bingo. i think the only way i'll get over 20 is if the game absolutely blows me away and is PERFECT.

consider that even in FM I rarely get past 10 years into the game and I play that ALL THE TIME.

and i don't expect this to be that deep, but if it's even 1/2 as deep i'll get 20 years in, 1/3 as deep i'll get 30...1/4 as deep I MIGHT get 40, if it can pull me away from FM.

basically, this doesn't worry me at all

10 new screen shots released on Operation Sports today. Very good looking shot of the draft, and I'm encouraged by the options that the screen shot suggests in organizing rosters and depth charts. However, one shot showed a TE that was about to be drafted being rated between 85-98. I hope there is a chance that the TE doesn't meet that potential.


Edit: The shot showing the QB strategies was very interesting.

Thanks, going to check on that now.

Been doing some searching about the game. Here are all of the new player "attributes":

New QB attributes: Accuracy short, accuracy medium, accuracy long, playaction pass, throw on run (accuracy.)


New HB attributes: None


New FB attributes: None


New WR attributes: Route accuracy, route cuts, press avoidance.


New TE attributes: Route accuracy, route cuts, press avoidance.


New OL attributes: None


New DL attributes: Play recognition


New LB attributes: Play recognition, coverage zone, coverage man


New DB attributes: Coverage man, coverage zone, play recognition, press.


New K/P attributes: None



There is quite a bit of talk that these attributes will be added to Madden as well.

Agreed, If they get this right. But, I'm thinking they are going to have one annoying bug that will ruin it for me.

And they'll patch it three times and it will still be there. Yeah, me too.

Man, I just read the IGN interview with Strauser again. I can't help but get excited for this damn game. It sounds like everything I ever wanted.

I wish they would make the thing on the XBOX 360. No multiplayer which totally sucks ass. :(

I just re-read it today. Despite the fact that I might end up kicking myself, I'll be buying this on release date. I'm going to go with the PC version as it should be the best looking, and hopefully there might be some patch or mod potential there if needed.

Yeah, I'm thinking that this is an almost "must buy" for me now. Although I'll probably wait at least a day or two till someone like pumpy or ef27 give it a run through. I also have a very bad feeling that there will be one minor thing that ends up killing it for me, as well.

Why all the worry that something will be wrong with the game?


EA did a great job with FOF after Jim went back to solo work.:rolleyes:

But I think I will still pick this up.

What are you talking about?

I bought FOF2002 from EA and could never build a New stadium in Denver or Pittsburgh beacause all EA did was update the rosters for the 2002 version. Since both these Stadiums were to be completed in 2002 they never get built, and the owner of the teams can never do any kind of Stadium Renovations. I emailed EA about this problem and was sent a reply that they would not be releasing a patch to correct it. I bet it would of taken 5 minutes to fix this problem on their end.

Better? I was being sarcastic about EA. It was a shame they released 2002. I feel bad for the people that bought it.

Much Better. :)

Nothing to do with the game, but I'm taking vacation the last two weeks of June. Due to our impending house purchase, I won't be going anywhere for the vacation. So, I'm sure I'll be putting this game under the microscope very soon after it comes out.

This might sound strange, but I hadn't even really considered buying this thing on release day until I saw my name in this post.

/Note to self. Use power of Pumpy persuasion to use him as a beta tester for all games. End transmission.

Power of Pumpy Persuasion
Power of Pumpy Persuasion
Power of Pumpy Persuasion

Oh, my goodness, I think it might actually work. :eek:

The power of Pumpy compels you...
The power of Pumpy compels you...
The power of Pumpy compels you...

Secret Transmission only to be heard by Pumpy's Unconscious...

I think I found out some new info on EA's boards. This guy from Madden Nation has a blog going on, apparently he is a beta-tester or something... He wrote some impressions about the career mode, interesting stuff. Sorry if this was already posted.

Interesting stuff. Thanks!

WOW, this game has now moved into the Pre-Order stage for me.

The only bad thing is simming a year is going to take forever.

For me too, as soon as it will available on the store from which I usually order. EA is really the devil, I guess :D.

Dude, you seemingly buy every sports game on release day. Or at least it seems like it anyways.

I'm pre-ordering as well. In an interview, the producer said it will take 20-30 hours to play through a season if you take care of all of your head coach responsibities manually. I don't mind that at all.

I now have an unsightly bulge.

dola: except that last line. Only trade same seasons picks? That's not good.

I agree, but if the trade AI is reasonably good with only same season trades, I can see that as an acceptable compromise for this version.

Dola -

I can't wait to start drawing up my own plays and see if I can move up in the draft a bit to get an impact player.

Minor detail.

A new interview today on Operation Sports with the Assistant Producer of the game. Here are the highlights to me:

- Every coach will have his own specific playbook.

- We can develop our own formations, plays, play groups, and game plans.

- Owners will have different personalities and will demand different things and have different goals that they expect their head coach to meet.

- Assistant Coaches can be hired away by other teams, particularly if your team does well.

- You don't see any player ratings by default. You need to scout players repeatedly to narrow down their range in a variety of ratings. Your scouting director will give you a more detailed report on guys that were scouted once the combine ends.

- (I know we've heard a bit of this before): Vastly improved AI in regards to drafting, trading, and signing FA's. Each GM will have his own philosophy about players and this will affect each team's FA moves, drafting, and trading and provide variation in what each team pursues!

- No green bar in FA signings. Now you have to talk to agents and make them an offer and they will give you feedback once the deal is made. Lowball a guy, and he might stop negotiating with your club!

- Simulated stats are being "tuned" right now to be as realistic as possible.

- Record keeping for both players and coaches in a season and career.


A bad point - No Printing, not even on the PC version. :(

Vastly improved AI? Improved over what? Isn't this a first version?

I'm confused...

In comparision to Madden. At least I assumed that is what the question was referring to.


Edit: Actually, re-reading that part of the interview, the question and response don't say improved. They say "strong." I added improved (in my own mind) over Madden when reading it quickly. Sorry for the confusion.

My guess is over Madden.

So...you could say Maximum Football has "vastly improved graphics!" because you are comparing it to ..ummm...WordPerfect? :D

Improved AI over Madden...now that will not be to hard to do.

I hope EA has guys working on this who understand American football.
I am sure, well kind of maybe sure, that they have a few programmers who understand football like the type the NFL plays.

OK, I am dancing around an issue...but I am sure you can read into all that ramble.

They are made by the same company in the same building using much of the same code. Is it really that big a leap to say it will be improved over the other in a certain area?

The issue with these things is often not that the devs / designers don't KNOW what is realistic - it's that for various reasons they can't do what they want.

Ie.. If any of us were REALLY coaching an NFL team, we'd probably fall flat on our arse. But that's no fun in a game. So even if they have hard hard hardcore nfl fans / knowledge in house -they'll have to neuter it somewhat to provide a reasonable play experience for the masses.

I was making a joke by taking it to an extreme.

Are they actually using some of the same code? As someone not very impressed by Madden's management AI, that would be a big negative to me.

I'll definitely be waiting to see reviews. I'm not nearly as optomistic this game will be good, although I like what they are trying to do and if it's not horrible I might pick it up just to support the concept.

Hence, the "improved AI."

no worries for me, I'm not sure I ever printed a single page out of FOF since I first played back in 1998-99.

anybody know the PC req. for this game? Don't know if they are out yet. I hope the graphics aren't pickey as I only have a laptop with (ugh) shared video.

and hence, my comparison to a graphic improvement over WordPerfect. :D

But that isn't funny. A better line would be "that is like saying Football Mogul has better AI than Maximum Football."

One of the interviews I read said that 75% of the code is new, and that only some of the graphics code was remaining. Now, I'm not sure if I necessarily believe that, but if it is true it is encouraging.

I will now be preordering the PC version as I no longer own a PS2 and no release THIS year for the PSP.

oooh this game just looks better and better.

so i'm sure it'll end up dissapointing me

Can I ask....if you have a PC that can play this game, why in the world would you get it for a console?

I can't think of any reason. I'll be preordering for the PC.

Good Point!

Yep, that sounds better.

from the blog

This is the area I know a lot of people are looking forward to checking out. By now most of you have read that Mel Kiper has commentary for this year's 2006 draft class as well as 39 other classes that are randomly spread throughout your career.

sounds to me like this means there is no cap on career mode, and that the 39 draft classes are randomly distributed throughout however many years you end up playing. so you could get one the first year and then not one for 3 years and then 3 in a row. cool

and from the MN forums

Online you can play with 2 in a single "coach now" game.

sweet...H2H


+1 for this game

H2H......it is official. I am a fan boy.

If it was being made for the XBOX 360, I would probably debate it.

PC Specs AMD 64 XP 3200, 1GB of RAM and GEFORCE 6800 GT Card. 21 Inch Flat Screen.

XBOX 360 with a 42 in. Plasma TV.

Playing an XBOX 360 game on a 42 in. Plasma TV in 1080I. is simply incredible. I've been a diehard computer gamer, but this system has made me change my mind on certain games.

I actually purchased Oblivion for 360 instead of my Computer. If my computer specs were higher, I would of probably purchased it for the PC. I'm still wishing I purchased it for the PC. Some games, RPG's i like the personal feel of the computer. Though my graphics are better on the 360.

I don't think that's what it means. I think the 39 other classes will just show up in a random order over the next 39 years. It would be pretty weird to have a draft (or two or three straight) with zero commentary, no?

i think randomly SPREAD is the key term, although with god-knows-who writing the article we don't really know what that means. either way...if it takes 20-30 hours to play a seson...20 hours x 40 seasons=way more time then i would ever play i'm sure

That's pretty much how it reads to me.

That was my interpertation as well. I think there is still a 40 year cap, but that after the 1st year (which will have the real draft from this upcoming year) each year afterwards will have a randomly ordered but pre-recorded draft class.

As far as H2H, I can't wait to play some of you guys online.

I can sort of see that, but you still have the problem of 1) no patches, and 2) no possibility of mods.

Clinic is VERY slow today (probably due to most kids being out of town for Easter already.) So, I'm scouring the web and found a link to a VGsports newsletter about the game.

A few more things that I like which it mentions:

- Not only will you develop relationships with players, but also coaches, agents, and GM's. It seems if you somehow screw GM's over, they will be less likely to deal with you in the future.

- The range of player's "attributes" is never an absolute. They can go up as players develop and gain confidence. They can also drop if a player loses confidence, is injured, or is too fatigued.

- You set up and run practices including both team drills and 1-1 drills: Offense vs Defese, inside drill, pass skeleton, special teams, 1-1 WR vs CB, 1-1 OL vs DL, 1-1 RB vs LB.

- There is both RFA and unrestricted FA.

- You can only set strategies for guys when they are on the sideline (except the QB), but can be given for the next drive, quarter, or the game.

QB strategies: Focus on the deep pass or focus on short passing, focus on working the outside of the field vs across the middle, step up in the pocket vs take a deep drop, stay in the pocket vs scramble as needed, Use the pump fake to freeze the safeties vs don't use the pump fake, Avoid interceptions vs force the ball into tight situations, throw the ball quickly to avoid a sack vs Let the play develop, Throw it harder vs use more touch, Throw it high vs throw it low, focus on your #1 receiver vs spread it around, only throw it past the 1st down marker vs use the whole field. Wow, that is a lot of options for the QB.


OL Strategies: Force the defender inside vs Force the defender outside, Engage the defender vs let the defender come to the OL, Cut Block - yes or no.

WR options: Keep the DB on your inside arm vs cut inside and keep them outside of you, Use your agility to get open vs focus on using speed to get open, cut your routes short and try to jump for the ball vs don't break the routes off.

I'm not as excited about those last two options. However, you can just let them play with no specific instructions.


RB Strategies: Run into the designated hole vs bounce it outside, Stay low and use power vs use moves to try to break a long run, be patient and wait for the O-line to open a hole vs run hard to where the hole should be.

LB Strategies: Try for a big hit vs don't get beat deep, go for the pick vs just make sure you knock the ball down, focus on stopping the run vs focus on stopping the pass.

DB Strategies: Big hit vs don't get beat deep, stay to the inside of the WR vs stay to the outside, try to force the receiver to the outside of the field vs try to force them to the inside, go for interceptions or just make sure you knock the ball down, press vs give a cushion, focus on stopping the run vs focus on stopping the pass.

DL Strategies: Go for the big hit vs don't let anyone by you, rush to the inside of your defender or rush to the outside, focus on stopping the run or the pass.


Pre-Snap Options: You can dictate to the QB on any play what order he should make his reads while running the play. Also, you can order any of the QB Strategies that were already mentioned. You can also order Formation shifts or motion. Quite a few other options as well.

Anyway, my excitement for this game continues to grow which means I'll probably be very disappointed. Of course, I'm hoping that isn't the case.

Why does everyone continue to assume you can't have patches on a 360? You're correct on user-created mods, but I've seen this misinformation about no patches on a 360 several times in here...

I've already gotten at least one patch for College Hoops on the 360.

How are you getting patches? Not everyone has a hard-drive for the 360, but even when they did for the Xbox, patches hardly ever happened.

With College Hoops, a message popped up saying there was an update available and asked me if I wanted to download it (which was necessary for online play.) I do have a hard drive, but I imagine it might have fit on a memory card.

However, I'm still getting this game for the PC as I think the mod potential is tremendous..

This does seem cool -- no ratings, and having to find out a player's ability during practices seems really cool.

It does have ratings, it is just a potentially wide range that it gives you :)

:eek:

Wow! If only 50% of this stuff works properly, I'm gonna be very happy this summer.

EA Sports games remind me so much of the Malibu Stacy/Lisa Lionheart episode of The Simpsons - 'But she's got a new hat!'

Having said that, my interest is defintely piqued.

Well I traded in some PSP games that will no longer get any play time. So my copy is reserved and paid in full. Yea Me!

If this game is half as good as it sounds, I dont think I will ever play madden again.

I want to wear the headset and yell "lightning bolt" at LaDainian Tomlinson to see if it helps him run better.

Does anyone know anybody on the development team? Was Joe Stallings mentioned somewhere? I would have a lot more confidence if Mr. G were involved.

Whilst I'll be stunned if EA pulls this off, I hope they do. The potential to develop a new generation of strategic sports sims from their existing stock of waggle-stick crap is huge.

Madden is the best football game ever made. I don't understand why people feel the need to hammer on that game so badly. If you play madden in coach mode you can have one heck of a football simmulation.

You're killing me. :D

Stallings is on the development team, and I think Jim pretty much confirmed they offered a job to him, but he didn't want to move to Florida.

A swing and a miss.

Ah, I re-read your post on Page 3, and I see where I misunderstood. So you have a wide range where the player's rating lies, and the more you scout him, the narrower the range gets? Interesting. So what happens when the player is on your team?

From reading the previews, I think even then it is a range. I don't think there is ever a single number for overall rating. I think it is meant to simulate the uncertainty in evaluating players even if they are on your team.

Stallings had some involvement, but my understanding is that he wasn't the main guy.

I'll be curious to check out the credits - a couple of guys I worked with at MS on Fever were on this project, and I believe they were both integral parts (Art Director and Game Designer/Producer I think)...

About the 39 draft classes:

The only thing that bothers me is that eventually, if all of us are using the same draft classes, regardless of which order they fall in for each of us, we are going to see the same studs and duds. Eventually, a reputation will build, especially for some of us (like me) who are notorious for starting over. This could really make things stale as you'll be able to read right through Kiper and see who are the real studs and so on. That, and the "Joe Smith is an amazing RB DRAFT HIM!" threads here at FOFC. Hopefully the 'randomness' of the game will put some twists on to all of this for us.

Anyone understand what I'm saying? I love the idea; I think it's brilliant. However, this could create problems eventually. Definitely a huge step in the direction of progress when it comes to game interaction etc.

Which is why I said "on the development team." I think he was doing interface, wasn't he?

I hope its something like this.

Kiper says, "RB Smith has good field vision, and great breakaway speed. I think he has a chance to be a starter in this league. He needs to improve on blah blah blah, etc. I really like this kid."

RB Smith could be graded from say the first to 4th round, and have a slightly different set of abilities each time you run it through, and never will be the same player. But the Kiper commentary could still work for him under a variety of circumstances.

I had been told he was in a producer role (note that there are a variety of such roles on EA projects - not all producers are equal), but I don't know the specifics. And it may be that he had started out in an interface role.

I think this is exactly how it's going to play out. There would have to be some volatility involved.

hmmm interesting...source?

bummer. if we could have gotten FOF statistical/engine realism out of this game it would be the only game i'd need

I lol'd

and I agree.

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...7&postcount=50

right. i remember that. but i never thought it was referring to this game...i had assumed it was in the past. aaah

I seem to remember another conversation shortly before or after that which gave a strong indication that it was in the timeframe of the begining of this production.

Flame me now if this question has been asked and answered, but does anyone know who will be doing the Play by Play?

NFL HC available in June.

http://forums.ea.com/mboards/thread....threadID=63015

Unless I missed something, this thread you linked just looks like your run-of-the-mill message board numbskulls who make up news or post what some EB manager told them. Not to shit on your post, but is there anything a little more, um, official?

;)

Though seriously, EBgames does have it listed as 6/20/06, and *usually* they're fairly accurate in their time frames.

I've read in multiple previews and multiple other places that the game will be released June 20th. Of course, that could be subject to change.

6/20 has been the confirmed release date for some time now

I'm packing today, and therefore listening to ESPN Radio in the background. Listening to several hours of draft analysis has me jonesing for this game so much...

Here:

http://www.easports.com/nflheadcoach/index.jsp

Ah, that must be the link you meant to post last time, right? :D

Just to get my 2 cents in, that I will be purchasing this game the day it is released

Well, it looks like I'm not needed to purchase this on release day. :)

(I probably will anyway)

im definitely waiting for reviews. I don't trust EA