Madden NFL – Page 3

Madden 15 – Why Haven’t We Heard Anything?

In what seems to be the non-stop world of NFL media coverage, we have yet to hear so much as a peep from EA Sports when it comes to Madden 15. With the draft coming in nearly a month and numerous reports of big changes in free agency – there isn’t even a screen shot of the assumed upcoming title from EA Tiburon.

Does this mean that there is something bigger on the horizon and EA is just playing it ‘close to the chest’? It doesn’t seem like it could be anything else other than that assumption. Madden is the cash cow of EA Sports (perhaps behind FIFA) and it is in need of some serious work when it comes to improving the overall experience of the game in general.

What are you hoping to hear from the football gaming front in the coming months?

Here are a few of the things that Madden needs –

Better Team Management from AI – This seems to be a yearly issue with Madden. Yes, they mostly fixed the ability to steal draft picks from teams (via trades). However, there seems to be a drastic drop-off when it comes to teams making personnel decisions as the years pass in Franchise Mode.

Better Officiating and Foot Detection- I have a feeling I’m not the only one that has played Madden and seen a receiver clearly catch a ball out of bounds and have it ruled (after review) to be a catch. The same goes for catches made in the end-zone and inexplicably, the animations or officiating doesn’t allow the catch. This is an issue that occurs almost every 2-4 games I play.

Better Draft Class Balance – Now that NCAA Football and the importation of draft classes (and the constant problems that presented) is a moot point. We now have to look at the classes designed and wonder why there are WRs created that are 5’8″ with 77 SPD and 67 CTH ratings. For the love of all things unholy – just make the player somewhat less crappy.

Custom Draft Class Creation – As stated above, the current state of draft classes is terrible. The sports gaming community has shown in games like NBA 2K that there are people out there that can put out some amazing effort in this regard and openly share their creations with the community. This would be a huge success if EA simply allowed it.

Smarter Playcalling and Decision Making – This goes without needing explanation for the most part. However, Madden seems to be designed for the casual fans to pick up the game and throw the ball around. It would be nice to finally see the game become challenging in a way that made the gamer (and the AI) to consider all of the match-ups and the game situation before choosing plays or who to focus on for a given moment in a big situation.

Madden 15 Super Bowl Info – What Should We Expect?

During the time between Madden 09 and Madden 10 there was a large upheaval in the Madden development team. Ian Cummings had stepped in as the Creative Director and was really taking a leap to get into the world of the gamers. This meant that he was very active in community forums and took a lot of feedback from the ‘sim’ gaming community. Madden 10’s first glimpse came from a photo released during the Super Bowl XLIII. It was something that really caught the Madden community by surprise. To think that the developer was going to start the ‘hype machine’ wasn’t a shocker… but to see that they had obviously taken the feedback of the community seriously was something new.

The preview pic released during Super Bowl XLIII

Times have since changed. Ian Cummings is no longer at EA and Josh Looman is largely the go-to guy for all things Madden these days. Looman had been the guy most of the Franchise Mode fans wanted to talk to about the details within that portion of the game. Things really seem to have changed in recent years outside of that. The community isn’t anywhere near as active as it was when Cummings was at EA. Sure, there are still a lot of people that patrol the forums at numerous sites. Some of those sites tend to take a rather ‘Gestapo’ approach to people that are outraged by Madden and EA in general. It is apparently bad for business to let people vent their frustrations openly when the developers are so sensitive to the negative feedback. Yes, it isn’t necessary to have twenty threads of ‘EA Sucks’ and ‘I Hate Madden’ – but it needs to be said that Madden has really taken a few steps back since that time. So, that leaves a question for this weekend – What Should We Expect To Hear About Madden 15? One of the first things we will likely see is a larger focus on Next-Gen version of the game instead of that for XBox 360 and PS3. That said, we should probably expect a picture or video of more close-up ‘eye candy’ like player faces (ala – Donovan McNabb in Madden 11).

The downside of graphics being plastered everywhere is that it means nothing for actual gameplay. Graphics are much like candy wrappers in that sense. They catch the eye – but in the end it is all about the contents of what you are consuming. In this case, Madden is often like black licorice inside a Snickers wrapper (to me anyway).

I expect to hear something about smoother physics from the ‘Ignite’ engine. More focus probably being put into foot-planting, and some sort of improvement to tackle animations. Largely, the expectations for the Super Bowl Madden information should be muted simply because they are meant to be more of a hype machine than anything. I don’t remember the last time I played a sports title… or any game and looked at the player’s face or the towel hanging from his pants. Some people live for those details – but in all honesty – most gamers just want it to play like football rather than to look like football.

Look for eye-candy from Madden over the next few weeks and months. Hopefully there will be improvements made for current-gen titles. Such as better rulings for catches on the sidelines, smarter CPU playcalling, better draft, trade and free agency logic. Let’s not forget the strange ability for old players to come back and play without having aged a day. Ray Lewis, Kurt Warner and a few others are examples of this game going further into ‘arcade’ mode.

Then again – that is probably why sales for Madden continue to decline.

Enjoy the Super Bowl!

Madden – Preparing For The Super Bowl Hype Machine

The majority of traffic to NoobTubeTV over the past year has been for information on all things ‘Madden’. This year will be interesting if you consider the release of the XBox 720 (or whatever they will call it) to be on the top of your anticipation list. Regardless of what you are looking forward to in football gaming this year, Madden is most likely on the top of your list.

Madden 13 is a game that came out of the gates strong with some new direction to Franchise Mode with the new Connected Careers Mode. Some gamers hated this move and the direction of earning XP for players through on field production. Other gamers enjoyed this new move for realism in player growth during CCM. Either way you fall on this argument you will notice that it was always part of the hype machine after the Madden 12 cycle finished with the Super Bowl.

With the Super Bowl (and the new Madden Release Date announcement) only a few weeks away you should be fully prepared for the onslaught of Madden hype from EA Sports.

Some of the hopes for improvement in Madden 14 are –

More customization of playbooks and depth charts/players – CCM cut off a lot of user creativity as it all but removed player editing and roster editing from the mode.
Better OLine and DLine Interaction – This is something that is called for and demanded by the Madden community every year. EA supposedly made this better by using the strength ratings in Madden 13, but given the constant issues with defensive linemen not getting proper sack numbers and the strange ‘Pancake Block’ stat for OLinemen, it is questionable as to whether or not EA knows anything about linemen at all.
Smarter AI Decisions and Gameplanning – Why do CPU QBs get away with clear intentional grounding? Why does the CPU call a HB Draw while down 5 points and 55 yards from the endzone with 17 seconds left? Why does the CPU call a Timeout with 1:01 left in the 4th quarter?
More Realistic Injuries – We have been calling for this for years. The bottom line is that real time physics means nothing if injuries are random.

Madden 13 Patch Should Be Arriving Within A Month

If you consider the past, it is usually a pretty safe bet to plan on a patch coming from EA Tiburon within seven to eight weeks of release. Madden 13 has received relatively rave reviews this year – outside of the users that apparently need fantasy drafts in order to survive. The biggest issues facing Madden relate to the problems found in their vaunted Connected Careers Mode. There are also numerous gameplay issues that could use help from Tuner Updates and other such attention from EA Tiburon.

We will be keeping you updated on Madden 13 patch information as the month keeps moving on. One thing is certain – the longer EA waits to support the game they put out every year the more people will abandon it for real football on TV, Borderlands and maybe even NBA 2K13. In other words – EA needs to act like they care about their product for once and be a bit more proactive with their patch and tuner support.

This is yet another reason why we can’t wait for competition in football gaming.

Fantasy Drafts In Sports Games – Are We Really Missing That Much?

Now that the reviews are pouring in from publications and regular users all over the internet, we are looking at the comments that many of our readers are leaving. Many of these comments are focused towards the lack of a Fantasy Draft or roster editing before starting Franchise Mode (what is now called Connected Careers). For those of you that don’t know what Fantasy Drafts are, we will break it down for you now.

Fantasy Drafts essentially take every player off of every team and put them into a pool in which you will pick any of those player for your team of choice. Every other team will follow suit in this 53-Round draft. This has been in Madden for over a decade – until now.

The developers of Madden 13 have decided to remove the Fantasy Draft (as well as some other roster editing abilities for career modes). While there are serious questions about roster editing, it is puzzling why so many people are angry about Fantasy Drafts from the aspect of longevity in career modes. It isn’t because someone can’t have a long-lasting career mode with a fantasy draft, but more along the lines of trying to figure out how much of a challenge it is to build a team in a Fantasy Draft – in Madden no less.

When I was between the ages of 12 and 14 I was a big fan of being able to trade players between teams and make my own ‘all star’ or ‘fantasy’ team in Triple Play Baseball on Playstation One. I would build a team to play against my friends and their ‘fantasy’ team in exhibition games. Outside of that, I also built a team in the fantasy draft in Madden, years later. When you could bring this fantasy drafted team into a Franchise Mode it made some people think that it would be the best thing that ever happened to the mode.

While it seems there are a few people out there that prefer to run an offline franchise or online league with a fantasy draft – I have yet to personally finish a season with a fantasy team in any sports game (especially Madden). There are a few reasons behind this, at least from my point of view.

· If you build a team of dominating all stars – where is the challenge?

· Doing a fantasy draft for career modes often results in the user taking younger players with higher speed ratings (speed has always been the most important rating in Madden)

· Knowing which players are on other teams involves going into the player management screen and scrolling through the players.

· Longevity of a fantasy drafted team in a career mode is something I have yet to see go more than two seasons.

That said, it remains that fantasy draft is gone with the wind and many people are stuck wondering why. This is one of the more confusing situations that is happening across the board in Madden 13. Between roster editing and importing draft classes and superstars from NCAA Football – a lot of users are left wondering if there is any part of career modes that will be left to their own customization or personal preferences.

The fact that EA Tiburon has tried to do something so vast with Connected Careers should make most people happy to see some sort of attempt to change from the same old and dry franchise and superstar modes.

Where do you stand on fantasy drafts and other customization? Are you among the group of people that hates everything about the changes or are you part of the faction that are happy to see some sort of originality, even at the initial cost of user customization?

Madden 13 – The Midnight Release Review

Looking for some last minute advice to help you make that release day or midnight launch decision for Madden 13?

Here it is –

You should buy this game if:

You are a Madden fan
You liked NFL Head Coach
You want deep online leagues
You want deeper offline career modes

You shouldn’t buy this game if:

You prefer open player editing for career modes
You prefer fantasy drafts
You prefer to have Franchise Mode with people on the same console
You don’t believe in performance on the field being a factor in progression or building XP

The Midnight Release Review – (yes, we have multiple reviews – more feedback and evolving reviews are better than one you read in a crappy magazine or website that doesn’t look at the game over an extended period of time)

The current grades for Madden 13 in terms of scholastic levels would be a B- or in the typical (just as subjective) ‘number’ grade it would be around an 8.3 out of 10.

The justifications for a review and score start with what was deducted and why.

Gameplay – The Infinity Engine

The Infinity Engine makes the game ‘look’ better in terms of players on the field having a wider range of motion and trying to trick your eye into not seeing the canned animations that are still there, but are more hidden due to the ‘rag doll’ effects of the new engine. You will see players flopping and falling all over the place at times and on occasion it will make you laugh (at one point Eli Manning took a knee to end the half against my Browns and as my defense pushed through the line – the kneeling Manning looked like he got hit by a truck… no penalty was called.)

It still plays like Madden 12 if you discount the flailing. As we stated in our earlier review of the game, it seems at times like players are running at eachother with numb arms at their sides and jumping into opposing players (and sometimes their own teammates). If you try and picture the players up close drooling with lazy eyes it will make the game a bit more entertaining – at least for a few seconds. (If you are saying or thinking “You’re wrong for that.” I might be, but you can’t say I’m not honest.)

Customization – No Editing Players for Career Mode

This has been one of the most commented topics here on NTTV. It is a fact that Madden 13 is extremely limited on editing players and rosters for career modes. While EA has stated that they are considering the option of maybe patching this into the game, you shouldn’t hold your breath or grasp for hope and change when it comes to this – the bottom line is that EA Tiburon pushed this game in a new direction and had to leave some things behind to do that. Customization is one of the things that I would think could be more of an on/off option but apparently they don’t see it that way and maybe my assumption is over-simplified. (Programming isn’t often a matter of ‘turning something on or off‘.) You can still edit players in exhibition mode but it won’t carry over to CCM (for now).

To go along with customization, you also won’t have the ability to run a fantasy draft for your connected careers. It is unfortunate and somewhat confusing if you consider the fact that it doesn’t involve editing players and you can trade and pick up free agents in CCM. My best guess is that it would screw up a lot of the commentary, storylines and twitter feeds if someone suddenly had a team with Peyton Manning, Trent Richardson and Ray Lewis.

Playing CCM With Friends On the Same Console

Perhaps the second most infuriating issue with our readers is the fact that you can’t have a league where you are competing with a friend, sibling or roommate on the same console. This is one of the most confusing issues I have come across. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense if you consider the fact that people have had this ability for years. It follows the same lines of logic as player editing, but really – this is flat out ridiculous. If you consider the release date of Madden you will see that it often coincides with the start of college classes and students returning to campus. This is where most of my sports league gaming with friends happened back in the day and now it is gone. To this, all I can say is that I hope you held on to Madden 12.

The Reasons You Should Buy This Game Today

Now that we have given you the reasons why this game had the deductions, we will further enlighten you with the reasons why this is one of the best Madden games ever released. We have already given a couple reasons why this game is awesome. If you want a few more reasons to buy Madden – here you go.

The Deepest Career Mode Ever

Madden has had a tough time over the past few years trying to push a better franchise mode. Madden 12 was decent but it lacked logical CPU teams and it also lacked intelligent contractual negotiations. This year they have gone above and beyond what they had in the past and that is the primary reason I chose to get this game with the Season Ticket… I had to see Connected Careers with my own eyes.

You will see storylines from college recruits that have had violations, injuries and even breakout seasons. They will climb and fall on the draft boards and you will feel the pressure to find the diamonds in the rough and avoid the potential busts. The scouting in this game will make you think more than Madden 12 did with simply picking a player and getting information given to you. You will have to pay for information and if you want more specific scores you will have to pay more.

Players will want to negotiate extensions of their contracts through the year and you will have to make decent offers when you are given the chance, otherwise they will stop negotiating and test free agency. It is yet another small detail that makes it stand far above Maddens of the past. To go along with this new contract approach you will have to start determining how you want to build your team. If you are creating a new coach and want to change the schemes and mindset of your team it will take time for you to find the right players and personnel that fit what you want to do.

If you decide to be a player you will have other things to worry about – namely, your player’s storyline and how he will progress throughout his career. You will have to earn XP and put it into the right areas if you want to become a superstar in terms of OVR ratings and such. The bottom line is that your performance will dictate almost everything. If you come in and stink it up, it might be a quick career for your version of JaMarcus Russell.

Progression Is Based On Performance and Development Ability

Making your players better whether it is as a coach or as a single player will depend on two things. You have to perform well on the practice field and in game situations when you get the chance. Some people are obnoxiously pissed about this for some reason, thinking that ‘potential’ should be the sole factor in how a player progresses. This is a common misconception that people make when they want to determine whether a game is being realistic (hopefully you can see the irony there). If someone works a job and busts their hump to make their quotas and they go above and beyond whether they have good potential doesn’t matter. The same goes for people or players (see JaMarcus Russell, Vince Young, Todd Marinovich, Vernon Gholston, the list goes on and on) that have all the talent and potential in the world and it goes to a waste due to laziness, purple drank or factors beyond their control). This is why the development rating is so important.

Development will determine how much and how fast a player can gain XP. If you want to increase this trait you will have to pay for it with, you guessed it – XP. It isn’t like running for 500 yards every game on Rookie Difficulty will make it easier to get a player to some sort of inflated rating. Well, in that extreme case – it might. Either way, it will cost you 50,000 XP just to take someone from the ‘Quick’ Development Trait to ‘Superstar’. If you consider the fact that it could take you an entire season (or two) to get that many points it suddenly becomes clear that some players might only progress to the mid-80s for an OVR, but the best part is that you will have groomed them on your own (if you want). If you prefer the hands-off approach you can also set player progression to automatic and let them grow as the CPU sees fit.

The Infinity Engine

Yes, this was one of our downsides, but the fact of the matter is that this game looks so much better with players that move due to reaction to other people and objects. That is after-all what physics pretty much revolves around. You will see players moving in a slightly more realistic fashion (especially if you play with game speed set to slow or very slow). You will also notice that momentum is a bit more prevalent in this game and you won’t be able to stop and move on a dime. It will be more like stopping and moving on a… quarter.

That said – the game still plays like Madden. You can move players without some sort of strange delay like on 2K football or something like that, so don’t get scared off when people talk about momentum and real time physics. Also, you will notice that the big hits in Madden 13 look and feel bigger than any Madden during this console generation. A lot of this has to do with the infinity engine and how the players react to different speeds of play and how they are positioned.

We will have more coverage of Madden 13 over the next days, weeks and months. Hopefully this more detailed review will help you decide whether or not to go out and spend the $60 on Madden today or this week.

As always – Happy Gaming!

Madden 13 Review Coming Soon

As it happens, EA Sports is allowing XBox Live and Playstation Network users to play their sports games early. It is in this spirit that we are going to try and help you decide whether or not to buy or pre-order Madden 13. You will still have ample time to make an informed decision before the game is released on August 28.

To call it a review is a misnomer – we will be featuring a series of reviews over the next few days that will cover everything from gameplay to specific modes and even the online experience. If you have any questions or requests please post them in our comments section or hit us up on Twitter – @NoobTubeTV.

Stay tuned to NoobTubeTV for reviews and updates on everything Madden 13 over the next few days.

Click The Picture Below to Pre-Order Madden 13 from Amazon!

Our Game Changer Ideas – Click The Links and Vote! (Must have EA Sports Login)

As we get closer to Madden 13 it is time to start looking to the future and trying to make Madden better.

We are submitting ideas to EA Sports and the Game Changer community. Do you have any suggestions for us to add or have you added some yourself? Here are some of our latest suggestions!

“End Game” Option When Taking A Knee

With a huge lead and no way for the opponent to stop the clock there should be an option in the Special Teams menu for “QB Kneel – End Game”.

This would save a few minutes of waiting around for the inevitable victory.

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Losing Teams and Players Don’t Celebrate

Players like Tom Brady shouldn’t celebrate touchdowns when they are still losing by 21+ points with less than 2 minutes left. If anything they should be scowling and angry or some other sort of reaction that says ‘this isn’t enough’ if they are losing the game.

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Winning Important Games Should Make For Bigger Celebrations

Divisional games and playoff clinching games should end with bigger celebrations from players and coaches. This shouldn’t be limited to the Super Bowl or even playoff games, but also with games in the division like the Browns beating the Steelers. Also, a team clinching the division or a wild card spot in the playoffs should have players and fans that celebrate, cheer and go crazy.

Madden 13 – Live Draft Videos Show Tremendous Effort At EA

As a Browns fan one of the biggest (if not, THE biggest) days every year is the NFL Draft. A lot of people feel this way but for teams like the Browns and all of the Browns Backers out there, it is a day where we fill ourselves with hope and beer as we watch and listen for rumors of who will be taken to turn our team around. In the past, Madden’s Franchise Mode has grown to be a serviceable game mode but the one thing that has been lacking was atmosphere and purpose in the off-season and especially in the draft. This year that has changed and we are happy to embed a video by one of EA’s Game Changers (MadScientist06) that shows you what the NFL Draft feels like in Madden 13.

While there are some things that I would like to see tweaked for Madden 14 and beyond, this is one of the finest examples of growth in Franchise Mode that I have seen in years.

What I Love –

+ Limiting Picks to 2-minutes – This is one of the things that had to be done to give every pick the urgency you feel as a viewer on draft day. Sure, in reality you have more than two minutes, but in Madden it is you and your scouting expertise with a controller and a twitch reaction of pressing the ‘A’ or ‘X’ button (depending on your console). This is a great move either way you spin it.

+ Story-Lines For Certain Players – Stories are what make sports so amazing. Try to watch the Olympics or the NFL Draft without hearing about some guy who showed up one day and amazed people with his ability. Or on the flipside, remember that player that was supposed to be the number 1 pick and he ended up falling to the second round because of work ethic or something else entirely?… that is what the draft is about and it is finally in Madden.

+Twitter Feed – Bringing in personalities from the sports community was genius. I love to hate Skip Bayless most of the time and when he called MadScientist06’s pick of Corey Dallas the culmenation of “…Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest!… A TERRIBLE pick!…” This is what I have been waiting for since Madden 2005’s boos and cheers.

What Makes Me Nervous

– Draft Logic – It is one of those things that has been improved over the years, but some teams are still making questionable decisions in the draft. At one point you see the Rams taking a Quarterback – they already have Sam Bradford, but who knows… maybe he broke his arm? Either way, this is something that should be perfected over time and you will probably give some picks a strange look. You could always just say that the spirit of Al Davis is possessing people.

– Unlocking Ratings – I have never been a fan of Madden’s rating system being thrown out there as the end-all/be all for how a player is judged. I love that you have to spend points on opening certain ratings but in reality this isn’t a good simulation of how information is gathered (at least from a fan’s perspective).

– Scouting Still Limits You – If you take a look at NFL.com’s combine coverage, they list the stats and times of every player that participated. I don’t really think you should be able to see every rating of each player, but I should at least have the resources as a coach/owner to look on the internet and look at a player’s 40-time if he was at the combine. In the future I would like to see this presented with a ‘range’ of times if we are looking at speed. The Raiders base most of their drafts off of combine numbers while the Patriots look at their scouting over the year. You should have both options and especially the combine numbers for every player.

Keep tuning in to NoobTubeTV as this is going to be a very busy week in the world of Madden (only 8.5 days left until release day).

RPGs In A Sports Game? – Madden 13 Has Gone That Direction and It Is Looking Good

RPGs are typically the types of games and genres that will earn you a swirlie in the school bathroom from your typical jock/bully swine. Now it seems that they will finally have a chance to see what they have been missing. As well, it might be time for some of my fellow nerds to step out of their realms of wizardry and into the arena that we sports nuts also call – The Gridiron.

Madden 13’s Connected Careers Mode is something we have been featuring on NoobTubeTV quite a bit over the past few months. While this is no doubt because it is one of the biggest parts of the game – it is also one of the biggest changes to how gamers will be approaching career modes in sports games. While some games have done a great job (see MLB: The Show) with bringing gamers into a more centralized experience of actually ‘being’ a player in the game, football has been missing out for years – until now.

An example of how they are implementing story and background into this mode can be found in the Connected Careers Manual from EA (Although, they could use a lot of help on the editing front) – We will use the Cleveland Browns as an example.

Cleveland Browns
Scheme: West Coast / Base 4-3
Salary Cap Room: $9.62M
Strengths: HB, LT, DT, MLB
Weaknesses: QB, WR, LG, RT, FS

Playing as a Coach
The Cleveland Browns are a tough franchise to play with in Connected Careers. The roster is in need of improvements in multiple areas and they play in arguably the toughest division in football. The Browns are hoping they got on the right track with the drafting of Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden and addressing an offense that did not strike fear in its opponents. The defense will be the key in determining how well your season turns out. The Browns have a young defense that is only going to get better. MLB D’Qwell Jackson is the leader and Joe Haden and T.J. Ward provide playmakers in the secondary. Prepare to go out each Sunday knowing you need to bring your A game.

Playing as a Player
Pat Shurmur is searching for a West Coast QB and that’s exactly what you can do to step right in and start from day 1. Trent Richardson will be tough to overtake in the backfield, but a Red Zone Threat WR should see significant playing time, if not the number 1 spot on the depth chart. The same could be said with a Receiver TE. Your best chance of starting right away on defense will be as a Run Supporting FS or SS. Get on the field and help turn this franchise around!

A New Hope?

It seems like we finally have a reason to hope for Madden NFLs career modes to take off and maybe even bring in a new audience. Get your twenty-sided dice ready all you nerdy football fans! It is time to build XP and level up into one of the most fearsome players or respected coaches in the NFL!