Finally got a chance to play this. I wasn't really feeling it at first but the more I played it the more I enjoyed it. I really like how when I was playing as the Lions, Kitna was throwing the ball high to Calvin Johnson on routes across the middle.

What is the deal with the playbooks? There are not very many plays!!

You can d/l all the user created playbooks you want. Then you'll just have to learn/master them...

Well, I cracked and picked up the C.E. after work today.

I fiddled around in the 'Coach Now' module, coaching the Bills versus the Dolphins.

Are any of you using different sliders than default? There were *zero* penalties during the three quarters I played and Trent Edwards was 14 of 14 in passing.

That's Trent Edwards, not Tom Brady.

I assume this can be rectified with some slider adjustments?

Realistic Penalty Sliders:

Offsides,False Start 100
Holding 51
Off/Def Int 52
Facemask 51

Everything else you can probably leave at default - be careful - Holding is broken and if you put it higher than 52 you will get a holding call every play.

You can easily get sucked into this game for hours. I started playing yesterday and it just keeps going and going. I think it's because the time never stops and there's always something else to do.

How is the running game playing out for you guys? I bumped up run blocking and running back ability to 60 since it wasn't all that effective in the games I've played, it has helped a little bit.

I haven't bumped up the run blocking at all, but I signed Faneca and other O-Linemen and drafted Run DMC so I'm not sure if it's a product of good players that they're doing well.

I haven't had much luck running with Kelvin Smith but I can get Tatum Bell going when I spread the field. I think Smith just has poor awareness or something, a lot of times he will miss the hole and try to bounce to another hole to only get stuffed.

I got fired after my first preseason game while running the Dolphins. Is that a record??

Did they fire you or did you promise them to rebuild the team in a few years and then decided to move to coach a college team?

Oh my goodness! I started my coaching career with the Rams at 8am this morning and it's now 1:15pm? Talk about having time fly.. I need to take a week off. :)

SAVE OFTEN SAVE OFTEN SAVE OFTEN!!!!

I cannot stress that enough.. I was in the 4th quarter of my first preseason game when I got the dirty disk read error..really pissed me off.. so SAVE OFTEN!!! Maybe my Xbox is about to die, who knows?

I absolutely love this game, sure it has some goofy issues, like me kicking a FG on a 4th and goal in a preseason game and my approval rating goes down from a 48 to a 40, WTF!

I'm starting to learn who I can show emotion too and who I can't.. yeah I'm talking to you Adam Carriker!

I signed Terry Glenn and John Lynch and they looked great in the first preseason game, in fact the owner wanted Lynch to get at least 50 plays from scrimmage.

Took me awhile to manage my time properly in-game as I now call the offensive plays and let Haslett call the defensive plays for the most part. Seems to be working thus far.

There is just so many cool things this game has to offer and I'm totally hooked. I made myself quit, but I wanted to play my next preseason game. :)

OK, now I am thisclose to buying Madden CE. Jeez.

I'll go in half with you Pumpy. You take Madden, I'll take Head Coach. :D

16 more days I'll have to wait.

For those of you playing Head Coach 09, over at Operation Sports there has been quite a substantial bug found during the free-agency period.

It seems that if you save your Career anytime during the free-agency period, when you re-load your Career at a later time, the low-end free agents (we're talking low 70's overall ratings and below) will be asking for outrageous one year salaries. To the tune of $7 million to $8 million dollars for one year, and that's just the starting bid, of course the computer-AI drives the price up, and these guys are being signed.

There seems to be a couple of workarounds right now, one of them being to set-aside a few hours to go straight through free-agency without saving/shutting down your console, the other one being if you go into the free agent pool from the roster menu on your clipboard, apparently the issue gets fixed and the low-end guys begin asking for normal salaries (around $800k a year), though I haven't confirmed that the second work-around actually works, as of yet.

The lead developer for Head Coach says he will be looking into the issue, come Monday.

And of course, the link to the original thread ...

hXXp://www.operationsports.com/forums/nfl-head-coach/263214-huge-issue-career-mode.html

Can't wait for tomorrow when the DHL guy will bring me Madden CE.

Thanks LionsFan10 for that workaround, I'll keep that in mind after the season!

Anyone else scream out loud when your team scores a TD? 2nd round pick WR Donnie Avery scores on a nice out pattern and I was estatic.. this kid along with Holt and newly signed WR Terry Glenn should make for nice targets for Marc Bulger.

I ABSOLUTELY love how you can add to your playbook by downloading plays during your franchise!

My 3rd string QB looks absolutely lost out there on the field.. some of his passes are to ghost players.. I'm like who the F was that to?

Penalties are finally plentiful.. 15 min acc clock seems perfect so far, oh and injuries to key players make you grit your teeth as a backup comes in and tries to play.

I totally have that FPS feel where decisions I make to the final roster will be because I actually see these guys play right in front of my eyes and as the HC I can mentally make decisions.

Also, does anyone have a scratch pad sitting next to them while they play this game?

Time for some more game time baby!!!

a big FU to EA for not putting this out for PC.

You talk about penalties being plentiful...did you make adjustments to any of your sliders? Just trying to get things as close to realistic as possible before starting a career.

+1000000000000000000

And crap, why can't a game like this come out for the Wii, it seems MADE for something like the Wii. I'm stuck with only getting a Wii for this generation because my kids have tons of GC stuff that will all move over to a Wii, and my wife doesn't want to spend the $$ for another seperate console. Gah.

I wonder how well this will sell when it is the Head Coach standalone. Something tells me that they may discontinue this product if it doesn't do well. Although I have a PS3 (due to the fact that I need to find a blu-ray player), this is the type of game that seems better served for a PC for the simple fact that 3rd party utilities could have been created to support and bolster the game and this is the type of game that seems less attractive to a console crowd.

I really hope it does well and they continue to improve this, but I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped it because they don't believe they see a huge return for the amount of resources they had put into it.

How much credit is HC going to get for CE sales? Is there anything else included in the CE? Anyway its hard to argue you didn't buy it for HC when you buy the stand alone version which I plan to do when it is released.

I got the CE just for Head Coach 09. Damn marketing gig. I'll try it tonight probably. :)

I haven't adjusted anything yet and I've coached a total of 5 games now counting my 3 coach now games. I'm seeing all kinds of offsides, delay of games, and holding.. not to mention face masks as well.

Maybe it seems like a ton because they never call them in NCAA or Madden. :lol:

Well, I cracked and my experience has been mixed thus far.

Pros: I like the off-season scheduled and the way free agency and the draft works. Having a spreadsheet would make somethings much easier but it works better than I expected. My statistical results have thus far been somewhat realistic. In-season practices are implemented surprisingly well and making good decisions during the week seems to make a difference on Sunday.

I also like the ratings generally and the challenges regarding finding booms and busts. I drafted Xavier Ormon from Northwest Missouri State and he's now rated 68/91 after I think originally having ratings in the mid-50s. He fumbles all the time but the coaches love him. I also drafted Will Franklin (Missouri homer) and he's developing nicely -- his ratings keep going up and he's gone from being the ninth best WR on my team in the preason to No. 4 now. All he did in the preseason was making catches so even though he had a rating under 60 I kept him ast my fifth wideout. He's now rated 68 and keeps going up every week it seems.

Cons: A continuity error but an error nonetheless. My first home game of the season in week 2 in Kansas City wsa played in a driving snowstorm. I understand many of you aren't familiar with the area, but a snowstorm in early September in Kansas City would be the result of an asteroid striking the Earth and plunging us into a permanent winter, so I doubt football would be on the schedule.

Second big error occured regarding Brian Waters. During the preseason I got the bad news that Waters had torn his triceps and would be out four to nine months. I do the math and realize that even if he's only out four months he won't be back before September and I just can't justify the roster spot for him so he goes on the IR. Three weeks later, I get the message from NFL Network that Waters went to a holistic healer and is back and ready for action. We'll dismiss the idea that Waters had a torn triceps injury repaired in three weeks. More disturbing is that he's now back on my depth chart and playing -- even though I was told when I put him on IR he would be gone for the season, as he should be. I haven't gone through my roster to see if someone disappeared to make room for him, but he's back.

My third complaint has more to do with just my gut feeling. My first two regular season games went down to the wire and we're both decided by "defining moments." I was leading at the Patriots with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter up by a FG at their 15 yard line on fourth and short. I decided to go for it because I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep New England out of the end zone and a field goal wouldn't really do me any good. I missed, New England got the ball and scored quickly to take the lead. I managed to drive back into field goal range and would have won if I had kicked the field goal earlier.

At home against the Raiders, I was trailing the Raiders big time when I rallied and got back into it and this time chose to kick the field goal for the winning margin in the final minutes. I can't help but feel that so far my play calling has little to do with my success and I'm just being artificially moved to "defining moment" decisions. I have no evidence to prove this, just a gut feeling.

If it weren't for the glaring issues like snow in Kansas City in September, the fact that it has rained or snowed for my first three games and the IR issue, I'd give a more glowing review. I have my concerns. We'll see

I wasn't aware I could let my coordinators call plays and I could just be the "head coach." I might try that and see if I feel better about it.

And I too have difficulty running. I think if you want to run the ball you either have to have a great line/back and/or work on the running game during the week. I seem to be able to throw the ball well regardless of what I do but running the ball seems to require a lot of work.

Yeah, I think the weather is a known issue.. just like in NCAA..in RL it's sunny and 75 in Columbia, but I had a rain storm in my first game.

The big problem with console games, is once the game is released to the public.. the little bugs start to show up, but patching is difficult.. unlike games on the pc. :(

I'm having a blast though, even with some goofy things that pop up from time to time.

I just coached Rivers to over 400 yards passing while Tomlinson had 15 carries for 27 yards. Time to bump up the running sliders a bit further I guess.

I like being able to choose a play to steal from the other team each game, that has helped to fill some holes in my playbook.

Does anyone know if there is a way to setup an auto-sub at a certain fatigue % like in Madden? Right now I'm not sure if my second-string guys ever see the field.

I don't think this is a grandma friendly game.

Definitely a far step away from the All-Play strategy that EA has with the Wii.

From an interview I read, even the HC producer doesn't know how his sales will be measured. EA has to think that the hardcore fans went out and bought the CE for this game, and hopefully they will count AT LEAST a portion of these sales in the measurement of Head Coach's success. I definitely am hoping that there will be more.

I'm getting very good sim results with these sliders;

This game is very close to being the FPS:football 99 we never got, try them out and tell me how they are working.

7 or 8 minutes you choice

Hum/Cpu

off
5/5
50/50
5/5
59/62
50/50

def
all default at 50

st
60/60
20/20
52/52
25/25
50/50

penalty

99
99
52
52
99
99
52
51
99
99
50

other notes;

I let my d. coordinator call plays and I have the team practice defending the pass throughout the week. I only call offense and special teams, plus I sub out guys when needed.

One last note, Have fun with it and don't freak out if everything doesn't happen the way you'd like it to. Remember it's a video game and it's the closest thing we have to FPS: Football.

I received it today and i must say i love the game flow, ow all he important decisions come to you and you don't need to search for them.

I have started a Dolphins career, let's see if i can do anything.

Btw, how the heck do you cut a player from your roster? do you need to wait for the cut day message to appear? can't you cut them anytime?

Dola, found it.

Can't get John Beck off the team fast enough can you;)

Thanks for the sliders, I'll definitely have to try those out, because as it stands I get about 10 clipping penalties a game. Not very fun.

Two other quick questions for you, or for anybody who knows what I'm doing wrong, I tried letting my defensive coordinator call the plays, but right now I still have to go to "ask coach," and then select a play from the one(s) suggested. Is that how you let the defensive coordinator "call the play"? In my team philosophy, I have it set to let the defensive coordinator call the plays, but as I said earlier, I still have to manually ask the coach, and then select a play.

The second question is substitutions, I might be missing something there as well because the only time I see a sub is if it shows up on the clipboard, is there somewhere else I can go to keep the players a little more fresh? By the time the "Sub (Player)" thing shows up on the clipboard, usually the player has little to no stamina left. Is there a way to keep fresh guys in faster?

Loving this game so far, there's definitely some bugs (like missing two chipshot field goals from inside the 20), but I can look past it.

I've always just pushed B and dismissed the play calling option on the clipboard and whichever coordinator will call the play automatically.

As far as the substitutions, you can flip thru the clipboard and there are some other options to sub I think.

seriously - mega "fuck you" to EA for not releasing this for PC. This fucking game was MADE for PC. Think of all the delicious mods they could do with it.

My situation exactly.

This is pretty much the game I've been praying for for the past two decades.

What a colossal cocktease.

Rumor is that you'll be able to get a Xbox 360 Arcade next month pretty cheap. Would probably be worth it. Plus you'd have access to a whole ton of games that will never come out on Wii.

I created several plays and uploaded them. It was the only way I knew how to get them into my career.

My username is Atenkanre for those who want to see them. Just 6 Play Action bootleg plays so far.

$199

Are you guys watching each game? at 15 minutes per Q, 1 hour per game, i won't finish a season in months, so i'm tempted to just supersim and play more as GM.

Isn't it 15m with accelerated clocks though? I guess it would take like an hour or more to play each game after you call the plays.

Takes me just over an hour. I also freeze the plays for a few seconds to check out the formations and coverage, this is really the first time that I get out of GM mode and into coaching so a lot of these things are still new to me.

I love the feel of the game, but I also find that substitutions are difficult with the limited time between plays.

I think it takes me about an hour to play a game. Haven't timed it, but accelerated clock + clock stoppages I would think roughly evens out.

I agree with his first point. Players zig zag WAY too much when they are running with the ball. They make far too many 90 degree and 120 degree cuts, at full speed, several at a time. I have no problem with a running back trying to force a run outside when there's a hole inside. It happens. In HC, it does happen a bit too much, but I've seen running back, typically the young, speed backs, try to cut something to the outside when the inside was open.

As for his other points, I haven't gotten out of preseason yet (and I'll be waiting for a patch until I start a real career), so I can't comment on a few of them. I found the Draft and the scouting leading up to the draft fine. Not perfect, but good enough. I guess his just sucks at scouting if he couldn't find enough info about his targets.

And as for coaching points, I guess he wants to be able to max out his coach by year 3 or 4. I played 2 preseason games, but I was up to about 3300 skill points (500 leftover from creation). After the 3rd preseason game, I had 4000 something. I can't remember, but it was enough to upgrade something already. Seems like a good rate to me so far.

He and the guy after him are both posting for the 1st time ever? No thanks.

So, I'm kind of getting the feeling I'm going to experience what I go through with every EA release.

Stage 1 - Get the game, play it, it seems awesome..Wow, everything is new an pretty. A lot of new stuff to try. I could spend 24 hours straight playing this.

Stage 2 - OK, there's a bug, that's a little annoying. Oh, well, I'll just try and ignore it. Seems like a few other bugs are popping up as well with others who are playing.

Stage 3 - These damn bugs are frustrating beyond belief. How could they not have caught these before release?! If only it didn't have this stupid (insert word here from previous EA games: interceptions, missed tackles, penalties not being applied correctly, injuries not healing correctly, quirky graphics, etc.) bug it would be playable. But it makes it completely unplayable/non-realistic and ruins the game. What a waste of time.

Now, I hope I'm wrong, but after reading through the last 4 or so pages of posts, I'm seeing this progression again. It will be interesting to see if the general feelings/enthusiasm of posts change over the next couple of weeks.

That pattern is why I'm holding off on offering Astrofan 60 for his CE addition of Madden. I almost would pay 60 for head coach alone right now, but I'm just going to wait and see what other problems arise before the mass release.

I'm actually glad the solo version of Head Coach isn't available yet, as it is allowing me to see how the game holds up for the early adopters before making my decision. I know for a fact that I would have given in and bought it a few days ago if it had been an option.