Madden NFL 11: Ian Cummings Interview

[xX CASCABEL Xx]

same thing every year, uh, were going to patch it, why not test the game before it goes out, what if they built cars or or planes, CRASH!!!

[PumaAura]

The game went gold how long ago and they knew the defense was terrible, the game was choppy/laggy. I guess they sat on their hands for a month and used us to tell them what's wrong.

[jhogan3132]

I heard that there was a patch coming that would remove the strategy pad. Anyone hear anything about that?

[roadman]

^^^^They aren't removing it, they are adding the old way back in a patch.

[StormJH1]

I don't think he "danced" around the questions much - he admitted time and time again that there were things people were unhappy with. If the Madden dev team meant for something to be a certain way, and it turns out that people don't like it, Ian has the right to explain WHY the game is the way it is and offer their perspective (such as punt returns being 5 yards instead of 40 everytime).

I have the game and I like it, there's just something about it that feels more "arcadey" to me, even amongst additions like locomotion that are meant to address core gameplay. It was a revealing interview in that he seems very aware of "things that are popular with Madden gamers" (high scoring, offense-all-the-time gameplay like Madden 2004) vs. "things that make a good football simulation". I feel like Ian would prefer to make the latter game, but perhaps there's pressure on him due to the low sales numbers from last year and again this year. I don't think that's really fair to blame on the devs, though, since Madden 10 & 11 are the 5th and 6th iterations of the same game on the 360...at some point, the hardware limitations are what they are, and people aren't going to buy the same game 10 years in a row.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by angrynewyorker

If you're gonna revamp Franchise Mode, for the love of god at 80 man rosters for the offseason, let us plan training camp, have an IR list that actually works like it should, have progression stats like in The Show so you can actually see if Vernon Gholston is worth holding onto. Oh, and differentiate between restricted and unrestricted free agency. But then you'd have a perfect Franchise Mode, so I dunno if you'd wanna do that.

Agreed on that. And this is where the "financial realities" aspect sets in, since I think they truly believe that 10% of the Madden community would even notice something like an 80-man roster or UFA vs. RFA. Their attitude is that most of that 10% is hardcore enough that they're going to buy the game anyway.

Which is kinda sad b/c the history of Madden is that people LEARNED about NFL playbooks and strategy from playing this game back in the day. That tells me that if you put features like that in a game, you can "educate" your consumer base over time, and everyone will benefit from a deeper product.

[HuRRiiCaNe22]

They make all these tweaks to the game and fiddle with every little thing to make it appeal to the general audience. Yet, I don't see people coming on here ever praising the fact that they love unrealistic high scoring Arena Football games. (because they don't) If they want to appeal to an audience, it should be NFL fans that play video games. I don't think as many people would complain about a realsitic experience. (if done correctly) But sadly, as Madden is an annual game, that doesn't prodive much time to scrap and start from scratch, as a physics based game style would revamp the Madden world more than an over exaggerated version of Madden 10's Beginner playcalling system.

[jDaddy42409]

Ian, just stop with the bull****. Either make a game worth playing or throw in the towel and let 2k show you how it's done