Madden NFL 13 Video - Gameplay With Jim Nantz and Phil Simms In-Game Commentary

[Jimi XIII]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas

Can you honestly say that what we've heard, disregarding the OS/Pasta Padre video, isn't much better than what we got last year with Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth?

Not really, not the play-by-play I've heard. One thing about Cris & Gus was the errors from the Madden team, we don't know if that will still be a problem upon release (besides Phil or Jim addressing each other as Tom, of course that'll be fixed) but I said the pregame is much better. But Madden would still have the worse commentary in sports gaming right now if we end up getting what we've heard so far, but I assume it's not finished, at least I would hope.

I've heard good things from NHL's commentary, I've heard how good MLB's is, FIFA's is on point and I get NBA2K every other year and it's ridiculously good (especially in Association mode). Madden can't kept being average or sub-par in so many aspects of sports gaming. They really need to make sure they deliver with all the hype going right now. But other games are much more specific with their commentary these days. Now, if you don't play anything but Madden or not that much of a presentation/commentary guy, obviously some aren't either gonna know just how behind they are or care. But I am a presentation/commentary kinda guy and have experienced what other games are doing with commentary and Madden is still far behind.

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jimi XIII

Not really, not the play-by-play I've heard. One thing about Cris & Gus was the errors from the Madden team, we don't know if that will still be a problem upon release (besides Phil or Jim addressing each other as Tom, of course that'll be fixed) but I said the pregame is much better. But Madden would still have the worse commentary in sports gaming right now if we end up getting what we've heard so far, but I assume it's not finished, at least I would hope. I've heard good things from NHL's commentary, I've heard how good MLB's is, FIFA's is on point and I get NBA2K every other year and it's ridiculously good (especially in Association mode). Madden can't kept being average or sub-par in so many aspects of sports gaming. They really need to make sure they deliver with all the hype going right now. But other games are much more specific with their commentary these days. Now, if you don't play anything but Madden or not that much of a presentation/commentary guy, obviously some aren't either gonna know just how behind they are or care. But I am a presentation/commentary kinda guy and have experienced what other games are doing with commentary and Madden is still far behind.

I think it's too early to decide how improved Madden 13 commentary will be considering a key upgrade touted about the new system, referencing much older past events, is career mode based. So while it's obviously expected that a first year commentary system and commentary team won't be as good as other sports games with solid established commentary, it still might result in more aware commentary that adds to immersion.

[DeuceDouglas]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jimi XIII

Not really, not the play-by-play I've heard. One thing about Cris & Gus was the errors from the Madden team, we don't know if that will still be a problem upon release (besides Phil or Jim addressing each other as Tom, of course that'll be fixed) but I said the pregame is much better. But Madden would still have the worse commentary in sports gaming right now if we end up getting what we've heard so far, but I assume it's not finished, at least I would hope. I've heard good things from NHL's commentary, I've heard how good MLB's is, FIFA's is on point and I get NBA2K every other year and it's ridiculously good (especially in Association mode). Madden can't kept being average or sub-par in so many aspects of sports gaming. They really need to make sure they deliver with all the hype going right now. But other games are much more specific with their commentary these days. Now, if you don't play anything but Madden or not that much of a presentation/commentary guy, obviously some aren't either gonna know just how behind they are or care. But I am a presentation/commentary kinda guy and have experienced what other games are doing with commentary and Madden is still far behind.

After seeing NCAA's gameplay video from the other day I would say without a doubt their commentary is far worse than what we've seen from Madden thus far. And I wouldn't exactly call FIFA's top of the line either. Yeah, it's really good at times but it seems like 90% of the commentary is just a name and dead space.

[CRMosier_LM]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jimi XIII

Not really, not the play-by-play I've heard. One thing about Cris & Gus was the errors from the Madden team, we don't know if that will still be a problem upon release (besides Phil or Jim addressing each other as Tom, of course that'll be fixed) but I said the pregame is much better. But Madden would still have the worse commentary in sports gaming right now if we end up getting what we've heard so far, but I assume it's not finished, at least I would hope. I've heard good things from NHL's commentary, I've heard how good MLB's is, FIFA's is on point and I get NBA2K every other year and it's ridiculously good (especially in Association mode). Madden can't kept being average or sub-par in so many aspects of sports gaming. They really need to make sure they deliver with all the hype going right now. But other games are much more specific with their commentary these days. Now, if you don't play anything but Madden or not that much of a presentation/commentary guy, obviously some aren't either gonna know just how behind they are or care. But I am a presentation/commentary kinda guy and have experienced what other games are doing with commentary and Madden is still far behind.

Once again, this is year one of a complete new audio/commentary system. You still have not heard the final product, based on what I have heard/know, you are still only hearing a little more than half of what the final game will have.
They have said it many times already that the commentary will be built upon each year with the new technology. This is the first year that I have heard commentary this early when playing hands on builds. They are much further ahead this year but you still haven't heard the complete package.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[SweetBabyJebus]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpdavis82

The in-game commentary examples in the podcast for a first year were pretty impressive to me. You have your opinion, but I think the majority of the people who have heard the newer samples were at least somewhat impressed and felt like it is solid. It's a HUGE improvement over what we have had and doesn't take away from the game and I find it pretty immersive from what I'm hearing, but to each his own. People keep talking about Kevin Harlan, but NBA 2k has had him doing the play by play since NBA 2k6, so that's comparing apples to oranges. Year one of Jim Nantz vs year six of Kevin Harlan. A better comparison is Kerr vs Simms and from what we've heard Simms sounds just like he does in real life, so I'd say Madden is right there with 2k when it comes to comparing the color commentators.

If you were impressed, fine. I however was not in the least bit. I could list my complaints, but its easier to just say i share the same sentiments as the other community members.

And to your comparison of 2K, people spoke of Harlan because of his talent, not because of his library of dialogue. So the fact that he has been in the NBA 2k series since 2k6 is irrelevant. He is a seasoned game commentator who has proven that he can capture the energy of a game moment through his voice, all while sitting in a game studio somewhere.

And you speak as if they are to get some pass because its supposed to be their first iteration of this commentary team and tech, but MLB 2k9 was in a similar position and their commentary was actually impressive when debuted, check it out.




Now compare what you just heard to what has been displayed with gameplay for Madden 13.

[Jimi XIII]

Quote: Originally Posted by CRMosier_LM

Once again, this is year one of a complete new audio/commentary system. You still have not heard the final product, based on what I have heard/know, you are still only hearing a little more than half of what the final game will have. They have said it many times already that the commentary will be built upon each year with the new technology. This is the first year that I have heard commentary this early when playing hands on builds. They are much further ahead this year but you still haven't heard the complete package. Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

So, the playbook/preview for commentary is done, although it's still a WIP, they are obviously giving us the best of what they got. So far its very so-so and not anyway near the rest. I doubt they are saving previews or info of Jim & Phil giving individual names, talking about individual performances and how well or poorly a player played a previous game or season. The Madden team hasn't mentioned their commentary going that deep & the tease is over for this portion of the game.

If they had player names, weekly/seasonally individual performance info, or anything else truly mind-blowing that others offer I'm sure they would have showcased that. I gave them the benefit of the doubt in the first few previews but the more commentary they expose the more I know it just won't be as good as other games and will just see what else Madden will offer this year. It's alright as long as they actually progress this time around year-to-year and the other aspects of the game have improved, but let's not fool ourselves thinking this is as good as it can get or extremely better play-by-play from last year.

[Big FN Deal]

Wait a minute now, I don't intend to offer any excuses for Madden not being better but we shouldn't compare slower paced baseball commentary to play by play in football, imo.

I think the pace of baseball lends better to flowing commentary than more action filled sports like soccer, basketball, football, etc. That's like comparing the commentary in golf to football, when we know full well it's apples and oranges.

That said, when just showcasing the stitch tech for M13, that commentary had a nice flow but it's how it sounded during the actual game play, that was lacking. I think we all need to see how effective this new tech is at E3 before we critique the inevitable flaws it will have.

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jimi XIII

So, the playbook/preview for commentary is done, although it's still a WIP, they are obviously giving us the best of what they got. So far its very so-so and not anyway near the rest. I doubt they are saving previews or info of Jim & Phil giving individual names, talking about individual performances and how well or poorly a player played a previous game or season. The Madden team hasn't mentioned their commentary going that deep & the tease is over for this portion of the game. If they had player names, weekly/seasonally individual performance info, or anything else truly mind-blowing that others offer I'm sure they would have showcased that. I gave them the benefit of the doubt in the first few previews but the more commentary they expose the more I know it just won't be as good as other games and will just see what else Madden will offer this year. It's alright as long as they actually progress this time around year-to-year and the other aspects of the game have improved, but let's not fool ourselves thinking this is as good as it can get or extremely better play-by-play from last year.

It's definitely much better than last year, Phil Simms sounds great if you ask me, it's just that they need to add more names and stuff for Nantz. This team knows that they aren't there yet. I'm done trying to defend what this team is doing though, they've done more for Madden than has been done in the last 8 years and when Madden 13 comes out you guys will see it first hand. Everyone always has to find some reason to complain and now that we finally have a legit team that is going to make Madden an elite sports game for many years to come, people still complain. There's more to life than Madden guys. As long as we have a solid game this year with solid gameplay and is feature deep I really don't know what more you could ask for in year one of the new team's Madden. Let me just throw something else out there, what football game's commentary sounds better than what we have heard so far? It's not just about the commentary either, the ambient noise they have going on with cadences, player chatter, crowd noise, it all makes it come together in a realistic way. I think football is by far the hardest sport to do commentary for, most sports you have some kind of constant flow(soccer, basketball, hockey) baseball is kinda sporadic like football, but has nowhere near the amount of action after a break in the action and the breaks in football are much shorter than baseball. Football is kinda like a roller coaster emotionally, you have constant highs and lows, no other sports game really has to deal with that. As they mentioned in the podcast they didn't want to just throw names in there for the sake of having them there because it sounds choppy and lame. Just like 2k5, 2k8, and previous Madden games have, i.e. Vick......drops back to pass, tackle was made by......Ray...Lewis. As long as we are hearing names or he and not number so and so, then I will be satisfied for a year one foundation.

Anyway I've rambled on enough. I for one really appreciate all the effort and hard work this team is putting into Madden 13. This won't be the same old Madden guys, get that through your heads.