Madden NFL 25 News Post

Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

03:17 PM - March 18, 2013 by RaychelSnr

You read that right.

Paul Lukas, aka @UniWatch on Twitter, will be a new addition in Madden NFL 25 when it hits store shelves this fall. Lukas is best known for his work of obsessively looking at the aesthetics of sports, and has a popular blog covering sports fashion and more.

"One of the higher-ups from EA Sports, who says he's a big Uni Watch fan, got in touch with me about 10 days ago and invited me to participate," Lukas wrote on Thursday. "It sounded like fun, so I said yes."

While in the big picture, this is a relatively minuscule addition to the game (and completely irrelevant to people more interested in gameplay) it certainly is interesting that EA is growing their list of faux 'tweeters' within the game. It's likely there are no other connections to other features with Lukas' inclusion within the game. [Kotaku]

Game: Madden NFL 25Reader Score: 5/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 41 juggalotusx @ 03/19/13 10:15 PM

They wont make any big improvements with the new consoles coming out. Lets just all admit madden this gen was a huge bust...

# 42 Danimal @ 03/19/13 10:59 PM

Whats even funnier than the inclusion of this in the game is the people going off the rails on wasted resources.

The twitter feed is already in the game. This is the equivalent of some intern opening up Microsoft word and typing up 20-30 tweets.

Hell the deal could include the guy typing them up himself and just some intern entering them in some data tool.

The argument on resources being wasted on this might of made sense last year but that ship has long sailed people.

That said I still get a good chuckle when I think about why this is even news.

# 43 Hooe @ 03/20/13 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManiacMatt1782


	It's been 10 years and Oline diline interactions are still behind the curve. Resources are being spent on programming this, and not focusing on giving us line play that works correctly and doesnt have false glitches to balance the offense like forcing blockers to willfully disengage once the speed burst button is pressed. Instead of having blockers just go out and find there man, or having a blocker get beat and pushed backward to blow up the play, Instead of just whiffing on a block to indicate failure. It is discouraging to people who want to see the gameplay move forward to see this kind of news. The news may not be directly from tiburon, but this is something they showed off to someone. this is what they deem important to show someone. To me it speaks volumes about where the franchise is headed.

Once more with feeling:

EA Austin is responsible for the entirety of Connected Careers Mode and does not have anything to do with football gameplay. EA Tiburon in Florida handles football gameplay for both Madden NFL and NCAA Football. There are no resources which could have gone to football gameplay "being wasted" on Twitter feeds or any other portion of Connected Careers mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManiacMatt1782


	I see what you are saying, but I disagree. Using actual twitter to get feedback from fans, and customer base. Good use of resources. Spending more than 10 minutes making fake twitters for your game modes is wasting resources. I understand twitter is popular. And it's devlopers should use it as a tool. But putting Fake twitter in the game is a complete waste of time and energy. You aren't gonna sell an extra thousand copies this year because "they gonna tweet about your uni's" I don't see it. As I said complete waste of time and resources, on something that will have minimal effect on their bottom line.

You've missed the point. The purpose of the fake Twitter feed is for the delivery of in-game news events to the player and for immersion of the player into a virtual football world outside of a football gameplay context, which is absolutely not a waste of time. It's not there to just be Twitter. Without the feed, the player is completely uninformed as to the goings-on of the league, particularly since there's no transaction log (there should be). Even with a transaction log, the Twitter feed still serves to break news about draft prospects, players having big games, game results, and so on. Its use and utility in the game is readily apparent, even if it is a bit repetitive in is execution.

# 44 Hooe @ 03/20/13 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danimal


	Whats even funnier than the inclusion of this in the game is the people going off the rails on wasted resources. The twitter feed is already in the game. This is the equivalent of some intern opening up Microsoft word and typing up 20-30 tweets. Hell the deal could include the guy typing them up himself and just some intern entering them in some data tool. The argument on resources being wasted on this might of made sense last year but that ship has long sailed people. That said I still get a good chuckle when I think about why this is even news.

Pretty much this. The only thing that may have taken any substantial effort from an engineer is the addition of a few new scripted event triggers from which to fire tweets, if this new alias is to talk about, say, the use of alternate uniforms in a given game or on Thanksgiving Day games or something.

# 45 kehlis @ 03/20/13 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Pretty much this. The only thing that may have taken any substantial effort from an engineer is the addition of a few new scripted event triggers from which to fire tweets, if this new alias is to talk about, say, the use of alternate uniforms in a given game or on Thanksgiving Day games or something.

To be fair, I think the biggest problem is that THIS is the news we are hearing right now.

We don't want to hear about this. I understand it has no negative effect on the other developments of the game but it would be nice to hear something about gameplay rather than something that adds nothing to it whatsoever.

# 46 Hooe @ 03/20/13 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	To be fair, I think the biggest problem is that THIS is the news we are hearing right now. We don't want to hear about this. I understand it has no negative effect on the other developments of the game but it would be nice to hear something about gameplay rather than something that adds nothing to it whatsoever.

I can understand this. Even if it's some small addition, like a new trick play or something, it'd be nice to hear something new or tweaked about the goings-on on the field. Based on last year's playbook series, I would guess that we start hearing more substantial news around draft time.

# 47 pinksheets @ 03/20/13 05:02 AM

I don't really get the point. It's not like the uniform system is extremely expansive and dynamic, how will this guy's "tweets" not get somehow even more repetitive than the already existing tweeterers.=?

# 48 Doogie09 @ 03/20/13 12:39 PM

WhoooopIEEE!!! Must be one of the new "features" they'll try to brainwash us with this go around.

# 49 cuttingteeth @ 03/20/13 12:42 PM

I'm going to have to step back into this healthy (not at all heated) debate here:

Gameplay is what we all desire to be better about the game - that's a fact. I think it's safe to say that's a fact, anyway. So, yeah, any number of people being paid from the set budget of EA overall that isn't making gameplay not only better, but they are designing things to "trigger" based on let's say a randomly odd FA contract...that's a waste of resources. It's all just a bunch of gimmicks/extras that do not make the game better. It makes it different. It does not make it better. I contend that nothing scripted will ever make this game better rather than just different, but even then, it can only be different so many times before it gets redundant. They should all be in one location somehow making the gameplay as perfect and randomly unscripted as possible.

Now, per the whole inclusion of news feeds to help customers/players become more immersed...you have ESPN in your pocket...why not just further the ability like in NCAA 12 where you hear updates from Sportscenter? Let me hear real time/live sports talk. If it's about tennis and BS whatever else, let me turn it off. Give me the option of a real time ticker of my season/league or per real life or the option to turn it off, too. There. Perfect. Done. It still doesn't help gameplay, but at least it's a fully realized idea instead of halfway doing it because that's all coding for scripted triggers really is.

# 50 Hooe @ 03/20/13 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuttingteeth


	I'm going to have to step back into this healthy (not at all heated) debate here: Gameplay is what we all desire to be better about the game - that's a fact. I think it's safe to say that's a fact, anyway. So, yeah, any number of people being paid from the set budget of EA overall that isn't making gameplay not only better, but they are designing things to "trigger" based on let's say a randomly odd FA contract...that's a waste of resources. It's all just a bunch of gimmicks/extras that do not make the game better. It makes it different. It does not make it better. I contend that nothing scripted will ever make this game better rather than just different, but even then, it can only be different so many times before it gets redundant. They should all be in one location somehow making the gameplay as perfect and randomly unscripted as possible. Now, per the whole inclusion of news feeds to help customers/players become more immersed...you have ESPN in your pocket...why not just further the ability like in NCAA 12 where you hear updates from Sportscenter? Let me hear real time/live sports talk. If it's about tennis and BS whatever else, let me turn it off. Give me the option of a real time ticker of my season/league or per real life or the option to turn it off, too. There. Perfect. Done. It still doesn't help gameplay, but at least it's a fully realized idea instead of halfway doing it because that's all coding for scripted triggers really is.

I contend that one could have the finest playing football simulation in the world, but without context or reason to play my games that game isn't going to stay in anyone's XBOX long.

Personally, I want not only a great-playing game, but I also want context as to why my games matter, I want to be immersed in my own digital football universe. I want to watch how my league evolves over time, I want around-the-league information delivered to me in an easy-to-digest fashion so I can keep tabs on the goings-on beyond the games I play. Half the fun of the NFL season is the conversation that takes place Tuesday through Saturday, when games aren't even being played; in a way, it's the best weekly soap opera on television. That people converse on this message board about the league actively when no games are being played is proof-positive of that fact.

The Twitter feed is one such feature which provides such context and immersion. It delivers updates to the players on priority free agent signings, rookie scouting and storylines, breakout performances by players, playoff wins, notable retirements, game results, and so on. To me this is obviously a useful feature. Conversely, a live real-life ESPN radio feed does nothing to this end; it only serves to break immersion by reminding me I'm playing a video game and what I see on my screen is very much not real life. It serves no purpose towards my gameplay experience because it can't comment on my game. To me it is extraneous.

Speaking on a general level, simplifying the overall quality of a game to just gameplay is just that, simplifying. There are other components which make a game great; aesthetic, presentation, atmosphere, immersion, etc. The Twitter feed builds towards the immersion and atmosphere ends. It is not a waste of time, it is useful, it provides a significant contribution to a positive user experience. Taking your position to the extreme, Tiburon (again, specifically Tiburon) shouldn't worry about in-game commentary or presentation because those features are all extraneous to core football gameplay. Is a sports game with no commentary, no instant replay camera cuts, no television presentation, no career mode atmosphere, and so on a game you really want to play? I know it's not one I want to even comprehend.

# 51 Hooe @ 03/20/13 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucky60


	Limited resources. They can do both, but they HAVE NOT. First you said the twitter wouldn't take away from resources because game play is developed by a different studio. I was just reminding you that the "twitter fashion" (SMH) studio is the same studio that does CCM and we are missing very significant football mechanics that fall under the umbrella of the same studio. And as far as your question of being mutually exclusive. The answer is resources. Those "twitter fashion" resources could have gone into some significant (CCM) football mechanics. Resources make them NOT mutually exclusive.

If implementing a new Twitter alias - likely just a bit of content generation and writing a few new hooks for the system - prohibits EA Austin from adding any significant features into CCM, then I will say they are incompetent. However, my view is that the outrage to this is entirely overblown as it is my opinion that adding a new Twitter handle into the already-implemented feature couldn't have taken more than a week for an engineer, designer, and tester, and I'm being generous.

Quote:


	It's priorities. If CCM had the exhaustive NFL football mechanics that it is missing, it wouldn't be such a waste of resources. You know, resources that could have gone into those missing CCM football mechanics. And yes, it's meaningless when so much significant NFL features are missing/incomplete from the game. Wait, blanking "twitter fashion" is an important feature compared to the actual unimportant and insignificant NFL mechanics of true roster sizes (practice squad), positions, waiver wire, contract restructuring. You trolling?

Absolutely not. My position which apparently is so disagreeable here is that there's more to a sports video game than the sport itself. Particularly in a career mode context where the user is actively competing against other teams not only on the field but also via team-building, information about how other teams are constructing their rosters must be at a user's fingertips so he may react appropriately and make informed team-building gameplay decision.

Let's consider this from the Madden NFL 13 dev cycle perspective for a second. Let's say that instead of the Twitter feed, that no longer exists because instead the team chose to properly implement a one-week waiver period for players with less than four years of NFL experience (no way to implement a 24-hour window in the current weekly setup) and also a practice squad (ostensibly, extra roster spots, but players here are ineligible to play in games and players may only be on the practice squad if they have less than three seasons of league experience). CCM in Madden NFL 13 now no longer has a means of updating players on game results, players of the week, trade occurrences, free agent signings / releases, scouting activities of other teams, and so on. The player now essentially must operate blind as to what other teams do unless he goes digging for information about player movement, trade happenings, etc.

Is that really better? I don't think so. Again, my point of view is that the player ought to be kept informed of what's going on in his league, and that's more important than minor roster management nuances, particularly when there's a reasonable fallback option (unrestricted free agency) already in place. Again, waived players automatically revert to free agents after 24 hours (and Madden has no concept of hours), and players on practice squads may be signed by any team to the active roster at any given time, so in both cases the players might as well be free agents. It's an excusable omission, IMO, and a low-priority feature to implement. I completely understand and agree with the point of view that there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to implementing a proper career mode.

# 52 cuttingteeth @ 03/20/13 02:11 PM

Therein lies the ultimate division of us all, then.

There are those of us that played the real game (or always wanted to) and now want to play the "real game" similarly on consoles. We feel it in the center of our souls and say "That's right!" when we hear someone like Herm Edwards say, "You PLAY to WIN the GAME!" We feel it. We understand it. There is no questioning it. It just is and makes all the sense in the world.

There are those of you that have to have more than gameplay on the gridiron, too, though. You need more than competition to keep you interested. Why? I have no idea. In what is the core reason anyone ever truly wants to play in the first place - to compete - you have to have a whole circus surrounding it, too. That's fine. Just know that, that is all extras, though. The game, how you play it and if you love to compete are all what came first.

Extra: Still, no one has made the case that twitter feeds better the game play. It might help you be informed a little better, but wouldn't the devs making sure the menus were easier to navigate work, too? I know...what if...you had 32 team control and could literally see everything for yourself?

# 53 PVarck31 @ 03/20/13 04:05 PM

I don't really think anyone thinks EA is going to cut gameplay resources because of this twitter fluff announcement. I just think people feel like they are being kicked in the nuts when this stuff gets what most people feel is undue attention.

# 54 TB12TCUPROCOMBAT @ 03/20/13 04:20 PM

Hmm. Doesn't really effect the game but it seems like it would be Ncaa rather than Madden because that's where the Uniform craze started.

# 55 Hooe @ 03/20/13 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuttingteeth


	Therein lies the ultimate division of us all, then. There are those of us that played the real game (or always wanted to) and now want to play the "real game" similarly on consoles. We feel it in the center of our souls and say "That's right!" when we hear someone like Herm Edwards say, "You PLAY to WIN the GAME!" We feel it. We understand it. There is no questioning it. It just is and makes all the sense in the world. There are those of you that have to have more than gameplay on the gridiron, too, though. You need more than competition to keep you interested. Why? I have no idea. In what is the core reason anyone ever truly wants to play in the first place - to compete - you have to have a whole circus surrounding it, too. That's fine. Just know that, that is all extras, though. The game, how you play it and if you love to compete are all what came first. Extra: Still, no one has made the case that twitter feeds better the game play. It might help you be informed a little better, but wouldn't the devs making sure the menus were easier to navigate work, too? I know...what if...you had 32 team control and could literally see everything for yourself?

For the record, I consider myself what was previously known as a "franchise mode guy", so a robust and complete-in-all-aspects career mode feature is important to me. Obviously the football has to play well, it's just not the only thing to me for what I see as a good football game. I have avoided games entirely in the past due to lack of a sufficiently deep career mode.

I highlight the bold just to say this: the design and flow of the career mode user interface is easily my biggest criticism with the game. IMO it's cumbersome to navigate and the player isn't presented with relevant information quickly or efficiently. I've written a few posts about this elsewhere and as such won't go into further detail here.

# 56 Grey_Osprey @ 03/20/13 05:24 PM

Just my humble opinion, but with all the issues surrounding gameplay and missing/gutted features, it's a little disheartening to read about something as trivial as a fake twitter feed being "enhanced". I want to play football, not read fake twitter posts. This game existed for 12 years without Twitter, now after Madden 13 it HAS to have it in order to be "immersed"? What does that say about the quality of gameplay and depth of game features/modes (see NBA 2K, NHL, FIFA, and MLB The Show)?

I know I'm putting the cart way in front of the horse, but the last thing I want to see is come Aug/Sep they release the game and we see what's NOT in it, or what doesn't work properly and then have to listen to the company line about how they "ran out of time" or "if we couldn't make it work right, we didn't want to put it in the game".

# 57 LingeringRegime @ 03/20/13 05:54 PM

So basically it is a underhanded message to people who are demanding authentic details in their game?

Status quo Ftw.

# 58 SmashMan @ 03/20/13 05:56 PM

...he's arguing from a pro-fake Twitter feed stance, not specifically from a pro-UniWatch inclusion stance.

If you're going to argue against it, it'd be fair to not over-simplify his end of it.

# 59 Hooe @ 03/20/13 06:33 PM

First, basically what SmashMan said. I'm talking about the Twitter feed as a whole at this point, not just the addition of the UniWatch guy (ostensibly, the addition of content to the feature, I could not care less what it is for the purposes of the point I've been trying to make). As you have done on previous occasions, you're deliberately twisting my words in an attempt to make my point of view sound preposterous and ridiculous, something I really wish you would stop doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucky60


	Wouldn't proper roster mechanics be at the top of the list of things that would give a career mode more context. I guess my position, which seems disagreeable to you, is that accurate NFL mechanics, like roster mechanics, and other off season mechanics, bring much more context and depth to a sports video game than FASHION TWEETS.

Context (n) - the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.

The inclusion of any roster management mechanic doesn't add or subtract anything from the context of a simulated world within a video game. Any feature added typically to enhance the presentation of the mode - in this case, the Twitter feed - adds context by building up the artificial world the video game is attempting to simulate. It adds a purpose - if only an artificial one - to what the user is doing. This is similar to the robust non-basketball feature set of NBA 2K such as the shoe editor, Nike endorsements, My Player billboards, postgame interviews, etc. etc. None of those features are basketball-related, but they add to the atmosphere of the game and improve the game as a whole. The MyPlayer mode in NBA 2K succeeds so well because there are so many features which add context such as what I listed above in addition to a great-playing game of basketball. Neither side of the coin succeeds in delivering the feature on its own.

This is why I support the Twitter feed in Madden. It adds context. It adds a purpose to what I'm doing by providing information and narrative.

Quote:


	And if the information about team transactions and players is that hard to find, then the game is POORLY DESIGNED.

You, myself, this message board, the GameChangers, and Josh Looman himself all agree that a proper transaction log is a glaring omission from the first iteration of CCM. Though I have no inside knowledge one way or the other, I would like to think that its inclusion is a high-priority item in Madden NFL 25, given that it was right up there with player editing and fantasy draft with regard to highly-publicized omissions from the first iteration of the mode.

I wholeheartedly agree that the user interface in Connected Career mode could use improvement and have stated repeatedly in this thread and elsewhere that poor UI is my biggest problem with the mode.

Quote:


	Low priority? A waiver wire would solve problems with cutting players just to immediately sign them for lower contracts. Also, allowing true contract restructuring would be a significant feature and not a "minor management nuance". These things are important to team building strategies. Much more important than FASHION TWEETS.

I'm not sure you understand what waivers are in an NFL context. To reiterate, waivers don't come into play for any NFL player with over four years of NFL experience, thus it doesn't accomplish what you are saying it will. Players with more than four years of experience immediately become free agents at the termination of their contracts. The mechanic is only relevant for younger players whose contracts are terminated, and waived young players typically only get claimed if there is an interested team and the player has a favorable salary cap hit for the current year. Further, since Madden doesn't simulate the progression of a franchise with a proper calendar, rather using a weekly time progression, the proper 24-hour waiver window cannot be implemented; if a player is unclaimed on waivers after 24 hours, he becomes a free agent. As such, it can make sense for a young player to hit free agency immediately in the video game.

The omission of the waiver wire if nowhere near as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. Would it be nice if it were there? Sure. Can Madden get away without it? Absolutely.

# 60 roadman @ 03/20/13 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PVarck31


	I don't really think anyone thinks EA is going to cut gameplay resources because of this twitter fluff announcement. I just think people feel like they are being kicked in the nuts when this stuff gets what most people feel is undue attention.

This can be blamed on the media, though, not EA.

I think people want to lash out at EA for something they didn't market or so it appears.

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