Madden NFL 25 News Post

25 Days of Madden: The Vision Cone

04:29 PM - August 5, 2013 by RaychelSnr

Throughout the Madden franchises' history, there have been a lot of feature which were hotly debated.

Few generated quite the uproar that the vision cone did when it was implemented in Madden NFL 06. The 'QB Vision Control' feature was polarizing, with people on either side giving numerous reasons why the cone was or was not the game-changing feature the franchise required.

For those who don't remember, the vision cone featured a cone of light on the field of play which denoted the QB's vision of the field. Better QBs had a very wide cone, which covered most of the field. Worse QBs had very narrow cones, giving the better QBs a clear leg up in the game.

However, controlling the cone with the right stick while moving the QB with the left stick proved too much for some gamers. Others simply hated the look and/or implementation of the feature.

With such a polarizing presence, the vision cone was scrapped entirely with no attempts to revive it or anything similar within the series since it's disappearance.

Where did/do you stand on the vision cone debate? Should it make a reappearance as a required feature within the game?

Game: Madden NFL 25Reader Score: 5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 54 - View All

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Member Comments

# 21 Gorilla Glass @ 08/05/13 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misterkrabz


	So you'd rather play against Brady and Manning online where there is zero margin of error in the passing game (w/ robo QB passes that are 100% accurate all the time) as opposed to playing where there at least exist the chance of an errand pass (with the vision cone)? No "no cone" guys make no sense. Either way EA needs to implement a passing system that relies on the end user stick skill to complete a pass (of course made easier for QB's with good attributes).

Did you not read and understand my post?

# 22 fzbronco77 @ 08/05/13 10:16 PM

Took a while to get used to, but I thought it was realistic and I liked it after a couple of weeks.

I thought you could also turn it off, although i could be wrong about that. Its been awhile since I played it.

# 23 Caveman24 @ 08/05/13 10:21 PM

I loved it I think alot of people that didn't like it then would love it now. It would help so much with the abused slants,overpowered lead passing. I think the vision cone was WAY ahead of it's time IMHO.

# 24 drk3351 @ 08/05/13 10:34 PM

Some people love it, some people hate it, make it an option that can be turned on and off, it's that simple.

# 25 Dave58 @ 08/05/13 10:59 PM

We are 3 weeks away from this game coming out and on game play videos. NOT A GOOD SIGN

# 26 Dave58 @ 08/05/13 11:03 PM

Sorry no sign

# 27 Phreezy P @ 08/05/13 11:06 PM

I like it but I don't like how it looks, shouldn't darken the whole field. There should be some kind of outline though.

# 28 SageInfinite @ 08/05/13 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirs


	It seems like the people that hate it didn't realize you could hold R2 and hit the receiver icon twice. It was way too hard using the R analog.

Honestly that would be my favorite way to simulate having to look at a receiver. Tap the icon once to look at the specific receiver, press it again to throw. Add in realistic qb animations so the quarterback actually has to turn his head and body to throw to that receiver and I'm good. I hated the idea of steering a cone.

# 29 jwil06 @ 08/05/13 11:18 PM

This was the first Madden I truly played the entire year and I grew to love the cone. Wish they wouldn't have ditched it, passing is way too easy now.

# 30 acidraindrops08 @ 08/05/13 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armor & Sword


	Never purchased Madden 2006. Because of this feature. Not a fan.

You could have just turned it off? Lol

# 31 dat boi Q @ 08/06/13 12:03 AM

How could you hate the only feature madden ever made that separated good qbs from bad ones.
Guess everyone isn't as sim as they say they are.
And most just hated it because they wasn't good at it.

# 32 coachmac75 @ 08/06/13 12:23 AM

In 2006 QB did not have three accuracy (short, medium, deep) and a single THA skill. Then Cone was an awesome improvement or realism/sim in the fact that it was creating a REAL difference between Peyton Manning or Tom Brady versus other QB to represent their AWR (because the size of the cone was driven by the AWR skill).

It was making full/total sense for people playing online in a franchise mode for multiple season because then it made sense to invest a lot of cap space for Manning or Brady (QB not mobile but with high awr). It was an incredible improvement. Before the cone some below average QB could lead their team to SB (I played a bowl with Josh McCown as QB).

When it was removed (for the change of engine) then the three accuracies (short, med, deep) were introduced to separate QB. The cone then was not anymore really needed even if I think it would still make sense from a strict sim style standpoint.

Regardless of opinions (pro or cons) the cone was a revolution and an important change to the game.

That are my 2 cents

# 33 tril @ 08/06/13 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	This makes sense but it's not necessary for some innovative feature to passing. By now, what you are referring to should be inherently integrated into the passing game. Although one button passing icons are old hat, they could still be realistic IF the in-game player went through the necessary motions when that one button was pressed. For example, if Payton Manning is inherently going through his progressions on a play and the User input was integrated into that, that would make the passing game organic and QBs inherently different. However, there is this mindset around Tiburon football video games that believes that is tantamount to watching, not playing. The whole notion that Vision Cone was ever intended to be "sim" is not true, imo, it was just a meant to be a way to have the AWR rating matter for User control, ie stick skill. It was never about differentiating in-game QBs but differentiating User skill set. Gamers that expect a realistic football video game fool ourselves when we see features like "QB Vision", "throw a receiver open", "total control passing", "no huddle/hurry up", "preplay adjustments", etc added to Tiburon football games, into thinking they are being added for football realism, when that's NEVER the priority, which leaves us baffled at the implementation. However, if we take a step back and realize that regardless of the features moniker realism is NOT the priority, User control is, then their implementation makes way more sense.

good points. I think that's what most sim users want is user control implemented along with player ratings/attributes.
A perfect example of this, (and its been mentioned in this thread) is the shot stick in the NBA2k series and the different pitching options in MLB the SHOW. and the MLB2k series.

QB control, by now should have progressed to this point by now.. several other football games had some innovative qb mechanics/controls that the Madden developers should have looked into.
The vision cone was a good concept, and if they stuck with it probably would have been refined by now.

I agree with folks who say that qb'ing in Madden is not organic enough. we should be beyond just pressing a button.

The passing feature in NCAA 14 is a step in the right direction. the lead passing along with taking control of the receivers is nicely implemented, but has been done before, and done much more effectively in other football titles. APF2k8 (advanced passing), Backbreaker, as well as NFL Fever had good passing mechanics

# 34 Keys99 @ 08/06/13 12:51 AM

Personally I liked the vision cone, it made the game realistic. It took some time getting used to, but once I did the passing game felt authentic. Back then a lot of my friends played with M.Vick so they hated it, b/c you couldn't throw accurate passes in any direction. They should have kept improving it, or just made it optional, but they scrapped it cause the online community complained.

# 35 Lukin4 @ 08/06/13 01:44 AM

Best feature ever... Added realism on both sides of the ball

# 36 ggsimmonds @ 08/06/13 02:07 AM

I loved it. It is interesting to me that now so many people scream for a greater challenge, more sim gameplay, and greater differences between the QBs when the vision cone did all this and it was widely hated.

After they removed the cone it was back to making Kyle Boller a pro bowl QB.

# 37 The JareBear @ 08/06/13 02:40 AM

It needs this or a throwing meter.

# 38 Tweeg @ 08/06/13 03:45 AM

Loooovvvvedd the cone!

# 39 kongemeier @ 08/06/13 04:00 AM

I would like it back as an OPTION! Currently with default sliders there are almost no difference between elite QBs and scrubs...

# 40 SkillzKillz719 @ 08/06/13 04:21 AM

I honestly loved it but you can tell by this small sample size that it was indeed very polarizing.

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