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General Questions
Q: What exactly
is the release date for the PC version? Why do PC users have a
hard time getting a firm release date announced to them?
A:
August 13 is the scheduled date, so depending on the retailer
you can get it that date or shortly thereafter. Ship dates can
vary a great deal depending on retailers and PC games should
have the same issues as all games – a lot is needed to finalize
the ship date, so they are often not known until a few weeks
before. The software has to be delivered and approved by
everyone involved, so does the packaging, manual, etc…so
sometimes it is difficult to pin down an exact date. Add to
that marketing plans (ads need to be in place to support the
product) and you can see why it is difficult to announce a firm
date for any game until just a few weeks before the release
date.
Q: It has often
been said that PC version sales are a small percentage of the
football gaming market, yet, no one ever backs up these claims
with numbers. Could you please clear this up by telling us how
many units did the 2002 version sell over all platforms, and
what percentage of that number are PC version sales?
A: We
don’t comment on sales numbers, you’ll find that to be the case
with most game companies. Madden sells very well, and is the #1
selling franchise, but I can’t get into specifics. I’ve been
with EA for 7 years now and I’ve learned that while PC sports
games don’t sell as well as some other genres on PC, it is still
a sizeable market and one we’re dedicated to supporting just as
any other platform.
Q: Besides
offering his name and voice, how much is John Madden himself
still involved in the creative/developmental process of the
game? Does he still offer suggestions, such as "add this",
"change that", etc.?
A:
Absolutely – we actually fly out to see John several times each
year to get his input on the game. He’ll be the first to tell
you he isn’t a big gamer, but he knows football, and that is
what he focuses on with us. He works on plays, personnel, NFL
rules and player reactions/AI with us each year. He takes
having his name on the box very seriously and wants the game to
be an accurate football game.
Q: We haven't
seen NCAA Football on the PC platform since the ’99 version.
Why?
A: I
don’t work on NCAA anymore so I can’t say for certain, but the
basic reason is that the sales weren’t high enough to justify
the development costs.
Game Play
Q: Usually when
a game comes out it is geared more towards arcade style play
rather than a realistic statistical representation of the sport.
Is that going to be the case this year? What, if anything, can
be done to produce a game that gives a PC player a game that can
reflect the real statistical results in the NFL, without
resorting to a text-only game, or having to play around with
sliders?
A:
We’ve actually always stayed away from classifying Madden as a
sim or arcade style game. We want to make a realistic football
game that is fun to play. The key is an accurate simulation
engine in our franchise and tournament modes. That way if you
are into stats and stuff, you can use that. Beyond that I think
the sliders are helpful to make things work they way you think
they should.
Q: Will there
be a feature to pan our view from side-to-side on defense,
similar to the feature to pan our view on offense, either this
year, or in the future?
A: We
found that swiveling the camera left and right pre-play can be
disorienting to your opponent, so this year, you can pull
straight back, but not side to side. You can now do this on
defense as well, including showing defensive play art on the
field. PC users get the bonus of our keyboard + mouse control
(similar to first person shooter controls) that can be combined
with a very close-in camera to make for an “on the field”
experience.
Game features
Q: The decision
to remove on-line franchise from this year's version of Madden
has not been popular. EA employees have been quoted saying this
decision was made based on your research and your subsequent
findings that this feature was used by a very small percentage
of people. Exactly how did you arrive at the conclusion that
this feature was widely unused?
A: Let
me be very clear on this, as I’ve tried to be with the other
sites. Online franchise mode wasn’t removed…it would need to be
re-done to be put into the new game and front-end engine. It
was decided because of the time needed to do this (it would have
meant not doing many, many other things that are in the game),
that we would be better spending the time on other features this
year due to the limited appeal of the online franchise feature.
Basically, even the most optimistic estimates from the biggest
online franchise players put the number of users at less than
10,000 – which is small in comparison to the number of total
games out there. Regardless of the numbers or the research
methods, which I can’t get into here, it is a hard-core
feature…and it would have meant shipping an otherwise stripped
down game to have it in 2003. There is certainly something that
could re-appear in future versions.
Q: The custom
play editor has been missed by many. Is this feature going to
return this year? If not, will it ever?
A: No, not on PC this year. We did a version for the consoles
(with a low res screen and controller based interface) and hope
to use that as a base for a full PC version in a future version.
Q: Of course,
we always hear about upcoming new features, but we mostly have
to find out the hard way about features that have been removed.
Please share with us the features, besides the on-line
franchise, that are being removed for this year's version, and
why.
A: We
don’t typically remove features, which is why you wouldn’t hear
about this. Off the top of my head, I don’t think there are any
others that are missing. We’ve kept almost everything from PC
while getting all the great stuff from the consoles except for
the create-a-playbook and Madden Card features.
Q: One of your
former competitors, Sierra, had a feature in their game which
allowed you to play GM where you were not only able to negotiate
contracts, but you could also set ticket prices, concession and
luxury box prices which could determine if your team was
profitable or not. Does EA have any plans to include this
feature in the future?
A: We
also offered Front Office Football on the PC that had features
like this…so it is reasonable to assume we could expand our
franchise mode (which Front Page never had by the way) to
include features like this. We’ve focused on the coaching and
GM aspects of franchise mode and have amazing depth, ownership
duties might be the next step.
Q: We work hard
for a whole season, and, if we’re good, we win the Super Bowl;
however, if we’re lucky enough to win the Super Bowl, we only to
see a very brief clip as a celebration, and that’s it. Are there
any plans to expand the Super Bowl victory celebration to
something more elaborate, something more fitting to a Super Bowl
victory?
A: We
have playoff and Super Bowl specific celebrations. They are
both new this year – look for a very special trophy in the Super
Bowl scene. I’m not sure how much more rewarding a scene or
movie can get in terms of reward, but we’re trying.
Q: One new
feature that has received positive reaction is the preseason
feature. Can you tell us a little about it? Will there also be a
training camp feature involved along with it? Will players
injured during preseason take their injuries with them to the
beginning of the regular season?
A:
Pre-Season is a new portion of the ever-growing franchise mode.
When you start a new franchise, you start in this year’s real
pre-season schedule. This is your chance to evaluate your full
team, including backups, since the results don’t count for
anything. The computer coaches approach the pre-season in this
way and sub-out the starters appropriately. The key in the
pre-season is to get experience and playing time for your
younger players, they will progress with experience, and you get
a progress report at the end of the pre-season. Injuries can
and do happen in the pre-season and yes, they carry over into
the regular season. Not sure what you mean about training
camp…if you are asking about the new Mini-Camp feature that is a
new game mode that I think new players and veterans will both
enjoy. It features 8 different mini-games which we think are
highly addictive, fun ways to play a quick game of Madden.
Rosters and
Stadiums
Q: There are
several anomalies with the names on rosters of classic teams. To
use one of hundreds of examples, you use John Elway's name and
likeness on the 98 All-Madden team, but on the 98 Broncos, you
call him "QB No. 7". This is the same guy, and the same year.
Why is this? In the interest of historical accuracy, and general
fun-factor in the game, why not just name all the players that
you're allowed to over all the teams they played on?
A:
This is due to legal and licensing restrictions that I can get
into further. These are not errors.
Q: Also,
continuing with the historical teams issue, is there every going
to be an option to turn off numbering rules, so that old-time
players from the fifties and sixties might get to have their
real numbers? (Turning off this feature would also be very
helpful in creating college teams, since us PC users no longer
get a college football game).
A: Hadn’t really considered that, we’ll
have to throw that in the mix for the future, but no this isn’t
in 2003.
Q: There are
several naming anomalies in the game. For example, in Madden
2001 and 2002, the Bears play in a stadium called "Chicago"
rather than "Soldier Field". Also, the Astrodome is referred to
as “Old Houston Stadium” Were you unable to obtain the rights to
use the name of that stadium, if so, why?
A:
This is a legal and licensing issue, yes.
Q: There are
some old-time stadiums included in your games, but some other
stadiums are missing, for example, Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, the
L.A. Coliseum, Metropolitan Stadium, etc. Are there plans to
include these sites in future versions, and what would be
involved in including them?
A:
We’ll probably have fewer rather than more historical stadiums
for two reasons – one it takes our stadium artists a long time
to create the great looking stadiums used in the game, and two
there are tons of legal and licensing issues involving stadiums
which complicate their use.
Q: Will we be
able to use our custom teams from 2002 in the new game? How
about our custom rosters? If not, will we ever be able to take
our rosters from one version to the next? Are there any plans to
ever release a conversion utility to allow us to use our
previous year’s rosters in the current game?
A:
Good question, the artwork should be portable, meaning you can
re-use any custom art you created last year, but the roster
might not because of changes to the game engine and the team DB.
Q: The last two
versions did not have the AFC or NFC Pro Bowl teams available to
choose for exhibition play, nor Aloha Stadium. Why is this, and
will this situation be remedied in the 2003 or another version?
A: We
don’t have the pro-bowl teams at exhibition, they are only
available in franchise mode, including individual helmets for
each player. The rosters are generated by performance in the
season, and we don’t have the previous year’s pre-set Pro Bowl
teams. Aloha stadium is available to play in.
Q: We saved the
best question for last…Props to you guys for giving us one
secret code to unlock all the hidden teams last year. Will you
be doing the same thing again this year? If so, would you like
to take this opportunity to be a hero to the PC football gaming
community and share with us what exactly that secret code will
be?
A: Not
yet…you guys have to wait at least until the game comes out.
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