Madden NFL 13: Wishlist — what I want — WHAT WE ALL WANT (Part 2)
The Madden series has been critiqued and bashed with reckless abandon, “glorified roster update” comes to mind. It seems EA and Tiburon over the past few years have been including more and more — the gaming community, to offer their feedback on how they could make the Madden series in general, but Madden 13 specifically better.
I will speak on some things that I feel will make Madden fans very,very happy. On the podcast (Controlled Substance) we have a segment called “Letta 4 the Betta” and it’s our letter — in digital form to our favorite developers to give them suggestions on how to make their games — well — better. Consider this my letter — in written form to EA and Tiburon. The “real” Madden fans and football fans in general should appreciate this piece. Feel free to comment and give feedback CCU wants to hear from you.
I will go into extreme details on what I believe will make the game better and why it will make the game better and hopefully we’ll get what we want. Let’s have some fun shall we? Part 2 is now live, to read the explosive part 1 you can click here.
Dear EA/Tiburon,
Madden 12 is a very, very, very good game but it will never be complete in my opinion without some key fixes/add-ons.
Different Commentators: What we want
It’s in the game right? Well..different commentators are in the game. Imagine you have 8 different (or whatever number it is) broadcast teams to call different games. You could have it where we could set it to random or choose what (broadcast) team we want to call the game –when it comes to exibition games and have it random in every other game type — online included. Even try to get authentic broadcast teams:
Fox
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa
Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick, and Laura Okmin
Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, and Tim Brewster
CBS
Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf
Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts
Marv Albert and Rich Gannon
NBC
Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels and Michele Tafoya
ESPN
Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
NFL Network
Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan
Remember you guys used to have sideline reporters too? What ever happened to it? Please bring it back.
Why this is good:
Well it would save the age old complaints that the commentary gets repetitive, all the while keeping the game authentic “true-to-the-game”, fresh and unpredictable all at the same time. If the random option proves too much you could have each commentary team commentate certain games every time, so you know what your getting. Imagine you have an 8 team squad dividing the 32 NFL teams evenly, All they would have to do is focus on 4 teams each! They could probably do more dialogue and include more detail than ever before.
No huddle and Hurry up: What we want
As seen in NCAA, some sort of system to handle no huddle and hurry up offenses better. Actually I like the NCAA approach but if the play call window could be removed and still accomplish the same things, that would be perfect. Now the no huddle, not to be confused with hurry up in which you don’t huddle but your not neccesarily rushing, which Peyton Manning is a master of — which includes substitutions on the fly. That would have to be coupled though with the resurrection of global substitution, well global substitution 2.0 explained in part 1 so that you could get the right personnel in. That would make for outstanding gameplay.
Why this is good:
Simulation football at it’s finest that’s why. Being able to go to the line scrimmage, call plays, and substitute simultaneously — on the fly, with no HUD and specific players we want to run the play, would \revolutionize the football gaming genre for sure.
What to Challenge: What we want
The way challenging calls should be handled is, allow us to choose what we want to challenge, spot of the ball? a fumble? a catch? interception? A menu should allow us to toggle between these options.
Why this is good?
Sometimes in football multiple things can go on in the same play, having control on what you can challenge would prove huge. I had a situation where I fumbled the ball and then the defense picked it up and then they fumbled the ball. I wanted to challenge my fumble but my only option was to challenge the second (Defenses) fumble. That would eradicate the issue.
Create-a-Coach: What we want
We need a create-a-coach option and have it as deep and detailed as the current customization of create-a-player.
Why this is good:
As we know especially in today’s NFL the Coach turnover rate can be high and can happen at anytime during the season, Do we really want mid-season,to see a coach who no longer coaches the team parading the sidelines?
Penalties: What we want
More NFL penalties should be included, Horse collar, illegal contact, double penalties, off-setting penalties,pass interference come to mind. Off-setting penalties and double penalties can go hand-in-hand but not always because a defense and offense can commit penalties that off-set but then you can have the same team commit two penalties in the same play. If this occurs the player can choose which penalty they want to accept. You can add to this obsessive celebration (unsportsmanlike conduct). As far as how it would be implemented…not sure (lmbo).
And I know your like Pass Interference?!!! PI is in the game! Well is it? I know it states it is, but I barely get called for one or see it. I turned PI all the way to 100 (offensive PI too) and still nothing. PI has to be called more often. But be careful you don’t want to over do it.
Why this is good:
Simulation Football BABY!!! We want all the ways you can be penalized in real-life to reflect in the game.
Sliding:
Not to be confused with “suctioning” Madden 12 for the most part handles “suctioning” pretty well, what I’m talking about is you need to handle the “sliding” better. This “sliding” I speak of, occurs more than it needs to. The animation of cutting or running is not always 1 to 1 and when that happens a “sliding” or a “skating” occurs. It ruins the immersion.
Why this is good:
In simulation football every step, every cut, every spin, has to be accounted for, to sell that it is actually a human running, as opposed to taking an arcadey approach. When we’re the QB and we’re deciding between running or throwing we don’t want to see him slide into position.
Draft Logic: What we want
All players attributes should be unlocked after the combine, atleast the tangible ones. The current system of not knowing how fast,agile, or strong they are until pre-season doesn’t mimic real-life — for the most part, unless someone didn’t participate in drills. Moreover all 32 teams have access to all players attributes way before they draft them.
Why this is good:
It mimics the NFL realistically and allows us who are playing GM to know exactly what we’re getting athletically, instead of guessing — which is not realistic. Now all the other aspects like how good a player will ultimately be, I agree should remain a mystery.
Gameflow: What we want
As I mentioned in Part 1, I love Gameflow! I think we all should use it not only does it rid the HUD entirely, but it’s more realistic. However when it comes to getting the play-calls in via headset I would like to see the plays be able to come through the headsets when playing another player locally, although it may very well be a hardware issue in this case Sony and Microsoft.
Why this is good:
It would further the immersion and give both players a fair shake at getting their calls, without having to show their play and “bluff” each time we stepped up to the line of scrimmage.
Mistakes Mistakes Mistakes: What we want
Mistakes are “in the game” so mistakes are welcomed. Miscues like botch snaps on punts, field goals and offensive plays alike. Bad exchange on handoffs, slip and falls, and referee miscues that cover a wide variety of things should all be included. Now how these “mistakes” are accounted for is the tricky part, it has to be calculated mistakes, not mistakes caused from internal engine collapses or glitches, but rather trying to emulate the random happenings that comes with being a part of the NFL and ultimately being human.
Commentators also need to acknowledge this and say “he missed the call” when in the case of referee miscues.
Why this is good:
It’s all part of that simulation “make up” I know your trying to build, along with the mantra “it’s in the game”.
Loose sleeves: What we want
You should implement “loose” fully animating jerseys that you see on so many (but not limited to) Quarterbacks — as seen on Peyton Manning. IMO it’s long overdue.
Why this is good:
“It’s in the game”.
Example of loose sleeves
I think if all these things can be implemented this year, you will have one very happy community EA/Tiburon.
Sincerely Yours,
SchollA
P.S. Stay tuned for Part 3 and remember CCU wants to hear from you.
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I agree with your points. I also think that franchise mode needs more depth. Last year they took away the “extra point” commentary. They always take stuff out of the game instead of improving on it. Things like NFL chatter, like who is considered the best players coming out of the draft or fan feedback about your franchise needs added they could do this in many ways.
Example maybe the fan’s don’t like your QB and would like the team to go in another direction at that position. There should be like a scroll bar on the side that shows simulated twitter responses from fans and players around the league so you know how they feel about your management of the game. They could express pleasure or displeasure with the direction of the franchise.
EA could even incorporate twitter as a sponsor like they do with other advertisers, like Verizon and Gieco. This would keep the franchise mode interesting. They had a newspaper way of doing this in previous Madden’s. But of course it was removed the next year along with the radio guy, instead of being improved upon.
Also long over do is a Sports Center like way of showing video highlights like in NFL 2k.
Why does it seem if the fan’s had control of EA sports we would see the best Madden ever made? Sometimes I just don’t know what they were thinking when the game comes out each year I just shake my head and think how much better it could have been. And how cool certain aspects of the game were the previous year and were removed on the new version.
Example maybe the fan’s don’t like your QB and would like the team to go in another direction at that position. There should be like a scroll bar on the side that shows simulated twitter responses from fans and players around the league so you know how they feel about your management of the game. They could express pleasure or displeasure with the direction of the franchise.
EA could even incorporate twitter as a sponsor like they do with other advertisers, like Verizon and Gieco. This would keep the franchise mode interesting. They had a newspaper way of doing this in previous Madden’s. But of course it was removed the next year along with the radio guy, instead of being improved upon.
I think thats a great idea!!
I like u and Nick’s ideas keep em coming. Twitter feed…nice!
Some other ideas are, practicing i think practicing should mean something if it did i would practice to get my players better. I would also like to see a senior bowl or a scouting combine ik I already said that but if we had a senior bowl or a scouting combine it would make it more realistic and they would show the 40 yard dash, jumping and alot more. If there was a senior bowl we could get to know the prospects like how they will do in the 2 minute warning and more, i would also like to see hold outs if a player wants more on his contract he should hold out for a game or 2 on preseason but if the player really wants a new contract he would hold out the whole preseason games and some of the reg season, one last thing i would like the offseason to be more realistic i really didnt like the FA bidding at all it went to fast and at the end i wish i would of gotten more players also in the offseason there should be hiring and firing coaches, i think u should be able to interview a player or a coach to see how much they want the job and see how much they are worth if a player wants to come to a team really bad and they could get 100 million but since the player wants to come to ur team he would lower his pricing to like 90 million. Just some ideas tell me what u think, thanks.
I like your ideas but they cant improve all of them which i know u prolly know this already but what else i would like to see is the scouting system i think its fine but cant we have a senior bowl or a scouting combine to see how fast these players how strong and alot more i also think that if they would make offseason more funnier like FA i think if they would have players have a little of a mind like they could say i would like to test FA or even trade me im unhappy here if there contract is 2/3 years away from FA. Just my 2 cents
i agree with everything you’ve said in all this, all the things you’ve stated do need to be fixed. a couple other things i’d really like to see be changed would be things in the superstar mode. i for one have been playing madden for years, and frankly i hated this superstar mode. something that’s been bugging me with it for many of the Madden games is the automatic first string. if you’re a rookie quarterback that’s 68 overall you’re not going to replace a quarterback like Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers right off the bat, i think you should have to compete for the position like in NCAA. also, how you get traded bothers me, and a lot of people i’ve talked about it with. instead of asking for a trade, and being able to pick any team to be traded to, i think when you select to be traded it should show you the top 3-5 teams that would trade for you, what they’d trade to get you and what string you would be, get really in depth with it. the overall customization of your superstar i also believe should be fixed.
now, although i love the NFL and i love playing with my favourite teams, i am Canadian and it gets annoying and slightly saddening how i can never play with a CFL team. this may be a long shot, but i think EA should try to make an agreement with NFL and CFL to try and integrate CFL into the Madden games. think of NHL games, you can choose between playing as an NHL, CHL, now OHL, and national teams, and i personally would really like the option to face an NFL team with my favourite CFL team, or do a franchise with my favourite CFL team. with that would come the designing of Canadian stadiums, new designs for jerseys, and even new rules. if they put CFL teams into the game it would give it a lot more diversity and make it more interesting so if a player gets bored of doing NFL rules all the time, they could play as the Ravens and face that Patriots but in a Canadian stadium so it’s bigger and with Canadian rules so they can keep it interesting. to go with the superstar mode, you can get the option to go into the NFL or CFL draft, if you want to trade you can see the top 5 NFL teams that want you and the top 2 CFL teams. and for franchise, you could do one as a CFL team and follow the CFL schedule, play in CFL stadiums and even have dramatic Labour Day games as those are usually the most heated rivalries in CFL facing eachother. since many players from the CFL are being called up to the NFL i think adding Canadian teams in would really expand the Madden franchise.
the only other thing i’d like to see changed is the crowds interactions. when you watch a game on TV, the crowd is much more involved especially if it’s 2 rival teams. when i play as Pittsburgh and face the Ravens the crowds noise is the exact same as when i play as Pittsburgh against Phili. i think if you play 2 rival teams the crowds should be a lot louder, cheer louder if there’s a touchdown or anything positive for the home team and actually boo if the opposing team does something good. the physics and movements of the madden games are good, but the atmosphere and emotions of the games are still very poor. NHL has really grasped the atmosphere as the crowd reactions are loud and clear, and things are a lot bigger when it’s 2 rival teams facing each other such as hits, and reaction towards goals.
I cant really relate to the CFL thing although I would welcome it, as long as it doesn’t take away from the NFL aspect. However a lot things you said about crowd reactions and emotions of an NFL game is nail on! you should checkout my part 3 — I address these things. It’s crazy how a lot of us are very unified.
the way i see it is if there is even the slightest threat to take away the NFL aspect from Madden games that even a DLC or CFL expansion pack could be made up that would allow players that wanted to play with CFL teams could and players that wouldn’t care for it don’t have to have it in their system. i checked out your part 3 and honestly everything you put in there is exactly what i’d be hoping for in a game, and i didn’t even think about the difference in noise depending on the stadiums but that would really add to the game too, good call.
i really hate when you throw the ball twenty to thirty yards down the field and a line backer five yards from the line of scrimmage picks the ball off. same when you throw the ball towards the sideline and someone on the hash picks it off. there needs to be more of a “concept of space.” I know this is probably tricky since it is a game but seems like this could be fixed.
One interesting thing about “Coaching” in Franchise Mode that has fallen by the wayside in the last several years are coach philosophies. No matter who the AI teams hire as their coaches the teams still use the same defensive and offensive systems and one can become adept at playing against them (especially in your division).
If players can have confidence and consistency then I believe coaches can too, and as players retire, they can perhaps use the playbooks that brought them success in the league.
This is one of the smaller things that I find incredibly frustrating about the off-line Franchise Mode.
I Think all players undrafted in fantasy draft to start a franchise should be in free agents and you should be able to sign them cuz when i start a franchise i can only pick between like 8 and 15 guys at each position. Also the rokies YOU draft or sign after a drafts stats should be more realistic beause i had a center signed to my team who was 6’1 212 with 71 strength and a corner with 71 speed and 29 strength all corners in Madden12 had at least 80 or more for their speed rating.