Madden 09 News Post

Two Weeks of Madden 09, and Official Patch News!

01:00 AM - August 26, 2008 by Ian_Cummings

Well as I post this it’s officially been exactly two weeks since Madden officially launched, and wow it sure has been a busy time for us. I truly hope everyone is enjoying the game, and I wanted to drop an update on some things we’ve been working on for our 2nd patch. We feel that without a doubt this encapsulates the top issues we’re hearing from the forums and community leaders, and hope that this list truly makes Madden NFL 09 the ultimate sports game for you.

Kicking play disconnect: If two opponents play a game with two different camera angles, in any situation where a game winning or tying kick was to be made, a disconnect could occur. “ActionCam” forces the game to go into slow-motion to add drama to these late kicks, but unfortunately the Classic camera does not, thus forcing the “disconnect”. This has been fixed…and FYI all cameras will still be able to be used after the patch.
Workaround until the patch: If possible, ensure that you and your opponent have the same camera type chosen before starting an online game.
Stability issues in the play call / halftime highlights / postgame highlights screens (especially in Franchise mode after training games): This was a hard one to track down as not everyone was seeing it , we did find the issue however with some Instant Replay / cache corruption, and have a fix ready for patch 2.
Workaround until the patch: Save and re-boot after any point where you have entered the game. We learned that the likelihood of this issue appearing is magnified after multiple loads into and out of the game engine. From what we’ve seen so far, people that have tried playing only one game at a time (or even one Franchise training session at a time), and saving/rebooting afterwards, have had zero crashes.
Stability issues with Madden IQ end of game popup: This has been fixed.
Workaround until the patch: Always choose “No” at the Madden IQ end of game popup.
“WR direct snap” exploit: Cheesers found an exploit to direct snap to a WR for easy short yardage gain. Not only are we fixing this play (i.e. we aren’t removing it), we are also going to be re-setting records for anyone with a winning record that has been found to be using this play.
Franchise Progression / Regression (or lack thereof): The lack of higher numbers was a tuning value that I think everyone agreed was just too low. This has been juiced up so you should see more realistic progression now.
Edited players don’t progress: Players were not progressing after their jersey number (or pretty much any other attribute) was edited. This has been fixed.
Stability issue when exiting Madden ’93 in CE version: This has been fixed.
Deep ball glitch: Some enterprising gamers found a way to throw a deep ball while crossing the LOS and hit a receiver wide open at a decent rate. We addressed this by making sure the DB will no longer break on the ball when the QB crosses the line while throwing.
CPU running out of bounds: This bug appears when the CPU tries to switch hands while running to the sidelines. This is fixed for patch 2.
Penalty sliders ineffective: A common complaint from the hardcore community was the lack of effect from the penalty sliders. We increased these substantially for patch 2.
Field degradation: Another common complaint was the lack of field degradation. Our effect was very subtle, which was also getting overshadowed by our lighting and post effects, so we increased this effect for the patch.
Stability issue with the Eagles and a full ring meter: We found and fixed a rare issue where the gamer could run into stability issues while using the Eagles in mini-games with a ring meter that was completely full.
Play call screen hitch: We found and fixed a bug that was causing a noticeable hitch when exiting the play call screen
Prevent Defense issue: We found and fixed an issue where defenders sharing a deep zone/prevent assignment would loosen their coverage (because they thought the other guy was covering for them), which allowed the receiver to get behind them even though they were in Prevent.
Brett Favre stats: With the late addition of Brett Favre, we were not able to get his Career and Season statistics into the game for the roster update. This has now been added for patch 2.
Defensive Preplay Mis-cue: We found and fixed an issue where defenders would leave their man wide open in a Cover 3.
CPU quick-snap: A very common complaint on the forums was the speed at which the CPU snapped the ball. We added a random length of time (no less than 5 seconds) for the CPU to wait and even make pre-play adjustments.
Online playbook switch: We fixed a small annoying little issue where playbooks were re-setting to the defaults after the playbook select popup was closed.

I hope this makes everyone quite happy. :-)

The patch is being tested as I write this and will be sent off for verification in the morning, so we are targeting less than a 3 week turnaround from today for this to hit the general public. (Woohoo!) We will also make sure to provide updates as the patch progresses through the 3rd party approval process. As a side note, as of this moment there have been no changes to database schema, so you won’t have to re-start your Franchise or delete any files.

It makes us very stoked to be able to make this many changes for a patch, and do them based directly on community feedback. There are always going to be folks that are upset if what they felt was a top issue wasn’t addressed, but I’ll state again (as I have before) that we have to keep balancing this work against Madden NFL 2010. The longer we keep going on patches, the less we can add to the following year’s product. On a side note, there is also a Franchise stability issue that we have been investigating, and we are working feverishly to get this figured out. We will update on that issue as soon as we can. As for the items above, I personally feel that we have hit a very good balance of top items because many of these issues can actually detract from an enjoyable experience, which is obviously the last thing we want.

And now that this patch is nearly out the door, I figured I’d drop some more good news… We have officially started building the TOTALLY FREE “Sim Madden Gamer” DLC pack, which includes Accelerated Clock, a “Classic” Controller Configuration, CPU Sliders, and Community Gamerpics for 360. I’ll state again that there’s no promise that this goes through, but we have nearly every one of these features actually ‘done’ internally, so now we have to figure out how to get Microsoft and Sony to allow us to release them.

Thanks everyone – keep the feedback coming, and let's keep this train a-rollin'!

Ian Cummings
Senior Designer, Madden NFL 2010

Game: Madden NFL 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: NDS / PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 88 - View All

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Member Comments

# 261 Zackdawg @ 08/27/08 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendanrfoley


	I'm sorry, but that isn't right. No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to play or buy Madden '09. And, I think some need to stop acting like they personally "deserve" something. It's repulsive.

I agree that game-tuning, robo-qbing and other game issues may be of personal taste and more of a problem for the gamer here than the casual gamer. However, the basic stability issues for Madden, in-game and out of game, in franchise and out-of-franchise, seem to be fairly significant and would matter to hard-core sim and casual gamers. And these issues would be obvious with even modest testing before release (remember, this isn't a PC game, they have standard hardware setups).

Customers may not "deserve" an end to robo-qbing, but I do think that it is assumed that a game purchased for a game console will actually perform in a stable manner right out of the box, not a few weeks after purchase. I don't think it is "repulsive" that gamers, at minimum expect a stable game out of the box that doesn't give their 360 three flashing red lights. While $60 isn't the end of the world, it isn't a donation to EA as well -- they are purchasing a product.

# 262 nookiebear @ 08/27/08 05:59 PM

I love this new version of Madden, but I personally agree with the people on here who say that EA shouldn't be releasing a game with so many problems. And I think it's unfair that others on here are having a go at them for voicing their concerns

Madden fans ARE obsessive about it. We know everything about NFL and how the previous versions have played (and how good the PS2 version is) so we have high standards - and rightly so

So releasing a game with such bad Robo QB (that can only really be solved by using two controllers, I'm finding), players running out of bounds, ghost wide receivers, and regular freezing is pretty damn shoddy, IMHO

This isn't glitches, this is surely basic stuff. how long have EA been making these games?

But they know they can get away with it because we all want a decent NFL game.

Yes, someone will quote me and say 'you don't have to buy it' and they're right, but I have done, so I'm allowed a moan

It's great that the fella from EA is on here telling us about a patch - but I think people need to stop telling him how wonderful he is because the fact is his product has been released faulty. If you haven't got online access, and your game keeps crashing, you're going to be up a certain creek without a paddle, aren't you?

Would you buy a car with so many basic faults?

next they'll be release FIFA and they'd have forgotten the offside rule or something as daft.

I'm probably typing this because I have the hump

I've just been playing the best game I've had so far on this new version

Redskins (me) 6 vs Ravens 13

36 seconds left in the 4th quarter. I'm at the Ravens 7yrd line

Great, realistic stats, exciting defensive battle, Robo has finally gone, thanks to the dummy profile stuff (Thanks EA, I had to spend another 20 quid to make the game playable)

AND THE GAME ••••••• FREEZES ON ME

What's more, When did Santana Moss pass away? Because he's now a ghost, because one pass went through his chest - literally straight through it. It was on third down as well. How basic is that?

I think my head might rotate 360 if it freezes on me during a franchise. I can't be bothered starting one of those at the moment because of all the talk of freezing

Thanks EA for the patch, it is much appreciated

But I don't like the applause people are giving EA on here - frankly, it's the least they can do

# 263 nookiebear @ 08/27/08 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sois


	People buy the game regardless of quality. There is no alternative for people who want NFL football. There are suckers like me who buy this every year for their NFL fix. Of course I want a game with better features. Even if every OS gamer boycott's Madden, millions of others purchase and enjoy the game blindly. This argument is futile. If you bought the game, you should be thankful they are throwing us a bone. There is ZERO incentive for them to correct anything, and yet they did.

Not sure I agree

This is the first Next Gen version I've bought because the previous ones were so poor IMHO

If the same problems exist next year, I won't buy it

The insentive, surely, is having happy customers? If they kept releasing poor games that crashed, etc, eventually people would stop buying it

# 264 bukeyez @ 08/27/08 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skatepro56


	i don't really feel like skimming through all the pages, but will this patch fix the freezing? i appreciate the progression fix, i'm very thrilled about that, but....is there really a point unless you can continue your franchise? the progression is AMAZING..but if your chise doesn't advance more than 2-3 years, i don't really see much of a point. again, i appreciate the work to make the game better, but i think the freezing is this games biggest issue, so i hope a fix is part of the patch

I, too, would like to know if the 2nd patch will fix Franhcise mode so it lives up to it's past and allows us to play multiple seasons (10+) without FREEZING. If this has been addressed, I apologize. But it would not hurt for someone to answer our questions concerning Franchise freezing. I am tired of scrolling through threads looking for info and finding nothing but opinions, bickering, complaining and crap talking. I am not a gossip queen and I look to this site for useful information or positive feedback. It seems no matter what, the threads always get off topic. Now, I know it has been stated that FREEZING issues will be addressed in the 2nd patch, BUT there have been multiple kinds of FREEZING issues in the game. SO, I would like to see if I can get it clarified- Will the Franchise FREEZING issue be fixed? Like the post above, I am excited about the Progression being adjusted but it will only matter if you can play multiple seasons! Thank you in advance for your intelligent answers.

# 265 mwjr @ 08/27/08 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheFuture15


	I’ll state again that there’s no promise that this goes through, but we have nearly every one of these features actually ‘done’ internally, so now we have to figure out how to get Microsoft and Sony to allow us to release them.

How does that work? Why wouldn't MS and Sony allow you to release them?

# 266 xV3L0CiTY @ 08/27/08 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwjr


	How does that work? Why wouldn't MS and Sony allow you to release them?

Personally...I think they say that just to "cover their ***". God for bid something would happen that wouldn't allow DLC.

# 267 SoxFan01605 @ 08/27/08 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xV3L0CiTY


	Personally...I think they say that just to "cover their *". God for bid something would happen that wouldn't allow DLC.

lol...I think it's 50/50 (as in 50 percent "let's cover our a$$ and 50% MS). I remember reading and article awhile back about all the uproa MS was causing with the DLC feature. I believe MS gets a percentage of all DLC put through the network (not 100% how it works across the board, but I know they got money for the DLC that article was covering). If EA is offering free DLC with the amount of content intended, I'm sure MS would put up a fight. It's probably nothing that a little money couldn't solve, and IMO it would fall on EA to make it happen from that aspect, but I could clearly see why MS would hesitate. Whether or not the same would/does apply to Sony, I don't know.

What I do know is that those types of decisions will be made by people higher on the corporate food chain than Ian, but he'll be the one to face the wrath of all of us disappointed and angry gamers who don't get what they want. This kind of touches on the recurring argument that pervades each thread involving communication from Ian. Some think he shouldn't be thanked or is thanked "excessively." Others think he should be constantly commended for the work he does. The reason so many of us thank him is because he "faces" us all when he isn't required in any way. He is treated by some as if he represents everything bad about EA, when in fact he genuinely seems to want to get this series on track. I myself thank him for those reasons, not simply for fixing what many correctly say should have not been broken in the first place. I perfectly understand why some are frustrated to the point where "enough is enough" and they don't feel anyone from EA deserves anything. What I don't understand is the handful of people who are so personally offended by those who don't share that view.

# 268 nookiebear @ 08/27/08 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sois


	You fail to see that EA HAS happy customers. I would say 95% of the purchasers of this game are happy with it. The only ones who complain are the ones who expect more. We are lucky to have the ear of the head of development. They could release the same exact game every year, broken or not, for the next 10 years and they would still make millions. PS: I hate the car analogy people keep bringing up. The car is Madden. We have no other "car dealerships". If your only possible mode of "transportation" (football video game) suddenly got an unexpected upgrade (patches), you should be thankful.

No other car dealerships - well, we all know that's the oldest NFL computer game arguement in the book

This monopoly EA has is not good for games, IMHO - some competition might give them a kick up the bum they need

The frustrating thing is the new Madden is good. Really good, so those basic problems are even more frustrating

I am thankful, but I won't applaud a man on here for basically cleaning up basic errors

# 269 adembroski @ 08/27/08 10:18 PM

Here's the disconnect I'm seeing.

There seem to be three types of people in this thread.

The EA attackers-- People who are using Ian as the "personification" of EA and are sort of attacking EA through him.

The Ian Attackers-- unjustifiable. People who are blaming Ian directly.

The Thankers-- People being indirectly attacked for being appreciative of EA's current effort.

I can actually somewhat understand the first group. They're disappointed in the product and lashing out.

The third group, I'm part of. I appreciate Ian's efforts for a very specific reason: Ian had nothing to do with the problems he and his team are fixing.

This is where the second group are the guys that are in the wrong here. Ian was not on the 2009 team, he was not responsible for the problems that exist, but he IS fixing them. Why should he NOT be thanked for fixing something that wasn't his fault in the first place?

If Ian is guilty of anything, it's putting faith in folks who hadn't earned it.

# 270 Kevin462606 @ 08/27/08 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhawkmike


	I'm disapointed and frustrated with EA, but some of you need to get a little perspective. There are real injustices in the world that are worthy of your anger, and this isn't one of them. When you get this worked up about a $60 toy, you come across as a spoiled child. About the freezing issue. I haven't had this happen to me yet. I have started two franchises. In the first one, I simmed every game and made it to about the 7th season before I then quit because it wasn't any fun without player progression/regression. I started a new franchise where I play every game and I'm still in the first season with that one, so we'll see if I run into problems in the second season. I wonder if those of you who are having this happen have older 360s? Is it happening for PS3 people too? With my first Xbox 360, both NCAA 2007 and 2008 would randomly freeze up. It could happen in a menu or in game, and it occured about once every 5 hours. I thought this was solely the fault of the game because I didn't have this issue with any other title. But then my Xbox completely died one day, and with the replacement that MS provided me with, the game would no longer freeze, not once. Just something to keep in mind. You might try doing some testing. If you determine that this is a problem that doesn't occur on newer 360s, then you might be able to persuade MS to replace yours. I have a question about the patch as it relates to progression. Future15, I know said that there were no chages to the database schema, and so we wouldn't have to delete our restart our franchise. So does this mean that once I apply this patch, player progression will be fixed in my current franchise? If so, I think I will hold off completing my frist season until the patch comes out so that my players will progress.

It happened to us on ps3
I never sim whole seasons so I do not know if this is an issue, I have played through two franchises and both times it has gotten to around week 2 of season 2 and began freezing up every time I tried to save, through quick save or manual. So, good luck, I really hope it works for you.

Also, I do not mean to criticize Ian or anyone else, personally, I guess I just do not see what everyone is so happy about. Progression being fixed is great, I am all for it. I would be thrilled to be able to see all of the improvements made to the game through patch 2, even the field degradation. It all sounds like it would add extensively to the in game experience. My problem, however, is that the in game experience never comes anymore, just a perpetually frozen screen, this just seems like a major issue to me, maybe I am wrong though. What with 95% of the people out there being happy with this game and all.

# 271 Anti Honor @ 08/28/08 02:02 AM

Great news. Especially the possible DLC. I haven't really played the game much yet, because I've been playing NCAA, but I'm looking forward to starting a season, once the patch comes out.

Thanks.

# 272 DubTrey1 @ 08/28/08 02:49 AM

Now this info is a reason for me to buy instead of rent.... Thanks Ian (I hope)

# 273 titans9961 @ 08/28/08 06:06 AM

This is good news, now ill only be on hold from playing madden 3 weeks.

If you have to keep making patches and can't work on 2010 guess thats what you will just have to do. This isn't are problem, we paid for the game not a rough version. This game shouldn't have been released with all these problems.

# 274 FlyingFinn @ 08/28/08 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	specific reason: Ian had nothing to do with the problems he and his team are fixing. This is where the second group are the guys that are in the wrong here. Ian was not on the 2009 team, he was not responsible for the problems that exist, but he IS fixing them. Why should he NOT be thanked for fixing something that wasn't his fault in the first place? If Ian is guilty of anything, it's putting faith in folks who hadn't earned it.

EA is repsonsible for Madden and put out a buggy game. Ian works for EA plan and simple. Ian isn't fixing the game on his own time, he isn't paying his team out of his own pocket. EA is fixing the broken game they released, not Ian and EA should not be thanked for fixing a game they released broken.

The only thing Ian should be thanked for is posting on these forums, answering questions and what not. On the other hand, praising him for doing his job seems a little bit out there.

# 275 kt-od @ 08/28/08 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyingFinn


	EA is repsonsible for Madden and put out a buggy game. Ian works for EA plan and simple. Ian isn't fixing the game on his own time, he isn't paying his team out of his own pocket. EA is fixing the broken game they released, not Ian and EA should not be thanked for fixing a game they released broken. The only thing Ian should be thanked for is posting on these forums, answering questions and what not. On the other hand, praising him for doing his job seems a little bit out there.

Your reasoning is understandable. But have you ever had to come into a company (or job) and had to turn it around, because the "boss" before you screwed it up so bad. Although that's your job, and that's what you were hired to do, it isn't a fun thing to do.

Ian does deserve some thanks here for trying to turn Madden around into more of a game where the community is involved in it's development. Not just a game where the developers call all the shots on what "they" want to be included in next years game. He is getting feedback from us, on what we want, and he has to be comended for that.

# 276 brendanrfoley @ 08/28/08 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	This is where the second group are the guys that are in the wrong here. Ian was not on the 2009 team, he was not responsible for the problems that exist, but he IS fixing them. Why should he NOT be thanked for fixing something that wasn't his fault in the first place? If Ian is guilty of anything, it's putting faith in folks who hadn't earned it.

I agree 100%.

Look, now that the game is out, EA doesn't have to fix a thing if it doesn't want to. But Ian and the team are. That tells you that, despite what some may think, he is committed to creating a quality product.

And let the record show, I haven't had a single freeze or crash, and may not have realized it is as "big" an issue as it is.

# 277 hookedup4life31 @ 08/28/08 02:30 PM

Awesome, this year is going to be the year Madden gains it's respect back. You guys are right on a lot of issues and fixing them already. Any idea when the 53 man roster update will be out?

Also, a question. I was playing a friend online and we were in private chat. I used the direct snap glitch on him for one play to see his reaction (quite funny btw) and have never used it again online. Will my entire record be erased because of this? The guy I played against was Republican18 and I have more games against him so he's just not some random quick match guy I cheated or something.

Good stuff.

# 278 Behindshadows @ 08/28/08 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyingFinn


	EA is repsonsible for Madden and put out a buggy game. Ian works for EA plan and simple. Ian isn't fixing the game on his own time, he isn't paying his team out of his own pocket. EA is fixing the broken game they released, not Ian and EA should not be thanked for fixing a game they released broken. The only thing Ian should be thanked for is posting on these forums, answering questions and what not. On the other hand, praising him for doing his job seems a little bit out there.

My friend why are you so bitter! Either way the fix is there. Every company releases patches for things that were right before release.

I don't see why they should banged on, as if they are the only company that does it.

Fact is its getting fixed. Please just be happy!

Smile, nothing on this list made the game unplayable, but it did show errors in the system. Either way I hope it just improves what is already good. And what was wrong as well.

Thanks IAN and who ever else helped with the fixes.

# 279 supdog @ 08/28/08 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aBiNeR


	This is exciting news as it marks the first time EA Sports has patched their products (and console versions too which I knew was possible) with game-balancing/realism changes...even if it IS coming years later than it should have. It's still a win for EA Sports customers. If this s a sign of things to come, NHL'ers (myself included) may finally see the day where online hockey will not be some mysterious sport no one has ever heard of. However, Madden IS their #1 product so I still have my doubts if NHL will see the same attention. The way I see it, $60 is $60. Time will tell.

This is not the first time ea has patched madden or other ea sports titles but hopefully next year we will get a better madden out of the box.

# 280 bwiggy33 @ 08/28/08 04:06 PM

Well dang this is awesome news! I can't wait for this second patch. I really wanted to start my dynasty this week with the NFL season but I'm just gonna wait for the patch even though I know I wouldn't have to restart my dynasty. This honestly is the best next gen madden they've made thus far. I liked it out of the box so this game will just get better because of the patch and hopefully the dlc patch.

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Two Weeks of Madden 09, and Official Patch News!