Madden NFL 25 Next-Gen War in the Trenches Q&A with Clint Oldenburg

[jmaj315]

Quote: Originally Posted by Daywalker86

Biggest change....stepping up in the pocket... I have heard this TOO many times. Not that I don't like the idea of this being the case...but if that is the biggest difference on NG I am not impressed.

But when you play people who take 15 step drops and they wonder why they get sacked 12 times per game... its a big change lol

But yea i agree, i hope thats not the "biggest change"

[wordtobigbird]

Speaking of the topic of "biggest" change. It reminds me of FIFA.

I recently got FIFA 14 for PC. I don't watch soccer. I played FIFA 13 because I always heard about how good/fun it is so I decided to try it and I enjoyed it. I enjoy FIFA much more than Madden and I of course love the NFL. Literally, the only thing I watch all day is NFL network and Football games. I don't even get cable because I only need one channel. Wake up, NFLN stream, start my day. So yeah, if I could enjoy a NFL game I would be ecstatic. Anyway, even with that disparity I play the soccer game over the football game. FIFA is doing A LOT right that Madden needed to steal yesterday.

Anyway, back to the point. After playing one game of FIFA 14, the biggest change is the feel of the player movement and the way they interact with each other and the ball. If you watched videos of both you probably can't even tell much of a difference graphically. But as soon as you get control you FEEL the difference. It's hard to explain but the players feel heavier. I haven't even read much about FIFA 14 changes tbh, my friend told me they "changed the physics". Whatever they did feels amazing. The difference is night and day between FIFA 13 and FIFA 14.

This needs to be Maddens biggest change. Madden took a good step in the right direction with M25 because the feel of controlling of the runners is greatly improved compared to M13 but they don't feel like they feel when running in FIFA. Weird to say but the EA team at FIFA has soccer players feeling heavier than football players lol.

Madden needs to implement an engine that can emulate physics. Infinity is cool but it isnt it. It helps with the interaction animations but its not doing **** for size/momentum playing a factor in player movement AND interaction. You can still take a 180 lb player straight into and over a 300 lb guy that he couldnt move if he had 5 minutes. Or change direction/spin/juke with a 250lb back just as you do with any other. Madden's player movement is completely ratings based and actual physics plays no part. Not to mention REAL pass trajectory.

If FIFA can do it I would hope EA can share the technology with itself and help Madden do something similar. I recommend if anyone play FIFA 14 and check it out, even better if you could play 13 then 14 and feel the difference.

[spacedog]

Quote: Originally Posted by wordtobigbird

Speaking of the topic of "biggest" change. It reminds me of FIFA. I recently got FIFA 14 for PC. I don't watch soccer. I played FIFA 13 because I always heard about how good/fun it is so I decided to try it and I enjoyed it. I enjoy FIFA much more than Madden and I of course love the NFL. Literally, the only thing I watch all day is NFL network and Football games. I don't even get cable because I only need one channel. Wake up, NFLN stream, start my day. So yeah, if I could enjoy a NFL game I would be ecstatic. Anyway, even with that disparity I play the soccer game over the football game. FIFA is doing A LOT right that Madden needed to steal yesterday. Anyway, back to the point. After playing one game of FIFA 14, the biggest change is the feel of the player movement and the way they interact with each other and the ball. If you watched videos of both you probably can't even tell much of a difference graphically. But as soon as you get control you FEEL the difference. It's hard to explain but the players feel heavier. I haven't even read much about FIFA 14 changes tbh, my friend told me they "changed the physics". Whatever they did feels amazing. The difference is night and day between FIFA 13 and FIFA 14. This needs to be Maddens biggest change. Madden took a good step in the right direction with M25 because the feel of controlling of the runners is greatly improved compared to M13 but they don't feel like they feel when running in FIFA. Weird to say but the EA team at FIFA has soccer players feeling heavier than football players lol. Madden needs to implement an engine that can emulate physics. Infinity is cool but it isnt it. It helps with the interaction animations but its not doing **** for size/momentum playing a factor in player movement AND interaction. You can still take a 180 lb player straight into and over a 300 lb guy that he couldnt move if he had 5 minutes. Or change direction/spin/juke with a 250lb back just as you do with any other. Madden's player movement is completely ratings based and actual physics plays no part. Not to mention REAL pass trajectory. If FIFA can do it I would hope EA can share the technology with itself and help Madden do something similar. I recommend if anyone play FIFA 14 and check it out, even better if you could play 13 then 14 and feel the difference.

I know it's only words at this point but I think they did bring up specifically an example of a db or something running into an olinemen and having a bigger struggle to get past or through, whereas a dline men would be able to push the olinemen back as you would expect since they have similar builds. So maybe they might be implementing something like that.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by LBzrule

I'm waiting to make sure it is for the user team. They showed pockets with current gen only for it to be the cpu team against a user. I'm taking everything into account. Those MNF videos did not show a pocket at all. The latest videos do. So I'll wait to actually see before I say cheesing like it is now will be impossible.

And that my friend goes back to what worried me. Everything is about the AI. It looks good when it is AI vs AI, but when you get Human vs AI. Everything is always totally in the favor of the AI. That's why I want to see raw footage of human vs AI for once. See how the human team plays and how the pocket forum and the pass rush is. This what I'm truly looking for at the end of the day.

[secondsolution]

Quote: Originally Posted by dat swag

you would agree that there is an obvious visual difference wouldn't you? Some college intern intern tosssing up a video for ESPN not knowing what the heck it was is likely what that can be attributed to...But just my unofficial personal opinion. The only fact I have is my own eye test and there is no doubt that the ESPN video and what we saw this weekend are 2 very different visual depictions of Madden...Thats just me tho...I could be wrong...I was wrong one time before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SE3wLTZDtM http://www.operationsports.com/forum...es-videos.html

I agree that there is a noticeable difference between the two. The question is which one is a better representation of the game.

Also, it just doesn't make sense that EA would not make a mass statement acknowledging that someone at ESPN had made an error. I know there were issues with the first video that they mentioned on Twitter were incorrectly encoded, but that wasn't the case with the second. The only thing they did was remove it.

EA seems to have such a stranglehold over information being released with everyone and everything being subject to a non-disclosure agreement, so it seems unlikely anything would be uploaded without their approval.

[dat swag]

Quote: Originally Posted by secondsolution

Also, it just doesn't make sense that EA would not make a mass statement acknowledging that someone at ESPN had made an error. EA seems to have such a stranglehold over information being released with everyone and everything being subject to a non-disclosure agreement, so it seems unlikely anything would be uploaded without their approval.

In the grand scheme of things this sim community is a mere blip on the economic screen when it comes to Madden sales. My point is other than the complaints here nobody else cared or probably even noticed outside of a few gaming beat writers and the hardcore folks.

As far as the video being released...Well, if you think there is some open line of communication going on between EA and ESPN concerning a video being released on MNF I would almost guess that there is not...Some random intern was given a task to put up the MNF EA Madden Next Gen video and that's exactly what they did...Its not like EA and ESPN are having a staff meeting on how to best present the video.

Just because these are two big and important companies don't assume they are communicating effectively. The only real uproar about the video was from hardcore gamers which is a very small minority of the people who purchase Madden. Its not as big a deal as we made it here..We are in the minority.

[MontagueBall]

When blitzing from a corner or safety with a clear path to the QB, will the blitzer be pulled into a block, or allowed to 'free run' through the gap?

[secondsolution]

Quote: Originally Posted by dat swag

As far as the video being released...Well, if you think there is some open line of communication going on between EA and ESPN concerning a video being released on MNF I would almost guess that there is not...Some random intern was given a task to put up the MNF EA Madden Next Gen video and that's exactly what they did...Its not like EA and ESPN are having a staff meeting on how to best present the video. Just because these are two big and important companies don't assume they are communicating effectively. The only real uproar about the video was from hardcore gamers which is a very small minority of the people who purchase Madden. Its not as big a deal as we made it here..We are in the minority.

My point is more so that EA would have very likely sent them the video, not given ESPN a next-gen console and a game of Madden. So wouldn't that video be what EA thinks best represents the game?

ESPN's job would simply be to broadcast the video, therefore the content of the video and how it is portrayed would have been completed before ESPN even touched it.