Madden NFL 16 Launches on August 25th - News, Features and Details Arrive in May

[Potatoes002]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jet Sufferer

Did the time they spent making Madden 25 and 15 add up to a year or more of development time? So it takes 3 years to have one full year of development time? The Madden Math continually confuses me. What cycle are we on now? Can someone put this on an excel spreadsheet or something? I really find it amusing, it's like the biggest, longest troll job in the world every year. It's like an 11 year troll at this point. I literally LOL reading about the excuses and cycles EVERY YEAR. I gave up hope years ago, and every year I play the game, I shake my head and say to myself, "I can't believe it, they did it again, another year down the tubes". I try to play it sometimes, play with a friend here and there, but it's just so frustrating that there is SO MUCH missing after SO MUCH TIME, that no dev cycle or 3 year plan can make a reasonable excuse for. I've seen glaciers progress much faster. I have accepted that Madden IS Nba Live, just with no competing products to show Madden for what it is. Nothing personal against your post or anyone who likes the game. I might be able to get into the game more and accept it's arcadey style but for the fact that so many legacy issues have lingered for so many years that I feel kind of dirty when I play Madden. I don't reward mediocrity or give false praise or pander in any other part of my life, so Madden strikes a nerve with me with so much left unfinished that no excuse/dev cycle/legacy code/multi year plan cop out holds any weight with me.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I meant development time regarding the specific game. Madden 25 came out in December instead of August. Madden 16 will be the first game from August-August of the next year.

I am not making an excuse about the quality of the game, I have not been too pleased either.

[Segagendude]

I used to anxiously wait for news about Madden and get excited as if I was a kid.

Lately, it's just gotten so stale, that now I just shrug and say "eh, if the price drops, I may get it".

Instead of wanting to play, I felt like I forced myself to play. They really need to make some drastic changes.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Segagendude

I used to anxiously wait for news about Madden and get excited as if I was a kid. Lately, it's just gotten so stale, that now I just shrug and say "eh, if the price drops, I may get it". Instead of wanting to play, I felt like I forced myself to play. They really need to make some drastic changes.

The thing they need to do is forget everything else and focus on the fundamentals. That's it. Get the fundamentals nailed down before adding in additional "fluff". Fundamentals. The game severely lacks them and until they get that right, nothing else really matters.

[oneamongthefence]

Over the last 10 year this gas been my experience with Madden.
Ps2
Madden 06- loved it. Vision cone was revolutionary and franchise mode was engaging.
Madden 07-was pretty much Madden 06 but with the special moves stick for runners.
Madden 08- not much added but the franchise mode was still fun. I played all these for an entire year.
Ps3
Madden 09-major disappontment. Lack of features and franchise mode was stripped down. Played it for a few months got old quickly.
Madden 10- truly looked like a next gen game as animation were better. Pro tak was good and franchise was a step up. Still it felt lacking and I only managed to get about 5 months out of it before it really got old.
Madden 11- made more improvements. Franchise mode got ufa's and an updated progression system. Played it about 5 or so months as well.
Madden 12- not really a huge step forward. The franchise mode was basically untouched. Still only around 5 months before I lost interest.
Madden 13-this was a game changer. CFM mode felt more alive than any of the previous franchise modes for the generation. The hand created draft classes were good but did not lend itself to repeated play throughs. But it was the most fun I had with Madden since its ps2 days 6 years prior. Played it a ton. Most of the year in fact. Madden 25- I played on both systems but they were too identical other than graphics and tru step for ball carriers. Played this one pretty much all year. Still had handcrafted draft classes but the gameplay was fun.
Madden 15- I still play it. Still really fun. I can overlook its faults since its still such a blast to play.

Obviously I'm a heavy franchise/cfm user so I'm in favor of anything added to it to increase immersion. That's my De facto number 1 item. Without it, it gets stale and becomes a chore to play.

[slowdifference]

On a confidence scale of 1-10 I'll give EA a -25. Seriously, if they make a competent football game I'd be shocked. I guess if I lower my expectations I might get surprised by EA. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time I had low expectations for Madden and it still turned out worse than I thought.

[JMD]

I've bought Madden every year since Madden 05. I bought 05 to do a comparison with NFL 2K5. I liked both equally. Then of course the exclusive deal started and it seems Madden has had a ton of ups and downs since then. They can't seem to consistantly progress forward with the game. It's like one step forward, two steps back.

Out of all the Madden games since 05 I've only really enjoyed Madden 10, 13, and 15. Each of these had enough good to allow me to put up with the bad. They were "good" enough for me to play more then one season, but as always after a while it just gets boring and stale. That said I'm going to finally stop buying the game until there is no more bad. I'm not getting sucked in this year.

I really don't see where they can go from here. I don't see Madden 16 being any better then 15. It needs to be rebuilt and that just isn't going to happen, as long as EA keeps raking in the $$$$$ things won't change.

[rkocjay]

hardest choice in life. to buy madden or not to buy

[CLEgend]

Quote: Originally Posted by rkocjay

hardest choice in life. to buy madden or not to buy

See, and that is why Gamefly comes in handy when games like Madden fall short.