Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Super Bowl Halftime Blog: Tuner Sets and Surprise Onside Kicks

09:00 PM - February 6, 2011 by Steve_OS

The Madden NFL 12 Super Bowl Halftime blog is online. Tuner sets and surprise onside kicks are in.

Quote:


	""Tuner Sets", introduced in the NHL series and brought into NCAA Football last year, are hugely important to the development of sports games in that they allow us to tune and tweak many existing parts of game code without the major delay that comes from a full title update requiring 1st party console manufacturer approvals. A quick addition to my hacked surprise onside kick code made this feature easily tunable post-ship, and thus much safer against any exploits that may crop up. This isn't the only thing in the tuner sets obviously...we are in the process of moving as many items into these as possible, from gameplay tuning to franchise data to even presentation aspects. We are excited to the possibilities this will open up to our fans in being able to provide live feedback and having us act on it in near real-time. The days of shipping a disc in a box and forgetting about it are long gone, and we want to be at the forefront of blazing new trails in reacting to our audience and improving the game quickly."

Read the entire blog right here, along with a short video showing off the new surprise onside kick, in action.

UPDATE: The podcast is now on iTunes, for those that couldn't listen to it, via the blog.

EDIT: Per Ian Cummings

Quote:


	"RE: surprise onside, you pick a normal kickoff, then hit the B (or Circle) button as the last press on the meter. Your opponent has no clue!"

UPDATE #2: Via Ian

Quote:


	"Since so many people have asked...surprise onside as of today is only allowed 2x per team per game. That value is also in the tuner set."

Game: Madden NFL 12Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 44 - View All

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Member Comments

# 41 ryan36 @ 02/06/11 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaW97


	can someone explain what is the difference between tuner sets and the sliders we normally tweak

Tuner sets address game AI in specific ways. They can fix the level lower than the sliders... they can readjust the slider ratio

# 42 ryan36 @ 02/06/11 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Line


	ok then, someone wake me up in six months when all the info is already released. im not going to sit here and pretend that this was news worthy

feel free to visit the forum anytime... cya in 6 months.

# 43 kehlis @ 02/06/11 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Line


	ok then, someone wake me up in six months when all the info is already released. im not going to sit here and pretend that this was news worthy

For someone who isn't interested you have posted in this thread quite a bit...

# 44 RedZoneD25 @ 02/06/11 09:52 PM

Anyone notice the NBA2k11 font in the tuner set pic? I am beginning to think EA is taking a more professional approach to the format and layout of the game. I would love it if they'd ditch the still image backgrounds and the big bold capital letter "EA" font on every screen.

Just an observation.

# 45 Brandwin @ 02/06/11 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach_III


	Thanks for making online unplayable

My feelings as well. I can see the onside kicks being abused online. I don't like it one bit.

Sent from my iPhone while on the toilet.

# 46 poopie @ 02/06/11 09:57 PM

still no player interactions guy recovers the ball and everybody walks away clapping as if they dont even know each other, not very true to the game and player movement is still robotic

# 47 Ian_Cummings @ 02/06/11 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Line


	sadly im more interested in what the fans have to say then Ian...

That's a weird statement.

What exactly did you expect out of the blog btw? I thought we were pretty clear with every post that expectations should be set accordingly given the time frame.

# 48 Ian_Cummings @ 02/06/11 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon


	My feelings as well. I can see the onside kicks being abused online. I don't like it one bit. Sent from my iPhone while on the toilet.

I don't get this. Did you guys read the blog? That concern is specifically addressed numerous times.

# 49 RedZoneD25 @ 02/06/11 09:59 PM

"We want to be 100% recognized as a leader in the sports genre again, and the only way to do that is to improve the game across all major aspects."

THANK YOU! I'll be honest, I don't recall seeing that in the previous SB blogs. That line literally made me do a silent fist pump.

Edit: I really like the humility of saying "again", in a roundabout way it shows you realize a lot of people don't necessarily view Madden as "the" sports game anymore. Humility breeds success.

I remember when you were an agent in my Madden 07 Superstar Mode. That's the stuff I'm talking about.

# 50 Ian_Cummings @ 02/06/11 09:59 PM

Glad to see some of you guys dug it though...it's obviously extremely early so I'm happy to release one so called "fluff" feature and one important feature.

# 51 Boling4Humor @ 02/06/11 09:59 PM

I like the info that was released. If you think about it, Ian and Co are just telling us the SMALL parts they added into the game...some of you guys need to understand that. The BIG pieces of info that we want will come later.

If you think about it too, this "small" addition they made is actually a huge game changer when you're playing someone. That's insane! I can't wait for more info on the game.

Wait for your cake to be baked before you eat it people.

# 52 raz77 @ 02/06/11 10:03 PM

After last year though. . .I'll just say I'm not too keen to get hyped for the upcoming big features and then see something like gameflow staring me in the face a month or two from release.

# 53 Dog @ 02/06/11 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA


	Glad to see some of you guys dug it though...it's obviously extremely early so I'm happy to release one so called "fluff" feature and one important feature.

I think it was solid info. Not too much, not too little

# 54 jwmcards @ 02/06/11 10:08 PM

Blog was what I expected. I'm a big franchise guy, but I know Ian wasn't mentioning that yet, which I'm fine with. Honestly, I'll be waist deep in MLB 11 before long, so I can wait on Madden. Tuners are a nice touch. I thought they were a great addition to NCAA, which I think is pretty much the best "next gen" football game we have so far. I've enjoyed playing Madden, but overall I'd say NCAA has gotten about 70% of my football time this year.

Looking forward to seeing what comes in the next few months. Thanks for the update Ian.

By the way Ian.....Like the Madden Punching Bag. Actually started laughing about that.

# 55 RedZoneD25 @ 02/06/11 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shyvoodoo


	On the kickoff, anyone notice the broadcast cam angle??? Looks to be closer to the field and more "TV" like... Ben Voodoo

I did. Also love the new score bug. It looks more legitimate.

# 56 iAM-IncReDiBLe- @ 02/06/11 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA


	Glad to see some of you guys dug it though...it's obviously extremely early so I'm happy to release one so called "fluff" feature and one important feature.

Yea I don't see why people expected a big feature to be announced. I like the blog and can't wait for the next one. Good Luck with madden 12

# 57 Eski33 @ 02/06/11 10:18 PM

Surprise onside kicks? WOW! Something that Ian was questioned about and he was pretty set on not implementing it because of the potential of online abuse...Nice to see...

# 58 JDoze @ 02/06/11 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	my concern is that Ian posed a poll...would you rather fix play action, or have surprise onside kicks.... If PA stays broken, that sucks.

Seriously?? They know PA is broken, but we have to decide between if it gets fixed or if a new feature gets added. Wow, priorities are messed up.

Also, why are people saying "from a marketing standpoint"? Because the competition might still their ideas? Its still the same terrible engine, if the most they can do is polish up the graphics and add new "features" like a surprise onside.....another bad year for Madden.

# 59 phant030 @ 02/06/11 10:21 PM

lol @ people's reaction to the information and expectations of the information. As each day passes in life, i realize I much more I don't understand people. Especially here, they knowingly set themselves up for disappointment and frustration. Oh well,

@ your stupidity.

I will probably rarely use the onside kick, glad to see it's included.

# 60 PVarck31 @ 02/06/11 10:21 PM

No game ever releases large amounts of info/features, 6 months before release.

Its ok to be critical of Madden. It helps make the game better. But to be livid that you didn't get more/better info in a blog that they didn't even have to do, 6 months before release is ridiculous.

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Madden NFL 12 Super Bowl Halftime Blog: Tuner Sets and Surprise Onside Kicks