APF Players' Response to Madden 10 News

[elgreazy1]

lol, really? Good luck. No man, it's never going to happen. We've been trying over at the 2K forums & 2kfootballstrategy for years to get them to give us some info. Ain't going to happen. I'd probably crap my pants if it did though.

[Rocky]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31

On the other hand, the classic MLB position, in APF is essentially uselss, if not user controled. I never feel like LB's are reading keys, and reacting. Often time's the simply stare and watch what is happening around them. In Madden/NCAA, the LB's attack the LOS much better.

I agree but I disagree. I agree that the LB's make reads too slow. However, the OL logic is much worse in Madden. Linemen don't get to the next level quick enough. The OL in APF gets to the next level too quick.

[teambayern]

I don't blame 2k at all. People forget that prior to the exclusivity license, Madden was beating the crap out of 2k in sales. 2k5, the greatest NFL game ever made (or so I'm told) was sold at $20 just to try and rebuild the fanbase.

So put yourself in their position. You have a superior game that is getting beaten badly in sales, and you lose your license. If I were them, I would either get out now, or test the waters. APF was their decision to take the latter. They didn't throw that much development time in, because they didn't want to lose the company if it bombed. And guess what...it did bomb. Now I know there's the argument that it wouldn't have if they gave full customization, ect., but I don't buy it. I don't think the vast majority of Madden gamers would say, despite buying Madden 2005 over 2k5, I'm now going to buy 2k8 and spend time creating or downloading real rosters. Even if they took teambuilder from NCAA and made it super easy, your average gamer isn't going to do that, because sadly, madden is a better game to them. Then, despite abismal sales, they also put out a patch, and in the end, gave us a game we're still playing today. That is quality.

The only criticism I would launch at 2k is that they should have done a better job marketing it, but at the same time, they didn't completely fail at this either. They had commercials, they had buzz on the internet, and they had jerry rice doing interviews on tv talking about how it was the return of the sim. It just didn't sell, and at this point, I think 2k have to be very careful about picking their strategy. Obviously, a lawsuit striking down the exclusivity agreement would be best, but that is unlikely to happen from my perspective. The next best thing would be to wait it out and see how M10 does. This game is getting hype unlike any Madden in recent memory, and if it fails to live up to that hype in a big way, it might create the kind of backlash 2k needs. If there is such a backlash, then 2k should release a game in the Madden offseason that is limited in cheap, limited in scope, but high on gameplay. For example, a $20 APF re-make with full customization and see how it goes. That's the best way forward as far as I can tell.

In the mean time, just pray Madden makes the jump it's supposed to this year. End of long post (sorry!)

[Pappy Knuckles]

More Madden NFL 10 Info

This is a little video with some of the EA guys talking about the Online Franchise. After watching this and some gameplay clips, my enthusiasm has definitely went up a ton for Madden 10. It seems like they've really done a lot with this game. I'm anxious to play the demo this week and see how it feels.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pappy Knuckles

This is a little video with some of the EA guys talking about the Online Franchise. After watching this and some gameplay clips, my enthusiasm has definitely went up a ton for Madden 10. It seems like they've really done a lot with this game. I'm anxious to play the demo this week and see how it feels.

I was initially excited about online franchise myself, but my that cooled considerably when I learned about the lack of salary/contracts considerations. Seems like it's not much that was done with online leagues years ago, so not sure why they tout it as innovative. Then again, I have a big issue w/the dev team repeatedly patting themselves on the back for doing seemingly routine or expected things, so it could be me.

I am interested to play the demo. I think it's great that they'll be doing a 5min/4quarters demo, which will go a long ways towards my decision on purchasing the game. In years past I depended on a combination of how the game looked in pre-release video + the demo + NCAA as to whether I would purchase the game. Until last year. I wasn't impressed by any of the '09 pre-release gameplay video, and didn't like NCAA's or Madden's demo. But allowed myself to get caught up in the hype look past everything and purchased it, convincing myself it'd be better than what I thought it would be. Don't think I even managed to play 10 full games of '09. This year I haven't been impressed with NCAA. For the most part I haven't seen much to like in the videos, but there have been things here or there I thought were cool. If the demo disappoints or I come away from it like I did the NCAA demo, then it'll be easy to not purchase the game. But if it impresses, I'll pick it up. Can't depend on reviews, because every review site breaks their necks to justify giving Madden high scores. Even the OS reviews the past two years have been disappointing

[stead21]

Madden looks pretty decent, but it's no way on APF 2K8's level in regards to motion capture presentation and overall gameplay. Plus I love playing with the greats in APF. But from the NFL Stand point, I'm a huge fan, and I miss playing with my current NFL Teams (But Fantasy Football Helps me with that). EA pissed me off bad with the Exclusive deal, but I can't be too pissed off if the game is great. I also feel that this version of Madden should of been coming out when the 360 came out as well. I could give a crap about online franchise because I play only single player. I think the previous versions of Madden have just relied on multi-player from Xbox Live as there strong point, which is not cool.

[teambayern]

When you guys get access to the demo's, we should start an impressions thread over here (if permitted). It would be nice to have a discussion centering around how Madden plays from the eyes of 2k fans (in the Madden forum, it will just end in fanboy bloodshed).

My default position right now is only to rent, but some good reviews from the pappy's, AW's, 15thhunter's, creatine's, ect. of this forum will change that instantly.

[teambayern]

When you guys get access to the demo's, we should start an impressions thread over here (if permitted). It would be nice to have a discussion centering around how Madden plays from the eyes of 2k fans (in the Madden forum, it will just end in fanboy bloodshed).

My default position right now is only to rent, but some good reviews from the pappy's, AW's, 15thhunter's, creatine's, ect. of this forum will change that instantly.

[wEEman33]

My reaction is the same as it is every year:

play the demo; react accordingly.

Usually I play the demo and ignore the retail release completely because of how much the game sucks, but last year I was intrigued enough by the demo to give it a rental.

Unfortunately, I never wanted to see the game again after two or three days of playing it. There's still way too much wrong with it.

But a new year brings new hope.

[The Autumn Wind]

Quote: Originally Posted by teambayern

When you guys get access to the demo's, we should start an impressions thread over here (if permitted). It would be nice to have a discussion centering around how Madden plays from the eyes of 2k fans (in the Madden forum, it will just end in fanboy bloodshed). My default position right now is only to rent, but some good reviews from the pappy's, AW's, 15thhunter's, creatine's, ect. of this forum will change that instantly.

I'd be particularly interested in this as well, especially since I'm away from the 360 till Aug. 1.

I think a thread like that would fly if done accordingly:
--we'd have to frame it, as you say, as a discussion about APF players' impressions of Madden 10 in relation to our current game
--some loose structure like the questions I used to get this one going would probably be beneficial to eliminate the unconstructive and degenerate posts that we all hate


My sense from Millenium is that we can have these kinds of discussions so long as we don't troll the Madden forums and so long as we keep it clean, civil, and constructive.