Madden 15 – How To Keep CFM Fresh Until The Next Release

As much as I find it easy to troll EA and Tiburon for their annual cloneware – Madden 15 was the best Madden to date. That said, it still gets to me that they don’t update rosters after the Super Bowl. This has left many users to create roster updates and even add newly drafted players to teams in order to replicate what is happening in the league as far as rosters go.

If you have followed NoobTubeTV over the last few years you will know that I almost exclusively play Offline Connected Franchise Mode. Moreover, you will know that I almost always use my Cleveland Browns. Even after finding the perfect sliders and gameplay tweaks CFM will get rather boring after a few seasons.

It is incredibly easy to build up a team into a juggernaut. You simply need to invest in players that are between 20-26 years old that fit your play-style and keep them to minimum contracts until they are 30. It is a widely known fact that EA has told Madden gamers that players will start to decline once they hit that age threshold. Knowing how easy it is to relatively deal with the age issues of players and dominate with your team after a season or two of development it won’t be much of a shock to hear about people trading Madden in while they can still get some decent credit for it or simply leave it on the shelf to collect dust. Here are a few tips on how to keep your CFM fresh.

Max Contacts – Figure out your favorite players on Offense and Defense and make them fixtures on your team for the rest of their career. In my case I had to choose between Josh Gordon and Johnny Manziel. Both players were 99 OVR by the time I got to the 2016 season and I decided to sign Johnny for the biggest amount of money and years (I believe it was 7 years, $140 million). This will help make your salary cap management a bit tougher as you choose who to build your team around.
Don’t Scout Draft Prospects – It really is this simple. Don’t scout a single prospect during the season and you will quickly realize that what was once an incredibly easy draft process is more like real-life. It will become more of a lottery system for your team and you won’t be able to find those ‘not so hidden’ gems in later rounds.
Give The CPU More In Trades – It seems that trade logic in sports games has decided to take a nose-dive in realism. NBA 2K actually has a trade difficulty slider (Madden needs this in the worst way!). Do not shirk the CPU for their Draft Picks or certain players you know are franchise quality.
One Draft Pick Per Round (At most) – It is far too easy (as stated in #3) to load up on 10-15 draft picks every season. Make it a personal rule that you will not have more than one pick per round for every draft. This will prevent you from pwning the draft year-in, year-out. Madden has some of the dumbest draft logic in all of sports gaming, so don’t act like you really have to worry about the CPU.
Coach Mode – This is something I have yet to do myself. Simply call the plays for your team, snap the ball and let the AI take care of the rest. This will make you look at your players in a different light and might even change the way you build your team.

Madden 25 – Choosing A Team In Connected Franchise Mode

Now that we are about six weeks into the NFL Regular Season there are many surprises in the league as far as performance and records go. There are already many teams vying for the #1 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft while others are suddenly looking like they think they can make a surprise playoff run. Here is a list of some teams you might want to consider using in Connected Franchise Mode with some ideas of how to build them to success.

Obviously Bad Teams

The Jaguars are among the worst teams in the NFL and we knew this before the season started. Given the fact that their Quarterback situation is almost laughable. When running this team it might be wise to create a new owner as well (unless you want to be the Wario look-a-like Shahid ‘Shao’ Khan. Also, taking it upon yourself to look into trading Maurice Jones-Drew for a potential draft pick might be something to consider if throwing away the season is on your possibility list. Another action to consider for a fun storyline would be signing Tim Tebow and trying to save the franchise in Jacksonville. Otherwise, moving the team to Los Angeles might be the absolute best idea… even if EA doesn’t do much to make it worthwhile to move a team other than strictly in being in a new city.

Tampa Bay is in desperate need for an overhaul in how their team is run. If that means you go through a season with Greg Schiano leading the way with his faux-military take no prisoners style or possibly just creating yourself as an intelligent player’s coach – the choice is yours. With the departure of Josh Freeman there is a possible storyline to go with in using rookie QB, Mike Glennon and having him lead the Bucs to success. Otherwise, you might want to start looking into the potential for getting someone in the draft or free agency. You will have a decent base of skill players to use with Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams at WR on top of having the ‘muscle hamster’ Doug Martin at HB. Tampa Bay isn’t a terrible team, but they could use some serious help and changes – starting at the top.

Surprisingly Bad Teams

This team has been a perennial contender for the last decade and they are starting to show their age… not to mention some serious holes in personnel. When they lost their starting Center in Pouncey it looked bad. Now that the season has started and they have no real answer at HB, WR, OL, LB or DB it is looking like they might need more work than anyone ever thought. Maybe it is because they play in what used to be a two-team division and they are simply falling behind the other teams. Either way it goes, the Steelers are a team that could potentially use a huge front office change and maybe a new face for the franchise if Big Ben proves to be declining as much as he seems to be. Do yourself a favor and revamp the O-Line before you do anything. Try to sign a true #1 WR and hope that the defense can pick it up. The potential for a fun rebuild is there in using the Steelers – and suddenly it isn’t so surprising.

The Giants are in trouble. This is a team that just a few years ago won two Super Bowls. Now they are looking similar to the Steelers in almost every way. The Giants have started to look like an aging team and Eli Manning is starting to look like the player he was early in his career throwing INTs like they are going out of style. This compounded by the fact that they are a team without a true HB threat. Bringing back Brandon Jacobs was surprising after he had been released by the team rather recently. Their defense was once one of the most feared in the league and now it has more holes than a block of swiss cheese. Taking over ownership of this team could be a lot of fun if you want to get rid of Manning and start fresh. Although, that could be a long road ahead.

Surprisingly Decent Teams

Cleveland is a team that looked like they were destined to go 0-16 after two weeks and suddenly they are tied for first place in the AFC North. While they are a team on the rise, they are also a team without a true answer at QB or HB. While Josh Gordon seems to be a legitimate threat to be a Top-10 WR in the league and Jordan Cameron is one of the better TEs this season the Browns need some serious help in offensive skill positions. On defense, the Browns are among the best in the NFL and this is largely due to the aggressive approach they have taken under Defensive Coordinator, Ray Horton. You might want to look into getting some help for Joe Haden on the other side of the field at #2 CB. Otherwise, this is a team that simply needs a couple pieces before they become a true contender.

Kansas City is starting to look like a serious contender with new coach, Andy Reid. If you were to take this team to a 5-0 record in your first season in Madden it suddenly isn’t too far-fetched. However, this doesn’t mean that they are a perfect team that doesn’t need any help. They have some good pieces to play with in Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe and even Alex Smith at QB. This goes with a defense that is rather dangerous and can hold their own against virtually any team in the league. It could be fun to take over the Chiefs and make some moves to make this a team to compete with the Broncos for the AFC West.

The Best of The Worst – Teams to Turn Around In Sports Gaming

Now that we are well over half-way through the NFL season and the NBA season has already put some fans in the mind of ‘maybe next year’ there are quite a few teams to choose from when it comes to wanting a challenge or simply some sort of revival story to build a team around in a sports game.

Madden 13 –

Kansas City – Romeo Crennel has made Brady Quinn the starting QB in KC. Can you take this team of terribad from laughing stock to the playoffs? You will have plenty of youth to build around such as Eric Berry, Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe and even Glenn Dorsey. Your first goal should be finding a decent QB to help this team achieve greatness.

Cleveland – The Browns are a perennial sad sack. While this is a team that has consistently under-performed there are multiple ways for you to take Cleveland to the next level. There are a lot of great young players on this team, but you will need to make a quick decision on whether to keep Brandon Weeden or move on in one of the upcoming drafts.

Arizona – Once again, you are getting ready to take a team that needs a QB answer (and fast)… see a theme here? The Cardinals have a couple decent players to build around, but you will have to take your time and figure out how to answer some tough questions – including whether or not you want to keep Larry Fitzgerald around if you don’t have a QB to throw him the ball. That could result in a lot of decent trade offers if you decide to put him on the trade block as well. While it may sound crazy, it is something to consider.

New York Jets – The Jets are a mess. One of the best things that could happen to this team is to get rid of their QBs… all of them. Then make a few decisions about how you want to build this franchise from the ground up. There are some players like Stephen Hill at WR that could be nice projects to build around, but then you have players like Darrelle Revis, Santonio Holmes and Shonn Greene that could be moved for draft picks so that you can build a team made to last rather than a team built to make headlines for publicity stunts (see Tim Tebow).

Jacksonville – More than just a team that has no real talent, they are constantly a threat to be moved to Los Angeles. Since EA Tiburon took the option to move your team to another city out of the game (they enjoy taking features away) you have to make moves and stay in Jacksonville to make this team better. If you win three games in your first season you can consider it a somewhat successful year. Get a new QB, trade away MJD and do your best to find some talent for this team that seems to be the biggest laughing stock of the NFL.

Carolina – The Panthers are one of the few teams on this list that have a QB in Cam Newton. On the other hand, they have a lot of other places on their team that need vast improvement. While they have a great MLB in Luke Kuechly they are pretty much limited to having just those players to build around. Make use of the trade block and build this team around future picks that you can get from trading away players like DeAngelo Williams, Steve Smith, Jonathan Stewart, Chris Gamble and any other player you can do without.

Dallas – Talk about a team that makes you scratch your head. The Cowboys are consistently picked to be a playoff team but in the end it is their egotistical owner that really makes the worst decisions for the future of this team. Make a new story for the Cowboys that will allow them to make smart personnel decisions. This means getting rid of the most overrated QB in the NFL – Tony Romo. Also, you may want to consider getting what you can for DeMarcus Ware.

Oakland – The first step in this team growing was the death of the Crypt Keeper, Al Davis. The next step is building this franchise to be more than glorified Speed Ratings. Make a decision on how you want to build the offense and defense – that means possibly taking a chance on Terrelle Pryor or going in a totally new direction. Then start building the defense into something to be feared like it was in the 1970s.

NBA 2K13 –

Cleveland – The Cavs are a young team that has a cornerstone in Kyrie Irving but that isn’t enough as they need to work on getting this talent to be more than potential prospects. They need to grow up fast and that could mean a lot of work for you in Association Mode.

Washington – The Wizards are laughingly bad. Sure, John Wall is amazing – but really they are flatout awful. Get ready to trade a lot of your best players like Okafor just to get some prospects.

Detroit – Only a few years ago the Pistons were powerful and feared. Now they are hilarious to watch on the court. They look more like a team getting ready to face the Globetrotters than an NBA team at times. This is a team built around unwanted journeymen and bad trades. It will take you a few seasons to turn them around – but it will be worth it.

Sacramento – Considering the fact that the Maloofs are looking to move this team to Las Vegas, you can tell that they are in need for some improvement. The Kings were once one of the best teams in the west, but now they are often forgotten when people talk about NBA teams. I forget they exist half of the time. I call them the Wizards of the west.

New Orleans – This team got the equivalent of a bailout from the NBA. Chris Paul said bye-bye and now they are being built around the unibrow of Anthony Davis. New Orleans needs more than yet another Kentucky product with an IQ less than his scoring average to turn this team around.

Orlando – Dwight Howard is gone. This move was similar to that of LeBron James leaving Cleveland. How will you bring the magic back to Orlando?

MLB 12 –

Cleveland – Talk about a team with a chance to make big strides with a new manager. Terry Francona is the new skipper and you will have to make a few moves to bring some pitching and power to this lineup.

Houston – Do something… anything. Even if it means creating a steroid infused Roger Clemens to come back and pitch this team to at least 20 wins. It is a bad time to be an Astros fan, but now that they are moving to the American League it could make for a fun journey… albeit – a long and tough one.

Colorado – They made an incredible run a few years ago, but this team needs pitching in the worst way. Take it upon yourself to manage the thin air and find a way to make Denver cheer for a team not called the Broncos.

Miami – They just fired Ozzie Guillen and now they are selling off their players. This is a team that will take a lot of patience to build into more than a one-year wonder. Do it the right way and you will have something to be proud of in the end.

Pittsburgh – This team was on the cusp of making the playoffs in 2012. Take the power in the steel city and bring this team back to their past glory. They have a great ballpark and with players like McCutchen to build around it could be a lot of fun.

Oakland – One of my favorite movies of the last few years was Moneyball. Billy Beane took a chance in using stats and fantasy baseball type of projections to build his team. Take it to the next step and help them win it all.

Seattle – My favorite player of all-time is Ken Griffey Jr. When I saw him go back to Seattle to finish his career it was bitter-sweet. I would love to see this team be more than just a great pitcher like Felix Henandez – they need better players and that starts with you making the moves to bring the talent back to Seattle.

NHL 13 –

Who cares? The NHL season is dead and the sport of hockey on its way out of almost every person’s consciousness.

Pick any team you want – but the best of the worst would be the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Building A Team In Madden 13 – More Than Just ‘Overall’ Ratings

Now that Madden 13 finally has the patches needed to make it a truly complete game we can start talking more about how to approach different modes. In the case of Connected Careers Mode there are numerous ways to approach how to build your team as a coach.

rg3m13 — Building your team starts with getting the right pieces in place.

I started a career with the Kansas City Chiefs and somehow took them to a Super Bowl victory with Romeo Crennel in my single player Online Franchise ‘Romeo’s Thinkin’ Arbys’. After winning the big game in my first season I wanted to move on with a new coach in a new (and more challenging) situation. Naturally, I went with the Browns and started my first off-season by trying to get players to fulfill stop-gap roles for my first season. Then finally, I got to the draft… aka – the best part of building your team.

Drafting Your Team

It is more than simply taking the best-available player.

You need to consider what your team truly needs when you start drafting players. This includes scouting during the season as well. As a coach, you will need to pay close attention to the contract statuses of your players and how they are performing for you. Taking a Quarterback when you really need a Defensive End or Linebacker could make your team suffer. In this same breath, you should also compare the players by their ratings and their size.

Also, if you want a cheap way to scout for players that will be highly rated on your team, make sure you spend the 25 scouting points on ‘Scheme’. This will be something you can use as you go through the year to set up your potential draft picks.

Free Agency

Over the course of my current CCM I have come across a few free agents that intrigued me. The best pick-up I have made is WR, Leonard Hankerson for the Browns in 2013. He came in as a replacement for my injured rookie WR and ended up leading the team in receiving yards, TDs and got himself a huge contract in the off-season. Keep your eyes open for players that perform well when playiing for you. Sometimes a player might not be ‘a good fit’ but he could end up becoming exactly what you need to turn things around.

Release Failed Project Players

One of the hardest things to do in sports games is to part with players that you either like in real-life or simply want to develop in the game. Some of them just don’t pan out or under-perform over the course of time. You have to make those tough decisions and understand that the betterment of your team is the long-term goal.

Pick A Starter… and stick with him

One of the parts of CCM in Madden 13 is progressing players based on their performance on the field. Make it your mission to look at the goals being set for all of your starters and try to develop your players through that system.

Madden 13 – Connected Careers Might Make Madden 13 Worth A Purchase

Just in case you are still on the fence about whether or not to buy Madden 13, you should consider it one of the safer sports titles to bet on this year. The problem that most people face when it comes to buying a sports game is that they are usually just a roster update with some sort of half-cocked mode enhancement like ‘Mascot Mode’ (see NCAA Football). Madden 13’s Connected Careers could be the mode that finally turns the game into a new direction… maybe even the right one.

When you retire as a real player (Tebow or RG3) they won’t be out of the league you will just not control them anymore.

A Brief History

While Madden has a tendency to suffer from playing like a glorified arcade game in the guise of a simulation football title, it also has the benefit of consistency in gameplay. In other words – we usually know what to expect when it comes to Madden and how it will play. Player movement is something that hasn’t really changed in Madden since the PS2/XBox generation – especially when compared to titles that were competing with Madden. On the flipside – Career modes have suffered in Madden for years.

Madden 12 saw one of the biggest jumps in quality of Franchise Mode since Madden 05 (arguably the best Madden to date). This mode still lacked any real sort of ‘stand-alone’ quality that would keep the end-user from wanting to take control of editing players or simply controlling all 32 teams in order to make the mode feel more organic – ironic, but true.

A New Hope

Connected Careers is designed to bring Franchise Mode and Superstar Mode (where you control a specific player) together as one. You will be able to control a player or a team (as the Coach). Some gamers are going to relish the chance to play as a specific player. However, the real depth is going to come from being a Coach.

One of the more annoying parts of Madden 11 and 12’s Franchise Mode was the concept of ‘Potential’ ratings for players. What made this so frustrating was that you could take a player like Derek Anderson and make him into (statistically) the best QB in the league but his OVR (and therefore, his value) would not increase. Imagine Kurt Warner winning the Super Bowl with the Rams but never considered to be ‘great’ – that is what the potential rating did to Franchise Mode… it took away the feel that your players were any good unless they had a great potential rating.

This year, Potential Rating is gone. You have to earn XP for each player like in a Role Playing Game. So, if you want to make Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson your starting QB and develop them into a 99 OVR player – you can. The crux… you have to earn it. There are going to be some fun developments when people start making Connected Careers ‘their own’.

What To Watch For

As Madden 13 gets closer, there will be more details coming out of the woodwork. The real details that people will notice are the glitches in the game after it comes out. There are bound to be some things that happen in Madden 13 that make people cry foul and say that the game is broken. It happens every year and this year won’t be any different – Madden 13 will have some things that need to be patched (fixed via an update).

Connected Careers will probably have some things that need to be tweaked and the one thing to hope for is that when these issues pop up you won’t have to restart your CCM. Keep your eyes and ears open, your hopes up and you expectations grounded. Madden 13 is almost here.

Are You Not Entertained? – Actually… No. – The Downward Spiral of Annual Game Releases

If sports and first person shooter (FPS) Video Games were a ‘Nation’ and I were the President of Sports and FPS Video Games, I would have to say that the State of our Union is weak.

This isn’t coming from the stand-point of the gaming companies like Electronic Arts or Activision (judging by their weakening stocks I would say that they feel the same), but from the aspect of gamers. There are numerous games that have grabbed our attention and held onto it for a few years such as the Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Mass Effect and some others that you might be able to throw out there in the comments section below. However, sports games and some shooter titles are constantly being thrown at us every year during the summer or fall.

What is becoming more evident as we get closer to the end of this generation of consoles (XBox 360, PS3 and Wii) is that sports and shooter games are really coasting along for the last few quarters before they jump into a new fray of next-gen console development (aka – more of your money).

We have recently focused on games like Madden NFL and NCAA Football sense they are the primary Summer Releases for EA Sports. The next game that will get our full attention is Black Ops 2. Call of Duty is a game that is technically released every two years if you want to dive into the fact that it is split between development teams (Infinity Ward and Treyarch). However, the series itself is pretty much the same concept with a few nuances that make each game slightly different.

These games feel disposable at this point. We aren’t in a time period of creative thoughts in entertainment in general. Movies are the same way with sequels and remakes that really aren’t too dissimilar from what annual sports games and FPS games like Call of Duty are doing. The publishers of these games like to sell you on trailers and big budget marketing rather than actually take the time to be creative and take a chance with something new.

If in 2013 there would be an announcement that Madden and Call of Duty would not be released in order to drive creativity and innovation in each series, would you applaud this decision or take it upon yourself to scream in ALL CAPS that it is the worst thing that ever happened to gaming?

NoobTubeTV would applaud this decision but what is your take?

Madden 13 – Connected Careers and Franchise Mode Questions Answered

It has been just over a month sense E3 and there are still people waiting to hear more details about Franchise Mode/Connected Careers in Madden 13. There are a few things we can deduce from details that have either been given to the community straight up or through videos that leave you to draw some conclusions. Not to mention the fact that some of the good people that were invited to Community Day at EA Tiburon have given a lot of great feedback.

This is one of the biggest changes for Madden in years. The issue we are facing is that the details have become rather muddled.

Here is a list of answers and a few thoughts (after the facts) so you can have your questions answered.

Is Franchise Mode dead?

In name, yes. In practice, no. Franchise Mode still exists and it will be under the selection of being a ‘Coach’ – you will still have the same control over your team, etc. Also, you will have the ability to get fired as a coach. Everything you have been able to do in Franchise Mode in the past – you can still do in Madden 13.

What about Superstar Mode?

Superstar Mode is still around. You will ‘Be A Player’ and in the process you will only control yourself. You will get to choose plays as a QB, etc.

Legends, what’s the deal?

Legends (Coaches and Players like John Madden and Barry Sanders) are not coming into Connected Careers as 99 OVR versions of themselves. Their presence in Connected Careers is also up to you as the main user to turn them on or off (off is default as of E3).

How does XP work for Connected Careers?

XP is a two tier process –

1– You have to earn it through performance and milestones. However, you won’t be able to earn more XP if you cheat or run up the score on the CPU. (IE – If your goal is a 300 yard passing game in week three for 1000 XP and you pass for 900 yards, you still only get 1000 XP)

2– Leveling up costs increase as your ratings get higher. You will earn XP as you accomplish certain goals, but as you try to make your player either faster, stronger or simply better all-around you will see ratings cost more as you go. (IE – The cost to go from 85 to 86 SPD as a QB could cost you 6000 XP, but the cost to go from 86 to 87 SPD could cost you 7000 XP, etc.)

Do Coaches Matter?

Not really. Coaches simply get put into one of four levels. You can grow your created coach into a ‘Level 4’ but it really doesn’t mean anything. (Unfortunate)

Do player ratings change depending on a team’s scheme?

Yes, there are finally ratings that dynamically change to reflect the player’s overall value to your team or coach and what type of offense or defense you run. A 6’3″ 349 lb DE won’t be valued highly by a 4-3 Defensive Team, etc. This doesn’t mean his ability ratings ‘change’ but his displayed OVR and value to your team will be.

Can I make existing players retire if I control them?

No, you technically ‘stop’ using them. However, if you have a created player and retire they will be removed from the game.

Can I still control all 32 teams?

No, you can only control one team or player at a time.

Is Connected Careers Online or Offline?

It is both. If you hate playing against people online you don’t have to worry about it.

Can more than one person play a Connected Career on the same console?

No.

Can Commissioners kick people out of the league?

Yes

Is there online Auto-Pilot?

Yes.

Can Online Connected Careers have different roles?

Depending on your settings, you can make it so everyone has to be a QB, Coach RB, etc. It is totally up to the commissioner.

Can I play on the same team as a friend in Online CC?

No.

More to come! Stay tuned to NoobTubeTV as Madden gets closer.
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A few quick thoughts…

Madden 13 is really depending on Connected Careers being a high quality experience. There are a few things that it seems EA still needs to figure out for coaches especially.

In NFL Head Coach you would be able to say one of a few different things to your players at key moments. This added immersion and actually made coaches important. As well, the idea of a player fitting into a team’s scheme… it should be a coach’s scheme, not a team’s scheme. The Browns have switched coaches so many times in the last decade that the players change as often because they don’t fit what the coach wants to do and how his staff prefers to approach the game.

Making people earn XP to increase abilities is a great attempt to make the game a bit more involved and honest. By removing the ‘Potential’ rating you are now pretty much in charge of proving that a player is as good as you think and they will have to earn every bit of that OVR Rating you think they deserve. The nice part is that it is all on you to do this.

The overall closed nature of Connected Careers is a good thing for this year, but next year it needs to be opened up. There is a danger in allowing people to mess with time paradoxes, true simulation and that little thing called the game’s actual coding. This is something that can be improved upon with a more open approach in the future. Let the ~~beta testers~~ gamers mess with all sorts of things so EA can figure out the issues and fix them rather than avoid them because they are scared of problems with freezing and system crashes, etc.

All things said, Connected Careers is starting to look like a great mode for Madden fans that want to have a nice experience in growing a team or a player as they see fit. Even with some limitations that make you scratch your head.

Madden 13 – Why Connected Careers Could Be A Great Direction For Madden

While there have been a lot of detractors (yours truly included) coming out against EA’s decision to keep roster editing out of Madden 13’s Connected Careers Mode, there are some things to consider before you decide to hate it entirely.

There is something behind not having control of every aspect of rosters once you start a franchise mode or dynasty. The biggest (most obvious) downfall is if the coding for progression and regression is bad (see Madden 09, 10, 11, etc.). However, if the coding and player development is good (see the possibilities for Madden 13’s new XP system) you might have one heck of a deep career mode that will allow you to truly develop players and teams as you feel they should.

Dawson Edited — If you edit Phil Dawson to have 99 Kick Power and Accuracy you should have to pay for it. In Madden 13 you have to earn it rather than change it.

In Madden 12, they opened up player editing during Franchise Mode and it was/is awesome. However, the downfall is that you have to really find a way to be honest about your edits and then make sure that you do the same thing for other players and teams across the board. If your player did well but didn’t progress as you feel he should have, you had the ability to make sure his ratings went up as they’should have’. The problem with this is that it can ruin the longevity of a Franchise Mode when you have a team that becomes too good either because you edited them that way or you are just great at using the fastest players in the game.

It is nice to develop a great team, but it is even nicer when you have to spend points and be honest with how you go about it. If you want to make Brandon Weeden have 99 SPD, you will have to spend a ton of points to do so. While this seems unrealistic, ask yourself how much more realistic it would be if you simply went in and edited him to be that way. It wouldn’t be realistic at all and you are now stuck looking at Madden 13’s lack of player editing from a more honest perspective.

The main problem with Madden’s Franchise Mode in-particular has never really been in progression/regression anyway. The issue that is the most obvious is the way players and draft picks are valued. A player might come in and do an amazing job out of the blue (Matt Cassel for Tom Brady in 2009 is one example). He then went on to get a big contract offer from the Chiefs where he has been average/above average at best. The moral of the story is that Madden hasn’t ever really taken this into account. The player’s value has always been based around his ratings (OVR mostly) and that isn’t how business is always done in the NFL (unless your name is Al Davis (RIP)).

For Connected Careers to work as it should, there needs to be a better value system for players that forces teams to have to make decisions on whether or not the player will work in their Franchise and system.

This is the next aspect that has never been in Madden…. Do players FIT THE SYSTEM?

TooFatForTheTeam — Stop wondering why the Browns seem so slow, even on the line. Granted, they are supposed to fit the system… although, they don’t seem to know what system it is. (Go Browns!)

More goes into how a player is chosen for a team other than ‘Is he qualified?’

The Patriots and Bill Belichick drafted a player out of Ohio State that played more rugby than football. They also picked up Danny Woodhead and made him into a valuable part of their team (and he is only 5’8″ 195lbs).

There are other examples such as different defensive schemes such as the 3-4 and 4-3 that require different styles, sizes and speeds for defensive linemen and linebackers. There are certain offensive schemes that don’t require a receiver to be fast as long as he can run good routes and catch the ball (West Coast).

Do you think someone like Tim Tebow would succeed outside of Denver if he had to take every snap from the center rather than playing college-style?

If you run a 3-4 offense and need fast, athletic linebackers the last person you want to look for is going to be an average speed 6’5″ 270 lbs… you will most likely want to look for a fast and lean 6’3″ 240 lb mean S.O.B. that doesn’t care about anything other than ripping faces off of QBs.

Every position is important, but in Madden that doesn’t seem to be the case. Again, say what you want about real-time physics and other improvements. Those are needed and extremely valuable, but when it comes down to longevity for their most vaunted mode and biggest overhaul in years EA needs to make sure that more than just ratings truly matter.

If you aren’t football savvy here is a quick example:

Two people are applying for a car sales job.

The first person is fresh out of college with a degree in marketing and experience working a retail sales job part-time. They have a good, confident attitude to eventually work at the corporate level and maybe someday head up a department or possibly their own company.

The second person graduated from high school and then spent two years at a community college. They have a strong personality and make you feel like you have known them forever. They are also from the region and have strong ties to the area.

Who gets the job? The second person gets the job. Why? Because they fit the system.

Does Madden Matter Anymore?

Over the past two decades it has been a fixture in sports gaming. On occasion it has even been hailed as one of the best games of the year in that genre. However, the Madden Franchise has fallen on hard times as of late and it looks more like Tiki Barber trying to make a comeback rather than Brett Favre making a Super Bowl run after his 2nd retirement. Either way it goes and however you view the analogy – Madden is getting worse every year. Only a few weeks ago we were looking at Madden 13 as the rebirth of a franchise after a long drought. Now it seems as if it has lost its luster and even its marketing steam.

The NFL season is set to start in just over two months and Madden is slated to come out in the middle of Pre-Season games. How on earth can it be that this game doesn’t have a single commercial in wide circulation or even some sort of hypemobile rolling through forums drumming up blind support?

While it isn’t terribly surprising to see a sports title come out and grab the core audience, it is rather shocking to see the publisher pretty much throw in the marketing towel this early/ late in the game’s development cycle. With high profile titles such as Halo 4 and Call of Duty coming out within a few months of Madden, it is going to be interesting to see how EA’s sales for their football games perform without any real concerted effort at this point.

Madden has its core of fanboys out there that live up to the stereotypes of sports gamers with false bravado and a sharp case of ego-stroking football knowledge that should place them at the sidelines of any local youth football game screaming at children as they try to live out dreams they never should have had in the first place. These gamers tend to ruin the online experience as they exploit the poor animation and AI system in order to rank up the leaderboards or win some sort of digital league.

ricoredux — The typical Madden Online/Tournament gamer.

The rest of the Madden fans out there don’t even play online. They want a game that focuses on Franchise Mode/Connected Careers and some sort of longevity to keep them coming back. Sadly, it looked like a promising year for this group of fans until EA dropped bombshell after bombshell crushing the dreams of franchise fanantics (yours truly, included). It seems that the time has come to call EA on their bluff. They have been bluffing for almost seven years now and there are still people out there folding under the pressure to buy this game on release day.

Are you buying Madden this year? Are you avoiding it like the plague?… Or, are you simply going to wait it out a little while and see what the reviews look like?

Madden 13 – Going RPG With a Sports Title

Most of the time when people are talking about XP they are referring to either their Call of Duty Prestige or in most other cases they are talking about leveling up their characters in a Role Playing Game. This can be seen in many games from World of Warcraft, Diablo, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, Borderlands, etc. However, for the first time ever you will be able to do this in Madden NFL 13.

This might not seem like a big deal to people that play online pick-up games, but when it comes to Franchise Mode (now called “Connected Careers“) this is something that has been sorely needed for a long time. Why would this be such a drastic ‘need’? The answer has multiple levels and we will cover them.

XP works in such a way that your players will earn points for you to spend (like currency) on improving the player as you see fit.

While this is something that some people might have a beef with because it allows the gamer to do something like make JaMarcus Russell into an amazing player if they build enough XP.

The answer to anyone that has a problem with this is simple and it is the first big reason to applaud this new system of progression.

It will take time to build someone into a superstar – Even players like RG3 are going to take some time to develop into the attributed monster you want them to become (that certainly goes for anyone looking to build JaMarcus Russell or Brady Quinn into anything near a 90 OVR player.
You control your team, it is (almost all up to you) – There isn’t really an excuse for your best players to not progress at this point. The power is in your hands to get your wanna-be diva WR the ball more often if you want him to level up. Want your QB to have more XP, don’t throw the ball into coverage all the time.
Longevity is finally here -For years, practice mode has been a wasted effort to even put in the game. This year you can practice with your players and get them even more XP by doing this. It makes sense, but we advise against asking Allen Iverson about how much you can gain through practice.

It is time to start getting excited for football season in gaming. For the first time in years, we really have something to talk about that isn’t how bad Madden is… but how good it could be.