I don't know how long they've been working on this game, but there just seems to be way too many options in this thing for them to get it right the first time. I would have preferred fewer intial, yet more streamlined, features.

I predict that the impressions thread will at first be all positive with lots of "wow, this feature is so cool" comments, followed a page later by "I really hate it how this feature doesn't do this correctly".

You're probably right.

New video up on IGN.

It definitely looks like it's worth a try to me.

The next 5 head coaches are up. I would have had Bud Grant higher, but no big surprises in this group:

http://sports.ign.com/articles/711/711717p1.html

i am so amped for this, I havnt been this excited for a game since Civ 4. Spore will be the next to get amped for but man I cannot wait to play this!!!

I'm a sucker. I paid in full for a pre-order on this. The discouraging news is that the Gamestop manager said I was the first, and there almost no buzz for this game. It is going to be out a month before NCAA, and two before Madden so maybe that'll drive sales. Not having it for 360 is going to hurt, though.

I'm surprised that a Gamestop in GA only has 1 pre-order. The Gamestop in Baton Rouge told me they had 15 pre-orders before mine, and that was a few weeks ago.

Easy -- the Georgians are still so heartbroken over WVU killing their Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl last year they have no taste for football anymore.

I'm fairly sure this is a new video that was posted yesterday on Gametrailers. This video with the music has me fired up. Interesting that they show Reggie Bush's ratings lower than Leinart's.

Link:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...pe=wmv&pl=game

Wow, this is looking real good.

Yeah this is making me hard! Got to get it.

Why Eaglesfan27? Why did you post this link? I watched the video over 15 times already and kept pausing at different points just to drool over the monitor. Geez. This is the game I have been waiting for.

I'm going to try to preorder the PC version tomorrow, but with Cowher on the cover, there are probably 8 million preorders at every store in my area.

What is the release date on this?

June 20.

Couple of more reviews
 

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/sports/...=6152579&q=&q=
http://xbox.gamedaily.com/game/preview/?gameid=4724

In the gamespot sim, some odd choices are still being made in the draft.

Vince Young going to #25 to the Giants with Eli at QB?

Ummm. . . ouch.

Does the fun not end in sports sims lately?

No way in hell I pre-order this game. Like ootp 2006 I'll wait for impressions.

Considering this game prides itself on the depth of the drafting module, this would kill the game for me.

I hoping (perhaps stupidly) that this was an earlier version that was not release ready. Anyway, I'll be posting my own draft results on release day most likely.

Does anyone know if there is some sort of X-factor going on there? Is it possible that draft picks will vary with each career or has this already been verified?

It is possible that there is an X-factor. From reading on another board about that draft, you can see that Vince was rated at 63-83 (which is quite a bit lower than the top draft picks.) I don't have a huge problem with Vince sliding assuming there is an X-factor. However, unless Eli was traded in the offseason or was hurt, I'm worried about the Giants taking him. Hopefully, it will be tuned up a bit more than the version in that preview.

Given EA's past history, why would you pre-order ?

Exactly. It's not that I'm bothered with Young slipping to 25. He could have easily been rated low. The Giants shouldn't be the ones picking him though. Still, I'm with you Eagles, I'm hoping it's not that screwed up.

Because this is a game I'm very interested in playing on release day.

I understand the frustration here but it is not, in any way, a killer for me.
First, FOF can that to you as well...second, what "IF" the Giants feel like they have made a draft mistake and Vince Young is a "can't miss" prospect and decide to draft him ? so what ?

So, yes, this is "stange" and you don't want to see that happen every time. But, every once in a while, I can live with it.

The draft is one of those things that I am willing to cut more slack on in a video game. Weird, unexpected things happen all the time IRL. Hell, if you had shown me a picture of the draft in this game six months ago, with Mario Williams going first, I probably would have said it was stupid.

^ Good point.

Maybe that's where the Texans got their inspiration

This is one reason I play with strictly fictional players in all of my universes. (something not possible in this game, but I'll buy and play anyway)

I can live with a few strange moves. The problem with things like this is twofold:

1) EA's history. In last years Madden you still had things like a run of punters going in the second round. If they carried over some of that logic, it isn't good.

2) The fear that this isn't isolated. A goofy move here and there? Fine. I can even live with AJ being selected #1. No problemo. Yet that move could be a sign something is wrong. This is the NFL. You don't draft another QB when you are paying one a ridiculous amount of money. eli could be Ryan Leaf and the Giants would be giving him 16 starts this year. There is no possible reason for them to draft another QB in the first round. If this is just a strange move, I'm fine. If it's the nature of the AI, the draft has issues. . . and in this type of game, the draft is a huge part of the game.

Sorry, that came of "harsher" than I thought. I guess if I recall correctly, you haven't been too happy with EA's stuff in the past, and I figured at worst (since Cowher's mug is on it), it will be available in every Pittsburgh area store - ie, you could wait a day or two for initial reaction. C'est bien. :D

Kind of surprise people are pre ordering this game instead of waiting for initial reaction first after the game comes out.

With EA history, its probably better to be cautious.

The only recent EA games that I've really been "happy" with are Madden 06 (XBox version) and the last two MVP Baseball games (2005 MLB, 2006 NCAA). NCAA Football 2004 was the last one that really "did it" for me, NHL 06 was a joke, and I haven't even played an NBA Live game in about 5 years.

Even with all that in mind, NFL Head Coach is something new, and I'd rather have EA behind a fairly innovative concept like this one instead of a smaller company. I felt the same way about Arena Football, which is a decent game, even though I'm not playing it right now.

I've probably been hard on the EA games (particularly NCAA Football) because it seems like they take backwards steps from where they were. To me, NCAA 2004 was almost perfect, and then 2005 went and ruined it. They still haven't gotten the gameplay back to the 2004 level for me. Madden was a disappointment until last year, and then things seemed to click again. With NFL Head Coach, I don't have a past game to compare it to, and while I don't expect it to be perfect, I think I'll be happy. I haven't looked at any of the videos, and I've only looked at about 3 screenshots of the game. So far, the only thing in this thread that's bothered me at all is the whole "cover 2" thing from a couple of pages back. The whole thing about the Giants drafting Vince Young in the first round really doesn't faze me, for various reasons. While that would certainly ruin the game for some people (which I can understand), it just doesn't concern me. If that ends up being the worst thing that happens in the game, I'll have fun anyway. I don't really have any reason not to pre-order.

Also, your question didn't come off harsh at all. My answer just came off a little snippy because I was trying to keep it short. :)

I'd agree and say that football is really the only game that EA is doing a decent job with. If it bombs it should get atleast one patch (I'm getting the PC version).

1st - I've lost interest time and time again in FOF due to issues such as this, but I still play multiplayer.

2nd - I don't think EA could make their game THAT deep first time around. :)

It just puzzles me, you're seeing this right off that bat. I do need to remember however, it's EA and most of the casual gamers wouldn't give to dumps about where draft picks go. Who knows, maybe I'm getting senile?

I went out and Pre ordered. Pumpy I live in the Washington pa area, and there werent that many pre ordered, how about in greensburg, they even say?

1. The draft does seem a little bit messed up, but im willing to overlook it, especailly with the way the ratings are so varied in the screen shots.

2. Nice to see another football game in the market other than madden, and Ncaa. I ordered blitz the league and was pleasantly surprised. Hoping this does the same.

3. All the stuff I wish madden would do and follow through with, this seems to have. That alone is worth a shot in my book.

MUNS

Nah, you're not getting senile. :) Really, though, you just described me with regards to this game. I don't particularly care where the draft picks go. I understand that a lot of people do, but I don't.

I didn't try this weekend. I'll probably do it on Tuesday. I'm sure they'll still be taking preorders, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of them sold already.

Next time I go to Gamestop where I pre-ordered I'm gonna check and see how many they've taken orders for.

I can thank FOFC for that, we analyze everything. ;) I had so much fun with FPS and the High Heat series, it's just crazy how great those games were so long ago with fewer options than games of today. :)

Since getting back into ootp 6.5, I'm starting to overlook some things and having a better time with the game... go figure.

I can't wait to read your thoughts though Pumpy, even if goofy draft picks don't bother you. :D

I hope somebody has the nay-nays to start a good dynasty post about this game.

I am going to be getting this when it hits the BB stores. I am not good with dynasty things but I will be intrigued to read somebody run the game through its courses.

As long as it isn't too hard to minimize it and switch screens, I plan on doing a dynasty.

Cool.

Count me amongst the people who don't care so much about the draft. It's a weird thing anyhow, so to replicate it in the game is almost impossible. Who would've guessed that the Lions would take Charles Rodgers, Roy Williams, and Mike Williams in three consecutive years with their 1st round draft picks?

In fact, "video game-wise" would it make any sense to take Deuce McAllister when you have Ricky Williams? Or take Reggie Bush when you still have Deuce McAllister?

I like the fact that teams' AI is not the same. There should be some teams that draft badly and teams that draft really well. There should also be some teams that draft for need rather than the best player...otherwise, every team is a cookie-cutter.

Jrob has the 3rd part of his Coach Diary up:

http://sports.ign.com/articles/712/712307p1.html


It worries me a bit that he held Plummer to such a poor game, but Plummer has been known to get rattled in real life, and he has built a monster defense for the Rams. However, his diary is making me wonder if interceptions might be a bit too high. Despite that, this feature is pumping me up even more for the game.

Yeah, wow, a ton of interceptions. I hope there are sliders in this so I can turn interceptions to "2" like I do in MAdden, though I doubt there will be.

Shit,

Just finished the basement studio...ready to track. Got another mix session coming up(3 days), overdubs session (3 days) and then a basics (4 days).

I could play on laptop and still hit the record buttons on the 2 inch and/or pro tools. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I dont think I have been this anxious for a game in a long time. The only problem is my girlfriend, who lives about an hour away, just informed me that she took time off work next week and will be spending "qaulity time" with me. Damn, need to figure out how to ditch her.

in my eyes, spending some long hours showing her how the nfl preseason works, from a coaches perspective, IS quality time!

that's probably why i am divorced and don't have a girl right now.

:D

I'm a little more concerned about the Bucs and Packers putting up 52 and 45 points on the Ravens and Bears respectively.

And possibly I might just be single by the end of next week:cool:

His year was started before FA, right? would that explain why the teams aren't acting like their counterparts?

Certainly not a deal breaker.

I got the ex hooked on the Sims 2. We had many a night of drinking wine...me playing EHM and her building houses in the Sims.

women are like the bus... a new one comes along every 10 minutes

but a game that has promise like this comes around maybe once every 10 years. Of course it is EA - so it could be like that woman that looks good, but has "issues"

Didn't say it was a dealbreaker. But the Bears defense is all signed, they'll lose nobody via FA. Ravens aren't losing a lot either and they are actually gaining an injured Ray Lewis back to them.

Not a dealbreaker. Not saying it's anything but a fluke. But it's something odd that jumped out and I'm seeing odd things with every tidbit released. This could be a great thing or it could be a sign of something bad. We'll see in about seven days.

i hear you cluckin. right on

Huh?

You pretend mods are so square. :D

I hear what you are saying.

Got it. Momentary brain cramp. My bad.

He doesn't speak jive. Cut him some slack, Jack.

;)

Here's the DEMO....

http://www.worthplaying.com/article....thread&order=0

Check it out.... Oh Yeah...

You da man!!!!!!!

i just pulled up to the studio...checked my email, then here and found this demo post!

fu**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (get done early, get done early, get done early)

nice volley! made me smile

I have to work late, shit!

There is a demo!?!? Woo Hoo! Clicking on the link now to download :)

We know anything about the demo?

Not a dola afterall -

The fact that they released a demo is a good sign.

Also, at least the 1st mirror appeared to have a file that was only partially uploaded (it was 74MB.) The 2nd mirror is blazing and I'm downloading at 600kb/sec and should be done in under 10 minutes :)

I thought they wouldn't release a demo. This was a big surprise to me at least, and I've been reading every site I can about this game. I'll post impressions about the demo in the next few hours :)

damn and I have a soccer game that to play in a hlaf hour, shit, shit, shit.

Woo hoo!!! Thanks a lot!!! I didn't even know there was a demo coming out. Do you work for EA??? :D
No really, how did you find it???

..and I will read them when I get home :)

At 50% downloaded now... *salivates*

I agree with you EF, I was checking out every possible site and I didn't read anything about a demo, never. I'm downloading from the 2nd mirror as well, but it's going only at 100k/s. Probably, it's the max my DSL allows.

Only 1 minute to go on my download. I can't believe I'm so excited about a demo..

Damn, I didn't notice it was supposed to be 300mb and I downloaded from the first mirror. I was so pumped and before I saw it didn't work! :mad:

tried the mirror 1 site and got a corrupted file. maybe i ended it early, i don't know what happened. downloading from mirror 2 now.

Still 30% here...:mad:

ahhh, thanks for the support of my issue duff

985kb/s!!!! here it comes. client isn't here yet.

Say a prayer to your video card. :p

Let me know how good the giant porn flick you guys are downloading is.

I'm off to fix a server... should be some good reading tonight in this thread!

If it sucks, please don't post that here. I want my hopes and dreams to be shattered by me, and me alone. :D

Just finished downloading and I'm going to install. I'm at work, so I can't really play it right now, but I at least want to see if it installs OK.

Extracting...

The 2nd mirror worked well. It should be a 300 MB file. Of course, the demo only gives some limited things you can do. The first option started me a week before the Draft. It's taking me a few minutes to get used to the interface, but it is not that bad. Mouse clicks and wheels can control everything, but I have to figure out where to click because it is "object driven." However, the NFL TV screen has a glossary which tells you all kinds of cool things such as roles of staff, characters in the game, etc. It also tells you what to click on to do different things.

The ratings are so much different than I ever expected. David Carr is rated Overall of 48!?! To be fair, his range is 48-68. Most of the Texan's roster is in the 60's with Marcus Coleman and Andre Johnson being their two higher rated players. The demo makes you start as the Owner of the Texans, and one of my owners goals for the team is to draft a QB with an overall rating of at least 75! I guess that means I'll be using the 1st pick on a QB.

I'm going to check some other ratings now. Who knows, maybe Eli is rated poorly in this game ;)

Oh yeah, the classic NFL music plays in the background the whole time.. I love it (although I guess I could get tired of it after a long time.)

Dola -

They give Carr a 90-99 for throwing power, but 60-65 for short accuracy, and in the 60's for most other accuracy ratings. He has a 50-60 play action ability.

Double Dola -

The Backup QB's on the Texans Ragone and Banks are rated 37 and 36 overall respectively (and are the 2 lowest rated players on the Texans.) Definitely, much lower ratings than Madden.

Doesn't work for me.

EF... how'd you install it? I see nothing to run after extracting except NFL Head Coach Demo.exe, but that tells me I need to reinstall.

I don't see any setup.exe or install.exe or any other .exe for that matter.

One last ratings post than I'm jumping into the activities:

Eli Manning is scouted, but not well scouted by our team and is rated 63-92 with excellent accuracy potentially. McNabb is 71-95 with great throwing on the run ability.

I almost wondered if this was an unauthorized demo, because it certainly isn't packaged well. I just extracted the folder into a folder of my choosing that was empty. Then, I went to my computer, clicked on the folder, and clicked on the exe file to start the demo.

Same here, but mine doesn't work. The whole thing does seem a bit strange.

A few more thoughts:

I really like the roster screen. Players are sortable via multiple methods and it shows them as different colors to indicate their quality. However, the roster breakdown screen is not as user friendly.

Now, good news: They have the cap at just under 102 million which is exactly what it is supposed to be this year according to several sites. Also, they have it going up 7 million for 2007 which is the anticipated raise next year! The cap management screen does a nice job of breaking down player's contracts and how much cap room is left and how their contract will affect the cap. Hopefully, when we cut players this will be accurate and this won't just be a pretty screen.

Did you download from the 2nd mirror?

Windowed mode?
 

Those with the demo, can the demo/game be played in a windowed mode? I'm at work and would like to mess around with it on the sly...

Heybrad, same for me.:mad: I think it's the damn DirectX. We gotta download the last one.

From what I can tell the only way you can play is in window mode, or atleast that's how it's worked for me...

A bit of a clunky interface at first it seems, but I think with some time could get adjusted to it.

DOLA: Works! Downloaded the last DirectX from Microsoft's site.

'Night guys!;)

NEED... MORE... INFORMATION... KEEP... POSTING... GUYS... ;)

Is there a way to fast-sim to our next pick during the draft?

EDIT: Found it, it's ]

The game is pretty tough, on the first play they gain 15 yards on a pass and on the second play they score a touchdown on a long play-action pass. Note that I'm no strategist and I don't know that much about football though, so I might have chosen shitty plays.

Right bracket.

I gave it a whirl and this isn't going to be my bag. Not that I ever thought it was going to be.