Madden – Page 10 – NoobTubeTV

Madden 13 Infinity Engine – “No Two Tackles Are Alike” and Other Remarks For a Hopeful Public

EA Sports’ Victor Lugo was recently interviewed by ESPN. While this interview gives a lot of interesting details, it does leave us to wonder whether or not Madden 13 is going to be nearly as amazing as the developers are pushing us to believe it will or should be.

We are still of the opinion that real-time physics without real-time injuries is a lackluster feature. What is your take?

CowboysInfinity — No two tackles look alike? Sounds like a time to place bets.

Check message boards, tweets or sports gamer chatter from around the Web and all you’ll hear are the same complaints: “Madden” is nothing but a roster update every year, and “NFL 2K5” is still better.

“Everyone loves the underdog, and I think that’s where a lot of it comes from,” “Madden 13” producer Victor Lugo says when confronted with the complaints, admitting that the design team is all too familiar with them (especially the comparisons to “2K”).

But to Lugo, everything is about to change once gamers see the new real-time physics engine he helped develop. In “Madden 13,” no two tackles look alike, and the physics affect everything on the field, from the ability of running backs to roll off of a downed tackler and keep running to the way a receiver gets hit midair and helicopters his way back down to the turf.

“To not have an element that another game has gives people the right to complain, but I think at this point we have a lot of stuff that our competitors have had, and right now, we’re just concentrating on expanding ‘Madden’ and making the best simulation football we can,” Lugo adds. “It doesn’t really bother me too much what other people say, because we have brought a lot of the community guys in, guys who have been notoriously hard on our game for years, and they were really, really enjoying the game and how the Infinity Engine turned out.”
ESPN Playbook: Only a select few have gotten their hands on “Madden 13” so far, so for people reading this article, how would you explain the Infinity Engine and how it completely changes the game from “Madden 12” to “Madden 13”?

Lugo: “Madden 12” used a pretty interesting system. The collision system was more of your old-school collision volume around the character, and when the collision volumes intersected, an animation played out. Now, because of the Infinity Engine, you see a lot of variety in our hits because it’s not based around one collision box around a character, it’s based on individual limbs and individual muscle strengths and tensions throughout the whole character. Because of that, you see a lot more variety, and you see a lot more impact. It’s so different from last year’s game that now, when you’re playing, you can no longer recognize the outcome before it happens. The variety of interaction is what people want.

The way tacklers bounce off of running backs like Frank Gore, and the ability to spin receivers in the air with a vicious hit is pretty sweet. What else can gamers expect to see?

Because we factor in momentum and weight and we also factor in tensions based on what they’re doing, you’re going to see so much variety. You’ll see Frank Gore run over a lot of people this year. By the way, we went to college at the exact same time at The U, so I use him all the time to run people over and he’s featured in all of our videos. You’ll also see a lot of great stuff when receivers are up in the air. We set the tensions up so you don’t have a leg to stand on when you’re in the air, so that leads to all of the spins. There are all these immersive interactions that you just wouldn’t see in the past. You may be going to the ground, fall on somebody else and regain your balance and keep going. I can’t even anticipate for people what is going to happen because there is so much going on. It looks awesome, especially when you’re up in the air.

What’s your favorite sequence that you’ve seen in “Madden 13” so far that you’ve never seen in “Madden” before?

My favorite sequence so far was a short goal-line play from about 3 yards out. I ran up the middle, but I get hit and it looks like I’m stopped right at the goal line. But the guy hit me in the direction of the end zone and I end up rolling on an opposing teammate’s helmet, and I roll right into the end zone for the touchdown. In the past, I would’ve just hit the ground and that would’ve been the end of it, but I just rolled right off of this dude’s head to score. It was fantastic.

How about the Kinect controls in “Madden”? I know a lot of time, the hard-core community hears about Kinect being added to a game and they immediately start rolling their eyes. How have you guys made the voice commands an essential part of playing the game this year?
We had a couple of different goals in mind when it came to “Madden” and Kinect, and none of them involved forcing something cheesy or inappropriate to “Madden” in the game. We want to emulate what you see in real life, and that chatter is a big part of football on the field. A lot of our team has played football. I played football growing up and in high school, and chatter is a big part of playing, so we wanted to give people the ability to talk to their team and call out the audibles like you would in an NFL game. As a second goal, we want to make it easy for beginners to use it, so we put UI (user interface) on the screen to guide you toward what you can do and puts you in appropriate situations in context of the play. For hard-core people, we give you the ability to use both the controller and your voice in order to get that extra command in. A lot of the real hard-core players, and a lot of our really good players are taking advantage of the Kinect in order to do some of the commands that in the past have taken a lot of button commands or have been tough to get through before the ball is snapped, especially on defense. Trying to call man coverage on a specific receiver, for instance, takes a lot of steps, and with the buttons, you’re not going to get more than one of those before the ball is snapped. But with the voice commands, they’re able to get a couple of these commands in as well as adjust the line with the controller. People have been really enjoying it, and we’ve had some people who didn’t think they were going to like it at all now telling us they have to go buy a Kinect, so that’s great to hear.

How do the Kinect controls work with two players or with other people in the room? Can I just start shouting out player names and routes to throw my buddy off?

[Laughs.] Yeah, you’re going to need to tell your little brother to shut up, especially if he’s in the background. This year, we support the Kinect with single player, and with head-to-head online. What we decided to do with online is, you can talk and have a conversation all throughout the play and through play call, but then once you line up we mute you out for that 20 seconds before you snap the ball so you don’t hear what the other person is saying, and it also defends against you yelling hike through and having it get picked up through their surround sound speakers. We eliminate all of the trolling that way, but like I said there’s nothing you can do to defend against your brother. You’ll just need to find a way to shut him up.

People talk about the greatest “Madden” games of all time, and “Madden 2004” with Vick and all the offense and “Madden 2005” with the addition of the Hit Stick always seem to come up. With the addition of the Infinity Engine, where do you think “Madden 13” will go down on that list?

I think this is a revolutionary year for “Madden” both in gameplay and on the career side. In both cases, we’ve added something that is going to make the game bigger than it has ever been. With the physics, the Infinity Engine is something that we’re going to use moving forward forever. This is a fundamental change to gameplay that you will see forever, so this is a monumental year. This will go down in history, alongside some of those other games like 2004, because it’s a game that is bringing fundamental changes. You’re not going to forget “Madden 13.”

Madden 13 – Top 10 Running Backs

Once again, EA Sports has released their list of the Top 10 ‘skill’ position players – this time it is the Running Backs.

Even with a torn knee ligament – Adrian Peterson is towards the top of Madden’s HB list.

#1 Maurice Jones-Drew – 97 Overall
#2 Adrian Peterson – 97 Overall
#3 Arian Foster – 96 Overall
#4 LeSean McCoy – 95 Overall
#5 Ray Rice – 95 Overall
#6 Matt Forte – 93 Overall
#7 Frank Gore – 92 Overall
#8 Steven Jackson – 92 Overall
#9 Jamaal Charles – 91 Overall
#10 Michael Turner – 91 Overall

When looking at this list, keep in mind a few different facts (as you should for every player and position in Madden) –

Ratings are subjective and based upon the opinion of EA’s Donny Moore
Ratings are super-subjective as there is now input from the fanbase on Madden’s Facebook page
The Overall rating is one of the worst barometers for measuring how ‘good’ a player is in Madden
Depending on how you play the game, you will be able to make anyone into a superstar

One of the main issues with the ratings in Madden is the fact that one of the top running backs in the league (Chris Johnson of the Titans) isn’t in the Top 10. He had a poor year in 2011, sure. On the other hand, he didn’t suffer any injury that would make him actually lose out on how good he is/could be. On the other hand, players like Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles both suffered terrible injuries to their knees and are still rated as Top 10 Players.

It can be argued both ways, but Madden’s newest direction for rating players through a community vote for a few specific ratings is one of the more laughable developments in their new marketing direction. Hopefully they open up player edits for Connected Careers with a title update. If not, it looks like Madden 13 will be one of those games that makes you tilt your head to the side and wonder what the heck they are thinking with their ratings.

Why We Say “Overall” is the Worst Rating

Outside of the fact that it blows a player up to be the ‘best’ in the game, it is a rating that is comprised of a formula that brings into account the different skills that are necessary for each given position. There are also ratings that have no effect on gameplay (Awareness) and then there are ratings that should play a greater role that don’t at all – such as Injury and Toughness. A durable player is one of the more valuable assets in football, no matter which level you are playing. Yet, in Madden and NCAA these ratings mean nothing when it comes to the Overall value of each player?

A player’s value should also be dictated in career modes by their production. Notice, we didn’t say their ‘Overall’ rating, rather their ‘Value’ which is also a rating that doesn’t matter or in this case – exist. A player might not be the most physically talented or even have a dominating presence on the field but if they consistently lead their team to a Super Bowl or maybe even lead the league statistically chances are good that they will either demand or command a big pay raise and more respect as a player. A prime example of a player like this is Joe Montana.

Joe Montana wouldn’t be in our subjective Top 10 for throwing power or speed, but he would have a high rating for Toughness, Throwing Accuracy for short and medium range passes, etc. He was a super-skinny player that wasn’t a physical specimen like Cam Newton but he was a winner and arguably the best Quarterback of all time (again, our subjective opinion).

How do you feel about ratings? Are we blowing this out of proportion or is this getting downright silly to you too?

Making Madden Better – Volume 1 – Ending Games

No matter which form of entertainment you choose – gaming, movies or books, if the ending is bad you will consider it either a waste of your time or sit there for a minute wondering if that really is all that happens.

Madden has a few issues in this department and no where is it more noticeable than at the end of a big game. We are starting a new series of videos dedicated to helping make Madden a better experience. These are primarily meant to catch the eyes of developers at Tiburon; however, if you have other suggestions for things we haven’t covered please comment below, send us a message on YouTube or email us at officialnoobtubetv@gmail.com.

Again, the content we provide is meant to be used as constructive criticism in order to improve the game. There is no reason to point fingers or say anything in an unprofessional manner. You will get nowhere fast if you think bashing something or someone will make it or them change.

Keep hitting that F5 key as NoobTubeTV is starting to grow more popular we will be posting more often.

EA Game Changers – The Gaming Equivalent of Congressmen (With Advice On How To Interact In Your Online Communities)

Over the past couple years we have seen tremendous growth from EA Sports’ Madden Franchise. Some people like to attribute this growing quality to the inclusion of what EA Sports is calling Game Changers from the EA Gaming Community. A few days ago NoobTubeTV covered some of the biggest issues between non-Game Changers and the Game Changers on an interactive level through forums, Twitter, etc.

After scouring message-boards/forums, news and fan sites (many of which are owned by Game Changers) it is evident that they care deeply about the product they have all but devoted their lives to playing. It is impressive to see many of these sites talk about the intricacies and details that are either present or missing from some titles. These dedicated gamers eventually gained such a large audience or member-base that their opinions were held in high regard by EA.

When they first made their trips down to EA to visit the studio and get a first glimpse of the game they were pretty limited in what they got to see. It was all but a finished game and they got to give some feedback but anything else was off the table until at least the next year.

This year, the Game Changers got a few chances to visit EA Sports and watch as the game made it through Alpha and Beta stages. They also got to give input and suggestions. In the process of these visits they aren’t allowed to divulge any information that EA doesn’t give them permission to express to the public.

BlagoCubs — Power (even a little) can make people change for the worst.

This puts Game Changers into a de-facto position of power. For many of them, it is something they take with humility. For others, it seems to be going to their heads and it is starting to leave a sour taste in the minds of many community members. The issue at hand is that many of these valued members of the community are given a ‘a longer leash’ and sometimes no leash at all (especially on their own personal sites). You will find that some (a minority really) of the ‘premier’ community leaders (aka Game Changers) choose to take things personally and/or respond to commoners in a rather snarky fashion that would often equate to a warning or ban from forums. This is a problem that was really bound to happen as it isn’t dissimilar from people voted into political offices of power. They are given power and then they exploit it with little or no recourse to the people they are supposedly representing.

It is important for all of our readers to remember a few things when it comes to taking an active role in the games and game communities in which you are involved. Below are some pointers for how to better represent yourself and your views when taking an active role in forums.

Be Polite and Professional – many sites have TOS (Terms of Service) that spell out how you should act and which types of interaction and comments are allowed.
When In Doubt, DON’T PRESS SEND – If you value your membership in a forum/community and you get angry or annoyed with a fellow member or even the game in general you need to think before you submit some sort of choice words.
Choose Your Words Carefully – It is vital that a member doesn’t call anyone out or put them on blast by pointing fingers. This is often how digital fights of words begin and you better bet on community leaders getting the benefit of the doubt over a common user such as yourself.
Don’t Be A Troll – If your mission is to go and instigate other members of the community, you might as well refrain from registering from the site to begin with… but who are we kidding?… You are probably getting ready to submit a rude comment here on NoobTubeTV. The real problem you will find is that by doing that (on here, at least) your comment will be approved and then it will be responded to in a polite and professional manner – therefore making you look foolish. Again… don’t be a troll.

There Is Some Purity When It Comes To Being A Noob – Never Let It Go

No matter what type of hobby or interest we have taken up at any point – we have always been noobs somewhere along the line. Gaming is no different in this regard and some people like to demonize the idea of having a new player on their team as if it is something that will forever change their online persona. Their Win/Loss ratio or Kill/Death ration might suffer because a teammate is new to the game. That is probably the most common complaint about noobs online.

Outside of the fact that people don’t want to have a noob on their team, there are also those that don’t like how noobs play the game. In some cases like Call of Duty, Halo or any other First Person Shooter (FPS) there are certain ‘tactics’ that frustrate more seasoned players. Some of these are (but not limited to) – camping, using ‘over-powered’ weapons and of-course weapons like the NoobTube.

Then you have games like Madden and NCAA Football that almost completely rely on the all powerful speed rating. All you need are a couple WRs that have 99 SPD matched up against slower defenders and the game is over in the first quarter. Granted, these games are more susceptible to exploits because of game design flaws or simply lacking ability to effectively counter the ‘go deep’ approach. The fact of the matter is that if you are new to a game and you are learning the ropes you should take comfort in knowing that everyone has been there before. But shooter games are really the bigger target for what a noob or the teammate of a noob goes through and Call of Duty games are probably the most popular.

Call of Duty is a blazingly fast game that really revolves around twitchy movements and dedication to learning the nuances of the game itself. Once you learn the basics, it becomes a relatively easy game to play. You aren’t guaranteed to be the best in the world if you play all the time; but like anything else – you will get better.

Which is why one of the biggest problems with non-noobs (especially those in Call of Duty) are some of the worst when it comes to being respectful to new players. The idea of ‘Prestiging’ is something that happened in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Basically, you are able to level up in Call of Duty and obtain new weapons and other equipment as a result of your time invested. Now with Modern Warfare 3 there are 20 levels of prestiging and it has started to give some gamers out there a bit of a superiority complex. They feel that anyone that hasn’t prestiged simply is not as skilled or knowledgeable of the game as they are. Really, all prestiging means is that people have put in more time than others. You can play Call of Duty for 8 hours a day three days a week and reach the top prestige level – even if you are terrible.

The catch is that you will get better because you are playing the game more and more. Don’t think for a moment that because you are new to a game and struggling that you will never get it. The people you are playing against were in that same place at some point or another – stick it out and get better at your favorite games. Just don’t forget that when you get to the point where you aren’t a noob that there are thousands of other gamers out there that are in your old shoes and they need your help and advice… not vulgar language or sophomoric behavior.

Community Involvement Doesn’t Equal Community Development

In recent years EA Sports and some other publishers and game developers have started inviting select members of their hardcore gaming community and fanbase to come in and check out their game and give opinions and critiques as well as simply get a chance to play the game in its early build. For the many people that don’t get a chance to visit places like EA Tiburon for Madden over the course of a game’s development cycle it is easy to think they might do a better job than those going down to Orlando. There are a few things to consider before you let your mind run wild with envy if you aren’t among the invitees for Community Day (as they call it at EA). As well, if you are among the lucky few – it will behoove you to pay attention as well.

Before we proceed, it is important to view one of the interactions from OperationSports. This is between a non-Community Day participant and a Madden Community Day Participant –

Illustrator76 – “This was a great analogy sir, and I agree with what you’re saying. But I disagree with it as well, lol. Actually, I only disagree with the bolded part as it applies to Madden. I just feel like people need to remember why they are at the CD in the first place. Just because EA employees feed you, show you pictures of their kids, their peg leg, etc… that shouldn’t change your reason for being down there, or what you intend to say. Now, it may change HOW you say what you say, but it shouldn’t at all change WHAT you say.”

And the reply –

rgiles36 – “Just to offer a response, are you suggesting that people do forget the reason why they’re down there? And if so, what evidence is there that people go to Tiburon and don’t critique while in the studio?”

MY DIRECT RESPONSE

This is kind of a Catch-22 because there is no evidence that anyone can give that wasn’t there and the people that can give that evidence won’t likely speak freely about anything truly negative as it wouldn’t be beneficial if they wanted to keep getting a trip to Orlando.

I think it would be best practice for those that aren’t going to Community Day to remember that those invited are invited as guests and it is usually customary of a guest to show proper respect and gratitude toward their host(s).

If you go to someone’s house for dinner and the dinner tastes crappy – you (probably) wouldn’t stand up and yell “This tastes like sh*t!”.
However, if your guest stops eating after the first bite and says “This tastes like sh*t!” – you should feel slightly more inclined to either agree with them or give your two cents… otherwise, you hack down what you have been fed and you go home to a nice bottle of Pepto-Bismol.

MY MESSAGE FOR COMMUNITY DAY INVITEES AND PARTICIPANTS

You have to keep in mind that a majority of hardcore fans have no idea about what their favorite game is going to look, play or feel like until they pull it out of the DVD case on release day. Chances are good that you will be criticized by an ignorant public because they believe that you have an inside track… because you do. There is a certain level of responsibility that you have when it comes to being a sought-after member of the gaming community and you have to remember that while you have confidentiality clauses and other issues to worry about – you are still in a position of power among people in the community.

Also, as it is widely known among active members of the gaming community itself each person making the trip to Orlando must sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that legally prevents them from divulging any information about the game or development of the game without prior approval of the studio/company.

Be that as it may, any person that is invited to a Community Day needs to remember that they were once among the commoners. While there are rules they must follow, there is also a responsibility for them to be a conduit that other people in the community can utilize to further the overall mission – making the game better. In my view, Community Day participants have done an excellent job over the last few years and their efforts are much appreciated.

THE BOTTOM LINE
The bottom line is that when you bring in anyone to critique your product you are trying to get some feelers for what could be tweaked. If the people being invited to give advice or suggestions were better at developing the game than the actual employees they would probably have a job offer to work at the studio. (Keep in mind, this has actually happened in some cases with EA Sports and Madden)

There is a vast difference between being asked for your opinion and being asked for your help on any project. For the most part, when people are invited out of the community to check out a game (of any sort) it is in a capacity of giving opinions and feedback but not much else.

Going to a community day is like helping someone hang a picture. The developers picked the spot on the wall, put the nail in and they standing there holding the picture and asking you, “Does this look straight?”.

It is good to remember that people like Josh Looman pay close attention to forums and Twitter when it comes to community suggestions. Not just those from Community Day.

IN CONCLUSION

The main message here is that you must understand that people invited to give suggestions at Community Day are not there as developers. They are there strictly on the basis of being valued consultants (at most). They give opinions and they give suggestions when they are asked. They give feedback and might even take some notes in order to give a detailed list that is comparable to proof-reading. However, in the end it is up to the developer to take these suggestions and use them or ignore them.

So, before you accuse Community Day participants of ‘not doing their job’ or tell non-participants to ‘provide evidence’ that you know they don’t have – remember that this entire process is in the spirit of consulting at most.

How Should Sports Games Reflect The Happenings of Real Life?

Today the NCAA decided to pass down a punishment on Penn State that would essentially cripple the football team and university for years. It does raise a question about how much video games should or shouldn’t reflect what happens in real life. For instance, in NCAA 11 and 12 you will notice that teams like USC and Ohio State are given terrible ratings as far as Championship Caliber and Coach Ratings matching those of Luke Fickell (eventhough they aren’t really those coaches… riiiight).

OSU — When game developers gloss over the realities of the sports they are trying to reproduce they are short-changing their creativity and the consumer’s ability to take part in a true simulation of the sport itself.

Now we are in the midst of a USC team coming off of a ban, an Ohio State team starting a one year ban and last but not least – Penn State. In NCAA Football 06 you would have to deal with players violating team rules and all sorts of things that brought real life situations to the game. Why have these things been taken out of games this generation?

Madden NFL Football doesn’t have late hits, real-time injuries or even contract holdouts. Are sports games being held to a different standard somehow? We have shooter games that allow for some of the most gruesome actions to take place but when it comes to sports titles we can’t have late hits or concussions? We can’t have bowl bans or shady recruiting? We can’t have team rules violations by players that have questionable motivations?

You can’t say we never had these things before… we did… but now they are gone with the winds of political correctness or some sort of false societal demands.

Competing Online – It Isn’t Whether You Win or Lose… It’s How You Play The Game

Leaderboards, Clan Battles, LAN Parties and Online Leagues are all built around the same concept – gaming together for a more enriching experience. Sadly, doing this with people you don’t know personally makes for a bit of a strange situation where you feel like you are in a mexican standoff rather than a welcome environment of friendly competition.

maddenchallenge — Don’t these guys make you want to log on and enjoy a game of Madden?… (didn’t think so)

All anyone really cares about is winning. Be it Charlie Sheen or simply an obsession with coming out on top – “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.” is what Vince Lombardi once said. In the case of gaming, there seems to be a dog eat dog nature that makes for a less than enjoyable time for everyone involved once things get competitive. There are websites devoted to setting up leagues, teams and even tournaments where you can win money. These put gamers into a position of having something to lose. When you couple all of these issues into an environment of people that are often socially inept it is enough to turn it into a mobscene when someone loses.

You can usually see an example of this in person if you make a trip to a local Madden Tournament at Gamestop, BW3s or where ever you have local tournaments. Losing isn’t something people like to do.

We aren’t suggesting that competition is bad but when it comes to competing in an online environment there is always going to be a possibility for it to turn into a cesspool. The biggest difference between competing face to face vs. online is that people feel anonymous enough to cheat or simply violate rules because they don’t really have anyone to keep them honest.

As we get closer to the release of Madden 13, Black Ops 2, Medal of Honor and other competitive online titles please remember that it is wise to play the game in a manner that is fair, mature and in accordance with the rules that keep it from turning into a cesspool.

It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp – EA Sports Loses $27 Million In Class Action Suit

As we approach the launch of Madden 13 it should be noted that EA Sports still has exclusive rights to the NFL license. There are a few things in gaming that truly drive innovation and the primary motivating factor is true competition. EA has found out the hard way that monopolizing the market to fix prices is the wrong way to go about this not only with fans of sports gaming, but now with the Federal Court system.

hustle-pimplo — It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp

For a detailed run-down of the decision check out this article at Kotaku.

If you want the real moral of the story, it is that EA Sports will be banned from exclusive deals ONLY with NCAA Football and Arena Football League. Which in all honesty is simply a slap on the wrist. The real competition they faced was from 2K in the NFL 2K series.

What this really means is that you shouldn’t hold out hope that 2K (or any other developer) will get a chance to make an NFL game. However, if they do get that chance, it will probably be on the next generation of consoles (if ever).

What about the Class Action Lawsuit?

In terms of what you ‘get’ out of it… $2 for any 360, Wii or PS3 American Football Title (AFL, Madden, NCAA) and just under $7 for PS2, Gamecube and XBox games that came out after 2005.

Bottom Line

EA Sports is being hit where it counts – the wallet. This isn’t the type of punch in the face that knocks them out of Exclusive Rights in sports gaming, but it is a sign that what they have been doing isn’t right. EA has potential to make some of the best sports games out there and when they had to fight against NFL 2K5 it was the best iteration of Madden (2005) ever.

Analogy Time

In 2005 it was like watching Rocky 2. Two developers were busting their asses trying to prove that they had the best game out there. In the end you see both of them fall to the ground in the last few seconds. 2K5 came out with a great game for $20 and after seeing this, EA released Madden for $30 rather than $50. EA came out on top and then just like Rocky they were the world champs.

Then after 2005, EA Sports turned into Rocky in Rocky 3. They got lazy and lost a lot of their motivation to train hard. They started doing stupid promotions and simply got full of themselves because everyone they would fight would be a push-over (if there was anyone to fight).

The biggest fear that EA has right now is for a game like NFL 2K to come back around like Clubber Lang and “crucify them, real bad.”

While it seems that we might not like EA Sports games… it is to the contrary. We love EA Sports titles, but we loved them more when they were trying harder. It isn’t fair to EA Sports that they have no competition, it makes them look soft and it prevents them from improving. We want to see a good fight between developers that makes us get excited again.

Limitations On NCAA and Madden 13 Push Both Games to Stand On Their Own

There was a lot of flack after the announcement that Madden and NCAA Football would pretty much have nothing that brought them together.

“Hello Friends!” Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are just part of a new direction for Madden this year.

For five years they both gave you the ability to pretty much continue the careers of players that you had used, faced or competed alongside during your seasons of NCAA Football. Not to mention the fact that if you downloaded fully-named rosters for NCAA you would also be getting to draft some of your favorite “real” college players in the future!

However, there was a big downfall to that ‘perk’.

When you wouldimport your draft class from NCAA to Madden you would notice that the best players in NCAA that were coming out in the draft would be scattered. Not to say that this doesn’t happen in real life, but the ratings simply didn’t translate well enough to be imported into Madden without scratching your head in wonderment.

This year it is different and it is a good thing.

After many articles and thoughts on the subject of Madden and NCAA 13 it has finally clicked that these games finally get to be games unto themselves. NCAA Football has a hardcore audience that either prefer college football to pro football; or they just can’t stand Madden football and choose to roll with NCAA every year. Regardless of the reasons for one over the other (or even buying both) you are now playing two different games this year and it is a good thing.

GymratNCAA — NCAA Football has a hardcore audience and the ability to take screen-shots during Instant Replay… This picture was taken and posted on Operation Sports by Gymrat8168

Madden’s Connected Careers is a good direction for at least a little bit of change in the formula for Franchise Mode, etc. NCAA has Road to Glory and Dynasty still going strong, but the fact is that you won’t be playing one of these games and wondering if it would be better if you had both of them instead.

Playing a game of video game football can take you anywhere from 40 minutes to over and hour (depending on your settings, play-style and bathroom breaks). It is difficult to play a Dynasty and a Franchise Mode at the same time. If you consider the fact that just in regular seasons alone there are at least 28 games that need to be played; then take into account all of the off-the-field duties you have to do in order to have any depth to your experience… it is one heck of a task to run careers on two different titles.

Madden finally gets a chance to step up and be the big brother the NCAA hasn’t had on this generation of consoles. NCAA finally gets a chance to be more than just a place to get draft classes from for Madden’s Franchise mode.

Either way it goes, this year is different for football gaming and both titles are better off for it.