Madden NFL 15 Gauntlet Mode Teaches You How to Play Football, Get Better at Madden

[bucky60]

Quote: Originally Posted by JaymeeAwesome

I wouldn't call that broken...just poor designing. You can still play every game years in from end to end. You still have the ability to go through the offseason. It's just that your team ends up better than the rest every time. Not broken. You can use any other term to describe it, but broken it is not.

Off course broken is accurate. It makes a franchise mode almost senseless if your team ends up so much better than the rest. But, I guess, if you want to quibble about semantics, go ahead.

[jdareal21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I think some will read this post and misunderstand what you're saying but I think I get you. It's one thing to teach gamers the control scheme for how to play the football video game but something else entirely to teach gamers football itself. The latter should be something they're compelled to do on their own, complimented by what they're able to figure out while playing, depending on how deep the game is able to go into real football nuances. For example if playaction passes in Madden actually worked by setting them up through running the ball, getting the defense to bite and QBs having differing styles of "selling it" through handoff/ball technique, there would be no need to teach all that to gamers. They would only need the basic control scheme understanding of how to pass the ball, everything else would be built into the program and they could look more into the deeper strategy of PA passes on their own. It does seems like a huge task and a more difficult learning curve to take on trying to directly tutorial football in a football video game versus just having the game function that way, direct tutorial them on the control schemes and have them inherently learn about real football more along the way. It's the same thing with watching football on tv, you don't have to know a lot about it to enjoy it, just a few tidbits and then you pick up more stuff along the way.

Exactly. Obviously learning the controls of the game is necessary, and for certain games (like NBA 2K) that change significant controls annually, re-learning the buttons is something we all have to do. But from this description, it seems like they're trying to teach casual fans Football. And of course, like I said before, that's utterly ridiculous to me.

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

The reason is that it is a 100% business decision. How are you going to get people who are not die hard football fans to buy your product? The first thing you do is acquire an exclusive license (sorry, had to throw that in there ). Secondly, you make the game simple enough that the average fraternity brother can pick up the game and throw bombs for TDs and yell and scream on his couch while pounding beers with his buddies. What you have to realize is that much of how the game is marketed is designed to make it compete with games like Call of Duty. They want EVERYONE buying their game, especially the people who are not hardcore NFL junkies. I understand this thinking from a business standpoint and it's hard to argue with it from that perspective, but there are ways to build the game so that you can cater to both kinds of customer. Tiburon, for some reason, cannot or will not implement different levels of game modes that change how the game plays. You can simultaneously make the experience as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. This is one of the reasons why we are constantly comparing games like the Show and NBA 2k to Madden. It allows the user to do this, while Madden has one setting.

Actually I do get (and to a certain extent) agree with the approach from a strictly business perspective too. But here's why I can't get with that angle completely.

Simply put, there's enough football fanatics that play video games to offset casual fans to begin with. Especially considering there's only one option now, I can't fathom any situation where Madden has to cater to a wider audience for financial reasons. The name and legacy is established, I played the first Madden available on Sega Genesis and continue to TRY to support the brand. But if they keep pandering to people who aren't their target audience anyway, at some point, they're gonna start losing the hardcore gamers that have been supporting since Day 1. It's already starting to happen, and I personally no longer have the time nor the money to waste on games. I would hope EA doesn't lose sight of that in pursuit of gamers who aren't as invested. It's that same mentality that sinks musicians and movie makers who go chasing demographics that alienate their core...

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by jdareal21

Exactly. Obviously learning the controls of the game is necessary, and for certain games (like NBA 2K) that change significant controls annually, re-learning the buttons is something we all have to do. But from this description, it seems like they're trying to teach casual fans Football. And of course, like I said before, that's utterly ridiculous to me. Actually I do get (and to a certain extent) agree with the approach from a strictly business perspective too. But here's why I can't get with that angle completely. Simply put, there's enough football fanatics that play video games to offset casual fans to begin with. Especially considering there's only one option now, I can't fathom any situation where Madden has to cater to a wider audience for financial reasons. The name and legacy is established, I played the first Madden available on Sega Genesis and continue to TRY to support the brand. But if they keep pandering to people who aren't their target audience anyway, at some point, they're gonna start losing the hardcore gamers that have been supporting since Day 1. It's already starting to happen, and I personally no longer have the time nor the money to waste on games. I would hope EA doesn't lose sight of that in pursuit of gamers who aren't as invested. It's that same mentality that sinks musicians and movie makers who go chasing demographics that alienate their core...

This is what happens when you get greedy. Madden is no longer a football game. It's simply a video game based on football designed to be just as appealing to a customer as Call of Duty. You don't need to be a solider or someone who studies the art of war to be interested in Call of Duty. You just have to like action video games. They want the same for Madden. This is how you kill the sports genre. It used to be that a "Football" game was designed for someone who liked football. Now it needs to be designed for EVERYONE. If you step back and think about it, it's actually amazing we've gotten to this point. back when sports games were great and we had choices, you went and got a game because you were interested in that sport. What I find funny though, is how there seems to be this thought that making a game less realistic, makes it more fun, which in turn attracts more customers. I don't agree. I stopped religiously following baseball over 5 years ago. Same with the NBA. However, those games are now so good and much more realistic, that I am thinking of giving up on madden and buying those instead. Not to mention, I have about 10 friends my age (in the 35-45 range) who were religious maddenites. They LOVED Madden. Never once even played 2k football despite me trying to get them to try it. However, they stopped buying madden altogether. They do not go on forums, they do not watch youtube videos, they do not study the game. They simply felt that madden got to be a joke of a game, and was "ruined" as one of my buddies put it. They would be considered "casual" I guess, but they still wanted a realistic game. 10 year old kids play MLB the Show and NBA 2k and don't have a hard time getting into it. They are immediately attracted to it because it looks and sounds exactly like they see on TV. They do not feel that same way about madden. I think people tend to underestimate the intelligence of today's gaming community and even younger kids who venture into these games. The fact of the matter is, making a game realistic is a HUGE contributor to making it fun. There is no need to have one at the expense of the other. When a game is uber-realistic, it turns heads. That's how many people got interested in other games in the sports genre.

[strawberryshortcake]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

.... What I find funny though, is how there seems to be this thought that making a game less realistic, makes it more fun, which in turn attracts more customers. I don't agree. I stopped religiously following baseball over 5 years ago. Same with the NBA. However, those games are now so good and much more realistic, that I am thinking of giving up on madden and buying those instead. Not to mention, I have about 10 friends my age (in the 35-45 range) who were religious maddenites. They LOVED Madden. Never once even played 2k football despite me trying to get them to try it. However, they stopped buying madden altogether. They do not go on forums, they do not watch youtube videos, they do not study the game. They simply felt that madden got to be a joke of a game, and was "ruined" as one of my buddies put it. They would be considered "casual" I guess, but they still wanted a realistic game. 10 year old kids play MLB the Show and NBA 2k and don't have a hard time getting into it. They are immediately attracted to it because it looks and sounds exactly like they see on TV. They do not feel that same way about madden. I think people tend to underestimate the intelligence of today's gaming community and even younger kids who venture into these games. The fact of the matter is, making a game realistic is a HUGE contributor to making it fun. There is no need to have one at the expense of the other. When a game is uber-realistic, it turns heads. That's how many people got interested in other games in the sports genre.

I can personally attest to everything you've stated here based on my own experience. You might even label me a casual gamer.

Brief background. Played atari, NES, and graduated to SNES. Completely stopped for whatever reason. Fast forward to generation PS3/XBOX360, still in video games hands off mode. I'll watch my friend get immersed in first person shooters. "I'm good, you have at it, I'll just watch you play."

MLB2k baseball. Being someone that loves watching sports, I said sure let me give it a test run. Looks like fun. Change of pace.

Fired up MLB the Show 09. That did it. It was all over. My days of video gaming came back in that instance. I played hours on end til early in the morning. The realism, realistic graphics, player movement, player behavior, their smarts, atmosphere, the challenge. Everything on TV represented in a video game. "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me. WOW!" It was incredibly addictive. The realism was absolutely mind blowing.

Went home that morning and the adrenaline high had me searching for other sports games that offered the same exact sense of realism. Stumbled onto NBA2k, and it was all over. Gran Turism footage, Professional Baseball Spirits ... "Get. The. Heck. Out. Of. Here. Ridiculous." Hooked.

The realism found in these games marketed themselves. I did not need a marketing department to tell me these games were great. I saw the realism with my own two eyes. As a casual gamer, I can no longer play arcade sports titles. They simply aren't fun anymore. Realistic games are NOW fun.

Classify me as a casual gamer. I don't get to play much, except maybe during the weekends. I want realism in my sports title. Realism is fun and addictive. Had it not been for these realistic sports titles, I would never have gotten back into video games.

[savage_son]

Worthless feature.


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[jdareal21]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

10 year old kids play MLB the Show and NBA 2k and don't have a hard time getting into it.

And this right here hits the nail on the head. I believe the intelligence of gamers is being insulted on a yearly basis nowadays. When I was a child, I wanted things as realistic and true to life as possible. I don't think that's changed in anyway, but if they're not going to challenge kids and casual gamers, then we'll never know...