| Owens suits up for the Bengals |
Posted by AndyP on 07/28 at 13:25 in Football |
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| Given the protracted saga that finished with Lebron "taking his talents to South Beach", it was a refreshingly short drama that ended with Terrell Owens agreeing terms on a deal with the Bengals yesterday. EA wasted no time in getting suiting up T.O. in his new uniform as you can see in the following screenshots. |
 Terrell Owens |
| Tags: Madden11Screenshots |
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| Madden demo sparks controversy |
Posted by AndyP on 07/28 at 06:56 in Football |
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The Madden demo was made available yesterday via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. I posted some impressions Monday describing the new features, offering my own feedback on those and hinting at some potential controversy. Needless to say, it was nothing compared to the avalanche of criticism that hit the web throughout most of yesterday.
But why ?
I'll save my thoughts on the entire game for the review at this stage, but by far the most controversial addition to Madden 11 is the arrival of "Strategy Pad". There have been a lot of other criticisms but this is by far the most discussed.
For anyone who hasn't tried the demo, Strategy Pad is the new method for making pre-snap adjustments. Cast your mind back to the old method (you don't need to think too far back, just slip in the NCAA 11 disc and you'll see the system working perfectly fine in that game) which used a combination of triggers, face buttons and the sticks to send players in motion, call player specific audibles or send guys on hot routes among other things. The Strategy Pad is an attempt to simplify that entire process by mapping everything to the D-Pad - that's everything... to the D-Pad. Every formation audible, every D-line adjustment, everthing from the point at which you break the huddle.
At first I found myself instinctively pressing the triangle button and attempting to do my normal pre-snap adjustments in the traditional way. I had read some details about this change in advance but the implications were far from clear.
I'll confess, in principle it sounds like a good idea but in practice, it just doesn't work. I have no idea if a focus group was consulted about this or whether those who attended the community event offered feedback on the idea, but you don't need to play the game for long before you realise it is impractical to use efficiently and effectively. For a start, it requires more button presses than before in many cases. And have you tried manipulating the D-Pad at speed, there's a reason why few games use the D-Pad for anything other than... well, anything in fact! It's much easier on the PS3 where the D-pad is four separate buttons than on the Xbox 360 where it's a single button and you simply press the appropriate direction, but it's a pain in both cases. I frequently found even my relatively slim fingers pressing it up when I meant to press it right. Given the speed with which the CPU snaps the ball and the fact that as a result you are having to execute these instructions at speed... the strategy pad is a recipe for diaster.
There are two stories emerging as to why this change was made. The first is that it makes it more difficult for those who exploit the pre-snap audible feature to employ nano blitzes and that might be the case. Admirable, in principle and in practise it certainly is more difficult, that much is true. I'm not entirely sure about that however since I am sure the better approach to solving that problem would be via gameplay. Either that, or gamers will always find some element of AI to exploit - it's like Apple trying to stop hackers from jailbreaking the IPhone, you can keep trying to stop them but they'll always find a way.
The second is that the number of different combinations of buttons and sticks was too complicated and difficult for the rookie Madden gamer - that elusive individual who desperately wants to play Madden but is overwhelmed by anxiety and intimidation from doing so. This is the more likely given that this strategy seems to be increasingly prevailent with every new release.
The solution ? I don't know if it is possible for EA to patch the old system (you know, the one that has worked just fine in Madden videogames for just about the last 10 years) but it's something that the guys at Tiburon really need to consider.
To understand the reaction however, requires some appreciation of the context. Madden 10 was critically acclaimed as the best version released on current-gen consoles. Most of the gamers who played and enjoyed Madden 10 would have expected the success to be built upon - enhancements made in all facets of the game, not just in terms of gameplay but in terms of presentation and offline/online franchise. Enforcing a major change to an important part of the in-game strategy was inevitably going to receive criticism, especially on the back of minimal or no improvement to some of those areas of the game that needed development. Thus, you have your answer to the question that I posed back at the beginning of this post - why the criticism ? |
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| Madden 11 demo impressions |
Posted by AndyP on 07/27 at 08:02 in Football |
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| Good news - the Madden NFL 11 demo is now available to all on Xbox 360 and PSN. TheSportsJournal.com has posted impressions of the demo of Madden NFL 11... |
 Madden NFL 11 demo |
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| Super Bowl celebrations |
Posted by AndyP on 07/26 at 13:28 in Football |
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| Gamers have been desperate for the Madden series to acknowledge the accomplishment of winning the Super Bowl with more style and hype. It looks like Madden 11 might be about to satisfy those needs following the release of three videos today. |
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| Madden 11 soundtrack released |
Posted by AndyP on 07/26 at 13:23 in Football |
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In an attempt to create a more realistic stadium atmosphere, EA has taken the decision to license authentic stadium music that you might hear around the NFL on any given Sunday.
Original Recordings
AC/DC Thunderstruck
Archie Eversole We Ready
Blur Song 2
Bush Machinehead
Guns N Roses Welcome to the Jungle
Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne Let It Rock
Kiss Rock and Roll All Nite
Ozzy Osbourne Let Me Hear You Scream
Ozzy Osbourne Crazy Train
The Hives Tick Tick Boom
Todd Rundgren Bang the Drum
Ying Yang Twins featuring Homebwoi Halftime
Cover Versions
Rock N Roll Part 2 as made famous by Gary Glitter
We Will Rock You as made famous by Queen
Crowd Chant as made famous by Joe Satriani
Kernkraft 400 as made famous by Zombie Nation
Team Fight Songs
Chicago Bears Bear Down Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions Gridiron Heroes
Green Bay Packers Go Packers Go!
Miami Dolphins Miami Dolphins #1
Minnesota Vikings Skol Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles Fly Eagles Fly
Washington Redskins Hail to the Redskins |
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| New Madden 11 screenshots |
Posted by AndyP on 07/22 at 19:14 in Football |
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| EA have released some more Madden 11 screenshots. Our archive of previously released screenshots is here. |
 Madden 11 |
| Tags: Madden11Screenshots |
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| Sweet Madden preview video |
Posted by AndyP on 07/18 at 12:39 in Football |
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| If this doesn't get you hyped for some football... |
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| NCAA 11 roster download |
Posted by AndyP on 07/16 at 17:55 in Football |
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Fairdale Kings has posted details of his free named roster download for NCAA Football 11.
This roster includes the DEFAULT rosters named as EA intended the rosters to be "out of the box." This roster file is perfect for ONLINE games or if you DO NOT like any tampering with your roster file. |
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| Madden demo date set |
Posted by AndyP on 07/15 at 14:52 in Football |
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| News has broken today of the date for the release of the Madden 11 demo. For PSN and Xbox Live, the demo will be available on July 27 and will feature the Colts and Jets at Jets Stadium. You will be able to choose from 3 skill levels to get a different feel of the game and play 5 minute quarters. |
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| NCAA 11 patch details |
Posted by AndyP on 07/13 at 18:22 in Football |
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A patch for NCAA 11 is scheduled to be available today, according to EA. The following is a list of what has been fixed or changed :
* Fixed an exploit where the QB could walk through the defense when the ball is snapped, with a guaranteed a gain of over 50 yards.
* Tuned QB fumbling on scrambles, resolving an issue where the QB would fumble every time if hit past the line of scrimmage.
* Improved deep zone coverage assignments, making it significantly more difficult to be beaten by the deep ball. In particular, deep zones have been improved against Streak routes.
* Tuned QB throwing out of a sack. Previously, it was too easy for a QB to throw the ball while being tackled; this has been toned down to be more accurate.
* Resolved an error with pursuit angles, which resulted in defenders over pursuing the ball carrier every play. The angle was fixed to be slightly more aggressive, creating a more accurate pursuit.
* Tuned the read and react assignment for linebackers, especially outside linebackers, before the handoff. This will make it more difficult to run the ball outside the Tackles.
* Fixed an issue with the CPU ball carrier being stuck in a forward lean animation. Also lowered the frequency of CPU ball carriers leaning.
* Resolved an issue where AI players in man coverage assignment would swerve when covering particular vertical routes, causing them to be beat repeatedly.
* Ball carriers will no longer go into a tightrope assignment when running along the sideline. This was causing the player's speed to decrease to 70%.
* Resolved an issue that was causing tackles to not matchup in online games, potentially causing a crash in online games.
* Footsliding will no longer occur when the ball carrier has the ball in their left hand.
* Tuned CPU screen passes so they will get rid of the ball faster, resulting in less sacks.
* Resolved a crash that occurred if connection is lost before entering a game mode.
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