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huskerwr38 · 09-22-2010, 11:52 PM

Article from Total Pro Sports. http://www.totalprosports.com/2010/0...han-the-nfl/2/

What do you guys think? Obviously the author is NOT a sim player.

The NFL is great. But the NFL as played in the Madden franchise of video games has surpassed it. It's time the real NFL fired their human players and made the switch to a 100% digital league. It would do wonders for the salary cap. Am I being serious. My heart says no, but this acid I took says yes. Either way, here are 9 ways in which Madden is better than the real NFL.
1. GameFlow

GameFlow serves to shorten game length in Madden through the use of strategic assumptions so that players can spend more time playing and less time flipping through the playbook and waiting to line up. If only the NFL could adopt such a strategy. Between TV timeouts, coaches milking playclocks, halftimes, and slow offenses, an investment in an NFL game is always a three-hour affair punctuated by sporadic action.
While Madden strives to be as real as possible in most aspects of the game, I don’t think anyone playing the game in GameFlow mode will miss the 20 idle seconds that can be eliminated between plays.
Further, GamePlay mode simplifies Madden so that first-time players can just pick up and run with a preset strategy. In real football…not so much.
2. Gus Johnson Calls Every Game

While Gus Johnson may get into the booth for CBS every week or so, in Madden ’11, he’s bringing his unbridled enthusiasm to every contest. How far we’ve come since the snoozefest days of Pat Summerall calling our video games. While previous incarnations of Madden had Pat to their detriment, now we get upset that in the real world there’s only so much Gus to go around.
His audio is a little choppy in Madden, but I’ll take a compromised Gus Johnson calling a game over anyone else. The man could keep you on the edge of your seat for bass fishing, for God’s sake. Short of splicing Johnson’s genes, I don’t think there is a reasonable way to allow the NFL to catch up here. In a video game, he can jet from Tampa Bay to Minneapolis in a matter of seconds.
In the real world, he may not be beholden to the Madden Cruiser, but it’s unlikely that we’re gonna get Gus for more than one game a week. Alas.
3. GamePlanning

Most of the people playing Madden would make lousy NFL coaches. To be an NFL coach, you need ice water running through your veins. You can’t second-guess your instinct and you need to be looking about six moves ahead, even as the clock dwindles and nothing seems to be working.
That doesn’t sound like most of the Madden gamers I know. The guys I know start to visibly shake when asked “paper or plastic” and can’t scratch their *** without running it through committee. Madden, though, has taken this into account. GamePlanning allows gamers to pre-select a shortlist of plays in different scenarios in order to streamline playcalling in crunch time. You can look cool and composed without slowing down for a second.
Should any of these characters get tossed into an actual 2-minute drill on the road, they would be curled up in the fetal position, fighting tears. Advantage: Madden ’11.
4. Boosts

Realism is over rated. Video games are supposed to be escapist, so allowing players to get a “boost” during online play in exchange for Madden coins sounds like a pretty fun twist, rewarding players for meeting the challenges of Madden. When I’m in the game lobby, I avoid those “boosted” players like the plague, but if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
One could counter that “boosts” do exist in the NFL, but shrunken testicles shouldn’t be the price to pay, so let’s give Madden the edge on this one too. Sorry, Lyle Alzado.

5. Super Bowl Celebration

Ironically, the Super Bowl trophy presentation is one of the most depressing events of the entire season. It’s last call and the lights have come up. The hoisting of the Lombardi trophy is inspiring for one second, then that voice starts bouncing around in your skull. “This is the longest possible time until more football.” I feel creeped out just discussing that moment.
Well, with Madden ’11, one needn’t concern themselves with the tragic end to the season. A new season is mere moments away. So sit back, relax and enjoy a simulated Super Bowl celebration that puts the real one to shame. And, oh yeah, Obama’s there too. Tip back some bub with the President, give him a hug, and then get your next season on deck. No off-season in Maddenland, folks.
6. Offense-friendly AI

Nobody wants to deal with runaway offenses that can’t be contained, but if the football watching population had to pick between more offensive production or stingier defenses, they would go with the offense, hands down. Who can blame them? A defensive slugfest is a sight to behold…every once in a while. But most fans don’t want to see 20-14 games week in and week out.
Fortunately, neither did the guys behind Madden ’11. Though it’s not gaudy, the offense gets a slightly easier go of it here, which drums up the excitement factor not only for the gamers playing Madden, but also for the poor souls that have to watch people play Madden. God help them. And may God bless Madden football.
7. Resettable Injuries/Exhibition Mode

Again, this is matter of preference, but I only want realism up to a point. I would like to have the option to catch my gaming opponent off-guard by having Phillip Rivers run a bootleg from 4 yards out without having to worry about his problem ankles or a third concussion for the season. Let his mom worry about those things. Let me worry about punching it in for 6 so I can scream at some kid in Vancouver over a headset.
The exhibition games are the best way to play head-to-head cause you can beat your stars like rented mules with no repercussions the next game. I’m guessing Chris Johnson would get so many touches he’d make 2008 Larry Johnson look like a fullback. A “fun” game of football shouldn’t require me to count concussions for my virtual team.
8. The All Time Teams

Can anyone argue against the wonder that is the “all-time” teams? If you’re a Charger fan, do you want to see Dan Fouts handing off to LT? And not 2010 LT, but 2007, fantasy-draft-prize LT. You don’t need to answer that; we all know the answer.
Sadly, we live in a world where the laws of time and aging preclude us from realizing Randall Cunningham launching balls to TO, but again, it’s fantasy land on your video game console, so go ahead and play with Theismann without having to worry about cracking his leg again.
9. Player Intelligence; aka, The Flozelle Adams Effect

I doubt there is an NFL coach out there that would rather coach a real NFL team than a Madden team. The digital players are hard workers, don’t often pull a Haynesworth and bitch about your new defensive scheme, and, above all, they can follow simple instructions. Not always, mind you, but most of the time.
False starts happen, but not as often. Routes get run properly and at full speed. Playing with a Madden team is like playing with a team of obedient robots.
Further, because the NFL wants to look better in Madden than it does in real life, players don’t get picked up on weapons charges outside Atlanta-area nightclubs, and they rarely run dogfighting rings. Madden is the NFL’s idea of Utopia.

sniperhare · 09-23-2010, 12:51 AM

I don't even know where to start with this article. I know this guy doesn't care for a sim experience, but he is the mentality that is holding back the game.

The Madden video games should be striving to look like the NFL, not a video game. For this to happen they need to erase the "boosts" and unnatural effectiveness of the offense. Strength and weight needs to matter and they need to make the game more complicated (or at least have it as an option) so we can have realistic offseasons and gameplay. I want to be able to adjust my blocking assignments, how I run my training camp, who I have on my practice squad and what they work on during the season.

ThumbsBruised · 09-23-2010, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperhare


	I don't even know where to start with this article. I know this guy doesn't care for a sim experience, but he is the mentality that is holding back the game. The Madden video games should be striving to look like the NFL, not a video game. For this to happen they need to erase the "boosts" and unnatural effectiveness of the offense. Strength and weight needs to matter and they need to make the game more complicated (or at least have it as an option) so we can have realistic offseasons and gameplay. I want to be able to adjust my blocking assignments, how I run my training camp, who I have on my practice squad and what they work on during the season.

what he said!!

cowboyscowboys · 09-23-2010, 01:14 AM

Article was awesome and creative I lol'd

guaps · 09-23-2010, 03:35 AM

Ian Cummings response to this article "We made it to be a top story on Digg today!" is a bit scary from a sim gamer perspective.

Maybe we should just hope that they keep making Madden as an arcade game, and either create a new NFL 12 game for the sim gamers or that we see competition anytime soon - NFL, College, CFL or made-up teams with a good team editor.. anything thing will do!

Exonerated · 09-23-2010, 05:35 AM

Utilitarianism. the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

huskerwr38 · 09-23-2010, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exonerated


	Utilitarianism. the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Exactly.

I was watching MNF, and there was a commercial for Madden and there was a quote that they showed in the commerical "Less complicated....really easy for a beginner to pick up the game and play." This tells me the direction that this game is headed in the future.

RJTurneR · 09-23-2010, 11:48 AM

Digital NFL? Really? One of the biggest sports EVER (Not the biggest sport, but one of the biggest sports) and it should go digital? Is Madden influencing this?

So what your saying.. or the guy who wrote it or whatever.. is that by sacking every single player and pretty much playing Madden instead, is better? Sorry if I got it wrong but Im having a hard time understanding this.

So the NFL goes 'digital'. Im not sure how this would work, but 1 reason why the NFL is better than Madden, or any other American Football simulation, is because of variety. We see different things every Sunday all the time. How in the holy hell is Madden better than the NFL? Madden has had canned animations since it began. So your going to see the same thing every time. Some of us (including me) enjoy the off-season, I feel suspensions & season ending injury's make the NFL much better than Madden.

Im sorry if I got this all wrong, but this thread makes no sense at all.

09-22-2010, 11:52 PM	#1
huskerwr38 MVP OVR: 15 Join Date: Mar 2009	9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. Article from Total Pro Sports. http://www.totalprosports.com/2010/0...han-the-nfl/2/ What do you guys think? Obviously the author is NOT a sim player. The NFL is great. But the NFL as played in the Madden franchise of video games has surpassed it. It's time the real NFL fired their human players and made the switch to a 100% digital league. It would do wonders for the salary cap. Am I being serious. My heart says no, but this acid I took says yes. Either way, here are 9 ways in which Madden is better than the real NFL. 1. GameFlow GameFlow serves to shorten game length in Madden through the use of strategic assumptions so that players can spend more time playing and less time flipping through the playbook and waiting to line up. If only the NFL could adopt such a strategy. Between TV timeouts, coaches milking playclocks, halftimes, and slow offenses, an investment in an NFL game is always a three-hour affair punctuated by sporadic action. While Madden strives to be as real as possible in most aspects of the game, I don’t think anyone playing the game in GameFlow mode will miss the 20 idle seconds that can be eliminated between plays. Further, GamePlay mode simplifies Madden so that first-time players can just pick up and run with a preset strategy. In real football…not so much. 2. Gus Johnson Calls Every Game While Gus Johnson may get into the booth for CBS every week or so, in Madden ’11, he’s bringing his unbridled enthusiasm to every contest. How far we’ve come since the snoozefest days of Pat Summerall calling our video games. While previous incarnations of Madden had Pat to their detriment, now we get upset that in the real world there’s only so much Gus to go around. His audio is a little choppy in Madden, but I’ll take a compromised Gus Johnson calling a game over anyone else. The man could keep you on the edge of your seat for bass fishing, for God’s sake. Short of splicing Johnson’s genes, I don’t think there is a reasonable way to allow the NFL to catch up here. In a video game, he can jet from Tampa Bay to Minneapolis in a matter of seconds. In the real world, he may not be beholden to the Madden Cruiser, but it’s unlikely that we’re gonna get Gus for more than one game a week. Alas. 3. GamePlanning Most of the people playing Madden would make lousy NFL coaches. To be an NFL coach, you need ice water running through your veins. You can’t second-guess your instinct and you need to be looking about six moves ahead, even as the clock dwindles and nothing seems to be working. That doesn’t sound like most of the Madden gamers I know. The guys I know start to visibly shake when asked “paper or plastic” and can’t scratch their *** without running it through committee. Madden, though, has taken this into account. GamePlanning allows gamers to pre-select a shortlist of plays in different scenarios in order to streamline playcalling in crunch time. You can look cool and composed without slowing down for a second. Should any of these characters get tossed into an actual 2-minute drill on the road, they would be curled up in the fetal position, fighting tears. Advantage: Madden ’11. 4. Boosts Realism is over rated. Video games are supposed to be escapist, so allowing players to get a “boost” during online play in exchange for Madden coins sounds like a pretty fun twist, rewarding players for meeting the challenges of Madden. When I’m in the game lobby, I avoid those “boosted” players like the plague, but if you’ve got it, flaunt it. One could counter that “boosts” do exist in the NFL, but shrunken testicles shouldn’t be the price to pay, so let’s give Madden the edge on this one too. Sorry, Lyle Alzado. 5. Super Bowl Celebration Ironically, the Super Bowl trophy presentation is one of the most depressing events of the entire season. It’s last call and the lights have come up. The hoisting of the Lombardi trophy is inspiring for one second, then that voice starts bouncing around in your skull. “This is the longest possible time until more football.” I feel creeped out just discussing that moment. Well, with Madden ’11, one needn’t concern themselves with the tragic end to the season. A new season is mere moments away. So sit back, relax and enjoy a simulated Super Bowl celebration that puts the real one to shame. And, oh yeah, Obama’s there too. Tip back some bub with the President, give him a hug, and then get your next season on deck. No off-season in Maddenland, folks. 6. Offense-friendly AI Nobody wants to deal with runaway offenses that can’t be contained, but if the football watching population had to pick between more offensive production or stingier defenses, they would go with the offense, hands down. Who can blame them? A defensive slugfest is a sight to behold…every once in a while. But most fans don’t want to see 20-14 games week in and week out. Fortunately, neither did the guys behind Madden ’11. Though it’s not gaudy, the offense gets a slightly easier go of it here, which drums up the excitement factor not only for the gamers playing Madden, but also for the poor souls that have to watch people play Madden. God help them. And may God bless Madden football. 7. Resettable Injuries/Exhibition Mode Again, this is matter of preference, but I only want realism up to a point. I would like to have the option to catch my gaming opponent off-guard by having Phillip Rivers run a bootleg from 4 yards out without having to worry about his problem ankles or a third concussion for the season. Let his mom worry about those things. Let me worry about punching it in for 6 so I can scream at some kid in Vancouver over a headset. The exhibition games are the best way to play head-to-head cause you can beat your stars like rented mules with no repercussions the next game. I’m guessing Chris Johnson would get so many touches he’d make 2008 Larry Johnson look like a fullback. A “fun” game of football shouldn’t require me to count concussions for my virtual team. 8. The All Time Teams Can anyone argue against the wonder that is the “all-time” teams? If you’re a Charger fan, do you want to see Dan Fouts handing off to LT? And not 2010 LT, but 2007, fantasy-draft-prize LT. You don’t need to answer that; we all know the answer. Sadly, we live in a world where the laws of time and aging preclude us from realizing Randall Cunningham launching balls to TO, but again, it’s fantasy land on your video game console, so go ahead and play with Theismann without having to worry about cracking his leg again. 9. Player Intelligence; aka, The Flozelle Adams Effect I doubt there is an NFL coach out there that would rather coach a real NFL team than a Madden team. The digital players are hard workers, don’t often pull a Haynesworth and bitch about your new defensive scheme, and, above all, they can follow simple instructions. Not always, mind you, but most of the time. False starts happen, but not as often. Routes get run properly and at full speed. Playing with a Madden team is like playing with a team of obedient robots. Further, because the NFL wants to look better in Madden than it does in real life, players don’t get picked up on weapons charges outside Atlanta-area nightclubs, and they rarely run dogfighting rings. Madden is the NFL’s idea of Utopia.

09-23-2010, 12:51 AM	#2
sniperhare MVP OVR: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Jacksonville, Florida	Re: 9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. I don't even know where to start with this article. I know this guy doesn't care for a sim experience, but he is the mentality that is holding back the game. The Madden video games should be striving to look like the NFL, not a video game. For this to happen they need to erase the "boosts" and unnatural effectiveness of the offense. Strength and weight needs to matter and they need to make the game more complicated (or at least have it as an option) so we can have realistic offseasons and gameplay. I want to be able to adjust my blocking assignments, how I run my training camp, who I have on my practice squad and what they work on during the season.

09-23-2010, 01:14 AM	#4
cowboyscowboys Rookie OVR: 6 Join Date: Apr 2009	Re: 9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. Article was awesome and creative I lol'd __________________ Favorite Teams/Players and Girl Carrie Underwood NFL Dallas Cowboys:T-New,#31 Roy Williams MLB Toronto Blue Jays:Carlos Delgado,Rick Ankiel NHL St.Louis Blues:Keith Tkachuk,T.J. Oshie NBA GSt. Warriors:Antawn Jamison, Steven Jackson USA Soccer Oguchi Onyewu

09-23-2010, 03:35 AM	#5
guaps Observer OVR: 11 Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 696	Re: 9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. Ian Cummings response to this article "We made it to be a top story on Digg today!" is a bit scary from a sim gamer perspective. Maybe we should just hope that they keep making Madden as an arcade game, and either create a new NFL 12 game for the sim gamers or that we see competition anytime soon - NFL, College, CFL or made-up teams with a good team editor.. anything thing will do!

09-23-2010, 05:35 AM	#6
Exonerated All Star OVR: 33 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia	Re: 9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. Utilitarianism. the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

	College Football 25 All-In-One Recruiting Guide: Do This, Not That
	Madden 25 Review: Stalling in the Red Zone
	Good AI in Football Games Is Way Too Rare

09-23-2010, 11:48 AM	#8
RJTurneR MVP OVR: 17 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Posts: 2,185	Re: 9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL. Digital NFL? Really? One of the biggest sports EVER (Not the biggest sport, but one of the biggest sports) and it should go digital? Is Madden influencing this? So what your saying.. or the guy who wrote it or whatever.. is that by sacking every single player and pretty much playing Madden instead, is better? Sorry if I got it wrong but Im having a hard time understanding this. So the NFL goes 'digital'. Im not sure how this would work, but 1 reason why the NFL is better than Madden, or any other American Football simulation, is because of variety. We see different things every Sunday all the time. How in the holy hell is Madden better than the NFL? Madden has had canned animations since it began. So your going to see the same thing every time. Some of us (including me) enjoy the off-season, I feel suspensions & season ending injury's make the NFL much better than Madden. Im sorry if I got this all wrong, but this thread makes no sense at all.

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9 reasons Madden is Better than the NFL.