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This
year our annual interview is with Damion Banks, Assistant
Producer for Madden NFL 06 PC:
PCFootball:
What music are we going to have this year?
Damion
Banks: This soundtrack was just announced to the public, see
the release at info.ea.com for the full list.
PCF:
Will we see the return of downfield laterals?
DB:
No, been many years on that and they aren’t a big part of
the NFL.
PCF:
Will we see gameplay that reflect the rules changes in the NFL
for the coming year? In other words, will we see a 15-yard
penalty imposed if a horse-collar tackle is made or is it too
late to include that in this year's game?
DB:
Rather than add that penalty, there will be no horse collar
tackles in Madden NFL 06.
PCF:
Will we see the return of on-line franchise? If not this year,
how close are we to seeing its return?
DB:
We have included spawned games in franchise that you can play
over IP to IP or LAN. This
significantly reduces the amount of work needed to be done to
run online franchise by the community.
PCF:
Is the custom artwork still the same?
DB:
Yes
PCF:
The sims 2, and a handful of other games, have a one-DVD
option, as opposed to several CD's. Is there any chance that
Madden will get that this year?
DB:
We are sticking with CD’s for Madden NFL 06.
The one-DVD option while good for some consumers lead
to a lot of confusion and returns at retail.
PCF:
Will Madden have the option to turn off the salary cap?
DB:
No, this was not included this year.
PCF:
Will it have the option for just season and not have to run a
franchise?
DB:
Franchise is the only available season play option.
PCF:
Will we be able to incorporate custom teams in franchise mode
and be able to have custom leagues?
DB:
There are no custom teams in franchise, however, through owner
mode you can relocate teams and change uniforms.
PCF:
Will we be able to access all of the menu options using a
gamepad only?
DB:
The interface is almost entirely mouse driven.
You can access pause menu options with the gamepad,
however, once inside the actual screen it is mouse driven.
PCF:
I want to ask how exactly the incorporation of the ESPN is
going to affect the game player besides just giving him
another brand to wait through when starting up the game?
DB:
ESPN integration will start in next year’s game…the deal
with ESPN doesn’t start until calendar year 2007.
PCF:
I would like to know since I'm getting a brand new computer
with Geforce 6800 and etc what all of the new graphics
technologies will they take advantage of? Will they have bump
mapping? What if any of the Geforce 6800's and ATI x800's etc
feature set will be utilized? Will the graphics on a high end
PC be able to be significantly better than any of the console
versions, specifically better than the Xboxs?
DB:
Yes, visually, with a high-end PC it will be significantly
better graphically. We
also do bump mapping and specular lighting.
Bump mapping is only in the PC version of Madden, not
the console versions.
PCF:
Also on a similar note will it support EAX and other more
advanced features of the newer sound cards such as Audigy 2,
etc?
DB:
We do not officially support these features.
This is something we are looking into for future
versions.
PCF:
Will there be support for widescreen resolutions/monitors
(e.g. 1680x1050, 1440x900, 1280x800)?
DB:
Yes, we have a widescreen camera setting.
PCF:
I guess you've heard the hue and cry from many gamers because
of the deal that EA made with the NFL and ESPN. What's the
reaction been around the Tiburon offices to the deals?
DB:
Can’t speak to the ESPN deal yet as we haven’t gotten into
that, though I am personally excited about the possibilities.
As for the NFL, it gives us much improved access, which
in turn allows us to create more features and depth that no
football game could do before.
We are very excited and will keep producing Madden at
the level you are used to.
We feel that our Madden games will only get better with
this access.
PCF:
A lot of gamers were saying that the deals would mean that
Madden would not be as good because there is no competition to
push it. What do you have to say to those charges and if there
is competition, where does it come from?
DB:
We are focused on making the best football game possible.
You will not see a decline in the quality or amount of
features of Madden. You
will see more because of this and the access we now have
because of it.
PCF:
This past year we saw a new way of purchasing games when
Half-Life 2 was sold by way of Steam. Gamers also had to deal
with having Steam boot up every time they turned on their
computers and eat up precious system resources and become a
thorn in the side of PC gamers. Considering the hue and cry
from some Half-Life gamers, what do you think of delivery
systems like Steam, and are we in danger of seeing the same
kind of delivery system for games like Madden?
DB:
There are no current plans in place for Madden to go to any
type of system like this right now, though it is something we
are monitoring.
PCF:
Everyone has heard of the “Hot Coffee” mod by now which
has given Take-Two and Rockstar so many headaches. Now there
is going to be an investigation by the FTC, the mod community
is under suspicion and the ESRB is also under fire. As an
industry insider, what do you think the fallout from the
“Hot Coffee” scandal will be for the industry as a whole,
and how do you think it might effect (if any) the way that
business is done at Electronic Arts, EA Sports and Tiburon?
DB:
You’ll have to ask our corporate communications group for an
EA comment on that. Thanks
for understanding.
Our
thanks to Damion Banks and Jeremy Strauser for taking time out
of their busy schedules to give us a preview of what to
expect.
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