It's funny how the Madden release dates never seem to get fucked up this way, but NCAA and now Head Coach bounce around more than Doug Brien. It's nuts.

This confuses me.
Assuming all the disks are pressed more then a day in advance, what does this gain them?

EA makes we wish I was all encompassing king more then any other thing on earth.

If I were supreme ruler - I would force the talented programmers to create a realistic next gen NFL football sim and I would have the people responsible for delays and stupid decisions like 5 minute quarters put to death in a long painful public display.

oh, yeah and two chicks at the same time...

If people report that they're seeing an average of about 125 plays per game, then the length of the quarters isn't so much of an issue.

If it's a 3 to 1 time ratio and you can fit everything that happens in a 15 minute quarter into 5 minutes, fair enough. But if you're only seeing 50 or 100 plays per game, that changes everything and it's no longer an NFL coaching sim, because you're only playing partial games. It would be like having a baseball sim with 5 inning games.

Yep. That's the million dollar question.

I don't see how you could get a realistic amount of plays on 5 minutes. I can eat up a whole quarter in that time.

The whole key is that the game was designed "apparently" for the average video gamer and it appears that he couldn't give a rat's A about the clock or clock management. I'm going into it with the attitude that the I want to just rattle off plays.

It's very hard for me to swallow that this is for the average video gamer. If that were the case, a number of features would have been way more streamlined to avoid most of the day to day activities.

If they are going to cut down the quarters to a third of an average NFL quarter, then the 2:00 warning should be reduced to about 40 seconds to compensate. I hope that this is the case.

If this is the case and I can still rattle out a number of plays that meet the NFL average, then I will be fine with that.

but like one of the previous posts - how would the "average" video gamer feel about a baseball game that only played 5 innings?

The biggest frustration comes in the fact that IT IS SO FRIKKIN EASY to keep the quarter length adjustable - in fact that is the way it already is on the game they based in on (Madden.) So they actually had to CHANGE it so it wouldn't be adjustable.

Who was the numbnuts that suggest "hey lets force them to play a certain amount of time, instead of letting the player decide"

it is very true that you can't please everyone, but it sure is a hell of a lot easier to not piss off so many people if you give the end user the OPTION to play the game they want to.

DAMN EA is fucking stupid sometimes.

Have you ever actually PLAYED Madden?

Most people play with it at 6 or 7 minute quarters to get it at a realistic # of plays, so this is not that far-fetched to me.

To me this is a lot of squawking about something that just may not be THAT big of a deal.

I reiterate - make the default 5 minutes, make the option to change it something I have to unlock, make it so I have to send EA 14 cans of crushed pineapple to get it adjustable - just make the damn thing adjustable

I don't care if some people like to play 5 minutes, great for them , play 1 minute quraters, 30 second quarters or whatever the hell you want. What I don't understand is the people telling me that I SHOULD like to play 5 minute quarters.

http://www.sportsgamer.blogspot.com/

From Bill Abner.

Biggest fear realized. . . the CPU treats the clock as though it were a 15 minute clock. It starts calling TO's and knees that ball with 1 minute left in the game.

Ugh.

the only way I'm buying this is if it's for the PC and there's a patch already out that fixes this crap.

Yeah, that never gives me realistic plays. It gives me realistic offensive stats, but defensive stats and TOP are always screwy when compared to the simmed games in a league (which are simmed with 15 minute quarters). Madden is an ARCADE game, whereas Head Coach is a (well, supposed to be) a simulation. Playing it without the option of longer quarters for more realism is inexcusable and lazy on the developers part.

And, for me, it's a dealbreaker. I cancelled my pre-order this morning when I found out.

I love it when people assume things are "easy"... Quarter length I imagine effects many things...

*shrug*... this game may be a piece of crap, i wouldn't doubt it.. but to be hanging the fate of this game on quarter length seems quite a bit silly to me, especially knowing it is a first-gen game.

Not cool.

90% of this game is simply Madden with a few things added and a few things taken out.

If quarter length is adjustable in Madden, exactly how would it be "hard" to have it be adjustable here.

quarter length IS a huge issue - would it bother you if the quarter length was set at 5 seconds, 29 hours? Obviously the length of the quarter impacts EVERYTHING in the game from stats to progression - there are few things that are in the game that are so centrally important.

Bill Abner Review

Can' adjust quarter length and the CPU still manages the clock like a 60 minute game? I just canceled my preorder, thanks!

Has anybody confirmed whether the quarter length is frozen in career mode?

The 5 minute thing is a gamekiller for me personally. Like others have said, why even build a running offense at all? Yikes.

I'm not the type to run 15 or even 10 minute quarters, either. Usually 7 or 8.

Thing is, average video game player doesn't care about negotiating with Asst. coaches or scouting players, etc., so while I agree that they don't care, I think EA screwed up, because I don't think average video game player will be buying this game.

Whoever mentioned the thing about 2 completely diff. markets was right, imo.

I just got the automated call from Gamestop that my copy will be ready to pick up tomorrow morning. I'm still looking forward to it.

Ooooh. Is he saying what I think he is saying?

Likewise.

Well, I just found my game killer....not that I was impressed with the demo in the least bit to begin with.

Agreed. I didn't care for the interface at all, and there was far too many money plays in the short demo.

Man, if they have the right amount of plays in a 5 minute game, it seems like all they would have to do is add the accelerated clock and the game could easily play realistically over 15 minutes. In the demo you could run maybe 5-6 plays in a minute, no reason that there couldn't be 20-30 seconds between snaps, where you'd still get around 30 plays a quarter.

Concur....

Yes, and with 2 minutes left in a half, the computer goes into a hurry-up offense, the human goes into a hurry-up offense and there are 4-5 TDs scored. Nice model to use.

I play Madden with 12 min quarters and an accelerated clock. I use slider settings I found at maddennation, and I get realistic results. My team averages about 20 points a game. I just coach and don't control it however, but with the way the cpu plays it's certainly realistic enough to keep me happy.

I guess we don't need to worry about fatigue with 5 mins quarters.

You won't have to sub much.

yeah, but do you get to chose what color socks your head coach wears during practice? You're missing out on the important things in football by focusing on all that playcalling mumbo jumbo.

Taken from EA forums:

Hey gang.

All indications that I can see over here at EA are that this product is going to be available for download at 12:00 AM (midnight) on 6/23/06. That's roughly 5:00PM California time on Thursday. This could change though. I can add that we are busting tail over here trying to get it out in the best state possible. Also, there looks like there will be a Day 1 patch for the retail version. The downloader version will not need this patch that really only comes into play with multiplayer online.

We'll keep you posted and please accept my apologies about the delay!

http://forums.ea.com/mboards/thread....threadID=80236

I just found this so I don't know what is included in the patch but I'm gonna see if I can find out.

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...&postcount=892

It sounds like the patch will probably just be some MP issues. However, the quick patch gives me hope that they might address other issues (such as the Quarter Length and if there are too many interceptions) in a future patch.

I doubt it. The quarter length isn't a bug, it's a "feature". And EA aren't exactly known for releasing patches to fix issues like this.

Don't worry, I'm sure 1 or 2 of them will be fixed in next year's version - along with the addition of a few more.

that's E.A.'s MO...do this to ensure that people keep on buying. always release a game with at least one stupid feature/feature that doesn't work right that you can subsequently fix in order to get people to buy the next gen.

::blink:: So was I the only guinea pig to pick it up for the console today?

Not sure I can give too many impressions because...I haven't played a game yet. Haven't even hit the combine for 2006. Of course, I only played for three HOURS.

So far, I like the idea of setting up coaching interviews and being able to ask candidates questions about their philosophies. I've participated in a couple staff meetings and noticed that a major component of the game is going to be building a cohesive staff. you earn trust with each coach based on whether you agree with their recommendations or not, so I can see that part of developing a winning team is going to be knowing when to give up control. If you hire a guy who likes to go five wide on the offense and make him run a lot of two-TE sets, your receiving corps isn't going to play up to their potential because your receivers coach isn't buying into the power running offense.

The staff handling extends to the scoring system for career mode. In addition to championships, playoff wins, and regular season record, one of the catagories your coach is judged over the ages on is his ability to develop coaches. If your coordinator is hired away to take the reins of another team, his accomplishments earn you reflected glory. That's a pretty cool idea that you haven't really seen in other sims.

The biggest problem so far is that I haven't played a game yet...in fact, at the three hour mark, I haven't even begun signing free agents yet. I know that a huge part of this is exploring the menus and learning the interface, but at this rate, the actual 2006 season will be in the books by the time I get to the season opener.

I read impressions on another board where a guy spent 6 hours before he got to the 1st pre-season game. He said he enjoyed the offseason activities though, so that is good.

Dangit man! LOL, the first season you skim through so I can decide if I want to buy! J/K Thanks for the brief review. I am affraid that I will be putting it off for a few days to see what you big $$$ guys think. I am curious about this 5 min thing? Is it official or just on the demo. Sorry, I haven't read all the way up yet. Thanks again for the review!

The options screen consists of pretty much choosing how loud you want the music, what angle you want to watch games at, and what unis you want the team to wear. As little as I've gotten to play so far, I don't see any sliders or gameplay options.

Ouch, that sucks. Man, I really want this game but? FM2006 should hold me over until after the world cup. Then maybe I will try out bowl bound. Who knows. I really need a new FOF though. I will probably break down and buy Head Coach anyways. Thanks again for the posts!

Just got home from the store with the game. Early impressions to follow in a few hours. :)

Godspeed...

I just found it sitting in my local Gamestop, and against my better judgment, I bought it. And the guide. :|

Great.

I expect a more objective report from you then what I see on maddennation.

I got the game yesterday. Decent, but the 5:00 is a real game killer.

Getting realistic results?

Only got time for three quarters of a game, but it seemed to be rushed. Maybe allowing 8-9 minute quarters. You only have a second or two to make presnap adjustments on defense, so if you're not a quick ajduster, forget about it.

Had several AI farts, guy throwing into triple coverage with TE open over the middle. Guys not following blocks properly.. btw, you can tell it's NOT madden's engine they're using I think, or an older version of Madden.

Next time Jake Plummer throws a pass into triple coverage or Kevan Barlow ignores his blockers, I'll just consider it an AI fart. :D

Just got home with it but unfortunately I'll only get an hour and half worth of playing in before work.

Is a demo file available somewhere ?

Yeah, earlier in this thread.

Looks like my copy has an installation glitch of some kind. It's hung up at 31% for thirty minutes.

UPDATE -- looks as if it was my crappy Dell laptop. I'm having no trouble putting it on a five year old Toshiba Satellite P4. Go figure.

damn, I can't find it....still looking.

Ugh, C-Pep's not on the Dolphins. Oh well, guess that means I know what position I'll be drafting. :D

Demo Link

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...&postcount=560

thx a LOT !

When somebody completes a game or two (that you actually play out) can you post the boxscore? I'm interested in the number of plays you can realistically get in a game.

I just ran a test with the demo and played the first half as fast as I possibly could. I didn't make any motivational speaches, I called the plays as fast as possible (usually just taking the recommendation for speed's sake), I called all 3 of my time outs to stop the clock, etc. Basically, I wanted to see how many plays I could get in playing as fast as possible.

The grand total in the entire half: 10 plays. Now this is just in one half of play with 1 minute quarters, but still! I was speeding through - taking no time whatsoever to think about the game or strategy of anything.

If we do the math, that will equal about 80 plays in a full game with 5 minute quarters. That's only about 2/3 of what is average in the NFL (around 120 plays per game).

Wheehee! I'm firing most of my staff. I love this part. :D

I'll post some box scores when I get to that part of the game.

I've been playing just the 1st week since I got it. Staff firing and hiring is very cool.

Things I like:

You can't tell how good a coach is before you hire him in that you can't see his ratings. I fired Marty Morningweg because I just couldn't see him as my OC. He had poor QB knowledge and poor strategy. He was strong in OL and WR. I thought I would get a better guy to replace him. This guy was viewed by my Scouting director as a very good QB guru that I hired. I liked his answers in the interview. However, it turns out he is something of a dud. Sure, he is GREAT with QB's. However, his WR and OL knowledge are low and overall he is signficantly lower than Marty was :(

Speaking of the Scouting Director. Yes, every team has their own scouting director. Unfortunately, on the Eagles, my scouting director SUCKS. I think that is a bit unrealistic, but it will certainly increase the challenge since the SD answers only to the owner and I can't fire him!


Things that I didn't like:

I fired my D-Line Coach. I interviewed several candidates and all of them talked about their offensive strategies as well. I'm hiring you to be a D-Line coach, don't talk offense to me! They did have one or two extra specific D-Line type questions, but it could have been done much better.

Despite that, hiring and firing has been fun. Time to start re-signing my players :)

IGN has a review up - 7.2 overall

http://pc.ign.com/articles/713/713681p1.html

The limited number of interviews you have available to you really ticks me off, since I have a QB coach, WR coach, and ST coach. That's it. And the one guy I really wanted to hire for my RB coach was an asshat in negotiations.

Reading the comments from the guys who already own it the game could have been named "job interview manager".

I think I may have run across a bug.... I went to interview this guy and I swear it said 91 for TE, so I hire him as my TE coach. ...Imagine my shock when it comes up that he's rated 13 as a TE coach, with 47 for TEs.

Needless to say, I had to do some coach juggling positions.

He rigged his resume. Fire him for improper conduct.

Forgot to mention that I like the job offer screens where it gives a nice overview of each of the teams offering a job including team goals that the owner has, star players, cap situation, etc. My owner in Philly wants us to draft a RB that has a max overall rating of 75 or greater. This could be problematic since my Scouting director is an asshat. I've had him scout a lot of HB's and he thinks they all stink. He has a horrible HB knowledge rating and a bad talent evaluation skill. I can see why the owner wants me to get a HB though, since my scout thinks all of our current HB's besides Westbrook are horrible. He doesn't even think that highly of Westbrook although he admits that he is a very good receiving back.

Anyway, I just went through the staff re-signing period. I managed to get Jon Runyan back very cheaply (about 3 million a year.) I also got Keith Adams back who my LB coach wanted me to keep. My OL coach really wanted me to keep Runyan and Tra Thomas. I was worried that everyone was signing too cheap, but Thomas did want a 3 year deal for about 7 million a year with a decent size signing bonus.

During all of these stages, I'm using my periods of "office time" to add plays to my playbook. I'm greatly expanding my offensive playbook. Hopefully, it doesn't become too many plays for the guys to remember.

Here is the reason I'll wait for trusted FOFC reviewers.

This clown doesn't even mention the five minute quarters. Instead, he explains what is really missing from the game: "EA manages to capture the hectic life of a coach while he's on the clock, but it would have been nice to get a girlfriend, buy a motorcycle or spend hours on the golf course like a real coach... [It] would have added a lot of character and some humor to this very serious position."

Can anyone confirm if the game is missing gamelogs? That just sounds strange for a game like this.

Well, I wound up with three positions unfulfilled and the owner reamed my ass.

What I think I'm going to do though is experiment when I get home by starting a new game where I fire my entire staff.

Then, after each interview I have, I'll offer the guy a position on the staff, just to see the exact number of interviews we can have in a given period.

Ideally there'll be as many interviews allowed as there are total staff positions, so I can have some semblance of building the staff entirely of my handpicked guys.

If there isn't, I'm going to be a little annoyed because starting off with a clean house is one of the priveleges you should be able to have as the new head coach, but we'll see.

I noticed that, while you could interview former HCs for coordinator positions, you couldn't tell what they would be good at before you interview them. That seems strange. Shouldn't I already know these guys, at least by reputation and what they've done in their careers? I mean, they are former HCs.

So I also got chewed out by the owner because I couldn't hire a DC. All the former HCs I wanted to check out turned out to want the OC job. The one DC I looked at was a tool.

Some of the answers they'll give you are funny too.

I don't know when the owner gets around to hiring these guys, because their chairs are still empty a week later.

Um....

Fixed it for him.

I've just finished the first trading period, and I found the trade AI to be fairly good. I tried to trade away Mike McMahon and the best I could get was a 6th round pick for him IF I threw in a 7th rounder ;)

I did find my first bug. It's easy to avoid, but also easy to exploit without even realizing it. I accidently signed a player during RFA that was an unrestricted FA. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I shouldn't have been able to sign that player until April at the earliest, right?

In any case, realizing that is a likely bug alleviated my concern that no one else was bidding on top FA's and I was getting them too easily.

Did you try rotating through the positions? I know it can be damn tough to tell between the OC and the DC, but both options are there. EA really should have used a better font so that the O and D are easier to distinguish.

Was he a true FA? (Was he on a team at the end of the 2005 season and his contract expired?) I think teams can still sign guys that weren't on teams at any time..

I thought the point was that there was garish AI in place, if you can trade a 30 year old priest holmes and presumedly what was not a first round pick(the guy would have said "first rounder" instead of draft pick) to get in a position to take reggie bush.

In the "real NFL" they both start at the same time around the beginig of march.

Well, this game has a distinct UFA period that starts in April and now teams are trying to sign FA's, while the player was able to sign them in March. Maybe teams were signing non restricted FA's in March, but I didn't see any of the big names getting signed. Now, I do. I'm finally coming up to the draft. I can't believe I've spent so many hours just getting to the draft. Then again, it has been fun. The most repetitive part of the game has been only being able to add 2 playbooks to my gameplan each office period. I wish I could just do them all at once and then be able to sim ahead some. However, my gameplan/playbook should be relatively set soon as long as I don't change my philosophy (in which case the playbook resets to reflect the new philosophy.)

I really like how the scouting is done. As has been mentioned before, your scouts think everyone is great (or almost everyone) until they take a closer look. Then, usually the top number comes down and the gap narrows. Players from big schools might be able to be scouted with only 1 "scouting session." Guys from smaller schools can take 3-4 sessions to fully scout them. That being said, over the past 8-12 game weeks I've scouted 60 or 70 potential draftees to "Well Scouted" status. I'll post my draft results in a bit.

Oh yeah, I'm getting offered trades, but the trades are generally crazy one sided in favor of the AI. Some offers that stood out: Marty Booker for Donovan McNabb. Darren Howard fo Donovan. Orlando Ruff for Tra Thomas. I actually had one trade that I considered: Eric Moulds for Roderick Hood (who is rated suprisingly decently.) Oh yeah, besides Reggie Bush, my scout hates the running backs in this draft. DeAngelo Williams is second on his list and he rates him 51-68. Reggie Bush is a 68-83 according to my scout. Chris Gogong who I scouted very well is rated 76-89, so it is no wonder he is going 5th.

You didn't ship McNabb for Booker? Homer.

About to start my draft now. At least according to my scout, Reggie Bush is the only player who will meet my owner's requirement of me that I draft a RB with a 75 max overall or greater. Looks like I will be pissing off my owner. I'll probably go WR in the 1st round. I have an interesting choice between Holmes and Jackson based on my scout who likes Jackson better for beating the press, but thinks Holmes has slightly better deep speed.

I played a preseason game against the Browns. The only number that jumped out as being odd was the Browns had a total of 22 yards rushing. Other than that the stats look ok. I seem to be unable to switch applications when in the game and was unable to get a screen shot of anything. The 5 minute quaters didn't seem too bad but i was pretty much just doing what was suggested by my coaches. The Eagles won 31-10. I simmed thru a bit to get to the game and the cpu didn't sign my draft picks so i am restarting my career.

My complaint about the coach hiring is growing.. I can see the OC and DC, that isn't the problem that I meant in the above post. It is that you can hire a former HC (listed as HC, not DC or OC, in the free agent coaches list) as a coordinator, but they won't tell you which he might be good at. I guess you have to wait on a scout report, but shouldn't you know with former HCs?

A small point I guess.

A bigger point is that I brought a guy in to interview as the DC. He was listed as a DC in the free agent coaches pool. I hired him and paid him pretty well. And he went into the DL slot! I didn't know it, so I let the next DC I interviewed (who also would have been perfect) go. So I have an overqualified DL and had to hire a chump at DC with my absolutely last interview slot.

I like the idea they have going on here with the interviews, and not being able to see everyone, etc. That would be fine if I had some general idea of what people can do if the scouts don't speak about them. But it's not fine to schedule a DC interview and the guy winds up getting overpaid for the DL job. That is not a good deal.

I'm pretty sure this is accurate, because I was writing their names down as I went through the list. He was a DC, but now he's a DL (and overpaid!) I know I can promote him next year, and I will, but I shoudn't be stuck this year with a peon for DC.

I thought, from the demo, that you could change a coach's psoition?

Eaglesfan27

How is the game manual that comes with the game?

The manual is very skimpy, but there is an integrated tutorial that is decent. My draft had a few bits of wierdness. The Chiefs took Vince with the 20th pick, so I thought great, the Giants won't draft a QB. I was wrong. Apparently, their owner/GM is very set on having a QB no matter what. They took Cutler with the 25th pick. Also, there were a few trades during or just before the draft, however, there is no transaction log that I can find in the game. Therefore, it is impossible for me to determine exactly who was traded for who.

So, I mentioned draft wierdness. Besides the Giants drafting a QB, I found it odd Arizona drafted Mercedes Lewis 10th, although my scout did like him. Also, K. Clemens continues to be the 2nd rated QB by many scouts. The Bills made the most perplexing move to me. They drafted Bush 8th. That isn't a big deal as they could use two great RB's in some versatile ways. However, they took L. Maroney in the 2nd round. 2 RB's in a row?!? Also, GB took Gogong first (he is rated very highly by my scout too) but then took another DE in the 2nd round. Chicago made a great pick of LT D. Ferguson in the 1st round but took another LT in the 2nd when Winston Justice was still available. Not so bad if they switch his position, but terrible if he sits on the bench. I'll follow that situation. I also saw lots of teams that I thought drafted very smartly. I wanted to disagree with my own scouting director since I want him to quit, but he recommended Chad Jackson and I had my heart set on him, so I took him. Here is the result of the 1st round and a few other notable facts:


Oh yeah, I loved the Mel Commentary. For some picks, he talked for 45 seconds in great depth. I didn't know that A.J. Hawk was the only other unanimous All-American Selection besides Bush. Other picks, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd round, he only spoke for a few seconds.

1. Texans - A.J. Hawk

2. Saints - Leinart

3. Ten - Williams

4. Jets - Vernon Davis

5. GB - Chris Gogong

6. 49ers - Bunkley - Mel panned this pick and said it was too early for him.

7. Oak - FS J. Allen - Mel also thought this was a bad pick.

8. Buf - Reggie Bush - Mel loved this pick and wondered why he wasn't taken sooner.

9. Lions - LB C. Greenway - Mel thinks he'll only be a backup.

10. Arizona - TE Mercedes Lewis

11. Rams - T. Hali - Mel thought he was a 2nd round pick.

12. Cleveland - M. Kiwanauka - Mel mentioned he wasn't even a starter in college.

13. Bal - Michael Huff

14. Eagles - Chad Jackson - Mel loved my pick.

15. Atlanta - S. Holmes - Mel said "He has major character issues and that may make this a very bad pick. If he can mature, he is a steal."

16. Miami - QB K. Clemens

17. Colts (traded up) - CB J. Joseph - Mel hated this pick.

18. Dallas - FS K. Simpson - odd pick unless they move him with Roy Williams there.

19. Chargers - M. Lawson - mel said "He might be a big bust."

20. Chiefs - Vince Young - Mel said "He is a big project... he is an outstanding athlete... he needs to work on his delivery and working from
under center." Mel spoke for over 45 seconds on Vince.

21. NE - Ngata

22. Washington - CB A. Cromartie

23. Bucs - RE M. Anderson - "This is a big reach."

24. Bengals - D'Angelo Williams

25. Giants - J. Cutler - Mel was speechless.

26. Bears - LT. D. Ferguson

27. Panthers - WR S. Moss

28. Jaguars - HB L. White

29. Den - DE D. Tapp

30. Colts - G P. Mcquistan - "He has marginal physical skills."

31. Seattle - CB K. Jennings

32. Pittsburgh - DT G. Watson - At least they didn't try to take a QB too.

Other notables.

Buffalo took Maroney 40th for 2 straight HB's.

41. Detroit took a second straight outside linebacker.

46. I took Joseph Addai.

50. I traded up with Dallas to take Ernie Sims.

54. Redskins took QB C. Whitehurst

57. The Giants took a WR in the 2nd round.

EaglesFan, that actually looks and sounds fascinating. For those of us that are off-season junkies in sports games, that's a dream come true - instant and critical feedback. I wonder how it will hold up in future drafts?

I hope so, but when I tried, it told me I had to wait for a different time to do it. I had to power down to take care of baths and dinner for my kids so I can't get back on to see if there's another chance to swap these guys. The DL and the DC would make about a perfect swap, talent wise (but the DL would be making WAY too much money then.. cause that dude got 1.8 mil over two years..)

Yeah. Obviously Mel recorded real comments about the current crop of players, but I can't imagine them being so detailed for the other 39 drafts included in the game.

The worrying thing about this would be the X-Factor that we are all hoping for. If they *did* go this indepth for all the players, you can bank on their being no X-Factor at all.

There was a report about 4-7th round players disappearing. That definitely didn't occur in my game. Now, I imagine they might have if I "simmed ahead to July" like the game offered to let me do after the draft. Instead, I made sure I manually signed my picks. I had to cut 2 marginal players to make room for them all since the roster cap is 55, but I do have all of my picks and I didn't even have to cut the guys before the draft.


Someone mentioned that in the demo, certain players are missing. Certain players are missing in the draft in the real game too. I'm guessing they are players who didn't sign a contract or didn't give permission to the game. For example, I was thinking about taking a flyer on Marcus Vick late in the draft, but he isn't in the game. Instead, I drafted a fictional QB who has remarkable speed, a strong but inaccurate arm, and poor awareness.

I've now got my playbook set up (you can create and keep 10 offensive plays and 10 defensive plays and there are dozens and dozens if not hundreds of stock plays to add to your playbook, but you can only add 2 per each coaching session.) Now, that my playbook is set up and my roster is pretty much set, I'm about to finally sim ahead to training camp :)

I don't know. If you read Mel's comments, they are not specific to the player just his ability, slotting and matching to team's needs. I think you will those same comments recycled as in whenever a team drafts a QB high in the 1st and it already has a young QB, Mel will be speechless. I still thinks that's pretty cool though because we have not seen anything like that in the games we play.

I just finished my first three training camp drills. I think training camp is going to be one of my favorite parts of the game. It also will cut down the need to strategize during the game some. Any instructions you give during training camp can be linked to a specific player or players and can be kept for every time you call that play in any game. That is very cool.

During my run drills, I noticed Westbrook was trying to run guys over particularly on the sweep. So, I told him to try to use his agility to make guys miss and I made that an instruction for all of the time on any play. 2 plays later he juked two guys and ran a TD for 50 plus yards. Then, when I brought the second team in, I told Addai to use his power more, and he ran a guy over and had a nice gain. Only having 10 plays per practice, makes for some tough choices. How much do I work the 1st team? What about the 2nd and 3rd teams?

Also, when I was doing the pass drill, I noticed Chad Jackson was giving up inside position on a slant pattern. So, I pulled him aside and told him every time I call that play, make sure he fights to get inside position on the defender. The next 2 times I ran it, he beat the defender to the inside and had completions. I've told him to carry that instruction over to every time I call that play in a game. Hopefully, these practice and training camp instructions can make it so very little strategy is needed in game and will allow for a somewhat decent number of plays per game.

In the Madden game though aren't the incoming players from the draft already
with their respective teams? I wonder if what he meant was you can actually
draft those guys prior to the first season of play in the game.

You hit on something interesting.

Why should they have hard and fast numbers and ratings? Why not just see percpection? What would cause you to all of a sudden see a coaches worth right after you hired him? Or maybe have the ratings always chaging and "honing" in on his true skill, as derived by the coach and/or his performance?

At operationsports forum, someone posted halftime stats.

Total of only 49 plays combine for both teams.

Here another one. Full game played.
Posted at operationsports forum.

As someone else pointed out, I was "um"ing the fact that you could trade a veteran RB on the verge of forced retirement for Reggie Bush.

Memo to sports sim makers: stop doing this! "Fog of war" is a cool concept and we like that we don't know everything right away, but this is getting ridiculous. There has to be a basic amount of information available.

I booted up the OOTP demo, went into my own team, and found that apparently I didn't know anything at all about some of my own players. I guess I hadn't scouted them, but come on... a real GM could go pick up a magazine and get a decent scouting report on his own guys. It's supposed to be the fog of war, not the kevlar blindfold of war.