Madden 2010 News Post

Madden NFL 10 Blog - Improvements to QB Position

07:54 PM - February 23, 2009 by Ian_Cummings

Check out the new Madden NFL 10 blog, which talks about improvements to the QB position.

Quote:


	"I'm back again folks, bringing you some more additions and improvements that you can expect to see in Madden NFL 10. This week, I'm going to focus primarily on the QB position and show some of the improvements we've made for this year. First off, I'm going to talk about a new animation technology that we can call "layered blending". Layered Blending "Layered blending? I thought you were going to talk about quarterbacks?" You'll see shortly how this works for QB's. First, a quick lesson on what blending is. Anytime a player transitions from one animation to another, he will use a 'blend' of his previous animation into the next animation. When you don't have a nice smooth blend, you'll get poppy / hitching animations. If you make blends that are too long, you can easily not have the correct amount of control over your player (he can feel very 'sluggish' or unresponsive). The most common types of blends are linear, ease in, and ease out. Those just refer to how many frames of either the previous or current animation you use while blending. For Madden NFL 10 though, we've added something new - the ability to actually separate the blends out between different parts of the body. We call this layered blending because it allows us to create different layered animation by blending one part of the body out quicker or slower based on the needs of the game. So how does it relate to QB's? Well, how often has this happened to you?"

Game: Madden NFL 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 76 - View All

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Member Comments

# 181 SeaNNyT @ 02/25/09 07:55 AM

Hopefully along with this, QB dropback animations will be much improved, along with fixes to the stiffness they seem to have in the upperbody.

# 182 BezO @ 02/25/09 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	The sim factor came in that you could read the QB's eyes and the QB could "look off" defenders. The QB also had to "look" at his receivers before he threw the ball instead of just chucking the ball up. I understand that some may say it's a gimmick and that's fine. That's your opinion. In my eyes though, there is no other way to accurately reproduce watching the QB's eyes than some kind of cone. Maybe it could be refined, well I know it could be refined to be less intrusive but ultimately there would have to be some kind of cone there.

Amongst my friends, the method didn't amount to more than the user holding the trigger, scanning the field no differently than we did in the past, then double tapping the appropriate pass button. The extra .2 seconds it took to double tap the buttong eliminated the effect on the QB and none of us ever felt looked off. The cone was meaningless.

And I disagree that a cone is necessary. My suggestion here is very similar. It's at least cleaner and it can stop the user from overcoming the effect on the QB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	This is always the ultimate debate among Madden gamers. Some say it's a gimmick and some say it's sim. I can understand why some may not like it because of the way it was implemented before, but I don't understand why some would call it a gimmick. According to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimmick "In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something "stand out" from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature. " How can you say the cone is of no use or relevance? You all may not like it, but it is far from a gimmick. I would be interested in seeing a poll asking who's for/against the vision cone. Either way, I know the results would be closer than the poll asking about keeping/removing lead blocker control. lol

I didn't mean to imply I thought it was a gimmick. I just felt it was ugly & uneffective.

# 183 nexdawg @ 02/25/09 03:59 PM

I having been saying this since the 1st day they announced the PA feature the best thing is QB progressions. Having to look at a wideout before you can throw to him. Its not Peyton Manning vision that separate him from JaMarcus Russell(who has a better arm) its his ability to process information quicker that makes him a better QB. If you make it so you have to change the direction your looking in it'll challenge both players and cpu to read the defenses pre and post snap. And the player cone didnt capture that so it wasnt sim. Every player talks about the speed of the game but it is the info they gain through experience that slows the game down not laser surgery to improve there eye sites LOL. The cone thing was a bad idea and should never make it back

# 184 Titan105 @ 02/26/09 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	I love it...absolutely love it. Ian- Some QB's throw better on the run like Jeff Garcia, Mike Vick etc...will you accont for these types of athletes?

Will Mike Vick be in the game?? Will NFL ever let him back in???

# 185 raidersbball20 @ 02/26/09 12:07 AM

this is amazing I can't wait for madden 10

# 186 Hawaii_Stars @ 02/26/09 01:08 AM

I wonder how the new ratings can improve or fall. Do we have to complete more deep passes for the deep pass accuracy to improve? It will be interesting to see how they determine those ratings raising and falling.

# 187 Altohombre @ 02/27/09 01:16 AM

why not consult real nfl scouts or John Madden himself to figure out accurate ratings for players. It would take some time to do, but the ratings would be a lot more accurate than just a bunch of programers guessing based on stats.

# 188 rudyjuly2 @ 02/27/09 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Altohombre


	why not consult real nfl scouts or John Madden himself to figure out accurate ratings for players. It would take some time to do, but the ratings would be a lot more accurate than just a bunch of programers guessing based on stats.

No way John Madden knows the ratings of every player and what is necessary to program a video game. He's a figure head and nothing more. He has probably never even played a game of Madden.

There aren't just programmers guessing based on stats. These guys are football people. EA hires specific guy(s) for rosters whose knowledge of the sport would rival anyone on this board. Nobody's perfect and everyone will disagree on the value of certain players which will always result in arguments no matter who does them.

# 189 NYyankz225 @ 02/27/09 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	No way John Madden knows the ratings of every player and what is necessary to program a video game. He's a figure head and nothing more. He has probably never even played a game of Madden. There aren't just programmers guessing based on stats. These guys are football people. EA hires specific guy(s) for rosters whose knowledge of the sport would rival anyone on this board. Nobody's perfect and everyone will disagree on the value of certain players which will always result in arguments no matter who does them.

You are very wrong my friend. He used to have to OK the earlier maddens and pushed to have a lot of features to make it more like the real thing. Of course now I don't think he has any input because it's turned into a massive project with a huge budget, but in the beginning when it was small time he did.

# 190 nexdawg @ 02/27/09 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYyankz225


	You are very wrong my friend. He used to have to OK the earlier maddens and pushed to have a lot of features to make it more like the real thing. Of course now I don't think he has any input because it's turned into a massive project with a huge budget, but in the beginning when it was small time he did.

Either way its a bad idea to get Madden to do that!

# 191 NYyankz225 @ 02/27/09 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexdawg


	Either way its a bad idea to get Madden to do that!

I think Madden is great but I agree. But he probably would've fought to give Brett Favre a 200 since he thought he was better than two other players put together.

# 192 davep @ 03/01/09 01:07 PM

the pc version has always had something very similar to this which I totally dug. The higher the awareness rating, the higher probability the qb would get the throw off (not necessarily to the receiver though).

If they improved the graphics and presentation, and tweaked the DB AWR, I'd buy the pc version on the spot. One of the best games ever made....and I still play it.

# 193 JAYMO76 @ 03/01/09 03:15 PM

This sounds good but I really hope we don't see an impossible passing game for 2010. When something is too easy one year it becomes reallt hard the next year. We have seen EA do this many times (just look at passing in 08 versus 09).

# 194 LBzrule @ 03/01/09 05:07 PM

Ian if you can answer this it would help as well. In addition to the QB changes on the ratings front, have you guys also worked on the drop back animations? Also are certain drop backs tied to plays, 3, 5, 7 step drops?

# 195 adembroski @ 03/01/09 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LBzrule


	Ian if you can answer this it would help as well. In addition to the QB changes on the ratings front, have you guys also worked on the drop back animations? Also are certain drop backs tied to plays, 3, 5, 7 step drops?

1 step, 3 steps, 5 quick, 5 big, 7 quick, 7 big, and 9 steps.

# 196 MrDhWhat @ 03/03/09 02:00 PM

This Change will give more of a realistic feel and look.

# 197 scalise89 @ 03/03/09 05:58 PM

I just thought of this idea....I think the makers of Madden should use ESPN, obviously, but also put in NBC and CBS since the games are played on those stations as well... HOWEVER, for whatever station your game is playing on, you should have a completely different Presentation, even commentators coudl be different for each station (idk how likely that is, but its a great idea)....also, for the superbowl or monday night games or just big games, have different presentation, have the commentators and fans and everything actually know whats going on instead of having the same OLD REPEATATIVE presentation, it makes the game get boring, we need CHANGE in the PRESENTATION!

# 198 Deaftone2002 @ 03/24/09 05:20 PM

Why can't I see the whole blog?

# 199 wordtobigbird @ 03/24/09 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	1 step, 3 steps, 5 quick, 5 big, 7 quick, 7 big, and 9 steps.

9 steps? Never heard that, seems reallly long.

# 200 g2thecore @ 03/24/09 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wordtobigbird


	9 steps? Never heard that, seems reallly long.

That's gotta be on deep deep routes....i.e Hail Mary plays I'm guessing...Correct me if I'm wrong Adem.

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