We just previewed Madden 10 and it seems like the team has been hard at work scrapping elements that haven’t worked for the series and creating new features in order to produce the most realistic feeling hard-nosed Sunday football game to date.  Let’s blitz through the top ten changes Madden 10 makes to famed Madden formula.

1.  Madden 10 lets players “Feel The Pressure” in the pocket and avoid It.  Since the beginning of time, Madden players have played passing offense the same way:  Running 20 yards or more into the backfield, away from the pocket, and firing a huge bomb to a downfield receiver.  They either complete that miracle pass or they’re sacked for an absurd loss.  Real NFL quarterbacks don’t do this, by the way, they stay protected in the pocket created by the offensive line.  The developers of Madden 10 found that when players were looking downfield for a receiver, the pocket didn’t feel safe because they couldn’t sense when the defense was rushing them, hence the running into the backfield.

One of Madden 10’s goals is to make the pocket feel safe again.  When looking downfield for a receiver to pass to, the controller will rumble when the quarterback is under pressure.  A quick flick of the right stick lets the quarterback execute an avoidance move to shrug away a potential sack and give the player an extra moment to complete a pass.  The avoidance moves will work better with elusive quaterbacks, like Big Ben, but even then they won’t work all the time.

Ben Roethlisberger, one of the larger quarterbacks, eluding a defender with an avoidance move.

2.  Quarterbacks have more guts.  Ok, that’s not a direct quote from Madden 10, but it’s the best way to describe the quarterback’s new ability to complete passes while being sacked.  Last year, Madden 09’s sack animation would overide the quarterback’s passing animation, causing him to tuck the ball instead of releasing it, resulting in some unfair feeling sacks.  “I pressed the throw button!”  Now the top part of a quarterbacks body can still make a pass even though he’s being sacked, which may result in a much needed completion, or a floating pass that could be easily intercepted.  Either way, if you want to make that risky play, now you can.

3.  Nine man gang tackles.  Madden 10’s mantra is “Fight For Every Yard.”  With Madden 10’s new Pro Tak feature you can bring the four on one ownage to some poor running back like the picture below.  The gang tackles generated by Pro Tak can also be used offensively.  If your running back gets some help from some big guys behind him, they may just push him right into the endzone, or help him break out of the tackle animation altogether.  Hopefully Pro Tak’s gang tackles can bring the more organic raw feeling of live football to the game.

3. Fight for the ball at the bottom of the pile.  Players will now experience the lawlessness of the game’s most gritty battle, the wrestling match at the bottom of the pile for the ball after a fumble.  Who knows what happens at the bottom of the pile?  Scratching, finger bending, biting?

Madden 10 handles this tooth and nail battle with an intense quicktime button pressing minigame.  Hit the right button as it flashes on the screen and you’ll tip the possession scale in your favor and probably end up with the ball once the ref’s pulls all the bodies off of the pile.

4. Holding the A button moves your defensive back into position for you to make big plays:  I’ve always had trouble playing defense in Madden, especially in the secondary.  Thankfully, the Madden 10 team found that many players also had the same trouble, and they’ve created Defensive Assist.  Holding down the A button will cause your defender to move into position and play defense, but it will not, however, make big plays like swats and interceptions for you.  It only gets you into position so you can make these big game changing plays yourself.

5. Many of last year’s Iterations have been scrapped, tweaked or downplayed.  The not so successful Madden IQ feature that was so prevalent last year is returning and you’ll still take the test at the beginning of the game, but the Madden 10 team asserts that the feature is going to be changed and be much more in the background.  Weapons, the new feature from a couple Madden’s ago have been completely scrapped and Rewind, Madden’s version of a “do over” is turned off at default.   Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond return, but between you and me and what the developers implied, Tom Hammond is going to be more interesting this time around.

7.  Photorealistic Depth of Field.  The reason why the screen shot above looks like it was pulled from the real Superbowl last February is that the Madden 10 engine accurately displays depth of field, blurring that which you’re not focused on.  Look at how the referee in the foreground and the sideline in the background are accurately out of focus.  One of Madden 10’s goals is to make games feel more like a televised broadcast and establishing depth of field is a great step into building that realistic look and feel from a real NFL game.

8.  Passes to the flat are no longer broken.  After catching a pass out to the flat, no longer will receivers fail to slow down and negotiate where the out of bounds line is. No longer will they sprint towards the sideline like Forrest Gump running home to Jenny.  This was a game breaker for many gamers who played Madden 09, so it’s exciting to see that the Madden 10 team is fixing this important play.

This ref should really have a “hit me” sign on his back, because that’s what we all want to do…

9.  You can knock over refs and run into the chain gang. Yep, you can knock those pin striped losers onto the ground during a play and doing so will never impede you or slow down your movement in any way.  That means a ref will never get in the way of pass or trip you up so you don’t make it into the end zone.   Also, Madden 10 wants to replicate the suspense of watching live football by having the chain gang run out and measure for the first down.  This may also increase the number of controller throwing moments.

10. Some players stats have been dropped as much as 20 points! The Madden 10 team saw that the stats have been slowly creeping upwards over the years and that average players were only a few points different from the NFL’s future Hall of Famers.  This would effect teams as well.  Playing the Lions didn’t feel like playing the Lions, it felt like playing the Cowboys or any other good team.  In order to distinguish the average players from the superstars, many player’s ratings had to be lowered.  If you rate everybody as great, then no one is.  Maybe some game websites should adopt this mindset in for review scores.  You didn’t hear it here!

Madden looks like its ready for another monster year of sales and hopefully ready to deliver the most true to life football experience thus far.  Even more Madden 10 features are going to to be revealed at E3 so get your Troy Polumalu jersey ready and check back later!

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Behind the scenes wheeling and dealing can generate tasty bargains, but sometimes those bargains come with a nasty aftertaste.

In this case, it appears that EA and the NFLPA along with Players Inc. struck a deal for retired NFL player rights that was significantly below fair market value. A class action lawsuit was filed by the players in question against Players Inc, but the fun didn’t stop there. In a letter crafted by 51 year old former Buffalo Bills safety, Jeff Nixon, Madden was asked to come to the aid of his fellow Hall of Famers.

Jeff’s “Dear John” letter to the former Raider’s Head Coach is laced with incriminating quotes, the most shocking being that EA’s total cost to produce Madden each year is apparently no more than $200,000!!

You are… the face and name behind the wildly popular EA Sports Video Game – Madden NFL… will you sit back and let the NFLPA and EA Sports continue to take advantage of our Hall of Fame players?

…Evidence in the Retired Players Class Action suit demonstrates that the NFLPA and Players Inc. were working against the interests of the retired players and in favor of your boss EA Sports. For example, this internal email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker, confirms that Players Inc. negotiated a deal with EA on behalf of retired Hall of Fame players which was significantly below market rate:

“I was able to forge this deal with the HOF that provides them with 400K per year (which is significantly below market rate) in exchange for the HOF player rights. EA owes me a huge favor because of that threat was enough to persuade Take Two to back off its plans, leaving EA as the only professional football videogame manufacturer out there.”

…Instead of negotiating the best possible deal for the retired players which it purported to represent, the NFLPA and Players Inc. were doing favors for EA by reducing compensation to retired players, and driving a competitive licensee [Take-Two's NFL2K series] out of the market…

And in this February 22, 2007 email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker to Players Inc. in-house attorney Joe Nahra, the naked truth is exposed to the world:

“…The per player price for most of these guys was tens of thousands of dollars less than what they were guaranteed by Take Two Interactive so it’s a real coup that we were able to pull this off so cheaply. You have to remember that EA’s total cost is only $200,000 per year. We know that Take Two offered six figure deals to several former NFL players so the total cost is millions below market prices…”

John, these are your fellow Hall of Fame Players they are talking about! Are you going to let them get away with this? I know that EA is your employer, but come on…

Afterthought: What say you? Do you think John Madden will come to the aid of his fellow hall of fame brothers, or will his role be exposes as nothing more than a powerless figure head?

Source: gamepolitics.com

E3 08 bestowed upon us a great gift. Madden 09. With the ability to do backyard-football-like “do-overs” and an emphasis on teaching newer players how to play football, it looks like the Maddenest Madden yet. What more could two Italians straight from the old country wish for?

Actually, I’m only one fourth Italian and Range only works at an Italian restaurant. But i didn’t lie about Madden. It looks fantastic. Capiche?! Have at the video after the jump.

Justin Blankenship, a former FTC lawyer, expresses concern regarding the potential EA and Take-Two merger. Specifically, he believes that the merger may violate antitrust laws due to the hold the company would have on the videogame sports sector. Justin states:

I wouldn’t consider this [EA/Take-Two deal] inevitable quite yet,” … “Although you’ve yet to see antitrust law rear its head in a videogame merger, this is the best case I’ve seen where it could happen. Don’t be surprised if this gets more interesting than anyone expects.”

EA already holds several exclusive licenses across the professional and collegiate levels and a merger with Take-Two would mean the end of 2K Sports, the largest competitor for EA when it comes to sports related videogame content. It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to figure this one out.

The main argument regarding this merger has been one focused on price, however the bigger picture that we believe concerns gamers even more, is choice and quality of product. We would love to hear your thoughts on this.

The news out of Redwood, CA is in, and it doesn’t look good for fans of NFL branded videogame football. The contract end date that many of us had been counting down to, has been extended through the 2012 season.

The moment the press release hit my in-box, all I could think of was the opening scene to “The Last Boy Scout”. Lynn Swann, playing a sideline reporter, asks a cowboy hat wearing professional football owner if he believes that pro football is on the decline? The owner answers no, and points out that his star player, Billy Cole, is having the game of his life.

Billy then proceeds to catch a pass, run down field, pull a hand gun out of his pants, and shoot every defender in his way until he reaches the end zone, at which point he removes his helmet, utters the words “ain’t life a bitch”, and promptly shoots himself in the head.

Yeah– that pretty much sums up my reaction to this news. I purchased Madden 08 this year because I felt obligated to review it for our readers, but many of my friends refused to do so, and those who did returned it for store credit shortly thereafter.
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The sports gaming population, in large part due to EA, have come to expect that which is in the game to be “in the game”, and for the past three years, that has not been the case. I hope that EA Tiburon rededicates themselves not only to the game, but to the fan and the EA slogan that defined an era of video game sports for so many years.

Tiburon, if you are reading this, hear my words:

Double talk and excuses can only be tolerated for so long, and once gamers reach their collective breaking point, not even the power of the exclusive NFL license will save you. What we are asking is simple, spend less on marketing, and more on the actual videogame development. The time for talk is over.

Bring back the chain gang, the on field refs, and for the love of God, put a net behind the goal posts so we don’t have to keep kicking our adoring fans in the head every time we boot a field goal. We want to love the game, so do your part, and we will do ours.

Press release in full available below.

EA EXTENDS INTERACTIVE VIDEOGAME AGREEMENTS

WITH NFL AND NFL PLAYERS

Exclusive Agreements Renewed Through 2012 Season

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – February 12, 2008 – Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) today announced an extension of its exclusive licensing relationships with the National Football League and NFL PLAYERS to develop, publish and distribute interactive football video games. These agreements – which were negotiated separately and are extensions of contracts originally signed in December 2004 – provide EA continued rights to NFL teams, stadiums and players for its critically-acclaimed and best-selling football videogames through the end of the 2012 season, which culminates in February 2013.

Both agreements include all aspects of the interactive experience, including console and handheld games as well as console-based online features. The agreements also provide EA access to both NFL Films and the NFL Network to enrich its game experiences. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

“This is all about bringing authenticity and realism to NFL videogames,” said Eric Grubman, President of NFL Ventures. “EA SPORTS continually works to maintain the cutting edge for NFL products across a variety of gaming platforms. We like the fact that they never rest.”

“This is great news and it means we can continue to produce the best interactive experience possible. It also allows NFL PLAYERS, the NFL and EA to continue to build our brands,” said Gene Upshaw, Chairman of NFL PLAYERS and Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association. “We offer a very unique experience. “

“We are excited about the opportunity to extend and expand our relationships with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS,” said Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS™. “For nearly two decades, EA SPORTS has been bringing sports fans closer to the great game of football through the breakthrough interactive experiences of our videogames. Game quality is our top priority, and we’re committed to pushing our gameplay innovation, connecting football fans via rich online experiences and delivering the most visually stunning sports games on the market.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2008, EA’s Madden NFL franchise has consistently been one of the videogame industry’s best-selling and top-rated products, generating more than $2 billion in retail sales. Madden NFL 08 earned awards from the 2007 Game Critics Awards at the E3 Media and Business Summit, The SpikeTV Video Game Awards, and the GameSpot Readers Choice Awards last year. The game is available on the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, Xbox 360™ and Xbox® videogame and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Nintendo DS™, Wii™, PC, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, mobile handsets and Mac. EA also produces the arcade-football game NFL Tour which hit stores in January 2008, and NFL Head Coach, which was released in 2006. EA SPORTS recently hosted Madden Bowl XIV in Scottsdale, Ariz., as part of Super Bowl XLII festivities.

Both agreements grant exclusive rights for action simulation, arcade-style and manager games on the PC, handheld game devices and consoles.

Just like its advertising campaign, EA is BIG. The company made net revenue of over 3 billion dollars in 2005 and continues to grow. The recent acquisition of BioWare will only continue to drive this monster forward. This along with its near-monopoly on professional sports games could prove to be a bottomless well for future earnings.

However, EA is so big that it has actually made its inclusion on this list a difficult undertaking, due to its predominant status as a sun-eclipsing monster publisher. But it cannot be denied that EA's logo is found on so many must-own titles that it has to be acknowledged as an iconic developer.

Electronic Arts got its start when the director of product marketing at Apple decided to head out and establish his own venture back in 1982. The company would turn out to be Amazin' Software, later updated to the far superior call sign of Electronic Arts.

"We See Farther, 1983 EA Advertisement" Artists listed left to right.
Top: Mike Abbott, Dan Bunten, Jon Freeman, Anne Westfall, Bill Budge
Bottom: Matt Alexander, John Fields, David Maynard

Early on EA made its debut doing what it does best-- publishing. A publisher that would step out of the spotlight and let their developers bask in the public eye, EA would develop a reputation for giving their staff the credit they were due.

In 1983, EA released the now classic M.U.L.E. This little piece of software would revolutionize gaming with its multiplayer focus, and would eventually be ported from the Atari 400 to the Commodore 64, PC, and even the NES.

The game was great but it still wasn't an EA original. That feat wouldn't come until many years later when the classic skateboarding title Skate or Die! hit shelves in 1987. Skate or Die! didn't set any milestones, but it would hint at the sports-focused direction that EA would head towards in the future.

EA is such a massive firm, with their hands in so many pies, that it isn't easy to find out which games were developed completely in-house and which games were constructed by their smaller development companies. Many of the games bearing the EA logo were not actually developed by EA, but a subsidiary.

What cannot be debated about Electronic Arts is that they have cornered a significant market share. EA turns out an annual collection of new professional sports titles that mostly go unchallenged, and the rate at which players eat it up is awe inspiring (anyone remember the Madden addicts on MTV?).

The reason that these games do so well is that kids grow up wanting to field like Derek Jeter. They long to throw the pigskin like Joe Montana. They practice dribbling for hours to get that Alan Iverson crossover and stay out on the greens past sundown to sink that amazing 15-footer they saw Tiger Woods nail in the Masters. Kids want to be their heroes. So why not let them? That's what EA said back when it started its line of licensed sports games back in the late 80's, and the whirlwind is still going strong today.

After the success of Madden Football and NHL Hockey, EA decided to devote a specific branch to sports development. That fork in the road would be known as EASN. Catchy name huh? Well too bad ESPN had all four lettered acronyms on lockdown. The new name would have to have a sub-label on every box, leading to the more familiar EA Sports being created. So now with a new name, a new box style (the famous all-white cases) and a fresh new batch of official licenses, which EA is the biggest purchaser of, Electronic Arts would be ready to take no prisoners in the 16-bit console war.

EA Sports NBA Live 97 -- watch out for those steals!

The 16-bit era truly built the empire of EA that we know today. Their contributions to the Sega Genesis would make it a console seller. But not one to discriminate, they would develop for the SNES as well. This is when many of the series we still play today would be born-- Madden, NHL Hockey, NBA Live, Knockout Kings, FIFA, PGA Tour (later named Tiger Woods) and Triple Play Baseball (dubbed MVP Baseball in 2003) would all be born from this era.

If you like sports games, then chances are at some point in your gaming career you've had one of these white-boxed beauties stashed in your entertainment center ready to collect dust when you get the update and never play the old version again. And why would you? You've got the new one, and the new one has better announcers, updated graphics and improved puck/ball/racket/bat/club control than the one before it.

Maddenoliday commercial promoting the annual release of Madden

Therein lays the genius. Not only did EA corner the market, but they made it so that they can get repeat customers year in, year out. You may not like sports games, but a lot of people dig em', and EA is the hardest hitter out there delivering the goods. EA publishes a lot of games, but as far as development is concerned, sports games are the golden goose. EA has become one of the biggest publishers of video games in the world, and EA Sports was the BIG reason for that. Like the slogan says, “it's in the game”.

Must Haves:
Madden '08 (Multi),
NHL '08 (Multi),
FIFA '08 (Multi)

Have Nots:
Rugby '08 (PS2),
NASCAR '08 (Multi)

Top Ten Developer List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1