Endgadget posted a video showing off CoachGlass during a play session of Madden NFL 25. This video also offers some of our first glimpses of next-gen gameplay video. [YouTube]
It is not possible that the entire team worked on Ignite for 2yrs. Not possible. Tiburon is not the only studio using it, nor the only one developing it. Even DICE had a hand in shaping Ignite.
Unless the next gen team is actually tiny, no one can convince me that they just worked on Ignite and that's all.
As Greg Kelly would say, "What else!"
I really think its a matter of the execs saying dont you dare touch the core gameplay. So the designers say ok what can we improve. So we get graphical advances and small additions (coach glass)that slightly impact the way we play the game only if we use them, but don't really change anything to the core gameplay and if you choose not to use them you are playing the exact same game. That to me is the definition of a fluff addition, if you can completly ignore it and get the same experience.
That being said, what I come back to is the one thing they havent done that would not change core gameplay at all. PRESENTATION. Why Madden does not look exactly like a game on Sunday I will never understand. Camera angles look nothing lke a broadcast. Cut scenes jar you out of the game. Barely any stat overlays or camera wipes. Cut scenes do not belong in sports games PERIOD. Yet Madden is filled with them and from what we have seen from next gen it will be again. For the life of me I just cant understand what the reasoning is for not having a halftime and weekly wrap up show that even comes close to what 2k5 had. That just flat out blows my mind and I could not even guess the logic for them not having it in Madden other than they couldnt find a way to get it in under current gen system contstraints (whoops dont have that excuse anymore).
I really think its a matter of the execs saying dont you dare touch the core gameplay. So the designers say ok what can we improve. So we get graphical advances and small additions (coach glass)that slightly impact the way we play the game only if we use them, but don't really change anything to the core gameplay and if you choose not to use them you are playing the exact same game. That to me is the definition of a fluff addition, if you can completly ignore it and get the same experience.
That being said, what I come back to is the one thing they havent done that would not change core gameplay at all. PRESENTATION. Why Madden does not look exactly like a game on Sunday I will never understand. Camera angles look nothing lke a broadcast. Cut scenes jar you out of the game. Barely any stat overlays or camera wipes. Cut scenes do not belong in sports games PERIOD. Yet Madden is filled with them and from what we have seen from next gen it will be again. For the life of me I just cant understand what the reasoning is for not having a halftime and weekly wrap up show that even comes close to what 2k5 had. That just flat out blows my mind and I could not even guess the logic for them not having it in Madden other than they couldnt find a way to get it in under current gen system contstraints (whoops dont have that excuse anymore).
Man, either they don't know how to, don't want to, or just don't care. EA has been trying to push their shoddy, in home presentation on us for awhile, and with these new consoles, it shouldn't be that way.
Give us what we want, REAL TIME PRESENTATION elements of what we see every week on TV. It's disturbing that they know it's what we want, but keep giving us the middle finger.
Man, either they don't know how to, don't want to, or just don't care. EA has been trying to push their shoddy, in home presentation on us for awhile, and with these new consoles, it shouldn't be that way.
Give us what we want, REAL TIME PRESENTATION elements of what we see every week on TV. It's disturbing that they know it's what we want, but keep giving us the middle finger.
It just doesnt make sense to me. When The Show put in True Broadcast people went nuts for it. To me its one of the more revolutionary things a game company has done with their game and was the foundation for The Show becoming one of if not he best sports video games ever. This has to have come up in a Madden planning meeting. If you do this for a living how does this come up and they just look at each other and go, "Nope, we dont need that fans like it better when players do a prerendered salsa dance by theselves in the endzone with no one else around." Its mind boggling. I can understand if noone had ever done it before but the blueprint is right there. And is it just a matter of pride and not straight up copying what 2k5 did because it wasn't their idea. Who cares, these other people set the standards in certain aspects in the sports gaming world. Get over yourself and straight up copy what worked maybe improve it a bit and fans will love you for it.
I understand the wait and see more gameplay because we haven't seen much. But on the other hand I also think it's just that people are in denial. From the gameplay we have seen so far it looks like the same game we play on current gen. Take the ESPN video for example. If they had not said it was next gen then nobody would have ever gave it a second thought. It would have been assumed it was current gen. Because the gameplay looked exactly the same and the graphics weren't a huge step up. Bad encoding or not it didn't change the fact that the gameplay and presentation looked exactly the same as current gen.
Let's all hope that Madden 15 will take a huge leap into the direction we so long for. Because Madden 25 isn't it. It appears to be a slightly upgraded port of the current gen Madden. Madden 15 will be the judgment day. If it still isn't going in the right direction by then we will just have accept defeat and live to fight another die.
I'm not impressed with what I've seen up to this point, but I'm not going to critique what I haven't seen, either. Yes, I know with past history and everything else, it's not a pretty sight.
It just doesnt make sense to me. When The Show put in True Broadcast people went nuts for it. To me its one of the more revolutionary things a game company has done with their game and was the foundation for The Show becoming one of if not he best sports video games ever. This has to have come up in a Madden planning meeting. If you do this for a living how does this come up and they just look at each other and go, "Nope, we dont need that fans like it better when players do a prerendered salsa dance by theselves in the endzone with no one else around." Its mind boggling. I can understand if noone had ever done it before but the blueprint is right there. And is it just a matter of pride and not straight up copying what 2k5 did because it wasn't their idea. Who cares, these other people set the standards in certain aspects in the sports gaming world. Get over yourself and straight up copy what worked maybe improve it a bit and fans will love you for it.
Reading this, I had a thought. Tiburon doesn't make this game to cater to us, the sim crowd. They make this game for their online market. This game is made so people who love playing online, can go on, get a quick ranked match in, get out, and repeat the process.
These type of people won't want RTP elements slowing down the game, or taking away from the action on the field. They don't care about stat banners, overlays, cool camera cuts, good, decent looking replays. They care about winning, and getting their awesome online rank up.
That's why we haven't seen them put any forth into their presentation. If the online Joe Cool gamer doesn't care, than neither does EA. SCEA makes their game for the hardcore baseball fan, that's why they give us what we want, year in and year out they up the ante on their broadcast presentation because they know that's what their sim fanbase asks for.
I don't buy any of these excuses. They did tout that they have been working on the game for two years. Now that you see how sad it looks, the excuses start to fly. I don't know what in the heck they are doing, but there better be something behind the curtain.
This will be the game that brings football, back. Well, this game sucks. Don't worry, its because of next gen, wait until that game comes out. Now we have to wait for '15 to see some real innovation?
That's comical. There is no excuse for this game not to blow it out of the water. They have had the time, bragged about how they doubled their team in magazines, and claimed how they have this great physics system that will be awesome when gen 4 hits.
I'm still waiting to see something that jives with their story.
I don't buy any of these excuses. They did tout that they have been working on the game for two years. Now that you see how sad it looks, the excuses start to fly. I don't know what in the heck they are doing, but there better be something behind the curtain.
This will be the game that brings football, back. Well, this game sucks. Don't worry, its because of next gen, wait until that game comes out. Now we have to wait for '15 to see some real innovation?
That's comical. There is no excuse for this game not to blow it out of the water. They have had the time, bragged about how they doubled their team in magazines, and claimed how they have this great physics system that will be awesome when gen 4 hits.
I'm still waiting to see something that jives with their story.
I don't think anyone is making excuses for them, in fact, we're all pretty much on the same page as you.
We're furious, you're furious, and EA doesn't give a damn because they know most of us will still buy the game
I starting to think all that Ignite stuff they touted wont come to light til years down the line, they were pitching the vision to us and we all know how visions turn out, THEY NEVER HAPPEN.
Then it doesn't happen for FIFA, NHL or NBA, either.
I wish NHL was coming out for PS4/Xbox One this year. Even if it was a port with next gen graphics. That game is solid already. Plus it doesn't have a long road of much needed improvements ahead like Madden.
Laser accurate tape to tape passes from the CPU, no type of board play, the checking system still needs a complete overhaul, and these are just some of the basics that need improvement
Laser accurate tape to tape passes from the CPU, no type of board play, the checking system still needs a complete overhaul, and these are just some of the basics that need improvement
That game has a very long road to improve
Agree I walked away from the nhl series a year or two ago because it stagnated. Oddly enough right around the time 2k disappeared. NHL made dramatic strides for a couple years and basically made Cam Weber's career. Fifa on the other hand has brought me back after years of pro evo being the much better game. Oddly enough it was the year pro evo rewrote their game and brought the fox engine to oppose fifa. Noticing a trend here.
Im bummed just as much as you guys from what we have seen this past couple weeks. My expectations a year ago were through the roof but as we got closer to launch I have lowered them(my expectations) due to connecting the dots of the info I have seen and heard.
That being said the ONLY thing that can truly save this game for me is if the cpu ai is finally totally coherent. If the ai was really worked on and made to be "football smart" and "situation aware" that will be enough to keep me playing for awhile at least. If defenses adjust to your play calling tendencies and take routes and plays away that the user may run over and over again, it will be a big deal for me. They have said the ai was going to be more intelligent so we will see if that was just "talk" or they really did concentrate on ai awareness and play calling. If they did go to work on this it definitely wouldn't be something we could pick up from what we have seen so far.
Given that they are pushing this "coach glass" a much more adaptive ai would seem to go hand-in-hand along with that IMO. Maybe im just dreaming here but its really the ONLY thing I am still hopeful for because so many other things look so much like just "more of the same ole, same ole".
Nol, they can pick and choose what they want to add from the Ignite library, I can see Fifa and Live being innovative while Madden still remains stagnant. They'll make up some excuse why they can't add such & such in other games to Madden. They already came up with an excuse on why cloths won't be separate from players body, they said because NFL players like to wear their cloths tight so they cant get grab, I laughed my butt off when I heard that excuse.
And what about in the October Game Informer article when an EA rep was asked about adding something like NBA Live 14's deal with Synergy Sports to update player ratings and team tendencies. The Madden rep said something like people have approached him about that, but since Madden is a turn based game it's better if they control that which didn't make since to me.
Not sure I follow.
So, are you saying that even though they share the same engine across all sports games, the AI will be different, the animations will be different and living worlds will be different?
Nol, they can pick and choose what they want to add from the Ignite library, I can see Fifa and Live being innovative while Madden still remains stagnant. They'll make up some excuse why they can't add such & such in other games to Madden. They already came up with an excuse on why cloths won't be separate from players body, they said because NFL players like to wear their cloths tight so they cant get grab, I laughed my butt off when I heard that excuse.
And what about in the October Game Informer article when an EA rep was asked about adding something like NBA Live 14's deal with Synergy Sports to update player ratings and team tendencies. The Madden rep said something like people have approached him about that, but since Madden is a turn based game it's better if they control that which didn't make since to me.
Is this true? I thought I read somewhere that the jersey will be separate from the body. Also is Coach Glass the only info we are going to be getting this week?
Exactly right and what even I fear as hyped as I am after seeing that blocking improvement video. Below is a feature list from MLB the Show 13 over The Show 12. Compare that to year to year Madden imrovements especially Madden 12 to Madden 13, which was supposed to be their big advancement year. For MLB the Show, 12 to 13 was a year that even they said they were just working to help build their foundation. Madden apologists might not want to open the spoiler.
Spoiler
Back of the Box Items
The “Post Season” Mode (PS3 & PS Vita)
Cross Platform Online Home Run Derby (PS3 & PS Vita)
Cross Platform Online Home Run Derby (PS3 & PS Vita)
New Push/Pull Hitting Trajectories Engine (PS3 & Vita) Franchise and Season Mode Evolution (PS3 & PS Vita)
Road to The Show Evolution (PS3 & PS Vita)
The Show Live (PS3 & PS Vita)
Diamond Dynasty 2.0 (PS3) TruBroadcast Presentations 2.0 (PS3)
[b]New Scouting and Training System in Franchise Mode (PS3 & PS Vita)[b/]
Road To The Show Commentary and Presentation Evolution (PS3)
Online Road To The Show Leaderboard (PS3 & PS Vita)
Universal Profile (PS3 & PS Vita)
Button Accuracy Meter (PS3 & PS Vita)
Steve Lyons Joins The Booth (PS3 & PS Vita)
MLB 13 Online Leagues Overhaul (PS3)
All the little additions that went along with those big items
1. Hitting engine improvements deliver more hit variety than ever before
2. Wider timing window across all difficulty levels
3. Improved ball physics (less ground rule doubles etc.)
4. Over 250 new fielding and running animations
5. Over 90 new batting stances
6. Over 130 batting stance re-captures for players who changed their stances
7. Over 50 new pitching motions
8. Over 60 new HR swings
9. New Defensive Positioning screen, view the whole field and watch players shift on the fly
10. Franchise Mode: Team specific player valuations – affect drafting, trades, free agency, etc.
11. Franchise Mode: Projected team budgets and free agents for the upcoming season
12. Franchise Mode: Previous award winners and each team’s Hall of Fame members will now be tracked and displayed
13. Franchise Mode: Ticker in Franchise that displays scores, milestones, trades, etc.
14. Franchise Mode: Top 50 Prospect icon, used to indicate best up-and-coming minor leaguers
15. Franchise Mode: Organizational Depth Chart displays starters at each level (AA, AAA, MLB)
16. New CBA “Qualifying Offer” system included
17. 7 New Minor League and Spring Training stadiums
18. On screen Tutorials to help you navigate some of the more complicated screens.
19. New silhouette bat when bunting
20. Back picks while a catcher in RttS
21. Ability to assign swing animations when creating or editing a player
22. Big glove for catcher when a knuckle ball pitcher is on the mound
23. Over 500 new presentations
24. Pitcher Energy/Rotations for Online Play Now
25. Mercy Rule for online games
26. Twitter in The Show
27. Ping indicators in online game rooms
28. New online ranked game Play Now flow with game worth
29. New post-game summary screen for all online ranked games
30. Player photos updating with Roster updates
31. In-game simulator when FF to the end of game
32. PCI Appearance – There are 4 alternate PCI appearances
33. Pitcher Batter Analysis will now display 40 instead of 25 pitches
34. New Throwback uniforms
35. More catcher animations on plays at the plate providing more exciting outcomes
36. Enhanced CPU base running. Less predictable and more human like behavior
37. New base running animations “around the bases”. Allows for more control of your base runner
38. New online ticker design, more stats and information
39. RTTS infielder’s pickoff request
40. New more interactive user steal system
41. Improved CPU pitcher substitution logic
42. New player card
43. Guess pitch evolution
44. RTTS Removal of the “green-light” system
45. Over 1,000 new RTTS-specific presentations
46. New RTTS user catch option
47. New RTTS On/Off options for ball halo and ball trail
48. Over 15 new batting camera’s and 5 new pitching camera views
EA does the same thing. Check the list for M25 Gen3 for yourself.
MADDEN 25 Game Play Additions and Improvements
Playbooks
o Heavy Focus on pistol option plays
o 351 new plays added overall
o 20 new formations added
o Two new legend coach playbooks added (Mike Ditka and Jimmy Johnson)
o 2 new playbooks (pistol, run and shoot)
Blocking
o Multiple types of new pull block animations
o New run block double team interaction animations
o Reach blocks have been added to the game
o 20+ new impact block animations
o 20+ new pass block/pass rush interaction animations
o New Pass Set/Pass Rush animations linked to QB drop depth (3, 5, 7, shotgun)
o Exponential increase in impact block coverage (matching blocks from at least 8 different directions)
o New zone step blocking interaction animations
o New lateral and vertical displacement animations for OL/DL interactions
o 30 new blocking schemes
o New Open field run block targeting system
o Adjusted block shed ratings for cornerbacks and run block ratings for wide receivers and tight ends so they align with how these positions play in real life.
Option
o Overhauled option mechanics (pitching, pitch man relationship, option blocking and option defense)
o New Dive Read and Pitch Key icons on option plays
New Skills Trainer Mode
o Total Control Passing Tutorial
o Pass Trajectories Tutorial
o User Catching Tutorial
o Acceleration Burst Tutorial
o Option Dive and Pitch Tutorial
o Triple Option Tutorial
o Precision Modifier Tutorial
o Ball Hawk Tutorial
o Offensive Hot Routes tutorial
o Offensive Audible Tutorial
o Oklahoma Drill Defense Tutorial
o Oklahoma Drill Offense Tutorial
o Defensive Audible Tutorial
o Defensive Individual Adjustment Tutorial
Physics
o New Stumble Recovery mechanic
o New force impact mechanics (stiff arm punch, truck, dive tackle, hit stick)
o Improved limbs being bent unnaturally by physics
o Improvements to conservation of momentum
o Improvements to post play physics interactions
o Reduced frequency of bad falls out of collisions
o Improved tackle alignment
o Improved balance tuning, balance now tuned by position vs. globally
Ball Carrier Mechanics
o Hurdle over dive tackle action
o Hurdle over defender in breakdown action
o New Stiff Arm Targeting system
o New ¡¥moving stiff arm¡¦ interactions
o Introduced new ¡¥avoidance¡¦ mechanic for ball carrier collisions with blockers
o 30+ new ball carrier (non-precision) animations
„X 6 new ball carrier combo moves
„X 2 new types of Stiff arms ¡V 5 new angles
„X New reach out ball dive animation
„X New Spin Move Animations
„X New Juke Animations
„X 7 types of Hard Cut Animations
„X New back juke animation
„X New acceleration burst animations
„X Revised Truck Animation
„X 6 new Ball Carrier Avoidance Animations
„X 5 types of Stumble Recovery Animations
20+ new precision modifier ball carrier actions using LT
„X Decelerate
„X Stutter Step
„X Strafe
„X Precision Spin
„X 90+ Spin Rating Precision Spin
„X Precision Dive
„X Precision High Dive (over blocker)
„X Precision Juke
„X 90+ juke rating precision juke
„X Precision Jump Cut (behind LOS)
„X Precision Hurdle
„X 90+ jump rating precision hurdle
„X Precision Back Juke
„X Precision Juke Spin Combo and Reverse Juke Spin Combo
„X Precision Double Juke Combos
„X Precision Truck
„X Precision Truck Spin Combo
„X Precision Back Juke Spin Combo
Defense
o New defensive mechanics - switch assist, heat seeker, dive tackle, hit stick lunge
o All new defensive fake out system with 15 new fake out animations
o 5 new hit stick animations
o 5 new hurdle tackles
o Revised animation for strip ball tackle prep
o Increased animation coverage for hit stick tackles
o Revised spin, club, rip and bull rush pass rush animations
o New initial move animations for read run key defenders
Community Exploit Fixes
o Inside pass leading on streaks has been toned down
o Curl to flat purple zone defenders now favor curl vs. flat as a greater threat
o We now allow DB¡¦s to get beat to the inside to reduce over effectiveness of 2 Man under
o Altered route to reduce fade route over effectiveness
o Reduced severity of pass leading on wheel routes due to over effectiveness
o Onsides kick return exploit fixed
o You can no longer hold ball hawk from snap, only works once ball is in air
o Reduced frequency of ¡¥over the shoulder¡¦ interceptions from LB¡¦s and Defensive Line.
o You can no longer no huddle audible to formations that do not match the personnel you have on the field
o Drastically reduced swerve running
o Removed delay after calling a defensive audible
o Added defensive key so user can define if read defender takes QB or RB.
o Increased penalties for taking big hits when running with QB¡¦s that are pocket passers
AI
o A variety of improvement to AI play call scripts
o Improved AI for throwing screen passes
o Improved CPU AI for beating 2 man under
o Major improvements to defensive pursuit logic
o New Dive Tackle AI for defenders
o Defensive breakdown behavior for AI defenders
o New run logic AI for CPU ball carriers, including AI for when to perform hard cuts
o Late game clock management improvements
o Improved post play pile get up logic
o Improved post play path finding and avoidance
o Improved CPU QB AI decision making
o Improved tuning for AI defenders biting on play action fakes
o Revised triggering conditions for conserve time play call behavior
o Improved CPU QB AI for scrambling
o Reduced frequency of CPU QB AI throwing ball out of bounds
Game Planning
o Disguised Cushion - Allows defenders to play with deep back off coverage principles without showing a back off coverage shell.
o Man Align ¡V Allows users to have their defenders in man coverage align directly over the player they are matched up against.
o 16 Personnel Packages
o New Audible by Personnel system
o Audibles can now be set in custom playbooks
o New position specific hot routes
o A variety of fixes and improvements to sliders
o A variety of fixes to custom playbooks
Other
o 25 categories of new player ¡¥on the field¡¦ audio with hundreds of line variations
o New pre-play camera and removed camera zoom on audibles
o New audio for physics collisions that scales based on severity of force
EA does the same thing. Check the list for M25 Gen3 for yourself.
MADDEN 25 Game Play Additions and Improvements
If you can compare the feature lists on those two lists and tell me with a straight face they are remotely equal then more power to you. Will be an interesting pitch since EA felt it necessary to comprise a huge segment of their "improvements" list with individually listed tutorials and individual button assignments.
Madden has essentially been the same game for the past decade, Right. No one cares about the damn blades of grass, Right. It has the same robotic animations as the 360 and PS3 versions, Right. If all the money that is being used on the exclusive license was instead put into game development we might actually have something worthy of the NFL shield, Right. I would be a moron to fall into this same hype crap for the umpteenth time, Right.
Yes that's correct, for example if Fifa adds a new feature Madden does not automatically get it, but if they choose to add it in the game it can be easily implemented with because of Ignite. http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/26/igni...gle-code-base/
Good find, I assumed it would be similar implementation all across the board.
Love how the keep touting things such as the blades of freakin' grass! All the same crappy animations and whatnot are still there as far as I can see. No buy.
If this game wasn't coming with my PS4 bundle, I wouldn't be playing it. I smell another "3 year plan" coming. If that truly does happen, I will abandon this series for good until they give us something worth playing.
If this game wasn't coming with my PS4 bundle, I wouldn't be playing it. I smell another "3 year plan" coming. If that truly does happen, I will abandon this series for good until they give us something worth playing.
It's pathetic how the gameplay looks on Next Gen.
I'm having a tough time even justifying a $15 upgrade cost from PS3. If Best Buy's deal is you get $45 for Madden no matter what game it goes towards then I am walking out with 2k in addition to FIFA, BF4 and Killzone instead of Madden. Even if I get a standard trade of $30 I may decide to eat the extra $15 I would have received and get something else anyway.