Madden's Current Gen Has Not Been a Success

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hendrick4life

Now many people can say that Madden has taken a EA Sports "NASCAR" Type turn, where the developers just got burned out releasing a game every year and only updating the rosters and race tracks. Same thing here. The developers are releasing things to quickly. Take a year off, release a roster update every year and every two years a full game. What is so hard about that? It would save them money all while making the game more efficient. I see no problem with 'FREE' D.C. While im not a Madden guy, I think that the company can do well with the game. Lets just hope competition comes back soon in the form of a former big football king.

Only one thing wrong with that idea.

The NFL liscense demands a yearly release.

[lordnate]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hendrick4life

Now many people can say that Madden has taken a EA Sports "NASCAR" Type turn, where the developers just got burned out releasing a game every year and only updating the rosters and race tracks. Same thing here. The developers are releasing things to quickly. Take a year off, release a roster update every year and every two years a full game. What is so hard about that? It would save them money all while making the game more efficient. I see no problem with 'FREE' D.C. While im not a Madden guy, I think that the company can do well with the game. Lets just hope competition comes back soon in the form of a former big football king.

It wouldn't save them money, because they are now taking two years of production to make one game instead of one year of production to make one game. The only way it would even be neutral to the current set up, is if they charged $60 for the roster update.

Probably the best thing, would be if they weren't so hell bent on removing features from the game. If the feature is already in, keep it. If the feature is popular, expand it. If the feature is unpopular, add an option to turn it on/off in the options menu and default the feature to off.

Just look at these features that were all on next gen consoles. QB Vision, Lead Blocker Control, Play Maker Control (covers several features), and Player Weapons. Then look at older features. Play Creator, Custom Play Books, Bluff/Hide/Show Blitz, Man/Zone Align, Man Shading, Individual Coverage Adjustments, etc.

I didn't buy Madden 11, because Madden 10 seemed watered down to me and Madden 11 didn't offer anything different. I did play one of the my friends in a game of Madden 11 and to me it felt like a slightly polished version of Madden 10. Nothing was added that really changed how you play the game or what you could do within the game, unless you want to use Ask Madden 2.0 (aka Game Flow).

[blklightning]

good article. and that's why i haven't bought madden in over 3 years.

[andy82]

People are forgetting that gameplay isn't the only problem (granted its a big problem). When you look at images of Madden, it looks fantastic, out of this world realistic. Once you see it moving, it's ugly, why? The animation is horrific, the running is hilarious, the tackling looks stupid, generally, robotic and awful, and to be brutally honest, I don't think there's another sports game on the "next gen" systems that has such painfully bad animation.

NBA Elite isn't the only EA Sports game that need another year of development, and with the looming lockout, this would be the perfect time for EA to step back and finally fix a game that has been broken over six editions. Obviously they won't, but we can live in hope...can't we?

[carnalnirvana]

when i listen to the podcasts i get the feeling that the devs really believe that madden is the best sports game out



tech wise i see why they are really porud of the job they are doing,

football gameplay= they failed

tech= excellent job,

[jesmith29]

Remember when the tag line for EA was, "IF IT'S IN THE GAME, IT'S IN THE GAME!" Oh how I miss those days.

I hadn't played Madden since 06 and bought into the hype and demo for 2011. I adjust the sliders, but got really tired of having to tweek them after every patch. I've always wanted a better description on what exactly the sliders effect. Finally traded Madden in for PES 11.

I don't expect video games to be 100% like real life, but there are issues with Madden that are not addressed each year. I also agree with the post's that state Madden needs to figure out what kind of game it is. Arcade or Sim.

[Flamehead]

I traded Madden '11 in last week toward another title. I've never traded Madden away this early and I'm not missing it at all. There are so many other great games coming out right now (both sports and otherwise) that I can't even keep up with them all.

[illwill10]

IMO, I think current gen was more focused on Casual gamers. The main focus the last few years was online and features that make the game simpler.