Robert Flores Goes One-On-One With EA Sports Madden NFL 11 Game Designers (ESPN)

[kjcheezhead]

Why was there a reluctance to state the numbers of online players using gameflow? Offline guys are at 70-80%, but many franchise guys from past versions used ask madden to call plays to offer more of a challenge.

Merely stating the online numbers are lower than offline and not just giving totals leaves me with the impression that Gameflow isn't being welcomed as much as they would like us to believe. Just my impression from the responses.

I also believe you can't turn gameflow off online? (Don't have the game so don't know for sure)

[NYwRiter94]

While I understand that a lot of the casual fans don't enjoy spreadsheet management, Franchise mode isn't for the casual fan. The mode is meant to be as close to a simulation of the NFL Season as possible--so leaving things out because they don't scream 'fun' to the casual fan doesn't seem to make much sense.

I've been racking my brain to come up with a better alternative to spreadsheet management, but as long as ratings are quantifiable and visible in franchise mode, there's no other way to do it.

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

Trust me, we get it. We'd love to be able to add each and every feature listed on feature lists from sites like this. Well...maybe not every feature but I think you get the point. The NFL season doesn't wait for us to finish our game and as such, we have a fixed amount of time to work with to get the game out by August every year. Each year we have to make very difficult decisions on which features to tackle now vs. putting off another year (or two). Many factors go into those decisions and in just about every case there will be an audience that doesn't like the decision. I get that frustration as a gamer myself. Phil

I'll help you so. Franchise Mode, Defense and an option to hide player ratings.

Quote: Originally Posted by Adembroski

What do you think the percentages are of hardcore vs. casual Madden vs. NHL players? I think that plays into the equation. I'd bet on average an NHL 11 player is a more hardcore hockey fan than the average Madden player is toward football.

Not familar with Hockey games so I will use what games I am familar with.
Fifa is more sim then PES and sells much better, Nba2k is more sim then Nba Elite and sells much better. Madden05 and NFL2k5 both very sim sold 9.5m on the top two platforms. Then Madden went in a more arcade direction and sales gradually dropped while sim games like Fifa and Nba2k sales continue to grow. It's easier than ever to know who to make your game for with sim consoles and arcade consoles. The split between the Wii vs 360 and Ps3 is close to 50/50 yet the sales of Madden on the more hardcore consoles is 6+ times the sales of the Wii. Yet there is this idea that Madden is different to every game other game and the majority of buyers wouldn't know what a football was if it hit them in the face. I will never understand trying to make a football game for non football fans instead of football fans. Before you say Madden is now taking a more sim approach, yes it is more sim but is not sim. It's going for somwhere in the middle, little more arcade then sim to me.
Finally, I remember me and my brother playing Madden. Netheir of us knew much about American Football at the time don't even think there was any coverage in Ireland back then. When we went on to a new season two of my brothers players were holding out. We didn't know what that was but when they didn't play in pre-season the penny dopped. So he tried to get them to play and if I remember correctly he signed one to a new contract but had to trade the other away. We didn't understand it at first but thought it was the coolest thing ever after that.

[nccomicfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

We didn't want to get specific with that blog because Madden 11 wasn't even out yet. We're working hard to make meaningful changes to career modes as quickly as we can. It's a massive effort and I'm sure there will be immediate visibility to these changes in one product cycle. I'm not allowed to make promises at this early stage. Phil

as in, don't plan on this being totally fixed for next year..I don't see how that can be read any other way

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by nccomicfan

as in, don't plan on this being totally fixed for next year..I don't see how that can be read any other way

I think it's probably just going to be a bit bare compared to what people want but still will have to be deeper than the current mode.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

Sidenote: I thought I checked VGchartz last week and the numbers for NBA 2K had dropped? Perhaps I didn't look at the big picture (overall sales). I'd think they go hand & hand, would they not?

Well true. But it worries me some because of real late they been mainly talking about doing more online stuff then offline franchise mode stuff. I'm just afraid alot of the focus is geared towards online franchise more the way they talk sometime.

[NYwRiter94]

The way I look at it, this could lead to a very down year next year, but starting in 2012, a great deal for football fans.

At this point, EA's looking to completely redo the Franchise Mode. So they strip it down and rebuild it this year, but it still doesn't have a lot of what we want--because their priority right now is building a foundation they can improve upon easily. This leads to a further decline in sales, which possibly leads to no extension of the exclusive license (whoohoo).

What that means is that in 2012, 2k Sports can finally come back and provide competition, and Madden's rebuilt modes will be complete. Presumably, we'll have two top-notch games in NFL 2k13 and Madden 13, and it will be the golden age of football games once again.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYwRiter94

What that means is that in 2012, 2k Sports can finally come back and provide competition, and Madden's rebuilt modes will be complete. Presumably, we'll have two top-notch games in NFL 2k13 and Madden 13, and it will be the golden age of football games once again.

I think that is living in an ideal world.

2k hasn't produced a football game since 2k8 on NG. Also, 2k just let go about 40 people, so, if they need an NFL license, I don't know how they will secure one.