Phil Frazier is Leaving EA Sports Tiburon

[boritter]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

Then you are in the vast minority here.

How can a minority be vast?!?

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

I hate to dog on skyboxer because he's defended me in the past but man, the game needs help, big time help, I'm just sick of EA when it comes to Madden. Someone really has to call them on this game which is just not getting it done..

And I agree that Madden is no where near where I think it should be.
Never have I said otherwise. I think it's reason #1 why competition is needed. If there was another option I'd bet the farm Madden would be further along.

I'm saying theres a difference in being critical and being an ***. We all want a better game but I can present that without using insults and hit and run E-thug tactics.
So it's not that I don't think Madden can be better, it's that at the end of the day it's a game and I can respectfully point out flaws and ideas without being degrading to the developers.

[PVarck31]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

I hate to dog on skyboxer because he's defended me in the past but man, the game needs help, big time help, I'm just sick of EA when it comes to Madden. Someone really has to call them on this game which is just not getting it done..

Haha You don't think anyone is calling EA out on Madden. Go on youtube and watch the thousands of videos trashing Madden and the devs. Read any thread in the Madden forum. Trust me, people are calling them out everyday.

[Jistic]

I'm not the video game insider some people claim to be. But I know this. FIFA has been light years better than Madden for more years than I can count now. If those are the people they're bringing onto the Madden team I say bravo!

[Illustrator76]

My take on this new semi-debate is this: I know for a fact that there are people that are getting tired of falling victim to these overused OS "buzzwords"; it's like being in High School all over again. The hot word to use now is "agenda" (or it's variant "agenda post") taking the place of the now defunct buzzwords "earmuffs" and "placebo effect". I understand that there are people that come here on OS that really do have a motive to be sarcastic idiots and then leave, but there are guys such as myself (and others) that are afraid to be constructively critical of Madden because we will be quickly accused of having an aforementioned "agenda". I know it has been said that this isn't the case, but it sure does not feel like it, and I am far from the only one that feels this way. I also have to agree with others and say that it sure doesn't seem like the guys who are OVERLY defensive about Madden and want to shoot down every negative comment get the same treatment as everyone else.

With all of that being said, regardless of who is taking over the Madden franchise or what EA's plans are, the game needs a lot of work from a gameplay perspective. I am an admitted 2K8 lover, but that is because it is flat out a better game, not because I hate EA, I actually loved Tiger Woods 12, and NHL 11 this year and I am thinking about purchasing Fifa as well. After seeing all of the Madden videos, I am probably NOT buying Madden 12. The game graphically looks awesome, but the Defensive/Offensive line play is absolutely abysmal (along with other areas) and there should be no excuses for it not being properly addressed in years. With me being a Lions fan, I have zero to look forward to on defense because of the ineffective line play.

As I stated in another post: Pretty much every coach in the NFL says that games are won/lost on the Offensive/Defensive line (also known as "The Trenches"), yet this critical area of football is totally broken in Madden, and has been for years. Bullrushing is weak and generally ineffective, the Defensive Linemen are not aggressive enough in general, the 4-3 Defensive Ends play like 3-4 Defensive Ends in that they look to ENGAGE the Offensive Linemen instead of going around them and try to kill the QB (effectively making the 4-3 defense useless, that's why everyone in Online Franchises play a 3-4 Defense), Defensive Linemen (especially) don't have the proper technique when using their moves, Offensive Linemen (Centers especially) "warp" to pick up guys who are about to kill the QB, Offensive Linemen routinely miss simple blocking assignments or just flat out block the wrong guy in general, Defensive Linemen get CONSTANTLY pancaked at the line-of-scrimmage....the list goes on and on.

I think people get so upset and angry over this game and the people at EA (Phil, Ian, etc...) because even things as simple as ball trajectory are (and still seem to be) broken. Super-Linebackers weren't the main reason why too many passes were getting swatted when they shouldn't be, the ball trajectory was, and no one noticed that? Or it was too hard to fix that? I am sorry, but I have a very hard time believing that. Again, I think that is where the hardcore fans are getting upset; it is one thing to say it is too difficult to fix major areas of the game with the snap of a finger, but quick-snapping, ball trajectory, super-Linebackers and the other "smaller" issues that begin to build up should be able to be squashed pretty quickly. I simply can't buy excuses for this stuff when games way older than Madden are STILL doing fundamental football things much better than Madden. Then the problem is that when new things do get implemented in Madden, they are not implemented in the correct "football" manner (see the new "Bullrush" animation for NCAA this year), which again leads many gamers to believe that the people making Madden simply do not know what they are doing.

Again, I can see why people get frustrated and upset when it comes to Madden and the people behind it. I have never personally attacked Ian, Phil or anyone else at EA and I will continue to be that way. With that being said, for football's sake, I hope that whoever is in control of the franchise from here on out will do their best to work on the CORE football issues plaguing Madden, and focus less on all of this fluff that seems to get pushed more and more each iteration (e.g. Gameflow, Online Team Play, Madden Moments, etc...).

[GGEden]

That's also my pet peeve with all football video games....the neglect the LOS interaction gets compared to all the other positions.

The OL is the only position on the field a human cannot control, totally up to the CPU/AI. It seems to me the whole OL is animated as one animation, with say 10 or so different ones, and they just randomly get used from down to down, as well as no adaptive AI coded into the OL -- why nanos exist in all football video games, because it's one whole animation (it seems) + no adaptiveness, you can put the same LB in the same gap using the same formation and get the same nano result down after down, the guards don't think at all, are enslaved to keep doing their pre-programmed blocking assignment.

I have some ideas regarding making OL a user controlled position. Madden had that as a feature before, which was actually pretty good, should stay in imo. But i have another few ideas, but i wont go into them right now.

[SageInfinite]

EA football period is not getting it done. Neither football game is where it should be. They are making progress though, and it should be noted, but it's definitely not just Madden.

[Lodeus]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

EA football period is not getting it done. Neither football game is where it should be. They are making progress though, and it should be noted, but it's definitely not just Madden.

What also should be said is Ian, Phil, and the others shouldn't take all the blame for it.