Alright Boyz, here we go! Madden 10 first impressions thread

[thesloppy]

I've been playing as the Lions, using My Skill + Playmaker's sliders from OS, 12 min qtrs with auto-advanced clock, and having pretty decent, and realistic results. I just took about 4,000 bong hits and figured I'd fire up a little 2am Madden. The results:

DET - 122
GB - 0

I play relatively cheese free. 2-3 screen passes a game, and no audibles or hot routes, and I tried to run the ball heavily once I got up by 24 in the first quarter, but admittedly I also never take my starters out, and was trying to convert through the air on long distance yardage rather than continually plugging it up the middle regardless of situation. Some highlights:

• 205 yds rushing, vs. 6
• GB was 1-15 on 3rd down
• DET was 10-10 in the Redzone, including 9 TDs
• Greg Jennings had 1 catch, with :12 left in the game
• Patrick Buchanon averaged 20 yds per punt return, and returned a kick for a TD
• DET scored 3 defensive TDs, 2 INTs, a fumble return
• DET blocked a punt in the endzone and recovered for a TD
• 4 different Lions receivers caught TDs
• Mo Morris(!) rushed for 197yds on 30 carries, with 5 TDs on the ground and 1 in the air
• Matthew Stafford finished 20-22 for 340 with 5 TDs
• As I scored my 16th TD, to make the score 114-0, the crawl at the bottom of the screen read "Please stop scoring, you're going to break the game"

Fun? I hope I never ever have a game like that again.

[Sun Tzu]

The MySkill feature is broken IMO. I would stick to the sliders posted earlier in this thread.

[MrDNA]

Excuse my extreme noobosity, but as this is the first Madden I've played on a next gen console I have no idea how to download the current rosters. Can anyone tell me the (probably completely obvious) way to do this for the PS3?

NVM: Finally got it, although probably not the right way!

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

Excuse my extreme noobosity, but as this is the first Madden I've played on a next gen console I have no idea how to download the current rosters. Can anyone tell me the (probably completely obvious) way to do this for the PS3?

NVM: Finally got it, although probably not the right way!

I don't blame you for not being able to find it. It isn't clearly marked at all. It took me a long time to find it too.

[dervack]

Yeah, I couldn't find it either. I started an online game, which forces you to update the roster and then quit once it downloaded.

[Groundhog]

Well, I broke down yesterday and bought a PS3 (again) and Madden 10. First game was online, the first time I've ever played Madden online, and surprisingly the dude I played was a real sim-gamer. Fun game even though I completely sucked and was beaten 24-0. I still can't throw the ball to save my life.

[RainMaker]

Does anyone know what the sliders fix?

And shouldn't the Madden guys be going on vacation at a different time? Perhaps like October or November?

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by dervack

Yeah, I couldn't find it either. I started an online game, which forces you to update the roster and then quit once it downloaded.

I had to go this route too, except I played through the online game.

Found out just how badly I suck at the game while playing and as it turns out the person that I played was a royal jack#@# who was into running up the score. The only good thing is that I almost came back because of it as I had 3 pick-6's in the final two minutes to narrow the gap to 6 points. With seconds left he was still trying to run it up and I was happy that I stopped him at the one foot line as time expired.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

I had to go this route too, except I played through the online game.

Found out just how badly I suck at the game while playing and as it turns out the person that I played was a royal jack#@# who was into running up the score. The only good thing is that I almost came back because of it as I had 3 pick-6's in the final two minutes to narrow the gap to 6 points. With seconds left he was still trying to run it up and I was happy that I stopped him at the one foot line as time expired.

Sad thing about guys like that is that he would have pulled the plug the minute you took the lead. That's just how online (society) is these days.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Does anyone know what the sliders fix?

And shouldn't the Madden guys be going on vacation at a different time? Perhaps like October or November?

I'm assuming you are asking about the Patch. If so, the release notes have not been announced yet as Ian has said he doesn't want to say what is in it until it has undergone final approval from MS/Sony and is about to be released.

As far as the vacation, I think that is standard in software development to get a vacation sometime shortly after a big release is out. By October or November, they'll be working on the next version.

Speaking of Ian, he mentioned on OS that he has been promoted from Lead Programmer to "Creative Director." Sounds like this is a good sign that we'll continue to see a shift towards more sim style play in the next version.

[RainMaker]

Yeah I meant the patch. Hopefully it fixes a couple of those glaring AI issues.

As for the vacation, I think you're right about it being standard. But lately the Madden game has been released as a glorified beta with patches needed to make some parts of it playable. Since they don't test the games much, they should probably just schedule development shortly after release for the patch.

[samifan24]

I played online against a guy that exclusively ran out of the wildcat formation with the Dolphins. I'm not talking about most of the time, I'm talking about every single snap was out of the wildcat.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm assuming you are asking about the Patch. If so, the release notes have not been announced yet as Ian has said he doesn't want to say what is in it until it has undergone final approval from MS/Sony and is about to be released.

That just tells me most of the glaring issues will remain. Hopefully I'm reading to much into it, just seems like a weak excuse not to release what they plan to fix.

[RainMaker]

Is anyone else just running out of bounds or diving down after an interception? It seems like I can run back almost every interception. Not sure how to stop that from happening, the CPU pursuit angles are just horrible.

[Eaglesfan27]

Ian said on OS today that he's doing a big video FAQ that will answer a bunch of questions from gamers. He also said this about the patch:

- First title update is done, awaiting approvals from 3rd party manufacturers...expected this week. Some good fixes in there - from gameplay to online to online franchise. Full list coming very soon.
- Second title update is in progress. Top issues in development? Blocking, coverage of flat routes, def pursuit, franchise sim stats, replay length, CPU AI, and more.
- Broadcast cam is going to be in the first title update

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Interested to see what's being altered in online franchise since I haven't started mine yet with my friends. Would love to see trade AI or some sort of salary cap, but I won't hold my breath.

[illinifan999]

I have a draft class that includes a Boar Jackson, a RB from Auburn, and an Erick Nickerson, another RB from SMU. Shockingly, they are both rated at the top.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

I have a draft class that includes a Boar Jackson, a RB from Auburn, and an Erick Nickerson, another RB from SMU. Shockingly, they are both rated at the top.

I've heard of several players like that. There is also a Tim Tebow sound-a-like who has a very similar skill set.

[Terps]

Some of those players were in NFL Head Coach, also.

[Eaglesfan27]

Over this past week, I've realized while Bill's sliders are great for some and may be the most realistic as far as some measures go, that I like the gameplay much better on Slow or Very slow. There is a thread on OS that talks about how it is a better gamespeed, and it is what I was using when I first started playing the game and was having a blast.

The slower game speeds seem to give more time for animations to kick in, the blocking is much better, and even the AI seems better in going through QB progressions and such. Perhaps, the slower speed gives more time for the various algorithms to complete more cycles. I saw more scrambles from the QB than I have seen in a half dozen "fast" games combined. I had a game on almost default All-Pro (I only lowered QB accuracy and interception ratings and slightly increased pass rush) last night where I had great stats (except sacks were actually a bit high for both sides) and it was the most fun I've had with the game in the last few weeks.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

• Added Super Bowl and Playoff Field conditions for Online Franchise
• Fixed False Start Grieving issues with Online games
• Fixed video player issue where video would hang on latent connections
• Improved uploaded highlight quality
• Switched ranked online games to 7 min Q's
• Fixed random stability issues
• Added Broadcast Cam!

Gameplay Specific fixes:

• Tuned slider effectiveness (Run blocking and broken tackles esp.)
• Changes run blocking slider to not effect special teams
• Made fatigue effect ratings more
• Fixed WR release to where receivers release to both sides
• Fixed incorrect spotting on punts out of bounds
• Reduced/removed holding on kicking plays
• Improved toe drag catch logic
• Improved pursuit angles for outside running plays
• Fixed defenders in pursuit running away from O-Line
• Better play recognition in man coverage
• Fixed double pass online exploit

[Eaglesfan27]

Double Dola -

There is a new video blog up as well that answers "fans most asked questions.":

http://insideblog.easports.com/archi...fl-10-faq.aspx

[bhlloy]

Fixing the no toe drag , holding penalty on kicks and the WR release vs press coverage will be absolutely huge, if they work properly. Also interested to see if the improved play recognition in man to man means less big runs (DB's spot the run much sooner and don't get too far out of the play that they can't catch a speedy RB) although I definitely don't want to see any more TFL's.

[Galaxy]

Any idea on why my game keeps getting a dirty disc "unreadable" message? The other games work fine.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Any idea on why my game keeps getting a dirty disc "unreadable" message? The other games work fine.

Back when I had a 360 this used to always happen to me with NBA 2Kx games. Very, very annoying.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Back when I had a 360 this used to always happen to me with NBA 2Kx games. Very, very annoying.

Is it the game? System? What should I do? I haven't seen any reported problems of this nature.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Is it the game? System? What should I do? I haven't seen any reported problems of this nature.

I used to have this with CH2K7, it was solved by opening the tray every time you start your XBOX 360.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I used to have this with CH2K7, it was solved by opening the tray every time you start your XBOX 360.

Do you close it?

[Galaxy]

Ok...

It's starts up, loads up, goes through the intros in the game, then I get the message and freezes.

It says "The disc is unreadable", not dirty disc. (Sorry about that). It then gives me some info on what to do.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Over this past week, I've realized while Bill's sliders are great for some and may be the most realistic as far as some measures go, that I like the gameplay much better on Slow or Very slow. There is a thread on OS that talks about how it is a better gamespeed, and it is what I was using when I first started playing the game and was having a blast.

The slower game speeds seem to give more time for animations to kick in, the blocking is much better, and even the AI seems better in going through QB progressions and such. Perhaps, the slower speed gives more time for the various algorithms to complete more cycles. I saw more scrambles from the QB than I have seen in a half dozen "fast" games combined. I had a game on almost default All-Pro (I only lowered QB accuracy and interception ratings and slightly increased pass rush) last night where I had great stats (except sacks were actually a bit high for both sides) and it was the most fun I've had with the game in the last few weeks.

I'm with you, the game is just a lot more fun on the slower speeds. What sliders are you using right now? I'd like to tweak mine before I start my franchise when the regular season rosters get released.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I used to have this with CH2K7, it was solved by opening the tray every time you start your XBOX 360.

Yeah. When I did this (ie. turn on your 360 by opening the tray, close the tray, start the game) it would usually work after that. Sometimes I'd get other strange problems though, like the commentary would suddenly stop working.

I also believe having the 360 horizontally (or was it vertically... sorry, can't recall which - maybe the opposite of how you have it now) helped.

[Jughead Spock]

My XBox was doing that, then the drive went completely kaput. :/ It was replaced (quickly) under warranty, but something to look out for.

[Fidatelo]

The dirty disc reads are a bad sign. My brother's 360 did that for several months before finally crapping out, and it was no longer under warranty (not covered by the red ring of death extension).

On a more helpful note, if you have the hard drive space you could copy the game to your hard drive and play it from there, that should avoid the dirty disc errors (assuming it copies ok).

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I'm with you, the game is just a lot more fun on the slower speeds. What sliders are you using right now? I'd like to tweak mine before I start my franchise when the regular season rosters get released.

I had 2 very good (but very different) games with everything at All-Pro default except for QB accuracy lowered to 22, Interceptions lowered to 20, Pass Rush raised to 60, and Run Shed Block lowered to 40. I also used some adjusted special teams sliders from one of the slider gurus. I don't recall those off the top of my head. I'm going to stick with those for another 5-10 games before I make any further adjustments, if any are necessary.

[MrDNA]

How can you tell what the individual sliders are on say, All Pro default? I only see the four main ones and the game won't let me access the sub-sliders unless I go to custom (which is a whole other ball of wax).

Still can't run for poop on any setting. Grr.

[SegRat]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

Still can't run for poop on any setting. Grr.

One problem I had with running at first was pressing the sprint button before I got back to the line of scrimage. You cant do that, you really need to wait until after you are passed the line of scrimage and a lane to run through. At least for me if I pressed the sprint to early it felt like I was a magnet for defenders. As soon as I learned to wait with the sprint button I started having more success.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by SegRat

One problem I had with running at first was pressing the sprint button before I got back to the line of scrimage. You cant do that, you really need to wait until after you are passed the line of scrimage and a lane to run through. At least for me if I pressed the sprint to early it felt like I was a magnet for defenders. As soon as I learned to wait with the sprint button I started having more success.

I'll have to try that. I tend to get swarmed on when I run. I guess it's the offensive version of not pressing sprint when pass rushing.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

How can you tell what the individual sliders are on say, All Pro default? I only see the four main ones and the game won't let me access the sub-sliders unless I go to custom (which is a whole other ball of wax).

Still can't run for poop on any setting. Grr.

All Pro Default is everything at 10 on the main menu or 50 on the sub menus. Once you change even one slider, it becomes a custom set.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by MrDNA

How can you tell what the individual sliders are on say, All Pro default? I only see the four main ones and the game won't let me access the sub-sliders unless I go to custom (which is a whole other ball of wax).

Still can't run for poop on any setting. Grr.

You have to press the "A" Button if you are on the XBox 360, i guess PS3 it´s "X" then you get into the sub-menu for that part of sliders.

As for the "disc unreadable" thing : Copying it to the hard drive did the trick for me there, works like a charm ever since i did that.
It was the first game doing that, also even my old and uber-scratched NBA 2K8 copy runs totally fine, so that is defininitely a head scratcher ...

As you can guess i went ahead and bought the game. Tons of fun, even though the gameplay has a few issues and Franchise mode is an absolute joke like it is with all EA Sports Games.
Seriously, pre made Draft are actually a good idea but not only will they likely ruin Online Franchises but they are also way to easy to Draft as you get a Potential rating at the start and the CPU teams don´t recognize that. Way to easy to draft high potential guys with good ratings late in the draft. As long as you scout you are going to draft 7 good players every Draft.
Plus if you are doing multiple Franchises you will get the same players (same names, apperance and attributes) that you possibly got in a previous Franchise. Should have at least made the names random.

Then there is no trading by the CPU, none.

As well as the fact that you can´t edit the teams strategy mindset (balance between Pass and Run on both Off and Def f.e. ) or things like that.

[Kodos]

When I start my franchise, I will likely control all of the cpu teams, at least in some aspects.

[whomario]

Have been doing that, it´s surely possible but also a huge pain in the ass at times and i´m not sure if they are really acting on their own when i set their settings to "auto" on everything. Like, do they sign Free Agents other than Roster Fillers after the Free Agent Wire (and do the "real" AI Teams do that in single player Franchise ? If not it´s the same regardless) ?

Any advice from previous years what to do to keep the franchise fun controlling all teams ?

The Draft is a pain, you have to click "sim pick" on every pick for all other 31 teams ...

The great thing about NBA 2K9 was that you could edit everything yet only control your Franchise. Another team had a rookie rated 85 that wouldn´t shoot ? I upped his shooting tendencies. The Suns retired Nash and got a Post Scorer ? I changed their style of play.

Actually i find the idea of premade Draft Classes great because the players blend in well with the actual NFL guys, just there should be some randomness to it for the start-over player which should be quite a few since playing an NFL season goes by much quicker than f.e. an NBA season (where i play like half the games and sim the other half on a 58 game schedule, at most)
Couldn´t be too hard to code it that names and maybe even potential would change. And the Potential rating showing up and being very accurate to the true rating later is a bad thing. I am actually thinking about covering up the screen where the potential rating would show up in the various scouting and drafting menus. I´m going to try that first thing tonight when firing up the game after work and practice, just hope my flatmate doesn´t see what the hell i´m doing
I´m definitely going to save and reload until i get 1 particular Draft class back though that i first had in my first Franchise try where i just simmed 1 season and am now playing in my 2nd as the guys i drafted are having me so attached it´s crazy ... After that it´s house rules in place.

Right now i´m torn between starting after the first Title Update or waiting until the 2nd. But by then NBA 2K10 will be out as well and i won´t start 2 brand new Franchises at the same time, better having one up and going and 1 new.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I've been playing as the Lions, using My Skill + Playmaker's sliders from OS, 12 min qtrs with auto-advanced clock, and having pretty decent, and realistic results. I just took about 4,000 bong hits and figured I'd fire up a little 2am Madden. The results:

DET - 122
GB - 0

After having a good week with Madden, I had this horrible game, and I have yet to have the urge to play again.....in fact, I just traded it in for Rock Band: Beatles, but at least I got a week of fun out of it, which is more than I can say for some of the previous iterations of Madden.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I had 2 very good (but very different) games with everything at All-Pro default except for QB accuracy lowered to 22, Interceptions lowered to 20, Pass Rush raised to 60, and Run Shed Block lowered to 40. I also used some adjusted special teams sliders from one of the slider gurus. I don't recall those off the top of my head. I'm going to stick with those for another 5-10 games before I make any further adjustments, if any are necessary.

Thanks. I'll tinker with some of your adjustments. I'm passing way to well on the slower speed with Bill's sliders. I know I'm usually a pass happy team (Colts, Saints, Eagles), but still...

Thanks again,.

[Big Fo]

The Chargers are such cheesers when the AI uses them, their fullback has seven catches in the first half, mostly to the flats. Lots of screen plays too.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey32

Why do you guys use sliders? It makes no sense to use them. There is no one ultimate sliders to use to make it play realistic NFL averages. That is why everyone sliders are different. Playing only few games is not a good sample to get. You have to play at least 100 games to get a good sample of what your sliders is doing. Even if your trying to get your RB to average 4.2 yards per game like the NFL average is not correct. Not all backs average that last year.

Wha?

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey32

Why do you guys use sliders? It makes no sense to use them. There is no one ultimate sliders to use to make it play realistic NFL averages. That is why everyone sliders are different. Playing only few games is not a good sample to get. You have to play at least 100 games to get a good sample of what your sliders is doing. Even if your trying to get your RB to average 4.2 yards per game like the NFL average is not correct. Not all backs average that last year.

Using sliders I get more realistic numbers and have more fun than I do using the default settings even if they are not perfect.

And I could tell that the AI could not run the ball well enough before I'd played five games, let alone 100.

[Kodos]

JB?

[Grammaticus]

That funky monkey

[whomario]

new roster update is apparently online, changelist : Madden NFL 10 Blog : EA SPORTS

As good news one of the developers is hard at work fixing the simmed stats in Franchise : Offline Franchise Stats Tuning Update - Operation Sports Forums

[Icy]

So what is the overall consensus?

Next week i should receive NHL10 and also ordered Madden10 in the same pack, but after reading a few posts, i'm not sure if to cancel Madden and to replace it with another game, that would be my first year without Madden in a long time.