Madden NFL 11 Blog: E3 Feature Announcement and Career Modes Update

[Blaise]

I read this and I thank EA for be honest. What their saying is this years franchise mode will get nothing more than a patch job, where as next years will be a whole new beast all together. Again, @ least their honest...

[ch46647]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

And now ya'll know why I was so sour when I first got back from E3. This is the entire reason. That said, as I've said before, I think they're doing the right thing, and let me tell you why. (for the record, #1 is educated speculation. This is what I think is going on, it's opinion, but I think the evidence in the theory's favor speaks for itself. #2 is fact, it absolutely is a big reason for the lack of upgrades in this area) #1. Game play has to be the priority. While a high percentage of players play franchise mode, a high percentage of players play online, etc.. every player is effected by gameplay. It is the core of the game. The complete removal of locomotion and run blocking to be totally rewritten and readded was not a small task by any means. Some of you may remember when i said the locomotion was not the only thing inspired by FIFA. I believe the entire approach this year is inspired by how FIFA transformed itself from something that barely resembled soccer into one of the best sim-games in the world- by very deliberately rewriting the entire game, piece by piece, over a couple of seasons. Welcome to Year 1 of this process. #2. Imagine completely rewriting Franchise mode, or even significantly upgrading it, only to have all of your work undone by a lockout and a new labor agreement. It did not make sense to redo franchise mode in light of the likely lockout and the definite changes in the CBA. We know nothing about what direction these negotiations are going to take us, and for them to spend a year even porting Head Coach's career mode over and have it utterly outdated and have to spend yet another year rebuilding it would be utter stupidity. So, that leaves two questions. A.) Is EA doing the right thing, making us wait? B.) Should we (franchise focused people) still buy M11? A.) I think so. Judging by the paths NHL and FIFA took, Madden is doing the right thing to bring the game back to where it should be. My experience with the new blocking assignments tells me they're definitely capable of capturing this sport. At the cost of some features in M11, the future is very bright. B.) That's entirely up to you. I will, because the gameplay upgrades are enough for me to warrant the purchase. It's nice to see so many of you giving them credit for coming out and saying this. I'm thrilled that they finally did as well, but I didn't expect you guys to have as positive a reaction as you have thus far. To those of you who've seen the positives behind this, very big minded of you. To those of you angry... I don't blame you, but trust me, its for the best.

Adembroski,

I agree with much of what you said there. However, Madden is EA's biggest game and if they focused entirely on gameplay I have no problem with that. From what has been talked about it does not seem that much has even been done to the gameplay. Locomotion (if it works properly, very questionable in early vids) and run blocking are FANTASTIC additions. But are you telling me in EA's biggest franchise focusing almost exclusively on gameplay (hopefully presentation as well but all we have heard about is Gus and crowd chants) and all they can fix is run-blocking, locomotion, and a catch-debuggig tool?

What about the passing game, pass blocking, pocket, WR/DB interaction, tackling and pro-tak, and just overall choppy animations? Shouldnt they have been able to fix (re-write) a majority of this if they were primarily focusing on gameplay?

I know you are a FIFA guy and that game is apparently great, and I am a big fan of the NHL series and that gameplay is PHENOMENAL. The NHL series is adding a ton this year including a new real-time physics based engine. Unless I am wrong the NHL dev team is MUCH smaller then the one working on Madden. Why can these smaller teams accomplish so much more then the biggest SPORTS franchise name in videogames?

[FootballDetails]

Quote:

Since we are starting with a clean canvas heading into Madden NFL 12, we want the community to help us shape our direction- starting NOW. Let us know what you’d like to see in Madden career modes in the future.

I'm all for community interaction, but offering suggestions for Madden 12 months before Madden 11 is even released? That doesn't seem right. lol

[Deegeezy]

Thanks for just making my decision firm EA....NCAA it is for me this year.

[ZoneKIller]

I am 29 years old.I grew up with Madden NFL Football.Every year its like Christmas in August.Father used to buy the game and now I buy it.But this year there will be no Christmas in August for me.

Without Franchise improvements I will skip Madden Football for the first time in my life.
That being said I am now going to the NCAA Thread.

Later
and thanks EA for ruining my August Christmas

[splff3000]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheWatcher

Well, like I said before and was of course attacked and called a liar for stating this fact (what's new?)... franchise is not one of their top market targets (money-makers) and hasn't been all generation, if not longer. I was told what their top money-makers are by an EA official, and franchise is not one of them. They're not basing their decisions to make franchise upgrades just on some website polls from sites that would attract hardcore franchise players. It doesn't work that way. They have structured systems and procedures in place to collect data from a number of sources offline and on, and they determine what's going to get the top and/or back-of-the-box heavily marketed feature attention, based on that data. After 5 years, really, none of this should come as a shock. If anything, online franchise in Madden 10 was more than likely a big reach for them, they looked at the data from that, and probably decided against doing any major moves there either, hence the message they've put out. Thing is, this is not going to phase them a bit. Madden 11 will outsell Madden 10 and not miss a beat in the sales department, you can bet on that.

Ok, this is what I wanted to say the last time you brought this up, How do they know it's not a big money maker? They don't track franchise play. They can't. There are people all over the country that don't have their 360 or PS3 hooked up to the internet. Also, EA has already admitted that an estimated 350,000 people got online once and never came back. http://kotaku.com/5524782/a-number-that-is-too-large What mode do they think those 350,000 people are playing? This isn't even counting the people that don't bother to go online at all or don't have an internet connection.

Yes, I believe that EA reps told you that franchise isn't the biggest deal, but I also believe that those EA reps are full of it for telling you that. Everyone that buys Madden has access to franchise right out of the box. They don't need internet or anything. They can just play franchise. Everyone doesn't have access to online though. I find it highly highly unlikely that Franchise isn't the biggest mode in Madden, regardless of what they told you. It doesn't make sense at all. It's like saying Fifa isn't the biggest selling franchise for EA sports even though soccer is the most popular sport in the world. I know absolutely no one, and I mean no one, that I have ever met in my LIFE, and I'm 31 years old, that don't at least try franchise mode every year in Madden. Some like it and keep going some don't, but they all at least try it out once. Now I do know some that have 360's and Ps3's that don't even have their consoles hooked up to the internet, so what is EA talking about? BS, that's what.

As for online franchise, what did they expect? They put a shell of a franchise mode out there and call it online franchise. Did they still expect people to play it. It had no resemblance whatsoever to franchise mode other than the fact that users controlled the teams. That's all. Not too mention that they made slow speed mandatory for online games, even in online franchise. I was in an online franchise when they did that and played 2 games after that and dropped out. I can not stand to play on slow speed and they gave us no choice. So let's see, they put a shell of a franchise mode out there, so that lost some people and they made us play on slow, so that lost some people like me that hate playing on slow. What in the hell did they think was gonna happen? On the flip side, look at NCAA's Online Dynasty. From day one they had just about every feature that offline dynasty had and it has been thriving since day one. Online Franchise would be thriving as well If it was fully functional and they let people choose their own game speed for it.

So let's recap, EA says offline franchise isn't a big money maker and no one was playing online franchise. So what the hell was everyone playing? I know I never saw 1 million people online at any time. In fact, I never saw more than 1000 online. So if no one is playing offline franchise what are they playing? It doesn't make sense what you and they are saying. It doesn't make sense at all. Anyway, I'll move on to the blog.

As for the blog, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they supposedly work on franchise stats last year. If I remember correctly they said they wanted to get the basics down for franchise before adding on to it. So now, a year later, they are working on stats again? In another thread, djordan said something isn't right about this year and I'm starting to believe him. They wanted to focus on gameplay they say. That's why they aren't updating the franchise mode. Well I haven't seen a blog on DL/OL interaction, O-line pass blocking, CB/WR interaction, ball trajectory on passes, different defensive schemes, or anything like that. I'm sure these could've been worked on while they were skipping on franchise. Oh wait a minute, how many times have we been told that they have someone in each department working on stuff. So what have the franchise guys been doing all this time. What has Josh Looman been doing? Anyway, I don't buy this one bit. Any of it. On top of all this, I bet when we see vids, it looks just like Madden 10 lol. It sure has looked like it from the vids I've seen so far.

Anyway, I guess my decision has been made. I was debating whether to get NCAA or Madden this year, but I guess it's settled now. I guess I'll go ahead and preorder NCAA. The only way Madden could keep me is if, when the vids came out, it looked amazing and judging, from the early vids, it will be nowhere near amazing for me. **sigh** Someone, anyone, please end this NFL exclusive license!!! I'm not one to call for things like this, but this is ridiculous.

Btw, I have to give EA credit for being honest this year. In years past, we wouldn't have heard about this until 2 days afte rthe game came out when people where complaining about it so I will definitely give them credit for that. That's all I will give them credit for though. **sigh** Sony, 2K, Activision, Konami, someone PLEASE SAVE US!!!!!!!

[MrSkagTrendy]

On the plus side, at least locomotion, presentation and gameplay will be awesome!

[jethrobag]

I think the point about the upcoming CBA is a good one. I am sure that the structure of the salary cap, franchise tags, and generally the way the offseason is going to work with a new CBA is a valid argument as to why the devs didn't want to reinvent the wheel with regard to franchise mode just yet. It still makes me sad, but I hope they have some other features not yet revealed that will entice me to buy this years game.