Madden NFL 09 Videos: IGN

[BrianFifaFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

lol yes, I hadn't seen that person's responses until today. Either way, I still think people have a right to be upset that this is year 4 next gen and we're already looking to year 5 to hopefully/possibly have Madden on the right track. I'm only saying that while I understand some are willing to give them as much time as they need to get the game straight, there are going to be others that aren't willing to continue being so patient. And imo that feeling is justified, since EA is the only developer that can make NFL games. I'm not endorsing people berating EA devs in any way, just saying that I think understanding should also be shown to those that are frustrated for having waited so long for a good NFL game - and are now being asked to wait longer.

I'll agree with you about the frustration part. And the right to be heard. But all some the guys are doing is rehashing complaints that are sprinkled throughout other posts and already been addressed. Or in the 09 gameplay questions only thread venting and ranting just because they know Ian is in that thread at the time. They just want to use the opportunity to gripe. Or tell Ian how stupid Tiburon is in their design decisions. And what's worse is that they know they are asking rhetorical questions that they won't get an acceptable answer on. So isn't that just trolling after a fashion?

All they can really do now is either not buy it and offer some feedback info, which would be helpful. Wait until a year from now to get the lay of the land and make a decision then. Or lastly continue on the ludicris course of trying to right the injustice of the "evil EA monopoly" by complaining until the NFL "sees the light." Ha. Holding my breath on that one.....

[Rawdeal28]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

I haven't read all the comments so if people were saying all that directly to him then that is ridiculous (and extremely rude). I only responded to someone making a seemingly valid observation about Madden '09 and heard "Ian already said [this] isn't going to change this year. So we're past that". That's the mentality I don't get I guess - the game hasn't even released and it seemed like I was hearing some things aren't to be complained about since Ian admitted it's not going to change this year. If Ian and the people he can round up truly desire to make the game better, imo that would be their incentive to visit and to interact with people here or on other sites. well things like the o line/d line play will not be fixed this year. Ian has said that. but he has said that will be one of the top priorities next year. so what where saying is criticizing the line play for 09 is not helping anything. thats just bashing for the hell of it. but explaining to him how you think line play should be will be more helpful. Not necessarily a good analogy, because I'd think a person that's overweight usually recognizes they're overweight - just a matter if they choose to do something about it or not. If being called names makes the overweight person say "that's the reason I'm staying fat" - well, that's a problem with the individual. Personally I agree that calling someone hippo or fatty doesn't help the situation and is completely impolite/rude/insensitive. But depending on the person's personality, being called those names can motivate the person to go out and lose the weight. To seek out the help they need to lose the weight. Or it could cause them to go into a shell. Either way, I'm not trying to sidetrack things. I hadn't posted much because the board's been very active and I've just been reading. I only posted because I was getting the feeling that it seems like legit criticism of Madden '09 is off limits because we have an EA dev here interacting w/the board.

calling a fat person names will not motivate them to lose weight just like bashing madden wont help it become a better game. that will, in most cases, make the fat person eat more (due to using food as comfort. eat when your happy, sad, mad etc) and bashing madden will not make developers come here and chat with us. like country boy said, constuctive criticism will help a whole lot.

PS: yes not the best analogy but u get my drift. lol

[Ian_Cummings]

What an excellent debate. Thought I'd stop my EURO 2008 marathon session and chime in real quick with some points. Then I REALLY need to get off of here.

1. I appreciate VERY MUCH the folks that are "policing" so to speak and trying to keep things constructive. As you mentioned, when posts like the one from Yves? show up it is not easy for me to be civil and professional (and want to return) - I'm only human. Posts like his will also be the barrier for quite a while for ALL designers, artists, engineers, art directors, etc to join the forums...Phil and I have been at Tiburon and making Madden for a long time, and we know what to expect. A 2nd year guy probably can't handle that type of stuff professionally yet, so we need to keep them away from it.

2. I really wish we had more of a voice in the other feature areas. I know it's frustrating to have this out-pouring of information in gameplay and just have zilch elsewhere. Phil is working hard on that. I'll say it again, obviously I can't answer non-gameplay questions, but it doesn't hurt to post them somewhere anyway so it doesn't get lost (hopefully).

3. I think you all are right on that 09 shouldn't get a pass. If you've got old grudges harbored from 06, 07, and 08, or you're frustrated that we're still behind 2k in some areas, then let it fly. I think it's becoming obvious that Phil and I are trying to make some rather drastic changes around here - and we WANT you to be brutally honest about issues you see, because that ends up giving us all the more firepower to make Madden what we ultimately want it to be. Madden as a franchise has definitely had it's shares of ups and downs, and we want to bring it back to the golden era. For you and for us. So again...don't pull any punches. But again, the more constructive, the easier it is for me to sleep at night. Not like I do anyway.

4. I kind of agree though with a couple of the guys that you should know that OL/DL and WR/DB are major weak spots, and re-hashing complaints and known issues from other threads really doesn't do much. But that being said, again (back to point 3), let us have it...I don't care. The last thing I want to do is turn this into a censored hunky-dory love fest where we all talk about how awesome I am. We are big boys, we can take it. Based on all the feedback so far, we're feverishly trying to get last second changes in, but as you guys should know by now I will be honest and say so - those aren't good areas for Madden. Should you forgive me for it just because I'm posting? No. But should they be game-killers for you? I really hope not...again going back to one of my very first posts, my top 5 at the beginning of the year was this (and we could really only do 3 because of the tech investment):
1. Player control
2. Catching
3. Tackling
4. OL/DL play
5. Expanded Gang Tackling

We addressed the top 3 in many ways I never thought possible in a sports game...so hopefully those can outweigh the current weak spots and still let you see that Madden is FINALLY an EXTREMELY fun game with unprecedented control and really great catching & tackling. But if something IS a game-killer and the reason you a.) don't buy it, or b.) take it back, again, I want to hear that.

I just hope everyone will start to see that we ARE moving in the right direction, and the best part is that ALL OF YOU can guide that direction there moving forward. I mean we've made upwards of 25-30 changes just in the 2 weeks I've been on here...from the minor (sock color) to the major (getting gang tackling working right). That to me is getting pretty amazing. Imagine what will happen when we've got a whole year together, especially when we're getting feedback when ideas are still in the design phase. 09 is a great game...no doubt. But there is also some amazing stuff up ahead.

- Ian
(Awesome Guy)

PS - as per the other Q & A thread, I'm desperately trying to get the DL pancake issue fixed.

[BrianFifaFan]

Thanks so much Ian. I'll just speak for myself, it's really great what you and Phil are trying to do. And it makes me very happy to hear you're having a marathon UEFA session, seeing as I too am a soccer nut! I was wondering if maybe we should start a "criticisms/concerns" thread to keep that type of feedback organized and let guys have their fair voice. What think ye? We do normally have a "bugs/glitches" and "impressions" thread post-release....

[grunt]

I always wanted the makers of 2k football to come on these boards and I never imagine a developer from Madden would come here. I am just happy we can have a real dialogue and let hope we can make a better football game.

Peace

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

What an excellent debate. Thought I'd stop my EURO 2008 marathon session and chime in real quick with some points. Then I REALLY need to get off of here. 1. I appreciate VERY MUCH the folks that are "policing" so to speak and trying to keep things constructive. As you mentioned, when posts like the one from Yves? show up it is not easy for me to be civil and professional (and want to return) - I'm only human. Posts like his will also be the barrier for quite a while for ALL designers, artists, engineers, art directors, etc to join the forums...Phil and I have been at Tiburon and making Madden for a long time, and we know what to expect. A 2nd year guy probably can't handle that type of stuff professionally yet, so we need to keep them away from it. 2. I really wish we had more of a voice in the other feature areas. I know it's frustrating to have this out-pouring of information in gameplay and just have zilch elsewhere. Phil is working hard on that. I'll say it again, obviously I can't answer non-gameplay questions, but it doesn't hurt to post them somewhere anyway so it doesn't get lost (hopefully). 3. I think you all are right on that 09 shouldn't get a pass. If you've got old grudges harbored from 06, 07, and 08, or you're frustrated that we're still behind 2k in some areas, then let it fly. I think it's becoming obvious that Phil and I are trying to make some rather drastic changes around here - and we WANT you to be brutally honest about issues you see, because that ends up giving us all the more firepower to make Madden what we ultimately want it to be. Madden as a franchise has definitely had it's shares of ups and downs, and we want to bring it back to the golden era. For you and for us. So again...don't pull any punches. But again, the more constructive, the easier it is for me to sleep at night. Not like I do anyway. 4. I kind of agree though with a couple of the guys that you should know that OL/DL and WR/DB are major weak spots, and re-hashing complaints and known issues from other threads really doesn't do much. But that being said, again (back to point 3), let us have it...I don't care. The last thing I want to do is turn this into a censored hunky-dory love fest where we all talk about how awesome I am. We are big boys, we can take it. Based on all the feedback so far, we're feverishly trying to get last second changes in, but as you guys should know by now I will be honest and say so - those aren't good areas for Madden. Should you forgive me for it just because I'm posting? No. But should they be game-killers for you? I really hope not...again going back to one of my very first posts, my top 5 at the beginning of the year was this (and we could really only do 3 because of the tech investment): 1. Player control 2. Catching 3. Tackling 4. OL/DL play 5. Expanded Gang Tackling We addressed the top 3 in many ways I never thought possible in a sports game...so hopefully those can outweigh the current weak spots and still let you see that Madden is FINALLY an EXTREMELY fun game with unprecedented control and really great catching & tackling. But if something IS a game-killer and the reason you a.) don't buy it, or b.) take it back, again, I want to hear that. I just hope everyone will start to see that we ARE moving in the right direction, and the best part is that ALL OF YOU can guide that direction there moving forward. I mean we've made upwards of 25-30 changes just in the 2 weeks I've been on here...from the minor (sock color) to the major (getting gang tackling working right). That to me is getting pretty amazing. Imagine what will happen when we've got a whole year together, especially when we're getting feedback when ideas are still in the design phase. 09 is a great game...no doubt. But there is also some amazing stuff up ahead. - Ian (Awesome Guy) PS - as per the other Q & A thread, I'm desperately trying to get the DL pancake issue fixed.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

3. I think you all are right on that 09 shouldn't get a pass. If you've got old grudges harbored from 06, 07, and 08, or you're frustrated that we're still behind 2k in some areas, then let it fly.

Your response is appreciated as is your presence here on the board; it's made for enjoyable conversation. I was just trying to give voice to those that have been hearing the "we're on the right track/this time we're really trying to improve Madden/listen to you guys this time - really" stories that litter the board in the months leading up to Madden's release. So expect to see some cynicism. I do believe you're sincere in your desire to bring Madden back to prominence from a quality standpoint, and I can sympathize with your being a second-year man dealing with issues and attitudes that have been around and perculated for a lot longer than that.

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

4. I kind of agree though with a couple of the guys that you should know that OL/DL and WR/DB are major weak spots, and re-hashing complaints and known issues from other threads really doesn't do much. But that being said, again (back to point 3), let us have it...I don't care. The last thing I want to do is turn this into a censored hunky-dory love fest where we all talk about how awesome I am. We are big boys, we can take it.

Good to hear. I'd also throw overall QB play as a major longtime weak spot that for whatever reason is frequently overlooked.

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

I just hope everyone will start to see that we ARE moving in the right direction, and the best part is that ALL OF YOU can guide that direction there moving forward. I mean we've made upwards of 25-30 changes just in the 2 weeks I've been on here...from the minor (sock color) to the major (getting gang tackling working right). That to me is getting pretty amazing. Imagine what will happen when we've got a whole year together, especially when we're getting feedback when ideas are still in the design phase. 09 is a great game...no doubt. But there is also some amazing stuff up ahead. - Ian (Awesome Guy) PS - as per the other Q & A thread, I'm desperately trying to get the DL pancake issue fixed.

And the hard work is much appreciated. And I might say to some degree expected, given where the game is and given the situation. Anytime board members can have direct input into the creative process versus having to voice everything through "community leaders" I'm all for it. If you can resolve the DL flat-backing issue it'll go a ways towards making the OL/DL play more tolerable. Thanks again for candor and responses

[TeeDogg]

Ian, now that you are a memeber here and seem to like the overall vibe. when you get some time you may want to use the search tools and find some of the old wishlist and gameplay threads for both madden and APF. there has been some great dialog and suggestions floating around here for years.