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April 27, 2007

Let´s get it out of the way now. Madden NFL 07 was a disappointment, pure and simple. With an exclusive NFL license as well as the power of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there´s no reason why this "next-gen" Madden shouldn´t have blown football fans away as one of the greatest sports gaming experiences of all time. That´s what we expect when we fork over the dough for high-priced consoles and a $59.99 game. As the only NFL sim on the market, that´s what we deserve.

With Madden NFL 08, that´s what we´re going to get. Or at least that´s the lofty goal that developer EA Tiburon has set for its flagship franchise, set to release this summer. With a difficult console transition finally out of the way, Tiburon head man Steve Chiang said there are no more excuses with Madden. There will only be results. After visiting Tiburon to take an early peek at Madden 08, we´re starting to believe him.

The major focus, as it should be, is on gameplay. Remember that old "If it´s in the game, it´s in the game" line? Tiburon is taking that to heart. If it´s on the field -- laterals, gang tackles, diving catches, strips, shutdown corners, hurdles -- it´s in Madden, said producer Ian Cummings. His vision? Pure dynamic gameplay. You control the animations -- the animations don´t control you. You can see what Cummings has to say in our exclusive video interview.

Newsflash: Vince Young is on the cover.In short, EA is bringing sexy back. Here are a few examples we saw on some early in-engine videos of Madden 08.

Midair Collisions
A quarterback lofts a pass to a streaking receiver that is well covered. The receiver jumps and extends his arms to receive the ball just as the corner buries his helmet into his ribcage. The receiver is upended and falls on his back while the ball bounces into the hands of the safety creeping over to help. If you´re going to expose yourself in traffic, expect to get hit. We can see the alligator arms growing now.

Big Time Catches
To balance these big hits in the secondary, EA has made star receivers play like, you know, stars. Guys like Larry Fitzgerald are going to go up and get the ball and they´re going to take the hit. What´s more, you´ll see them reaching out for one-handed grabs and leaping into the end zone for six. That´s not to say a good corner isn´t going to shut down some of these plays. But a scrub DB? "He´s toast," Cummings said.

To do this, EA had to better emphasize the roles receivers play by looking at situational awareness and catch-in-traffic ratings. So expect to see a big difference with possession guys like Keyshawn Johnson and showboats like Terrell Owens. Johnson won´t stretch the D, but he will do the little things -- in the end zone on a timing patter, he´ll catch the ball with his hands and fall right to the turf to avoid the hit and secure the football. Along with highlight catches, you can also trigger possession catches that ensure you catch the ball, get the feet down and tuck it away safely at the expense of some speed running after the catch.

Hurdles

A few years ago, players were able to cheat with the hurdle button to escape tackles. The easy solution was simply to remove hurdles. They´re back in 08, and a great tool for ball carriers looking to evade tacklers going for the knees. On the flip side of that coin, you are exposed in the air, as we saw in this video:

LaDainian Tomlinson takes a pitch and sweeps right. As a linebacker bears down, LT hurdles. Bad move. In the air, LT is unprotected. The LB takes his legs out from under him and LT flips over, fumbling the ball toward the sideline. "If a guy is running at you and you jump at him, you´re dead," said Cummings. "We emulated that."

Hitstick 2.0

If LT is going to hurdle to avoid a tackle, you have to be able to answer on the defensive side of the ball. Enter Hitstick 2.0. This will allow you to tackle high or low by flicking up or down on the right stick, respectively. This opens the door for all kinds of possibilities.

If you´re an undersized corner and Lorenzo Neal is barreling toward you, you better take out his knees at risk of getting trucked. If it´s Warrick Dunn dancing toward you, on the other hand, you may want to hold off on the hit stick altogether at the risk of losing your shoes. But if you´re Zach Thomas and the situation is right, a high tackle is going to ring some bells.

Gang Tackles
We saw a bit of gang tackling last year on the PS3, but this year the feature looks to be fully fleshed out. Cummings said with confidence that it´s "the best gang-tackling engine ever created," a bold statement considering the old 2K franchise. But consider this:

You can stand a guy up and come in with a linebacker to clean house. Yeah, it´s been done before. But from here, Cummings said you can add on dynamically at any point. So maybe it takes two, three, four guys to haul Larry Johnson to the ground. Or if you´re running in with a linebacker, you can actually knock the other defenders off the ball carrier with a poorly-aimed hit. Or blockers can come in and try to knock defenders off. Or you can try to strip the ball. A runner can cover it up. The list just keeps going.

Will the curse come to Nashville?
The Line of Scrimmage
EA enlisted an engineer that played offensive line in college and the Canadian Football League to design a new blocking scheme. This season you´ll see double teams, stretch blocking and linemen extending to the second level. A lot more holes will open up this year and you´ll need to follow the game plan to take advantage.

For running backs, that means reading and following blocks. Of course, a few gargantuan defensive tackles can ruin your trap play faster than you can say Corey Simon, so it´s important to be able to improvise. Last season if a hole didn´t open up, a back would simply run in place behind a lineman-- ice skating as it´s known in the biz. This year, big backs will push the pile and force their blockers forward. Smaller backs like Reggie Bush will hesitate behind the line, waiting for an opening to develop before bouncing outside. Both moves are context-sensitive and automatic when you run into a blocker.

Fatigue
Guess what? Temperature and location play a factor in a football game. If you´re a Green Bay Packer playing at Dolphin Stadium in September, you´re going to feel the heat while the Dolphins are well-adjusted. And don´t start on the Dolphins playing in Foxborough in December. Weather will play into the home-field advantage next season.

But fatigue is caused by a lot more than a hot day. Consider this: If Reggie Bush scampers left, then right, then backward, then left and right again and finally into the end zone as only Reggie Bush can, he´s going to be tired at the end of the run. In Madden, you´ll notice him slowing and, with a different set of running animations, you will see that Bush is gassed. But really, does that guy ever get tired?

For those of you that enjoy sprinting from sideline to sideline with Michael Vick, it´s time to get a new strategy. Then again, the defense will tire too...

After a play, you won´t see the same canned animations of 11 players jogging back to a huddle in unison. Players will huff and puff with their hands on their hips, longing for the oxygen tank on the sidelines. This will add a new dimension to clock management as you can´t simply run Hail Mary after Hail Mary with a no-huddle offense. Those long patterns (and the jog back to the line) take a heavy toll. Instead, you´ll need to complete a pass and -- dare I say it -- spike the ball to stop the clock. Just waiting a few extra seconds to snap the ball will have an effect.

Celebrate Good Times, C´mon!
After all these amazing plays, you have to leave a little room for some player celebrations. Forget about those sluggish cutscenes and shots of the stands from last year. If you blow up a play on defense, a teammate will run over, pick you up off the ground, give you a slap on the helmet and a quick, "Hell yeah!" and jog back to the huddle. This all runs within the game engine and helps keep the action flowing smoothly -- a natural problem in football games.

After scores, keep your eyes peeled for signature celebrations like Chad Johnson´s river dance, Donte Hall´s X and Rex Grossman´s gator chomp. EA already has at least 60 celebrations in the game, although we don´t know yet if you´ll be able to choose one for yourself after a score.

Madden´s new moves are made possible to a new animation system borrowed from the FIFA franchise and NBA Street Homecourt. The goal is to make players move as realistically as possible. Instead of turning in a lazy arc, players are going to plant their feet, drop their shoulder and make cuts. We watched as LT hit a hole hard and made decisive cuts through the second level to rip off a big gain. It´s also important to note that these cuts are quick -- in FIFA, players would often step in the bucket and a foot plant would slow players down.

We have nothing else to say. It´s Vince Young again. He´s on the cover.As LT spun around a defender, cut left, broke a leg tackle and was finally dragged down by a neck tackle, the animations blended smoothly together, inspired by the Homecourt system. Cummings has pushed his team to ensure that players can break out of animations and pull off another move or change direction at any time. When a receiver runs and out and catches a pass near the sideline, he doesn´t have to let his momentum carry him out of bounds during the catch animation. Now he can haul the ball in, do a quick chop step and cut 90 degrees up field. It doesn´t look like much by itself, but when you compare all these movements to Madden 07, the improvements stand out like Orlando Pace in a buffet line.

As for AI, EA wants star players to play like star players. Peyton Manning is going to pick a part a defense, call audibles and shift his team at the line. On the flip side, a QB like Rex Grossman is going to be inconsistent. Cornerbacks like Champ Bailey are going to shut down an entire side of the football field. You´ve never feared a cornerback before in Madden, but that´s about to change. EA is also rewriting the defensive zone AI to eliminate money plays, especially deep balls and corner routes.

As such, look for matchups to play a more important factor in 08. Taller receivers will take advantage of small DBs on fade routes. A tight end like Antonio Gates split out wide will burn a slow linebacker trying to play man coverage. EA is trying to emphasize the chess match that is the gridiron on any given Sunday. And don´t forget about the defensive side of the ball. If you think you can roll out with a QB right toward a healthy Jevon Kearse without throwing out a double team, you got another thing coming.

And finally, EA is bringing back the features that never made the jump from current-gen Madden like owner mode, defensive hot routes and classic rosters. The stellar Superstar mode returns, as well as the Hall of Fame, although EA is missing a few notable players like Montana, Marino and Rice that make appearances in All Pro Football 2K8. Is it a coincidence that Madden 08 will be so feature-rich now that 2K is back in the game? Probably not, and that´s a good thing as EA has yet another incentive to make the best football game on the market.

Whatever the motivation, it´s clear that Cummings and the rest of the development team care about Madden 08, gushing that this year will be the biggest jump in quality over the previous version that we´ve ever seen. But as the only NFL sim out there, that´s what we deserve.

Click the video link below for an exclusive video interview with Cummings and stay tuned for more Madden coverage as we check out player ratings, Superstar mode and Owner mode.

May 18, 2007

- We weren´t expecting much. The most hallowed sports franchise of all time has fallen on hard times lately, so when Lead Producer David Ortiz booted up Madden NFL 08 in our office this week, we had our doubts.

Sure, on a recent visit to EA Tiburon we saw some early gameplay videos and listened as producers explained their grandiose plans for the future. Owner mode will be back, fantasy drafts will be back, player editing will be back. On the field, EA preached dynamic gameplay, dynamic gameplay, dynamic gameplay. We got excited at the possibilities, but this is all lip service until you actually get to play for yourself.

And after playing for ourselves, we can safely say this is the next-gen Madden you´ve been waiting for. On the field, the action is smooth and responsive. Players simply do the things you want them to do. Visually, it´s a gem -- running at 60 frames per second with a branching animation system that not only looks great, but leaves control in the hands of the player. Off the field, presentation is kicked up a notch with full-motion videos of your favorite team playing on the jumbotron of your personal trophy room, and you´re one step away from jumping into Franchise, Owner or Superstar modes.

Click here for an exclusive gameplay trailer of Madden 08 in action.On the field, Philip Rivers hands off to LaDainian Tomlinson on a simple dive play. But no LT run is ever simple. He runs straight though an arm tackle, covering up the ball and pumping his knees. A safety tries to join in on the gang tackle, grabs LT´s waist and tries to spin the MVP to the turf. LT simply goes with it, regains his balance and accelerates to the outside and rips off a big gain.

In another sequence, Carson Palmer throws to Chad Johnson on a comeback route on the right sideline. A cornerback goes for a big hit that Johnson simply avoids. Then, dancing left and right, he picks his way through the secondary on his way to the end zone and the Ocho Cinco Riverdance.

Some call it responsiveness. Others call it twitch. Whatever you want to call it, Madden 08 is fast and fun. Remember back in the days when you didn´t need the juke button to lose a defender? You could simply hesitate, wait for a defender to commit, and run out of the way. It´s strange how the Madden team has looked back at what made past games great. It´s brought back all those old twitch elements and eliminated old exploits like corner routes and Michael Vick domination, and we´re not talking about the championship pit bull circuit. A new fatigue system ensures Vick won´t run horizontal for a hundred yards before outrunning the defense to the pylon for six. Vick will still get his, but his runs will play out more like real football where he just breaks ankles the old fashioned way. Then throw in next-gen graphics, animations, gang tackling, mid-air collisions, Hit Stick 2.0, and improved AI (especially on the deep ball) and you are left with what may be the most enjoyable Madden in years.

Where has Franchise been? Click here to find out in our new developer blog.Fans of the user catch are going to love the extra control you have over receivers. Making a subtle change of direction no longer takes you out of the play, ready to throw your controller at the screen as the pass falls to the grass incomplete. Instead, you can fire the ball downfield, switch to a receiver, come right back to the ball and leap for a spectacular catch.

Well, not everyone can make a spectacular catch. Brandon Stokely isn´t going to leap over Dre´ Bly and pull it down with one hand. Randy Moss will, because he´s a weapon, and the spectacular catch is his ability. In Madden 08 EA introduces a new weapon system, highlighting star players and telling you how to take advantage of the skills. It´s a sort of cross between Winning Eleven´s star players and NBA Live´s superstar moves. Ray Lewis is a brick wall defender (and a smart defender -- stars can be a weapon in more ways than one.) But hey, let´s not discount Stokley -- he´s a weapon in his own third receiver in the slot sort of way: he´s a damn fine possession receiver. There are 24 weapon categories in all.

At the team select screen, you can see just how many weapons each team has -- the Pats lead the pack, unsurprisingly, with 14. The important thing to note is that these weapons are more than just icons on the field that run faster than the rest of the players. John Lynch is not going to be out of position in the secondary. Brian Urlacher is going to hit you a lot harder than Walt Harris.

Even before the game you´ll be on the lookout for weapons. Marshall Faulk hosts the pregame "Marshall´s Minute" in which he´ll preview the star players and even predict the score. Then when players run out of the tunnel, weapons will get their own special introduction as well. Where EA is hoping the weapon system will really take off is in Franchise mode as you try to form the perfect team based on your play preferences. For a complete breakdown of the weapon system and four other things you need to know about Madden 08, check out Jon Robinson´s preview over at IGN Sports.

The Bengals have weapons. Seriously. Check out J-Rob´s thoughts on Madden 08.Off the field the trophy room looks similar to the shrine in the upcoming NCAA Football 08, with shelves lining the walls ready to show off the signs of your greatness. Anytime you´re on the sticks, you can earn a trophy, says Ortiz. There are your typical tasks, like throwing for 400 yards in a game or winning the Super Bowl in Franchise. Online, you can even risk trophies in head-to-head matchups, so your collection may never be complete unless you are at the top of the EA leaderboards. The highlights of the trophy room are the new EA Challenge rings that look similar to Super Bowl rings. As you move up in skill and experience and collect more trophies, you can customize each of the five rings with as much ice as you like, as well as the team logos and colors of your choice.

The user catch is back.There is still a lot more to talk about. Franchise mode is taking a new direction -- plus all the alternate uniforms will be included this time around. Owner mode is even deeper. There are more online options (still only two players online, but four players offline). And Superstar is supposed to be improved. Still, it´s the improvements on the field, the sweet branching animations and feeling of complete control that have us hyped on Madden. We haven´t felt this way for years, and it feels good again.

For your own complete Madden holiday, click on the video link below for an exclusive new gameplay trailer. And be sure to check out our exclusive new Madden 08 Developer Blog on Club IGN, and listen to Friday´s Gamescoop Podcast with an interview with David Ortiz, the Big Papi of Madden himself.

j´en peux plus d´attendre

en francais sa donne quoi ?? ???

je me suis fait chier à tout lire pendant un bon bout de temps, alors maintenant, j´ai la flemme pour la traduction

Ok t´enerve pas man.

non tinquiète je m´énerve pas

bon aller, je résume en 2 mots :
- Un madden de très bon niveau, qui va vers plus de réalisme (pour contrer le retour de APF 2k8 ?)

Features :
-le tout nouvel effectif de la saison 2007-08
-Tout ce qui était absent sur PS3 et X-360 revient (fantasy draft, alternate uniform, owner mode...)
-Au début du match Marshall Faulk nous livrera son analyse
-D´avantage de célébrations (TD, interception...)
- en online, possibilité de jouer mettre en jeu des trophées pour faire une collection

Et voila !!

Non je plaisante, ceci n´était qu´un prélude : voici les vraies innovations en GamePlay
-Des joueurs plus spécialisés (notamment les "weapon players") (ex : différenciation + forte entre Big Plays receivers et Possession Receivers). >En règle générale, plus de différenciation entre les joueurs
-La fatigue dépendra du temps et de la météo, mais aussi et surtout des actions (un scramble crève le QB, les no-hudles fatiguent toute l´équipe...)
-animations plus réalistés (pour attraper une balle près de la sideline, le WR gardera les pieds dans le terrain, les RB enchaineront les cut moves, broken tackles de façon plus fluide)
-les RB utilseront mieux leurs blockers (qui créront des brêches plus évidentes
-le HitStick sera modifié : choix entre un hit haut ou bas
-gang tackles : vous pourrez tackler avec plusieurs joueurs, de façon réaliste (possibilité de tenter un hit, un strip ball, possibilité que les tackles soient ratés...)
-retour des Hurdles pour les RB (cependant, il sera impossible de tricher cette fois)
-possibilité de collisions dans les airs lors des receptions (in the traffic) et différenciation des WR plus importante

Voila, aléchant n´est-ce pas ?

Putain il a l´air de tout casser

Merci c´est super cool de ta part.

Mamamia il ma l´air de tout dechirer!!!!
j´espere que la version pc ne sera pas mis de coter de toute c´est amelioration.

Justement, quelqu´un a aussi des nouvelles pour ce qui est de la version PS2 ?? On ne fait que parler du PS3 et de la 360 sur le net. Si quelqu´un a des choses à dire ça serait apprécié de les partager ici. Merci !

Perso, je m´attend à ce que la version PC et PS2 soit quelque peu abandonnée cette année (qui sera probablement la dernière pour ce qui est de Madden, du moins, pour la PS2).

normal ^^ marketing : donner envie aux gens d´acheter la PS3 ou Xbox 360 héhé dans un an il sera plus rare de voir des jeux sortir sur PS2 enfin ça fera comme la PS1 cercle vicieux

Moi je vais acheter rugby 08 osef mais bon j´ai envi de tester et pour madden je vais attendre un peu =P

Je vous apporte un peu de lecture

June 15, 2007 -

The last two years of Madden on next-gen have not lived up to the hype. It was the only pigskin offering out there so we tolerated it, enjoyed it as much as we could, and had several nights of heated matchups between friends - though never with two people on one team. This year Madden is back in a big way, with all of the trimmings that you´d expect from a true next-gen football experience. EA just recently played host to its big, blowout pre-E3 event. Nineteen games were in attendance and Madden was easily among the best shown.

First off, this year´s game isn´t skipping out on the features that we´ve become accustomed to on the original Xbox offerings. Fantasy draft is back for all the fantasy gurus out there, owner mode is in, though EA was mum about the details when we spoke to David Ortiz, the lead producer on the game. Even though we couldn´t squeeze out the specifics, it´s just good to know that our old favorites are back.

At this latest event EA was stressing nothing but gameplay. Editors were commanded to just sit and play, and I was eager to obey. I got a solid hour-or-so in, just enough time to play two full-length games with my hometown Jacksonville Jaguars. Aside from the requisite new camera angles and presentation elements, the game just feels much more like pro football than it ever has on next-gen consoles. Players now respond to your every touch, so there´s no more getting caught in catch animations on out-routes and jogging haplessly out of bounds. Running now feels much more natural as well, thanks to some new foot planting technology. The days of sliding around the field are all but over.

There are also a bunch of nuances that are original to this year´s game. Like different run animations for when your running back is trying to make his way through the offensive and defensive line. There´s no more running in place like the Wiley Coyote when you hit the back of your O-lineman. The highlight stick has also been redefined to utilize player specific abilities. A smaller back won´t be able to truck over a safety, so flicking up on the right analog will now allow him to break off a nasty little juke move, while bigger backs will still lower the boom.

Receivers have also been retooled to allow for several different situations that were previously impossible. Now balls over the middle are genuine health. In past years jumping catches over the middle granted your wideouts invincibility, but this year they can get popped like never before. Now you´ll get up-ended if the hit lands just right, knocking the ball out of your hands in the process. Also, like we said before, there´s no more getting caught in a catch animation, so as soon as the ball hits your hands the receiver is in your control, and the added responsiveness of the controls really helps in this regard. One instance of the increased sense of control came as I was playing against Dave Ortiz. He was using the Panthers, and I was the Jags. Steve Smith snagged a ball over the middle, and unlike last year where he would have gotten tackled because of being stuck in the same old catch animation, he was now able to immediately use his speed to cut away from a linebacker and then posterize my DB by using the highlight stick to maneuver his 5´9" frame to duck under a would-be tackler. It was an impressive display; it´s just too bad it was against me.

Defense has also been retooled a bit so that your impact players (known as weapons this year, we´ll detail that in a bit) actually have the proper impact on the game. Defensive linemen now play more of a role than simply being a body on the field. You can execute a nice repertoire of moves to try and get past the opposition, or disengage and roam free. Marcus Stroud, a perennial pro bowler at defensive tackle for the Jags, racked up two sacks during the game against the Panthers thanks to some crafty manipulation of the newly bestowed moves. In previous years defensive ends had a tough time having any kind of an impact, much less defensive tackles. The gang tackles were also in full effect, though it doesn´t seem that more than two or three players can get in on a tackle at one time, but it´s still cool to see the ball carrier realistically react to multiple impacts.

The weapon system is totally new to this year´s Madden, and feels a bit like the Superstar abilities in past NBA Live titles. Certain players can be one or several types of weapons. There are things like brick wall defenders, smart quarterbacks and linebackers, big hitters, and blanket corners with 24 categories in all. Though players can be more than one type of weapon, only one icon is displayed at a time. The aforementioned smart defensive or offensive players have a special ability of their own that allows them to figure out the tendencies of the other team. Once their icon fills up you can tap the left bumper and the play art (routes, blocking schemes, etc…) of the opposing team will appear, but you can only do it once so you´d be wise to save it for a crucial third-down conversion attempt.

There have also been plenty of changes made to the presentation side of things. Like the addition of Marshall Faulk, who now delivers pre-game audio commentary as the players take the field. He gives a breakdown of strong points for each squad as the game highlights the main weapons for a given team, and also hands out a quick score prediction. Thought it is a small addition, it still adds to the legitimacy of Madden 08.

There are also two new achievements for players to work towards, and we don´t mean things to up your gamerscore. This year you´ll be able to earn trophies for certain on-field accolades, and then turn around and bet them before on and offline games. On top of that you´ll also build up your own championship ring. When Marshall hands out his score prediction you´ll notice a clear ring floating next to your user name. As you continue to progress and up your EA Gamer Level your ring will get more and more blinged out. Things like diamonds, rubies, and a platinum finish will all be unlocked if you´re good enough.

It was very clear what EA´s true emphasis is for this year´s Madden, and that is gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. The title harkens back to past Madden titles in that its gameplay is extremely fast, fluid, and responsive. User jukes are back in the sense that you don´t really need the highlight stick to make someone look stupid, just contort your player and create your very own juke move. While there are plenty of new bells and whistles that will please a lot of players, the real star of the show is finally the gameplay.

As an editor we´re never supposed to pass judgment on an unfinished game, but when it comes to Madden 08, we´re hard pressed not to chalk it up as a huge win for EA Sports.