Me too. I'm actually more interested in this one than Madden/NCAA combined. They seem to have taken a different approach developing this game, and that could be a positive. Obviously, they're selling it very well with all these nice videos (pastapadre has some new ones, btw) but I still have some doubts.

I mean, I'm reading that this game is "packed with features", you have "control over everything". Will all this stuff work?

I'm sure all of the stuff won't work well but I'm just hopeful that it will work well enough for my wife to complain.

Despite my earlier ramblings, i do recognize that not everyone liked next-gen madden 08 as much as i did, it's all subjective. But im just tired of people calling 09 garbage wihtout playing it, thats all.

Also, it's pretty funny how a lot of people are calling last year's head coach carbage. There was no head coach last year. Doesnt work too well if you are trying to post believable opinions.

Considering there's been only one, ever, I dont think people will have a hard time figuring out which coaster we're talking about. However in case you do here is an image for reference where you're catching Bill answering a reporter's question about the quality of the game...

Humm...I wonder if they have coders who watch and understand American football.

The extra year does make me believe there is hope.

Did this "OS merge" already happen?

http://consolesports.net/content/view/326/51/

More promise.... ?? or Hype??

I do like the idea of scheme-specific ratings...if it is done well. The fact that this made it into the game design gives some hope of actual sports-management fans being involved in the process.

Well, that talked very little about how they streamlined the offseason, and hinted that I'd still have to sit there and practice plays until my team gets perfect with them. Lots of focus on in-game coaching, which was the only part I enjoyed in the whole game.

Have you guys read the Live Events Blog on EA Sports' site? Again, it seems they've at least TRIED to take a different approach to things. Check out the Staff Hiring part in particular.

One of the developers of Head Coach is on OS answering any questions submitted by users:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...session-5.html


A few of the positives so far:

- Full expanded pre-season rosters, with real cut down dates and limited scouting of street FA's that will expand the longer you keep a guy on the roster. The more time a guy is with a team, the more you will see about them.

- Again stating that game has been tuned to give realistic stats with accelerated clock and 15 minute quarters. Averages about 125-135 plays per game. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

- The CPU will download the most popular user created plays and will test them out. If they are successful for that team's personel, it will be incorporated into their playbook (that sounds very cool if it works.)

- Different coaches will run different schemes and take them to teams. An option spread college coach will look to recruit a fast QB and bring a variant to the NFL.

- The ability to set a gameplan for the team to practice, and then just sim it without losing player ratings. There is no need to watch practices, unless you want to see how certain plays work.

The big negative:

Only 15 years to a career. The developer said they want to give users 100 things to do over a season and keep it at 15 years, rather than fewer things at 30 years.

I personally want abbreviated sims. It would be great if they had a sim that only showed the big plays, much like Football Manager does. If the sims are going to be an hour, I might as well play Madden.


Sim people love open-ended games. This sounds like a way to restrict how quickly users can sim through the game, which is never a good idea.

So the player I draft number 1 in the first draft will play for me the length of his career and then, when I get to the draft in year 11 I wont give a flying F because the game is going to end right around the corner so in essence you have a 7-10 year career playable. pissshaw.

Even though I'd want to play out every game, the producer says in another answer that a "fixed" supersim is in the game. So it sounds like that is available if you want to use it.


I agree. I think this is a huge design flaw of the game. Just like Flasch said, why should I care about guys I draft in the 11th plus year if I know I'm never going to see the end of their career.

Very confused by this statement. Wouldn't you still be doing those same 100 things regardless of the length of the career? I am trying to figure out how length of career ties in with all the tasks.

The only thing I could thing of is if somehow more options are opened up after each year, but that doesn't quite make sense either. So I guess I won't be planning to be the next Bill Parcells.

Agreed. Seems like an odd response. Only factor I can think of is the number of players they created and the variety of ways they have to test them. In another response, they say they have over 21,000 created rookies though and that would seem to support more than enough to support a 30 year career.

I'm trying to find a way to buy into this game, but it's awfully hard. The 15-year limit is weird, but maybe we just need to remember that it's a coaching sim, not a GM sim.

I asked the developer in the Q&A thread to clarify his post about 100 features in a 15 year span and here is his reply which is disappointing but makes some sense:


It takes more development time to add a feature and have it work correctly over a 30 year career instead of a 15 year career.

That usually means you spend twice the time implementing one feature and end up not being able to get other features in.

My guess is because this is on a console, and they only have so much memory they can work with. Definitely saves me from being interested in buying it.

Translation: "That would require much more QA testing and work by our development team to created a fully featured game. That's simply not an option."

"...because unlike what you've heard deadlines will still be more important than quality"

I just cant believe it. Im totally beside myself as I thought I was 99% sure I was going to buy this game but with the cap at 15 years it is in essence a 10 year career and not worth the $65 it would take to buy on the PS3. Assholes!

Drooling.. now, will it all work?

Honestly.. this game isn't for you then. When FPS Football was around, the joy was watching each play, each player.. to evaluate your team from game to game, season to season. I do agree that 15 years sucks, but by the time I get to my 15th year, I will have moved on to some other game.

At least they took an extra year to "hopefully" make this a fun, semi-realistic, challenging game.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so for me.. I'll probably skip NCAA Football and get the Madden Collector's edition this year.

I'll see once Madden and HC gets closer to being released.

I would love to see an endless career with a pc version.

I think it'll be a moot point. If I'm playing every game it'll take me a long time to go through 15 years.

Anyway, I think it's beside the point..what are the chances anyone will want to play it more than 15 seasons? Frankly if that ends up being an issue to me, that means I'll be pretty damn happy with the game.

That is a very good point. I can't believe I'm considering it, but I'm thinking about getting the collector's edition of Madden to get Head Coach cheaper.

That makes two of us. :o

Plus.. you'll get HC sooner.

Madden 09 Collector's Edition ships 8/12
Head Coach 09 ships 9/3

You guys are going to be disappointed.

It's like telling a buddy "I don't think stickin' it to her is a good idea" and they come back with a big sore on their lip.

True. I said the same thing last year and it did no good.

(Not that I was going way out on a limb or anything).

Or two years ago or whatever.


(I don't want Epi_69 to come kick my ass because Head Coach wasn't released last year.)

I didn't say I was pre-ordering or anything. :p

god forbid

http://www.easports.com/nflheadcoach09/news.jsp

New video and a new blog post.

I'm sure it's all hype and what not, but seriously hope this game is all they are making it out to seem...

Head Coach Producers are answering question on OS and while there are things I wish that made it into the game that didn't, I think this sounds like a nice feature and makes me think that these guys "get it" in their pursuit of realism:


Yes - you can check out the box score of any game, regular season or post-season, at any point during the season.

What is really cool about the game this year to me, is that if you get eliminated from the playoffs as soon as your week 17 game is over, you immediately start going thru the Staff Evaluations/Staff Hiring/Firing phase of the offseason.

Teams who are still in the playoffs do NOT go thru this yet. If they are still in playoffs, no staff evaluations occur. So what this means for you the gamer, do you risk waiting around for a Jim Caldwell type of guy with the Colts, who are in the playoffs, will he leave this year for a better opportunity on my team as a Offensive Coordinator, or do I just play it safe and go after a college fantasy coach or someone from another team who got fired.

The thing is with a guy like Jim Caldwell, it is somewhat a random chance that he will leave vs. stay with Colts. When I say random, I don't mean we are flipping a coin based on nothing. I mean that the chance for coaches to leave in general is a % chance type of deal, so the experience always feels fresh. Yes, there might be a 90% chance of Caldwell leaving if he has a certain personality type or if he is unhappy with the head coach. but very rarely do we make things like this happen 100% of the time.

Sorry to sidetrack here, just wanted to make sure you guys knew about this nice little feature we got in.

Thanks for posting that EF.. pretty cool feature.

IGN Hands On:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/881/881706p1.html

X360 Videos:

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1...061108_04.html



There is nothing I want more in my gaming life than this game to be good... really good. The biggest issue I see is the AI.. it has to be good or else the game will be worthless.

I thought the play editor thing would be boring, but after watching the video.. that even looks fun to mess with. The interface really looks well done and I really like the FA bidding process as well as the draft layout.

Yep.. they've drawn me in...............:cry:

Full game - MIA vs NE: http://link.brightcove.com/services/...cpid1612722418

This might have some good potential.

I've just about made it through the first half of the video, and that looks much better than the first version.

Yes it does.. MUCH better.

Is there a demo? I put the word "demo" into the search function of the forum and it told me to be less restrictive :)

Not yet. Not sure if there will eventually be one or not. The retail game won't be out until August or September.

Thanks, Ef. I'll keep an eye out for it. FOF demands too much of my limited understanding of the gridiron game but this sounds right up my street.

I want to see the preseason before I commit. I spent so damn much time clicking to get through the preseason that I only ever made it to a real game once.

Reviews are going to mean everything for this game. Anybody who bought the first one is going to hold off until word starts rolling in.

Another video starts out slow but at 1:40 shows more features.

http://www.operationsports.com/videoview.php?id=17

I love the guy's fake professional voice he employs. Sort of a poor man's Jim Rome. I wanted him to call someone Chris Everett.