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by Joe Gandolfo-
jgand@pcfootball.net
06-20-02
In the past
couple of days I have been looking at the response to EA’s
announcement that Online Franchises would not be included in
Madden 2003 when it comes out in August. I have read what many
people have had to say on MM, PM, all-madden.net, EA’s message
boards and the forums on this site. The verdict on the situation
seems to be unanimous –
It sucks!
There are a
lot of you out there who belong to online leagues, who will not
be able to take advantage of whatever new features are inherent
in the new game. There are even more of you who will not want to
consider buying Madden 2003 because you can’t play a franchise
online. There are possibilities however for being able to
conduct franchises online using the game. However it means that
all of the work will have to be done by league commissioners
instead of having the game itself take care of the compiling. It
is still possible to play head-to-head over the Internet, but
the loss of the franchise feature might make that point moot.
It has also
lead some people to speculate that this might be an attempt by
EA to turn the PC Football gamer off of their new product. So
much in fact, that they would then use low sales to justify the
termination of the PC version in favor of exclusively producing
console games.
While I
somehow doubt that EA would actually do something so
Machiavellian, we have seen football games fall by the wayside
in the past few years. Mostly due to rising costs of producing
the games (so the companies say), lack of interest, or poor
sales of previous versions reflecting a lack of interest.
It never
occurred to Microsoft, 989, Konami or Sierra that the poor sales
reflected a poor game on their part? Heaven forbid!
But there is
some good news for some of us who are still interested in
playing the game. The accelerated clock is apparently back in
the game, and some other features found in other past games are
apparently in as well! Read the following post that was made by
zeig on all-madden.net by way of an e-mail apparently sent to
AndyP at Planet Madden…
Direct from Steve Chiang...
Steve Chiang sent over this email earlier today, updated
information for Madden Planet gamers about 2003, and some
answers to our additional questions. His support of the MP
community is again appreciated...
First, about online franchise....
After Madden NFL 2002 PC, it became clear to us that the PC
product would not be judged on its own merits, as it would
always be compared to the console version. Compare Madden NFL
2002 to any other sports product on the PC, and it is light
years ahead of the competition, however we are constantly being
compared to console version and they just aren't the same games.
Our focus this year was two-fold, get the in-game to be exactly
the same as the 2003 console versions and create online features
specific to the PC that will get more people to play online, and
create a bigger and stronger community. From our research and
server stats, online franchise was only used by a small
percentage of the population and because of everything we are
adding to Madden NFL 2003, online franchise didn't make the cut.
The team has taken painstaking measures to make sure the PC and
console gameplay is the same. All of the new gameplay features
such as gang tackling, new animation, better blocking, improved
coverage, faster game speed, quicker animations, etc. are all in
the PC product. We will be releasing more game play specifics as
we get closer to shipping, but rest assured when we talk about
console gameplay, it applies to PC. In addition, the Madden NFL
2003 PC has an accelerated clock and Player Mode.
Madden NFL 2003 PC also has all of the graphic enhancements from
the console and then some. It has all of the new stadiums, the
new grass, and 300 real player faces. Additionally, the game
supports 1600 x 1200, real-time lighting on the stadiums and
players, and has higher resolution textures.
Our Franchise Mode has expanded as well. We have pre-season
games, with a selectable schedule after year 1. The AI treats
pre-season games differently and will switch out first string
players after a half of play. Other additions include the Hall
of Fame, Rookie Scouting, export a Franchise Team, Franchise
Practice, Custom Team Franchise, and game results and stats from
previous seasons. And of course we have Texans along with the
new NFL alignment.
The second area of focus has been in the online arena. We have
what we believe is a new approach to online sports gaming. It is
evident as soon as you login and set up your buddies. Buddy chat
is available at all times, whether you are on or off line.
Similar to EA's POGO website, EA SPORTS Online will have an
economy, where you earn tokens and experience points for playing
games. We are also introducing an avatar concept that we call
the Online Hero. The Online Hero is your persona online, which
tracks your experience points, tokens, record, stats. As you
earn more tokens and points you can customize the look of your
Online Hero and achieve higher ranks. Additionally, with these
tokens the user can enter drawings for prizes. New to Madden NFL
2003 PC is the concept of clubs. Users can create their own
public and later upgrade to a private club with tokens. Private
clubs have a Club GM, Club News, a message board, tracked club
points, clubs rankings and are eligible for club tournaments.
Best of all, other EA SPORTS PC products will follow this new
approach to online sports gaming, with the next product being
NHL 2003.
In addition to the increased persistence and community features
of Madden NFL 2003, we've introduced new ways to play online.
Ranked games remain in the product and don't need explanation.
We've worked on ways to eliminate cheaters to improve the ranked
game experience. Quick Games use the new Mini-Camp games and the
2-Minute Drill features. Quick Games pit user against user and
they compete for the higher score in the event. The Quick Games
support daily, weekly and all time high scores and are a fun and
addicting way to compete online. Quick Tournaments utilize the
Quick Games and allow 2-10 users compete in a tournament.
Tournaments can be public, private or club based.
Then in response to some of our questions.....
The product is shaping up to be a great one. We're very excited
about the new features and approach to online gaming.
You cannot import a franchise from 2k3 PC to PS2. There isn't
any connectivity between PS2 and PC.
The challenge system has been improved. It now gives more user
feedback and we have more types of plays to challenge.
Franchise mode has a bunch of new features, pre-season and
selectable pre-season after year 1, Franchise Practice, Export a
Franchise Team, Rookie Scouting Report, year by year game and
individual stats and accelerated clock.
[by AndyP of TotalMadden on Jun.19, 2002 - 10:49 AM]
Okay, there’s
a huge problem that I see right away. The statement that
“online franchise was only used by a small percentage of the
population” doesn’t quite track for me. Where did EA
get their statistics for that? Did they just go to EANet for
those numbers and nowhere else? If that’s what they did then
they were very foolish and stupid to limit themselves that way.
All you have to do is look at MM, PM, all-madden, the EA message
boards and the forums on this site and tell me that no one is
using this feature. There are plenty of online leagues being
hosted by these and other sites, but because they are not in the
EA sphere of influence than they don’t exist?
Talk about
cutting off your nose to spite your face!
Now as to the
other features – I’m glad to see the accelerated clock come
back. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of having to play 8
minute quarters in order to get accurate stats for the
Instigator franchise. I play with the accelerated clock in
NCAA’99 and it kicks ass. If I didn’t I would win games 112-37.
The pre-season games are a welcome addition. I have only seen
this feature in FBPro’99 – let’s hope that this game doesn’t
have as many bugs in it. The Player Mode sounds like an
interesting concept, but we already have that feature in the
2002 version. All you have to do is push button x to “Ask
Madden” for a play and select it on offense. For those of us who
are not so defensively minded I am hoping that we will see this
work on the other side of the ball now.
A selectable
schedule after year 1 will be very welcome. This is included in
NCAA’99 and I love that you are able to play the same schedule
as your favorite team that year instead of having to play the
same teams year after year in a different order. I am pleased to
see that the pre-season games will switch out first stringers so
that you get a look at some of the other players on the roster.
But will the CPU do that for the computer controlled team as
well, or will it just do it automatically for the team you are
controlling?
Some of the
other features we have seen before and I’m glad to see that they
have carried over. But I’m not really down with the concept of
earning tokens and tracking points. I don’t know anyone else who
plays this game on a PC who is into that sort of thing unless
they are moonlighting on their little brothers Playstation. We
don’t want the PC version to be just like the console Steven, we
want it to be better! You are dealing with adults here, you are
not making this version of the game for a 12-year-old! That is
what the console division is for!
Bottom line:
this new version of the Madden franchise looks like it is going
to be a boon to offline franchise gamers like myself, JagFan and
Jervey. One of the questions that I wish could be answered is if
we will ever be able to import art and roster files from the
2002 version. I would hate to think that we would all have to
start our hard work all over again. Memo to Steve Chaing: please
make it possible for us to convert our art files and roster
files to the newer version of your games so that we don’t have
to waste a lot of time having to start building them from
scratch. Sierra used to have this feature in their FBPro series.
You used to be able to convert roster files, plays and playbooks
so that you can use them in the next version of the game. It was
a great carry-over feature, and we loved it! If you put this
feature in Madden there are people who will erect a statue to
you. Well, at least plan for it. Put the online franchise back
in and they will start carving the marble.
That being
said, I am excited about the game coming out. However, I am
going to take a wait and see attitude on how good the game
really is. Right now it sounds promising, but as we have seen in
the past words are one thing – performance is another.
Let’s hope
that for once, someone actually delivers on their promises
without making the rest of us have to play with sliders for a
month.
Until next
time…
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