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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

One NFL Game Per Year is Not Enough

Posted on January 14, 2009 at 04:16 PM.

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With the apparent demise of the Head Coach franchise after a very promising revival, football fans are left with only one game on the market that utilizes the NFL license: Madden.

Although I'm optimistic that Madden 10 will be a significant step forward and even a truly great game, football fans deserve more than one NFL game per year.

The NFL helped create this situation when it decided to enter into the much maligned exclusivity agreement with EA. We all know how unfortunate it is that competition was eliminated, putting an end to consumer choice and (arguably) aggressive innovation.

But now that Head Coach 10 will probably not be released, another painful repercussion of that agreement is felt. If EA decides not to make a game that focuses on the coaching aspect of the NFL, then that's it. The fans don't get a game like that. How does that benefit the NFL?

The most popular sport in the United States deserves more than one game per year.

There should be a handful of NFL games released annually:

A Madden game. A Head Coach game. An NFL Tour, arcade-type game. A trivia game that can be downloaded and played online.

That's four right there, and there's room for more. The NFL should want their enormously popular brand utilized in a variety of ways. One NFL game per year simply isn't enough.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Dolphin Stadium in Madden NFL 10

Posted on December 17, 2008 at 02:52 AM.

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Has anyone else noticed what they've done with the endzones at Dolphin Stadium?

Fans are now present at field level at the back of the endzone with photographers in front of them. This allows for some nice moments for players to embrace fans or hand them footballs or simply acknowledge them.

Check out this photo of a recent touchdown:

Isn't that an exciting visual? I think so.

And guess what? I want this detail in Madden 10. Am I confident it will be? Unfortunately, no. I'm hopeful, but it's this level of detail that's been all too absent in the past. That's not the way it should be. The nuances of each stadium should be in the game.

Here are some other things I'd like to see in the Madden 10 version of Dolphin Stadium:

The LED ribbon board (the largest in the world) on the correct level.
The Ring of Honor featuring the names of legendary players (which can't be displayed now because the LED ribbon board is incorrectly occupying its space). It should at least look like the names are up there, and those names include Dan Marino, flanked by his record-setting stats.
The two HD scoreboards showing the action on the field or close-ups of fans or cheerleaders.
The aqua and orange flags being run across an endzone after a score.
The Marlins baseball diamond on the field in Franchise Mode. It's not pretty, but it's reality. And it's been done before. The first Head Coach game had the diamond at Dolphin Stadium. It was a nice touch.

I want to be impressed by the game's obsessive attention to detail, not simply relieved like I was this year when I found out the Dolphins had their all-white uniform back.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Gamecast and Spectator Mode

Posted on December 4, 2008 at 04:29 AM.

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Who uses the Gamecast feature in Madden? Have you ever checked in on a friend while they're playing a game?

I have. It's cool to get the score and see what teams are being used, but beyond that, there's not much. It definitely needs to be enchanced and expanded.

Okay, okay. I know there are plenty of other things we'd like to see in Madden, but if the Gamecast feature was able to offer a true play-by-play account of a game, that would be fun to watch.

What about having Gamecast accessible over the net? It could be on EA Sports World. Think about a Gamecast box on O.S. that had live play-by-play action of a Madden game.

Hhmmm. Maybe this all leads to Spectator Mode.

Now that would be something. I see it mentioned every now and then. Is it even being discussed as a possibility? Think about the ability to watch your online league's Super Bowl, assuming you're not in it, of course. I suppose we may be a few years away from this. Or maybe not.

It would be nice to take a break from playing and watch some football!