Madden NFL 11 Video: Developer Series - All About Gameplay

[N@X_WiZaRD]

Quote: Originally Posted by myownsun

Thats old footage the entire developer series seems like it was recorded months ago.

Trust me, the overall look isn't going to be any different than what you just saw. We go through these optimistic-laden claims of EA apparently using old footage of their game every year, and we always get extremely similar final gameplay in the end. EA is tremendously consistent with what they show throughout their development cycle. In fact, if it's one thing that EA does well is that they are amazingly proficient at reaching their goals early in the development process (as opposed to waiting to the last second).

And it seems like even in these allegedly early video releases, they achieved their preferred goals in implementing locomotion and improving blocking. Like someone said earlier, it's still very awkward looking, but that's part and parcel of EA's Madden this football cycle. We're not going to get better transitions until Madden 12 at the earliest (if not Next-Gen altogether, which is more likely).

Unfortunately, the continued awkward transitions between animations are enough to prevent me from getting Madden 11 this year (especially now that it's becoming less and less likely that they're including a tv package presentation). But it's somewhat assuring that they've finally included effective blocking in their game this year. That should make running more rewarding.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

I agree with this guy. Not to say that the final product will be leaps and bounds more smooth, but that definitely resembled old footage. Not to mention that it's obvious these dev series were recorded in one sitting (unless they are injecting recent gameplay footage into the already-recorded films).

Yeah, your right.

Ian mentioned on Twitter awhile back the series took 6 hours to shoot in one setting. I've seen the Reggie Bush move since March.

[CatMan72]

I was happy to catch a glimpse of the Panthers in Madden 11, looks like they finally fixed the shoulder stripes so that they get thinner and don't extend under the arm when a player goes sleeveless!

I realize this is a small matter to most of you, but for a die hard Panthers fan this is a great day.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrikan

Granted these running animations are not good as well in the Older Maddens....they run WAY upright...but the various tackle, break tackle, catch, etc animations blend in well with each other. here are transition animations for Madden 07.. Madden 08 Madden 08

I know what you are trying to say and I agree with you. Not sure why the animations look so much weirder than they used to. Not that 07 and 08 were great either, but no where near as odd looking as Madden looks now.

The animations have improved some to be fair, and I would agree that those are probably early vidz so here's hoping that this isn't indicative of the final product.

One thing though. Can they please get rid of that animation where you juke a defender and the defender falls down. Ray Rice does it around the mid point of the vid (I think it was Rice anyway). It happens way too often. It feels canned and predetermined like the game decided to let you make a big play ahead of time. And it looks ridiculous. Not even Barry Sanders made people fall down all the time. I could trigger this animation at will on 10 with Brandon Jacobs for goodness sake.

Forget motion capturing amateurs in a studio doing prescripted actions. Can't they use footage from actual games as animations in the game? If Walt Disney and Don Bluth could trace cartoon images over cells of live action motion to make their animations more realistic in their cartoons all those many years ago, I find it hard to believe that something similar can't be done where polygons are superimposed over NFL footage.

[Jkgrindz]

I wish they would show more gameplay instead of showing these lame dudes. They talk a good game but lets see it in real time action. Actions speak louder than words right? I've been burned too many times by EA so their words don't mean anything to me.

[TheWatcher]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tweeg

Yeah but Gameplay doesn't matter if Franchise isn't good. The two go hand in hand.

Only those who are really deeply into franchise modes take that view.

[Bgamer90]

Quote: Originally Posted by N@X_WiZaRD

Trust me, the overall look isn't going to be any different than what you just saw. We go through these optimistic-laden claims of EA apparently using old footage of their game every year, and we always get extremely similar final gameplay in the end. EA is tremendously consistent with what they show throughout their development cycle. In fact, if it's one thing that EA does well, they are amazingly proficient at reaching their goals early in the development process (as opposed to waiting to the last second). And it seems like even in these allegedly early video releases, they achieved their preferred goals in implementing locomotion and improving blocking. Like someone said earlier, it's still very awkward looking, but that's part and parcel of EA's Madden this year. We're not going to get better transitions until Madden 12 at the earliest (if not Next-Gen altogether, which is more likely). Unfortunately, the continued awkward transitions between animations are enough to prevent me from getting Madden 11 this year (especially now that it's becoming less and less likely that they're including a tv package presentation). But it's somewhat assuring that they've finally included effective blocking in their game this year. That should make running more rewarding.

Well all you have to base that on is the past, and while there weren't MAJOR changes compared to the early videos in the past, there were some improvements from early videos to the final game.

This documentary series was made in March and now it's June. While I understand you thinking that things overall will be exactly the same, you really can't say that 100%. For all we know they could have been working on the way animations transition these past months.

Hate saying this since it has been said many times before but we are just going to have to wait until E3 (at least that's what I'm going to do since the build will obviously be the closest to how the final game will be).

[TreyIM2]

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrikan

Granted these running animations are not good as well in the Older Maddens....they run WAY upright...but the various tackle, break tackle, catch, etc animations blend in well with each other. here are transition animations for Madden 07.. Madden 08 Madden 08

U have a point with these vids. Wow. Didn't realize how much smoother they ran back in those days. Heck, I had Madden 08 for my PS3 well before I even had a PS3 but just that quickly, though, Madden 08 for my PS3 got traded back in for the PS2 version, which I had got for my PS2 on release day. Lol. I just couldn't stomach Madden 08 for the PS3.


Also, I was expecting more in terms of newness that was never touched on from this video. I was not enthused by it. I think NCAA 11 is going to get much of my attention, this year...but I am a NFL head more than college ball head. We'll see.