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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 27, 2006 7:28:12 GMT -5
.............starts today right up I-4 in Orlando. Many of the invitees to the Madden team should be giving out some tidbits of info about the game in the next few days.....hopefully, especially the forum mod geeks at MM, MN and IGN just to name a few. I would guestimate that IGN will as usual start posting the team/player ratings about the same time as ESPN runs the PPV Madden special. If you get any info from any of the sites you visit, please post it here so we all can share.
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Post by papinjohn on Jul 27, 2006 10:10:11 GMT -5
Tonights Madden Nation Radio Show will broadcast from 9:00-10:30pm eastern and will be discussing their impressions of Madden 07.
Also, VG Sports is there, that's right, VG Sports so I assume they will have some information in the following days as well.
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 27, 2006 11:38:53 GMT -5
Thanks, Pap. I would have missed that. I hate doing the archive thing.
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 27, 2006 16:25:09 GMT -5
How big is your cone? ? ;D Getting started early............... Madden QB Cone Comparison Who has the biggest passing cone for 07? by Jon Robinson July 27, 2006 - Last year, whether you loved it or hated it, the passing cone changed everything you knew about throwing the ball downfield. This year, the cone is turned off by default, but it's still available for the hardcore users who want to feel the difference between Peyton Manning and Alex Smith. So how do the quarterbacks fare in Madden NFL 07. Scroll through the teams to see who dominates, what backups are really better than their starters, and who lost a little cone due to injury. 65 images just posted at IGN so go check out your cone size.
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Post by Commish on Jul 27, 2006 20:26:42 GMT -5
As always, thanks PTR.
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 27, 2006 20:55:09 GMT -5
You are most welcome, Commish! Tonights Madden Nation Radio Show will broadcast from 9:00-10:30pm eastern and will be discussing their impressions of Madden 07. Also, VG Sports is there, that's right, VG Sports so I assume they will have some information in the following days as well. Several were not able to get on tonight. Did you? Guess I will have to use that damn archive now!
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 27, 2006 21:27:43 GMT -5
Okay. Fess up. Who got the smallest cone? And remember, our significant others are intently perusing the forum boards while you sleep. Mine's is THAT BIG! ;D
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 28, 2006 4:40:33 GMT -5
MN's Pasta @ Tiburon...............
Overall the game is much improved over what we played at E3. If I had them next to each other, I would’ve thought they were a year separated. It was that significant a difference between the two versions. NCAA 360 players will find the feel and much of the look of the game very familiar. Thankfully that is a great thing since that title has received an overwhelming positive reaction. Madden is very similar when it comes down to the game play only it is tweaked more to represent the NFL style of play. Not quite as many broken tackles, not as many blocked kicks, not as many big game-breaking type plays. However the possibility of them remains just not as common. Seemed well done in that regard. Many 06 problems such as extreme suction blocking and QB fumbles have been nullified Graphically it looks great, even the stadiums are noticeably better. The crowd looks really good, much better then it does in NCAA. You also get a couple more pre-snap cut scenes including one for a WR and one for a CB. On no-huddle the QB no longer looks like a chicken flapping his wings. The field degradation is really impressive. Even in practice mode you’ll see it get torn up severely at the place where you run your plays over and over. In rain and snow you’ll notice it even more. You’ll see it translate to the uniforms getting dirty also. As in NCAA there are some real nice looking post-play reactions/celebrations. The atmosphere in and around the game is enhanced. In this way the presentation has improved. I know that isn’t necessarily what many people are looking for when they say they want better presentation, but it does add to the game experience. Cardinals Stadium looks amazing. You also got the choice of playing with the roof open or the roof closed. In all the open stadiums, the light and shadows were amazing. If you played in the Cardinals Stadium with it open for example, depending on the time of day there will only be part of the field and/or part of the crowd that have sun shining on them Controls are fully customizable. However in Superstar mode you can only use default controls Superstar mode looks fantastic. We got into it a little bit and I think its going to be a lot of fun. I ended up being a safety, and despite my 5.3 40 time I was drafted in the 3rd round by the Packers. I really like that you work out for 4 individual teams before the draft. For me it was the Rams, Raiders, Titans, and Jets. So you get 4 chances to impress them in the drills specific to your position which for me was the 40, bench press, and coverage challenge. You can edit your SS’s accessories/equipment, and create him to your liking looks wise with a good amount of options (Rac will be writing up pretty much everything you could imagine on those options). Manual control of the players feels much better and allows you to play defense as a DB or S. I probably got more user picks today then I did in all of my games playing Madden 06 360. The highlight stick is really cool. Having it suited automatically (and varied) to the strengths of the individual player being controlled is a very significant addition to the game. Jump the snap seemed exactly like it does in NCAA. A neat feature but the risk involved probably will mean it won’t be used extensively. I like having the option though, cause you can decide if you want to take that risk and use it strategically. Controlling the blocker worked well in some situations, such as runs up the middle and taking the FB, or starting right off with a lineman. In other situations it was much tougher to use effectively. It could very well be just cause we have very little time practicing with it. I think people will find it useful, but Im not sure if it will be a real common thing everyone will utilize regular basis. Defensive playbooks were the same with the exception of Ravens and Patriots specific ones. Im not sure if it was limited only in the build we were using, or if those are the only two team specific defensive books there will be. Within the 3-4 there was a formation 3-4 Stack. For some reason that looked new to me, but since I don’t regularly use the 3-4 Im not sure if its always been there or if its new to 07. Kicking seemed too easy, especially kickoffs. We were routinely booting them 8 yards deep into the endzone. This was while on All-Madden too. However the kick returns set up pretty well so its not a bad idea to take them out anyway. But it was a little annoying to know its that easy to turn a touchback. Penalties seem pretty well done. Saw pass interference, encroachment, roughing, and clipping. Once again seemed comparable to NCAA There are some stutters while on the play selection/pause screens like has been noticed in NCAA. That caused some frustration when you’re trying to scan around and you end up selecting the wrong thing There were a few issues with warping through players, which seemed to happen when using the highlight stick and going through players engaged in another animation (such as a lineman being blocked). It resulted in a few kooky plays but happened only sporadically. Unfortunately it appears there is no snapshot feature in Madden like there was in NCAA. The mini-games are great. I especially liked the Lineman and Coverage Challenges. Check out Rac's mini-game thread for details on those Dominic Rhodes is the most amazing RB ever (unfortunately) It seems that the Madden Challenge has NOT yet had its platform determined. The first thing I did was check the Seahawks road uniforms and thankfully they have finally gotten them right. That along with the logo on the field at Qwest pointing the right way pleased me very much. The teams are still on the wrong sidelines, but that was my least worry of the bunch. Still odd though to see the logo on Holmgren’s hat pointing the wrong direction.
I hesitate to call it the “best football game ever” based on one day, but with its similarity to NCAA (which I find to be one of if not the best I’ve ever played) I’m extremely excited about it and I think its going to be received just as well as that title has been. Everything I like about that game is here just made to fit the NFL, along with the additions of the mini-games and Superstar mode. Of course that is with the exception of the people who love to complain just to complain....and they’ll simply never be satisfied nor do they want to be.
There is a lot more coming over the next few days so make sure to keep checking back. This includes trying to answer specific questions posed to us as well as laying out some new more lengthy and detailed articles on certain topics.
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Post by dazednconfused on Jul 28, 2006 18:00:24 GMT -5
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 28, 2006 18:17:08 GMT -5
Yea, and when you compare to Vick's, that's a home-breaker.........uhhhhh, home-wrecker.
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 29, 2006 6:46:23 GMT -5
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 29, 2006 14:11:35 GMT -5
One of the best writeups on current gen that I've seen to date!!!
Rac at Madden Nation------As you guys already know, there was a lot of hype about next gen Madden at this past week's EA Tiburon community day. We did spend most of our time with that title, but I was able to get in and get some notes on current gen Madden as well. I wasn't able to get into franchise or superstar mode, so most of what I have is game play goodies. Dan Castorani (aka D-Cas) is a game play producer on both current gen Madden and NCAA Football. He spent a lot of time with me talking about some features in current gen Madden that weren't necessarily stuff you're going to see on the back of the box, but that he thought you guys would love to hear about. Here are my basic impressions of that game, and some tidbits that D-Cas shared with me.
- As you guys already know, the game is going to feel very similar to Madden 06. EA is very comfortable with the engine they've built for current gen, so many of the changes made when it comes to game play are going to be things where they've tweaked a certain aspect of the game to make it better.
- High catch animations are limited this year. If you're using a TO or Moss, you're still going to be abe to do them from time to time, but it's not something you're going to see "Joe Receiver" pulling off on every 3rd and 7. Based on what I saw this past week and while shooting the Madden pay-per-view special, I'm pretty confident that this won't be an issue in this year's title. If the tourney guys from the pay-per-view couldn't do it with regularity, I don't think you're going to see it in the MN room or even in the east room for that matter.
- The special teams blocking has been worked on. I was able to return a couple of punts for decent yardage, and D-Cas told me that it was an area where some specific changes were made.
- Run/Pass tell has been corrected. You will not see it in this year's game.
- Defenders will not drop as many INTs. Fan site members have been posting about this for a couple of years now. Thanks to all of your comments and questions about defenders dropping INTs more often than you feel they should, the Tiburon team has tuned this to your liking. In fact, players who are going for a user pick will be much more likely to catch the ball than a computer controlled defender; a nice little reward for those of us who pride themselves in controlling DBs.
- Running the ball against Dime and Quarters should be better this year. YEAH! What EA has done to fix this is knock down the ratings a little bit for people who are constantly calling Dime and Quarters defensive sets to stop running plays out of formations such as I form. If someone is in Quarters vs. your I form "up the gut" run, you should be very successful gaining yards. This of course doesn't mean that a defender won't slip through from time to time, but it should correct this issue for the most part in the game.
- Fatigue has been tuned some. The aspect of a game long sense of fatigue was a focus. It used to be that you could run the ball all game and call a timeout late in the 4th and get your running back "in the green" again, but if he's had a ton of carries over the course of the game, that's not going to happen this year.
- New Player attributes are next gen only. Sorry fellas, that's the benefit of working with the cutting edge technology of next gen.
- There has been some tweaking with the running game where pulling guards get a tiny speed increase to be able to get outside a tad faster on those counters. Remember that running those plays is about patience, but the guards have been given some help this time to make sure that those plays have greater success this year.
- The vision cone is off by default in all difficulty settings except for All Madden. For All Madden you must play with the vision cone on at all times. For the other modes, you have the option to toggle it on or off at will, similar to next gen. For online this means that for regular ranked games you have the option to use the cone, but if you're playing hardcore ranked it will always be on for both players.
- There has been a lot of debate on the forums about whether or not the vision cone improves the accuracy for QBs. Some people think it's an advantage to use it, some don't. I was told that there is a small ratings bump as far as accuracy for the QBs when the vision cone is being used, and you also get a small catch increase in the ratings for WRs when you use it. I guess that settles that.
- The new kicking meter is similar to NCAA where you pull down on the right stick and then back up. It's very easy to use. Maybe even a little too easy, although that's mostly next gen where it's an issue.
- You can use precision passing without the cone this year.
- There have been some changes made to the spin and juke moves. In addition to the right stick highlight stick stuff, the spins and shoulder jukes are a bit different. If you tap the spin button this year, the runner will do a really tight spin that I feel is a more naturally looking animation than in past Maddens. Maybe, just maybe, the infamous juke glitch will be gone. Sounds like it. But one can only hope.) If you hold the spin button down, you do a much wider spin that is better for breaking tackles in the open field. On the highlight stick you can make the typical right or left juke that you've seen in past Maddens, but there is a more subtle juke on the L and R buttons that is great for making those slight moves in between the tackles as you lunge through a hole.
And here's a play Glad suggested, so watch him with this if you play him this season, lol. There are a couple of cool plays that D-Cas showed me. In the Steelers playbook, there is a Shotgun play where the QB punts the ball. This is only available in their book. Every playbook also has a fake FG play where the ball is punted instead. It's nice that they got some of these little touches in there.
- You can now throw the ball away from inside the pocket. If you hit the button to throw away a pass and are inside the pocket, the QB will throw the ball in the area of a receiver, but try and have it land near his feet where it's not catchable. It's still possible to throw a pick, especially if you're hit, so you can't use this all of the time. You'll definitely have to give up a sack from time to time as well. This feature doesn't mean you're going to be able to get the ball off one way or another every play... you can and still will be sacked sometimes. I love it though, because it helps those of us who like to stay in the pocket to pass. If you roll out, the QB will throw it to the sideline like usual.
- Just like in NCAA, you can defensive playmaker to the right or left after the start of a play and have your whole defensive line go in that direction. If you know someone is running a toss to the left, send your guys over there and let the HB have it. You can still pass commit as well of course.
- There is now some logic in Madden where you can run the ball in order to set up the playaction pass. This is something I've always wanted because that's a big part of my game. There has been some tweaking with the adaptive AI as well where your DBs are less likely to fall for that playaction pass on a 3rd and long. Defenders will also pick up on it if someone is constantly running playaction without calling run plays. Naturally, using pass commit is also a good way to avoid having defenders fall for it in an unlikely situation as well.
- Run to daylight is a lot of fun. I prefer using it on counter and toss plays where I can take the guard outside and go to work. It's definitely not just a fun factor feature though. It does make running the ball more enjoyable, but it also gives you a better chance to be successful when you use it. What's cool is that it makes offensive line ratings make a big difference. If you've got a fast guard or a fullback who is really strong, that will benefit you when you're controlling that person.
I think this is going to be a pretty solid year for current gen Madden fans where game play is concerned. D-Cas hit on a lot of stuff that you guys care about. Not all of the stuff that goes in there is going to be featured when the game is being marketed, so it was great to talk to him about some of the hardcore fan features that you guys will like, but didn't necessarily know about. I wish I'd gotten a little more time in with current gen because I wanted to find out more about Superstar Mode and Franchise, but because of the time limitations we had, I didn't get all of the goods. Rest assured though, when MN snags our copies of Madden, I'll do my best to answer a lot of those questions.
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Post by ChuckDiesel on Jul 29, 2006 21:04:35 GMT -5
Great article. I needed to see that about 2007.
Doesn't look like a whole lot of new stuff - but it seems they've made enough tweeks to make the game more enjoyable and realistic. Except for the WHOOOOSH and BOOOM if you throw a long bomb and it's caught. That's kinda gay, but if the gameplay is better - then YEAH!
Can't wait!
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Post by ChuckDiesel on Jul 29, 2006 21:07:43 GMT -5
Yea, and when you compare to Vick's, that's a home-breaker.........uhhhhh, home-wrecker. I'm not worried about Vick's cone. As long as it's still a double-tap to choose the receiver and throw, I'm fine. If I had to move the analog stick to move that cone, I'd be doing the following all season long....
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Post by Poundtherock on Jul 31, 2006 4:59:29 GMT -5
Yeah, I as well.
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