Madden Monday: 2008 Season Simulation (IGN)

[akademiks]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

I'm going to laugh at you guys when half of this stuff comes close to happening. You guys are assuming just because the Giants won the Superbowl, they'll be good again. Have any of you payed any attention to the NFL lately? With the exception of the Colts and Patriots, no team is a safe bet anymore. Period. I think this is the BEST example of the sim engine we've seen so far. The first time we've seen big numbers out of Manning and Brady, proving 40+ TD seasons ARE possible (every previous season I've seen simulated, the league was lead at something like 28 touchdowns). Certain teams having rough years does not tell me the sim engine sucks. Precisely the opposite... it means teams can go out and lay a stinker no matter how stacked they are. Just like real life.

Have you ever not defended every single issue about this game?

[ohyeahbaby123]

Quote: Originally Posted by akademiks

Have you ever not defended every single issue about this game?

Haha are you kidding? In most of his posts he is constructively criticizing Madden.

The Sim Engine seems fine to me.

[Kevin26385]

Quote: Originally Posted by WDOgF0reL1fe

Then what would you call him? A star returner? Im sure everyone wants to be labeled as that... Or a star defensive back? Oh wait... hes not very good at that

You obviously dont watch Bears football..He is not a star WR, and he is a star returner.

[Kevin26385]

Quote: Originally Posted by Alliball

And Trent Dilfer was under center when the Ravens won a Super Bowl. Your point is? Oh wait...Grossman > Fouts Dilfer = Steve Young

My point is that the Bears dont need a good quarterback to get to the playoffs and beyond..they have proved that.

[hoodlum10]

1-15, come on da bears are bad but not that bad. the ratings for their defense in the game are very solid and the offense has potential. they probably wont make the playoffs but if the defense stays healthy, they will have a chance to win every game because of their d

[tyronebiggums35]

i say the bears will win a max of 7 games. 1-15 is a little harsh.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kev5890

Yeah cause the offense and special teams are incapable of scoring...

Exactly.

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by akademiks

Have you ever not defended every single issue about this game?

Have you ever read my posts?

I'm what I like to call "fair"

Interesting concept, eh? Care to refute anything I said in that post? Care to make an honest argument saying that what I said was wrong? S'pose not, better to call me a suck up than honestly debate me.

Want criticism? The simulation engine the past 4 years has been ****. It's been broken beyond belief on every system it exists on and it came to the point where I have no purchased Madden NextGen as yet. I had Madden 07 on the PC due to THIRD PARTY utilities that fixed some issues. I don't think it should be necessary for third parties to come in and fix fundamental aspects of Franchise mode such as the sim engine.

When the first looks at the sim engine came out (Russel05's franchise review), I was happy with the progress but wrote up a detailed post talking about the issues that still existed with it.

Quote: Originally Posted by me

Completion percentages are too high, completions are too short. The sim engine is throwing an inordinate amount of quick passes, leading to low receiving averages and high completion percentages. This probably also accounts for the lack of big TD numbers for QBs. Runningbacks look awesome. A bit too few carries, but not by much. If Ian or Phil are interested, I can give you exact issues with what I'm seeing if you wanna make some last minute adjustments, but this is tolerable. Looks like the 04 engine, actually. The sim engine's playcalling is a tad too conservative, but otherwise it looks okay. I'm the kind of perfectionist that once the game comes out I'm going to do extensive testing and see if I can find a way to adjust those passing and receiving numbers to the right spot anyways. If I can't, I don't mind, these are definitely tolerable.

Quote: Originally Posted by me

Okay, looking closer at the results and comparing to a 3 year NFL average... It is VERY difficult to make that comparison, btw, as the NFL stats tend to change drastically from year to year, and I'm only looking at the top 12. Furthermore, this is only ONE season of Madden. However, there are some real clear issues that don't require a larger sample size to figure... notably, WR yards per catch. It's very low... below what you'd expect from some tight ends in fact, even for speed receivers. Yards per attempt for QBs is off by about a half yard. Doesn't seem like much, I know, but that's 250 yards a season. It makes a difference. Consider that TEs and HBs may be getting the sort of averages per reception they should be... which we can't really tell from this... and we know that WRs are getting shafted, this is where that half yard is hitting hard. Last year the top 12 NFL quarterbacks averaged 12.02 yards per completion... these top 12 are averaging 10.15. 2 yards per completion means 2 yards per reception... the difference between T.Holt's Tight End like 13.3 YPR and a slightly better looking 15.3 YPR. This is assuming the missing yards are coming off every position equally... which I suspect, it's not. If this is anything like the currentgen sim engine (which, between the MM Manifesto and Gommo's stat fix, I've tested EXTENSIVELY) then HB and FB yards per reception are right where they should be, with TEs only slightly lower than normal... so that's even more yardage that the WRs should be picking up. So... a half yard increase in QBs YPA and about a 6% drop in completion percentage, and the stat engine would be perfect on the offensive side of the ball. I don't think that's too bad at all.

This is constructive, this is with a point. Am I bias because I chose not to use the words "Suck", "Lazy", and "Bull****"?

Fact is, this is a video game. For all it means to everyone here, it's still just a game. I don't get heated over a game, no matter how much I love it and how much I want it to be perfect.

Going into this season, I was getting an itch, but I felt like there was little hope. I went on EA Sports and posted the following, just looking for a bit of hope.

Quote: Originally Posted by ajdembroski

I did not buy Madden 08. I am an avid franchise player, but the franchise is virtually unplayable due to the unrealistic computer generated statistics. I have been playing '07 on PC using 3rd party add ons that correct that issue. There are many flaws I'm willing to overlook. I can see past poor draft AI, I can live with too easy a free-agency model, but when there are 4 or 5 CPU runningbacks running for 2,000+ yards a season every year, it really gets on my nerves. So I want to know: Has this issue been addressed, or are we in for another year of the same broken stat generating for simmed games in franchise mode? Quite honestly, this is the deal breaker for me. If I see stats in franchise mode in-line with real life numbers, I will buy the game. If not, I'll stick with '07 for another year. I finally got a 360, so the investment is there... please tell me you've addressed this years old problem.

Phil Frazier responded with this---

Quote: Originally Posted by phillycheze

While I'd love to respond to this post directly, I unfortunately must wait. Between now and August we'll respond to this question directly. I'll just leave it at that for now. The fake EA form letter was fun. Warm regards. Phil

Note this this is when Phil and Ian were just starting to hit the EA board, and hadn't touched MM or OS yet.

To me, this post is a watershed moment in EA Sports history. It's a direct response to a concern voiced by a fan. I had little hope of a response going in, but I got one, even if it was just "we'll tell ya later."

After a recent leadership change and having that new leader completely change the RP methods of EA, I am willing to give allowances.

And ultimately, the sim engine looks pretty darn good with the addition of seeing two QBs go over 4k yards and 30 TDs... including one over 40 WITHOUT Moss. It means the game IS capable of producing those big seasons. Having the Giants end up 8-8... well, if you've got an issue with that, you've got an issue with player ratings, not the sim engine.