Madden NFL 13 News Post

Madden NFL 13 Team Focuses on Making Defense Fun Again, What Do You Hope to See?

03:01 PM - February 21, 2012 by Gotmadskillzson

GameInformer recently sat down with Richard Hilleman, Electronic Arts Chief Creative Officer, as they discuss Madden NFL 13's focus on making defense fun again.

What are you hoping to see on the defensive side of the ball?

Quote:


	Electronic Arts chief creative officer Richard Hilleman says the new leadership group at EA Tiburon is focused on making defense fun again. Hilleman is no stranger to the Madden franchise, having designed the original game alongside Scott Orr and John Madden back in 1988. When I sat down with him at DICE, one of the big questions on my mind was what fans should expect from Madden NFL 13 given the large turnover at the top of the development team. Hilleman seems optimistic. "They are doing big things this year," he said. "They're making big changes. Those are big changes that are going to break a lot of stuff, and they know that. What we're after is a better defense that's more fun to play." The defensive side of the football has been long overdue for a revamp. The last major change to the defensive controls came in Madden NFL 05 with the introduction of the hit stick. Hopefully this retooling will also address the poor awareness demonstrated by the secondary in last year's game and mark the return of true gang tackling. If the new approach to defense was developed by EA Tiburon's shared technology group, there is a chance these features could extend over to NCAA Football as well.

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Member Comments

# 1 roadman @ 02/21/12 03:08 PM

Sounds good.

# 2 BezO @ 02/21/12 03:22 PM

Nice to hear but without specifics, it sounds no different than years past... the game in general, not necessarily defense.

# 3 illwill10 @ 02/21/12 03:26 PM

Good to hear. But changes to offense will help defense too.
Wr/DB and OL/DL interaction, tackling, and Player Awareness needs to be fixed to make defense more fun. Players need to have a mind of their own.

# 4 Patscanes @ 02/21/12 03:27 PM

Does this mean the 3-4 defense will be fixed? I hope so

# 5 kjcheezhead @ 02/21/12 03:43 PM

Quote:


	The Madden engine is an acquired taste that requires specific knowledge.

He's EA's chief creative officer. Someone needs to tell this guy Madden doesn't have an "engine".

# 6 LambertandHam @ 02/21/12 03:53 PM

Quote:


	"They are doing big things this year," he said. "They're making big changes. Those are big changes that are going to break a lot of stuff, and they know that. What we're after is a better defense that's more fun to play."

Hopefully before the final product ships.

I kid, I kid. Would be nice to see some more CB vs WR interaction and fighting for the ball.

# 7 DJ @ 02/21/12 04:26 PM

I really hope they add in the NCAA Player-Lock camera for defense this year.

# 8 m1ke_nyc @ 02/21/12 05:36 PM

sounds good but offense needs to be touched just as bad. I seriously hope they fix the terrible ball trajectory, and make WRs attack the ball instead of playing a animation hoping the ball falls into their hands.

# 9 iAM-IncReDiBLe- @ 02/21/12 05:36 PM

Sounds good.

What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs.....

Sent from Jesus EVO

# 10 N51_rob @ 02/21/12 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iAM-IncReDiBLe-


	Sounds good. What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs..... Sent from Jesus EVO

QFT.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

# 11 Danimal @ 02/21/12 05:55 PM

If there are two more telling statements then these online I would love to see them.

Quote:


	The Madden engine is an acquired taste that requires specific knowledge. We go through that all the time � I get phone calls I still shouldn't get as far as I'm concerned.

Quote:


	What I like about the new team is that they haven't accepted any of the conventional wisdom about the product. I found that when I went down there a lot and talked about change I wanted to see in the product, I was considered a raving lunatic because I advocated more change than almost anybody else did.

# 12 Greene_Flash03 @ 02/21/12 06:10 PM

Pass interference.

# 13 rudyjuly2 @ 02/21/12 06:11 PM

Improved player physics alone will make defense more fun, particularly when playing as a DB which I have found very frustrating this gne. Better DL play with specific controls for types of moves would be nice. The engage/disengage battle is pretty bland.

# 14 bobtrain @ 02/21/12 06:14 PM

Defense????? Wait.... Aren't there already a million turnovers a game. When they say work on the defense I hope they mean better defense AI so offense can be fun again. No more Safteys jumping streak routes and jumping 5 feet. No Super Human LB's. Oh and the dreaded CB's with eyes in the back of their heads. Com'on EA. Bring us a real sim game again.

# 15 bobtrain @ 02/21/12 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greene_Flash03


	Pass interference.

wait, pass interference is in the game. What about intentional grounding. Giants got 2 points in the biggest game of the year of that penalty. And late hits? There aren't penalties in madden. Com'on man.

# 16 bobtrain @ 02/21/12 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iAM-IncReDiBLe-


	Sounds good. What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs..... Sent from Jesus EVO

ahmen brother. The entire game is broken, but EA will focus on defense and make offense even worse.

# 17 stiffarmleft @ 02/21/12 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iAM-IncReDiBLe-


	Sounds good. What they need to focus on is the passing game. You can't throw to a WR before he makes his cut because the cb will either pick it off or your QB throws it some place crazy. It's hard to drop a pass in over a defender because they jump up an pick it off all the time, especially LBs..... Sent from Jesus EVO

I agree, if they are going to focus on one aspect, the passing game as a whole is it, offensively and defensively. Not being able to throw before the receiver makes his break is a game killer for me. Several people said that it was possible in 2011 but based on the demo it was the same as it's ever been. If they could rip one thing out of 2k5/2k8 and put into madden it would be the passing game, from the way the pocket formed to the 3,5,7 step drops, the way the ball was released (it looked like it actually left the quarterback's hand), the way the receiver made their breaks, ball trajectory, scambling, proper mechanics, it was great.

# 18 at23steelers @ 02/21/12 06:26 PM

If he means exciting, then we need a different camera view, specifically the one in NCAA. We need LB's to not be super-human, CB's to not mirror routes before WR even performs it, pass interference, defensive holding, and defenseless WR all to be called and realistic.

# 19 bigsmallwood @ 02/21/12 06:33 PM

I LOVE playing defense and hope they revamp it in a marvelous manner.

# 20 rooney8 @ 02/21/12 06:34 PM

I still don't understand why they have to focus on anything, resources I guess. I don't like when they focus on something in 2005 and then again in 2012. Just makes an imbalanced game. Still glad to hear it's defense. Hope they get creative with it.

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Madden NFL 13 Team Focuses on Making Defense Fun Again, What Do You Hope to See?