How many new defensive plays and formations will we see this year?

Greg Thomas: One of the many things we’ve always been proud of is our extensive playbook, both for offense and defense. On top of updating the defensive formations per team, and adding the on-the-fly substitutions per formation, the biggest addition to defensive plays are the defensive adjustments per unit. So, before the snap of the ball, you can command your d-line to pinch in, set your linebackers to shadow the weak side, and have you d-backs play off the receivers all in a couple of button commands. This really gives total control in managing your defense every down. As for the defensive plays and formations, we have updated them to include all of the changes that have occurred in the NFL.

Operation Sports: How has the running game been improved? Will we see more animations from the running back?

Greg Thomas: We’ve added a couple new features that will be of great use in the running game. Obviously, The Charge allows the player to choose between increasing the overall speed of a running back by tapping the charge button, or holding it down to fill up The Charge meter to enhance special moves. The new Chain Reaction system is certainly made for the running game; basically, you can string together special moves while in the middle of a special move. This gives the player a great amount of creative freedom and, if they’re good enough, they can even make “something out of nothing” a la Barry Sanders. And you’ll see some really amazing new running animations especially if you use the advanced jukes on the Right Analog stick.

Operation Sports: Will teams trade up and down in the draft?

Greg Thomas: Yes, the CPU will definitely look for advantages while drafting and may decide to trade up during the draft.

Operation Sports: Has the fatigue model been improved and will there be an auto-subs feature?

Greg Thomas: We put a lot of effort in to make fatigue as realistic as possible, without interfering with the overall fun of the game. Auto substitutions are definitely part of the game.

Operation Sports: Will teams offer you trades out of the blue?

Greg Thomas: In Franchise mode, the CPU will definitely look to make trades and depending on what you have, they will make some pretty savvy offers, both to you and to other teams.

Operation Sports: Will the cpu resign all of its stars or will we have more high profile guys to choose from as Free Agents?

Greg Thomas: That really depends on the performance of a CPU’s players during a season. We have a pretty smart CPU so it will “judge” the performance of a player during the season, and depending on several variables – age, salary, free agent replacements, etc. – they might or might not resign high profile players.

Operation Sports: Will we see in game saves?

Greg Thomas: With all the new features we’ve added this year, we had to hold off game saves for next year.

Operation Sports: Will fingers move in the game?

Greg Thomas: You will definitely see players point out to each other, pump their fists, and slap each other around!

Operation Sports: Will the crowd cheer at the right times? When they win the game at the last second will the home crowd go crazy? Will you really feel the emotion?

Greg Thomas: Not only will the crowd cheer at the appropriate times during big offensive plays or big defensive stops, but they will definitely boo you for making boneheaded decisions. For example, if it's 4th and 22, and you decide to go for it in the 1st quarter, crowds will likely shower the team will boos. However, our crowd is also smart enough to know not to boo you if you decide to go for it on a big 4th down in the 4th quarter, with under 2minutes to go. We have added many new aspects of the crowd this year as well to really bring out the emotion of an NFL game.

Operation Sports: What has been done to improve the weekly wrap up? Are there more variety in the highlights?

Greg Thomas: Last year, we really wanted to do more than just the atypical spreadsheet of stats and last year's weekly wrap-up did a decent job of giving a TV-like broadcast to summarize the NFL week in action. This year, we have really put a ton of work in truly blurring the line between a TV broadcast and a video game. In season and franchise modes, you'll get a weekly wrap-up report from Chris Berman, going into detail the week's action, along with key statistical information, players of the week, and more. Along with Boomer analyzing the week, we'll show key plays from several games during the week.

Operation Sports: The simmed game stats seemed a bit off last year, has this been improved?

Greg Thomas: Simming games sounds pretty easy, but it's actually a pretty tricky thing to work on… you have to take into consideration several elements, including the length of the games you play, whether you want to simulate right in the middle of a game, and more. The team took some time to ensure simmed game stats are much more realistic to what you see during the NFL season.

Operation Sports: Will the signing of guys out of retirement be back?

Greg Thomas: Yes, you will be able to make the attempt to sign retired players back for another year.

Operation Sports: Will we see an accelerated clock?

Greg Thomas: No, we have made sure to make the game balance the time better and only waste it when it needs to but we did not see a reason to accelerate the clock as we strive to always create the most realistic football game.

Operation Sports: What are some of your favorite animations in the game?

Greg Thomas: Well, considering we capture over 1000 new animations for this year, that's a pretty darn hard question to answer because there are a bunch of awesome new animations. While I'm pretty partial to the real physical-looking animations - double teaming lineman, QB sack animations, and all the new juke animations - there are some pretty exciting new DB/WR animations. Beyond the sideline catches, which look phenomenal, watching a WR sky in the back of the end zone to make a TD catch is really impressive. Next to that, some of the DB animations as they make diving attempts to bat down the ball are pretty neat… well, if they aren't being done to you. And some of the celebration animations as well as the very cool crowd cut scenes really look great! Honestly, there are just too many to decide what my faves are.

Operation Sports: Will the orange pylons in the end zones move?

Greg Thomas: No, we did not add that this year.

Operation Sports: Can coaches/refs, get run over by players?

Greg Thomas: No, the refs are smart enough to try to stay out of your way this year. And the coaches are far enough outside the field of play that they are safe from the carnage too.

Operation Sports: Will there be a strip ball animation?

Greg Thomas: Oh you can count on seeing some really awesome strip ball animations, especially when a good DB rips a ball out of the hands of a WR. Not only will you see them swat the ball, but you'll actually see animations where the DB will punch his arm/hand underneath a WR's arm to strip the ball out of his hands. These things look really cool!

Operation Sports: Will weather have more of an affect on the game? Will we see more fumbles and dropped passes in the rainy and snowy conditions? Will we see more slipping and sliding of the players?

Greg Thomas: Weather will most definitely have an effect on the game. When rain and snow comes, you can definitely expect players not to handle the ball as well as they should, and ball carriers will stumble more frequently in rainy/snowy conditions just like in the real NFL.

Operation Sports: Have there been any changes to the Injury Animations?

Greg Thomas: We have completely re-worked our Injury system including all new animations. This year the amount of injuries as well as the type and length of injuries is much more realistic and of course when a player goes down you will see it happen, and a trainer will run out to the field to check the player out and help him off the field. Again, this looks really cool this year.

Operation Sports: Will teams have their real life crowds etc? Will we see cheese heads?

Greg Thomas: Not only will the Packer faithful see cheese heads, but also you'll see all sorts of crazy fans cheering and booing during the game. Whether it's fans doing the "funky chicken" in the stands, half-naked beer-bellied fanatics with their teams name on their bellies, or even fans screaming at the broadcast camera after seeing their image on the jumbotron, a huge amount of time went into making the atmosphere of ESPN NFL Football as close as it is to what you see, hear, and experience at a home game.

Operation Sports: Have they brought back the far camera angle from the dreamcast where you can see both your wide outs before the snap?

Greg Thomas: The user will have the ability to select this camera view in the options menu as well as make a custom camera is they desire. We also have an option that has the camera zoom out on the snap of the ball.

Operation Sports: Will teams have their Home, Away, and Alternate Jerseys?

Greg Thomas: Home, Away, Alternate, and several more! We have a very dedicated - some say insane - artist who loves to get every single jersey of every NFL football team in the game… and we came pretty close this year. Most of the teams have five or more different jerseys to choose from depending on how long they've been in the NFL. And our accuracy is second to none. Some of them are really amazing!

Operation Sports: Will there be any new throwback uniforms?

Greg Thomas: We’ve included not only some new throwback uniforms, but we really ramped up on several alternate uniforms… I believe we have over 20 new alternate uniforms, some from last season, some that you’ll see in the upcoming season. Of the standouts, Carolina’s “Blue” alternate jerseys, Miami’s “teal on teal”, and Denver’s blinding orange alternate really push the limit on fashionable football wear.

Operation Sports: Do you plan on taking advantage of the added power of the XBox this year? Custom music, better graphics, more options?

Greg Thomas: Last year, the team did a pretty good job of utilizing some of the powerful graphical effects the Xbox can output. This year, Xbox owners should really see the visuals jump out of the television, as we pushed for more Xbox effects in the game. Additionally, you'll be able to use custom music track in "The Crib". Both versions of the game look great but where the hardware was better we definitely took advantage of it.

Operation Sports: Will we be able to edit current team(s) uniforms?

Greg Thomas: You will be able to edit current teams uniforms, accessories, attributes, and even their names to whatever your heart desires. So, if you think Eddie George should be a lot faster than what we rated him, bump up his speed rating. If you want to see Brett Favre wear number 44, go ahead and do that.

Operation Sports: Is there anyway to get a draft class, being that we will not see NCAA 2K4 this year?

Greg Thomas: Players can definitely edit any of the players in the game, including rookies. So, while it would be a large task, players can definitely create draft classes.

Operation Sports: Can we edit classic teams?

Greg Thomas: You can edit all of the teams in the game.

Operation Sports: Has anything been done to slow down the "cheesers" online?

Greg Thomas: Most definitely… a lot of work went into prevent cheating and "cheesing" from happening. Last year, we didn't have a lot of safety mechanisms to prevent online players from pausing the screen indefinitely, pausing at improper times… that's all being addressed so players will definitely feel good about going online and getting a fair game.

Operation Sports: Last year you guys were just implementing the ESPN presentation into the game. What have you done to expand on this. Will we see halftime shows or post game activities?

Greg Thomas: We have done TONS of work to the presentation of ESPN NFL Football. Given the ESPN elements, we really went to town on giving the player the full ESPN broadcast experience. This includes a pre-game "NFL Countdown" show with Chris Berman giving his thoughts on the match-up and what player to look out for. During halftime, you'll see the "Chris Berman Halftime Show". During this halftime show, not only will Berman breakdown the drives of the first half, but you'll also see "Snapshots of the Half", actually snapshots of the key plays during the 1st and 2nd quarter. Also, in Season and Franchise mode, you'll get the "NFL Primetime" show, a summary of all the games for that week hosted by Chris Berman, which will include clips of key plays in several games as well Berman's picks on players of the week. Lastly, we did A LOT of work to the Super Bowl presentation… I won't ruin it for all the readers, but I truly believe we went out of our way to make sure, if anything, we had the best damn Super Bowl presentation of any football game this year.

Operation Sports: You've added the challenge this year. Will that also be available in online games?

Greg Thomas: Definitely… adding the coach's challenges was, for lack of a better word, a challenge. If you look at it from a technical standpoint, what you’re doing is after the play, when the computer is processing all the stats from the play, you’re basically telling the computer “you’re wrong, I’m challenging you on this.” It took quite a bit of work, but we got it working great and we got some really cool cut sequences of the coach throwing the red flag down and the ref going to the booth for review. And for those purists that don’t like the coach’s challenge, you can definitely turn it off in the game options. And of course the CPU will challenge you too.

Operation Sports: What announcers are in the game besides Dan and Peter?

Greg Thomas: Besides Dan Stevens and Peter O’Keefe, the wonderful commentary team that has garnered a lot of acclaim, we’re really ecstatic to have Chris Berman on board. It was awesome working with Chris Berman as his energy and excitement really got us pumped during the audio shoots. We really believe Berman comes through with his booming energy during the pre-game “NFL Countdown”, the “Chris Berman Halftime Show”, and in the seasonal and franchise weekly “NFL Primetime” shows.

Operation Sports: Will franchise mode have player ages?

Greg Thomas: Yes

Operation Sports: Will there be real Off/Def Coordinators, Assistant Coaches and other staff in the game?

Greg Thomas: Unfortunately we were not able to add these in this year.

Operation Sports: Can 2 people use different cameras online?

Greg Thomas: Yes, we have added this for this year along with a bunch of other cool online features that you will be hearing about.

Operation Sports: Will online leagues or franchises be implemented through Xbox LIVE somehow?

Greg Thomas: We will have full leagues and leaderboards on PS2 for sure and we are working with Microsoft to hopefully bring a lot of our online features we’re touting in the PS2 version of ESPN NFL Football, onto the Xbox version. Since Xbox Live runs on Microsoft’s network, it’s something we have to work out the details with Microsoft, but we’re very optimistic we’ll have some really cool online features forthcoming next year.

Operation Sports: We would like to thank you for your time with this interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Greg Thomas: The entire team at VC has worked really hard to bring you the best football game that we could this year while also adding completely new features that aren’t found in other football games. Additionally we have spent a lot of time making things easier to use as well as enhanced everything visually. It’s a testament to all of the people on the Operation Sports forums as well as many other forums that this year’s game is as good as it is.