Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Concussions Rare, No Defensive Suspensions, Not Based on Hit Stick

01:04 AM - May 6, 2011 by Steve_OS

ESPN's Jon Robinson and Madden NFL 12 Producer, Phil Frazier cleared the air on the specifics of the new Madden NFL 12 concussion system.

Quote:


	"We're treating the injury more in line to how they do in the NFL," Frazier explained as we played an early build of the game. "It's not based on the Hit Stick, though. It's based on the area of the collision. So you have to actually hit a guy in the head as part of a tackle for it to even be considered for a concussion, but causing a concussion in the game is rare. "I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but there were over 25,000 plays called last season in the NFL, and out of all those plays there were only about 200 concussions. So in "Madden," on any play, there is a .59 percent chance of a concussion happening. It's a very rare injury and it will be rare in the game." Frazier also said that defenders will not be suspended in franchise mode for causing too many of these hits as gamers can't aim their tackles specifically at their opponent's head. "We don't have a mechanic in the game that causes a concussion," added Frazier. "There's nothing you can do to increase the likelihood of a concussion. We're not going there."

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Member Comments

# 1 iva-chargers-fan @ 05/06/11 02:27 AM

Nice to see you guys are making inuries realer

# 2 ven0m43 @ 05/06/11 02:56 AM

I just hate when i go through multiple season and everyone on my team is healthy. I hope they fix it so there are more injures and my team is not injury free season after season.

# 3 Double C @ 05/06/11 06:25 AM

It would have been awesome if they had put flags and suspensions for helmet to helmet hits.

# 4 Step2001 @ 05/06/11 08:46 AM

I have questions about a player getting a concussion and how it affects him for the rest of his career in Madden. Will the "Wear & Tear Injury System be used in Madden 12? A Yes answer scratches rest of questions.

# 5 HeavyHitter55 @ 05/06/11 08:52 AM

0.59% chance of having a concussion happen I can understand, but I have a feeling that concussions are going to appear to be too rare. The article says that 200 concussions occurred out of over 25,000 plays, yet 200 concussions means nearly 12 a week (regular season) or 10 a week (regular season and playoffs). So I only hope that the 0.59% likelihood plays out to those kinds of numbers week to week.

# 6 extremeskins04 @ 05/06/11 10:00 AM

There's an aggression rating for each player right? If not there should be because it would be nice to see a player with a high aggression rating sometimes go for helmet to helmet hits or do some other lethal hits and get penalized for it.

Then maybe have the league fine the player the following week for the hit. Would just be more realism for the game. People will probably disagree though.

# 7 mjhyankees @ 05/06/11 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extremeskins04


	There's an aggression rating for each player right? If not there should be because it would be nice to see a player with a high aggression rating sometimes go for helmet to helmet hits or do some other lethal hits and get penalized for it. Then maybe have the league fine the player the following week for the hit. Would just be more realism for the game. People will probably disagree though.

I don't disagree, just wouldn't add that much to the game for me. Although the idea of players being suspended for policy violations (substance abuse, dwi etc.) would be intriguing. Imagine losing your QB the day before the superbowl because he tested positive for a banned substance? Ah, on second thought, never mind.

# 8 berad88 @ 05/06/11 11:11 AM

For some wierd reason I think suspensions would of been cool. Glad to see the user has no control of it. That would of been stupid and I think most helmet to helmet contact is accidental anyhow.

# 9 D-Hiatus @ 05/06/11 11:15 AM

I like this addition....definitely moving towards a more realistic aspect. Good thing that concussions aren't triggered by the user! Folks would be filling up the IR! But yea definite thumbs up for this addition!

# 10 blklightning @ 05/06/11 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ven0m43


	I just hate when i go through multiple season and everyone on my team is healthy. I hope they fix it so there are more injures and my team is not injury free season after season.

true. that's been the case since i began playing madden with madden '03. which is sad when you type it out loud.

# 11 falconfansince81 @ 05/06/11 12:26 PM

i am relieved to see him make note on the ratio of plays to concussions so it doesn't become the broken collarbone or M12.

# 12 khaliib @ 05/06/11 12:28 PM

The part I don't like is that there is a forced limitation on the Tackling/Hit Stick.

That means that to avoid head-to-to head etc.., they've programmed the tackling to decide for us.
The question is when and what instance will the AI take over the tackling? And how often?

This is a Major problem because the history of EA's AI is not good.
Especially in their Football Series (NFL, College)

Skynet has killed their games, and just as they start to make strides, they program to limit the occurances.
This means that we can expect to see alot of force fields/warping to force this piece of code/animation to play.

Madden/NCAA has always been "TOO" restrictive as it is.
So if they have to program to take control from the gamer, I would rather they not inject it into the game at all.

Another forced gamer limitation with "Player Interaction" is not good no matter how they try and spin it.

# 13 mjhyankees @ 05/06/11 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blklightning


	true. that's been the case since i began playing madden with madden '03. which is sad when you type it out loud.

You could fix this with sliders. I had to up mine from default to get realistic injuries. But QB's never get hurt for any period of time unless you sim the game.

# 14 da ThRONe @ 05/06/11 03:23 PM

I really don't understand the NFL trying to control everything in Madden so tightly some times.

# 15 ThisIsReality @ 05/06/11 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by da ThRONe


	I really don't understand the NFL trying to control everything in Madden so tightly some times.

That's exclusive licenses for ya.

# 16 BezO @ 05/06/11 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThisIsReality


	That's ~~exclusive~~ licenses for ya.

Fixed it for you.

# 17 havokeff @ 05/08/11 11:39 AM

If the NFL and Madden wanted to actually enforce in the people playing their game, the seriousness of concussions, they not only would have left them in, but made them a risk factor in using the hit stick.

See how much players go for helmet to helmet hits after they lose Ed Reed to suspension for over half their season.

How much would players go for a hit stick if the there was an actual risk system in place.

First attempted hit, gets a penalty, then an ejection. Then the 'player' gets fined and some of his skills diminish because of 'the player' not wanting to get fined again, or worrying about it too much. Say awareness drops, tackling, hit power. So James Harrison, even before suspension, is nerfed into an average linebacker because the human player won't stop going for the big hit. Then suspension.

And don't give me the excuse that human players will just use average defensive players to deliver the big hit and not care, because the average 'players' won't have the skills to deliver that big blow.

That would be a well thought out system that would satisfy, not only the players by adding realism to the game, but the NFL by forcing the negative side of concussions onto all the future (and current) generations of football players that will undoubtedly continue to play Madden or whatever video game football there is.

# 18 USF11 @ 05/08/11 12:13 PM

That 200 number has to be wrong.

25,000 plays 22 players per play = 550,000 possibles

I just don't buy that at all.

# 19 Antec @ 05/09/11 02:34 PM

I don't see what isn't to be believed. They likely grabbed the exact number of concussions reported on the injury report. There is no reason to lie about it. They obviously can't get the number of unreported concussions.

There were not 550,000 opportunities to get a concussion. Not every play leads to a chance to be concussed for all 22 players. If a QB rolls out and throws it away on a play in which there was no press coverage then the only players making any contact are the O-Line & D-Line. There are many more examples of plays where not many players see any contact, let alone hard concussion causing contact.

The numbers add up. The .59% is the percentage that an individual play results in a concussion, not an individual player. Their numbers were not exacts. ("over" 25000 plays, "about" 200 concussions)

If exactly 25,000 plays were ran at a .59% chance of a play resulting in a player receiving a concussion then there would be 147.5 concussions.

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Madden NFL 12 Concussions Rare, No Defensive Suspensions, Not Based on Hit Stick