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cdj
06-08-2016, 05:51 PM
Madden 17 Commentary Team (https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news/2016/madden-17-commentary-team)
By Christian McLeod


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Coming into the Madden NFL 17 on Xbox One and PlayStation®4 development cycle, the team wanted to go big when it came to commentary. As the game jumped to the current generation of consoles, several systems received overhauls, with our core commentary engine remaining roughly the same as the previous console generation. This meant that we were able to tell new stories through gameplay, presentation, and our modes, but our commentary logic imposed a set of limitations that never truly allowed us to pay off the many advancements across the game.


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In Madden NFL 17, the design and engineering team started from scratch, completely demolishing the old commentary framework, and rebuilding it from the ground up. This meant completely re-engineering our logic, adding thousands of new gameplay variables to create the deepest commentary logic in Madden NFL history. The result is that the game is now smarter, and is able to talk to game situations in ways it was never able to before, helping to immerse you the player in the story of a game.

Finding the Voices

But we didn’t stop there, while we knew we have to re-build our commentary to take full advantage of the current generation of hardware, we also had a vision for what the future of a Madden NFL commentary team looked like. We started our talent search by focusing on four key pillars, all supporting our #1 goal of providing NFL broadcast authenticity to our players.


Team Availability
Team Chemistry
Teaching Football
Updating Content Post Launch


It was important for us to create a team that we felt represented the next generation of Madden NFL commentary. A team that would embed itself as part of our development team to help us create something innovative and groundbreaking in the commentary realm now, and in the coming years.

After a nearly yearlong search, we had our team. Without further ado, it is a privilege and an honor to announce that Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis have joined the Madden NFL family. First up is Brandon, the new play by play voice of the game. Brandon joins us by way of Butler University, Westwood One, and most recently Georgia Tech where he served as the voice of the Yellow Jackets football, basketball, and baseball teams for the past 3 seasons. A native of Evansville, Indiana, Brandon grew up a huge fan of the Madden NFL franchise and has always been fascinated with the science of creating commentary in video games. A result of this is that Brandon has embedded himself with our design team, helping to craft the commentary experience and make it as authentic as possible.

Next is Charles, a native of Orlando, who played football at the University of Tennessee and appears as an analyst on NFL Network and Fox Sports. Charles passion and love for the game of football is clearly demonstrated in his work on both networks, and is also one of the most well respected draft analysts in the business. Charles brings that same knowledge, preparation, passion, and drive to teach the game into the Madden NFL booth each and every day. Just like Brandon, Charles has embedded himself with the team, working to ensure he is providing deep, insightful analysis that can educate users of all ages about the nuances and history of the game.

Brandon and Charles share in our team goal, to create the most authentic commentary experience in a football video game, and to blur the lines between a game of Madden NFL and a real NFL broadcast. We’re incredibly proud to have them as a part of our development team, and cannot wait for players across the globe to hear them in game. Now that you’ve been introduced to the team, let’s talk a bit deeper about our core commentary pillars for the year:

Availability

Both Brandon and Charles have provided the team with unprecedented accessibility, often recording with us multiple days each week. This has allowed us to capture depth we could have only imagined in the past. They are also serve as active members of our development team, working closely with our designers, engineers, and writers, to help brainstorm and execute on ideas.

Moving to this model has allowed us to capture what would previously be a years’ worth of content in a few short weeks, and has afforded the team the opportunity to brainstorm, implement, and rapidly iterate on creative ideas that help drive an authentic commentary experience. Players will instantly recognize the depth of the commentary in Madden NFL 17, and there will no doubt be quite a few surprises when you hear content for some of the more obscure in game scenario’s you can pull off.


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Chemistry

Historically, Madden NFL has featured commentary teams that are already working together to call their actual games. While this method has proved successful, our thought process coming into this cycle was outside the box. We wanted to create a new up and coming team that could grow together as the NFL voices of Madden NFL. In the end we've built a team that would not surprise us if you heard them on Sundays in a not too distant future.

A core reason for selecting Brandon and Charles was the chemistry they showed during their in person interview together. They have a natural back and forth and ability to tell the story of a play that immediate drew the team in.

The key benefit for players is naturally flowing, back and forth commentary that captures the personalities of each talent, and further immerses players in the moments of their game. You can also count on hearing some incredible stories from the two about players, coaches, schemes, and even Brandon’s high school playing career as a kicker.

Football 101/Teaching

Something that has been extremely important for the team is to make sure we are teaching users of all ages about the game of football through our commentary. We are already doing this through our gameplay enhancements each year, and our skills trainer, so we wanted to make sure to also make sure our commentary team was doing the same. It is important for us to not only teach the fundamentals of football through commentary, but to also talk to specific players strengths and weaknesses to educate less skilled Madden NFL players on how to best utilize their teams.

Brandon and Charles are true students of the game. Charles in particular has earned the name “Professor Davis” in the recording booth with our team as he is a walking, talking, encyclopedia of football knowledge—a trait that comes across as you play the game. Working together they’ve been able to provide some absolutely amazing content as a fan, and they will pull back the curtain of the NFL to let players know some really in depth details.

See it on Sunday Hear it in Madden NFL 17

New to Madden NFL 17 on Xbox One and PlayStation®4 is the ability to add new commentary content throughout the real NFL season. This means that if a player or team has a monster week, you will hear about it shortly after in the game. Brandon and Charles will be in studio with us throughout the course of the season, recording the latest content to help bridge the gap between what you see on Sunday, and what you hear when you boot up your game.

So there you have it, Madden NFL 17 marks the launch of the single biggest commentary project in franchise history. But this is only the beginning, the entire Madden NFL Dev team could not be more excited about the additions to commentary in Madden NFL 17 and the road ahead.

steelerfan
06-08-2016, 06:43 PM
Cool!

Yet another reset for commentary and this time it's with no-names! Just think, in 3-5 years when the commentary starts to get fairly decent they can reboot again!

thatBuckeye
06-08-2016, 06:56 PM
Nah, it's legit. We will talk about it after you check it out.

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jaymo76
06-08-2016, 07:04 PM
Look forward to hearing more about this. However, not sold on it. As an OFFLINE FRANCHISE only player will this immerse me in the game? History says "no." Will I still hear about Winston's rookie season in year 9 of CFM? Will every game sound the same? Will playoffs be different from pre-season and regular season? Will the commentary truly be dynamic? So many questions but no answers yet.

Rudy
06-08-2016, 08:38 PM
Look forward to hearing more about this. However, not sold on it. As an OFFLINE FRANCHISE only player will this immerse me in the game? History says "no." Will I still hear about Winston's rookie season in year 9 of CFM? Will every game sound the same? Will playoffs be different from pre-season and regular season? Will the commentary truly be dynamic? So many questions but no answers yet.


This is key. Not hearing year 1 commentary in follow up years is huge.

steelerfan
06-09-2016, 01:00 AM
Nah, it's legit. We will talk about it after you check it out.

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To be honest, that's highly unlikely. Since the release of the PS3, I've only bought 3 versions of Madden and have regretted it every time (the last was Madden 12).

It's sad because I used to be the guy who would do everything I could to hunt down an early copy (and was usually successful). The game no longer excites me. It's all hype and no polish.

As usual, I'll follow along with the news this Summer but in the end I'll likely pass because the same irritants that have been ignored for 10 years will exist.

bdoughty
06-09-2016, 04:45 AM
Just going to mute them after a few exhibition games, like I do with most sports game. 2K Basketball is the exception. It is also one of the few things 2K Baseball did right.

Rudy
06-09-2016, 04:58 AM
I hope Madden matches the hype but after being let down big time last year, especially with all the franchise bugs, I'm not sure I will get Madden this year. May be the first year in a really long time I don't buy a single sports game. It sucks with only one game per sport because sometimes you want a change but instead you just get a game that is largely the same but patched on an annual basis. I miss the old school days of many sports gaming companies.

jaymo76
06-09-2016, 07:09 PM
I hope Madden matches the hype but after being let down big time last year, especially with all the franchise bugs, I'm not sure I will get Madden this year. May be the first year in a really long time I don't buy a single sports game. It sucks with only one game per sport because sometimes you want a change but instead you just get a game that is largely the same but patched on an annual basis. I miss the old school days of many sports gaming companies.

I know how you feel Rudy. I have already made the decision not to buy after hearing about no formation subs. I just cannot in good conscience give the Tiburon team my hard earned money for an average product. Madden isn't bad. As matter of fact, gameplay is really good. The problem is it's a horribly dull franchise mode and has ZERO immersion and lasting appeal past the first season. EA Access will give me my 10 hour fix and then I should be good. Unless the franchise blog is absolutely ground-breaking... I will hold onto my money.

Rudy
06-09-2016, 07:33 PM
The good news is the annual Walmart anniversary sale in Canada is usually mid September and last year Madden was $50 ($30 less). I got tired of playing exhibition games with all the bugs last year and I was tired of Madden by the time it was ready. I think I'll wait for that deal and I will be closer to the first necessary big patch. Maddens franchise mode has been horribly buggy for a long time. The XP RPG elements have really hurt the mode imo. The focus and issues on this stuff have set it back.

Jayrah
06-11-2016, 02:02 AM
I find it hilarious that every year this is one of the biggest gripes and they finally change it and do something unique and bring major depth and enhancement to the feature and it gets blown off like it's a problem. People are simply bitter. That's fine, you are welcome to your bitterness, but this is a great move by the team regardless. I am looking forward to the game. I need my football.

bdoughty
06-11-2016, 07:53 AM
I find it hilarious that every year this is one of the biggest gripes and they finally change it and do something unique and bring major depth and enhancement to the feature and it gets blown off like it's a problem. People are simply bitter. That's fine, you are welcome to your bitterness, but this is a great move by the team regardless. I am looking forward to the game. I need my football.

Great Move? Based on something that you have not seen or heard in action? Regarding something the Madden team has done numerous times in the series? One man's bitter is another man's naive.

On the bright side we do not have to worry about Phil not saying "Redskins!" See, glass half full.

thatBuckeye
06-11-2016, 10:26 AM
I know how you feel Rudy. I have already made the decision not to buy after hearing about no formation subs. I just cannot in good conscience give the Tiburon team my hard earned money for an average product. Madden isn't bad. As matter of fact, gameplay is really good. The problem is it's a horribly dull franchise mode and has ZERO immersion and lasting appeal past the first season. EA Access will give me my 10 hour fix and then I should be good. Unless the franchise blog is absolutely ground-breaking... I will hold onto my money.

Formation subs is #2 on my list again... every year. Frustrating.

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thatBuckeye
06-11-2016, 10:28 AM
I find it hilarious that every year this is one of the biggest gripes and they finally change it and do something unique and bring major depth and enhancement to the feature and it gets blown off like it's a problem. People are simply bitter. That's fine, you are welcome to your bitterness, but this is a great move by the team regardless. I am looking forward to the game. I need my football.

Commentary has been the games biggest detractor publicly (critcally) for the last several years. I guarantee it won't be this year. Even in early testing it was freaking awesome.

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steelerfan
06-11-2016, 02:11 PM
Formation subs is #2 on my list again... every year. Frustrating.

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Seeing Troy Polamalu (I haven't played since Madden 12) covering kickoffs is beyond annoying. I really don't think I can consider buying Madden again until this is remedied.

Having one set of special teams sliders for both user and CPU always meant that all kicks would need to be simmed to get any realistic totals. Horrible.

At least in 12, there were a different set of parameters for the clock (Accelerated Clock) in Play Now and Franchise. This meant that I could play Play Now with 15-minute quarters and get a realistic snap count (a dream come true). However, I could only play 12 or 13-minute quarters in Franchise to get similar numbers. Why the hell would this be the case?

In Madden 12, teams that play a 3-4 defense were required to keep 3 defensive tackles. The Steelers virtually always keep 2. I'd always have to convert a DE or keep a practice squad player. This annoyed the hell out of me. I want Pittsburgh's EXACT 53-man roster.

Those are 4 things that I remember being HUGE annoyances for me. They were things that the Madden team absolutely did not give a shit about when I personally discussed them with them in my time at Tiburon and through later emails. Without directly saying it, their attitude about these things was basically, "if you won't buy the game because of THAT, you're an idiot".

They were a bunch of arrogant pricks who thought their shit didn't stink. The NCAA team, by contrast, was all about improving the game for everyone in every way possible.

It's been 5 long years since I personally brought these things to their attention. Have any of them been addressed?

That is a serious (not a sarcastic) question. I don't know the answer but I do know where my money will go (or should I say "stay") if the answer is what I suspect.

Thank you.

Commentary has been the games biggest detractor publicly (critcally) for the last several years. I guarantee it won't be this year. Even in early testing it was freaking awesome.

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That would be nice, if it's true but history tells a different story. Madden changes their underwear with commentary every few years but the skid mark is always there.

I remember in 12, when the Texans' QB Matt Schaub was introduced some nerdy Madden team member's voice would come on saying, "Madden 12 placeholder number 85" or something like that. That's the kind of polish you'd get from them, lol.

Speaking of polish and Madden 12. That was the year that the NFL switched from having Sprint as their official cell provider to Verizon (maybe it was the other way around). Verizon was correctly mentioned everywhere until you got to the weekly wrap-up show. That show still had Sprint everywhere. Verizon should have sued EA into oblivion for that. After all, they paid a boatload of money to the NFL for exclusivity and EA was not detail-oriented enough to deliver.

Rudy
06-11-2016, 03:05 PM
I will say this. EVERY year the Madden team comes out with a list of "great" fixes and every three years we get a new person in charge of the franchise that is going to be so much better than the last guy. And every year the game will have legacy issues or things that aren't addressed that you shake your head. I've learned the propaganda machine is always in full force (Madden isn't the only one) and we either accept it or we tell the Madden team we aren't happy by not buying. To not have separate special teams sliders is a perfect example of an elite snob running the Show and just saying "Fuck you! I don't care so screw you! " There is absolutely no excuse for something like that but keep spouting your "in the game" garbage.

Right now I will probably pass on Madden because the core player movement seems the same (and it's been a poor representation for a long time). I want formation subs, better player movement and more camera options. I want a better franchise mode without all the bullshit rpg single player mode thrown in along with a million bugs that wreck the game for two months. Ea needs to produce an open beta imo.

All of the Internet's complaints go unheard. My complaints mean nothing to them. So I will likely pass. Definitely not paying full price.

JBHuskers
06-14-2016, 11:41 AM
For me, I play Madden 90% of the time while having something on the other TV, typically trying to catch up on clearing out the DVR :D

Jayrah
06-16-2016, 12:31 AM
Great Move? Based on something that you have not seen or heard in action? Regarding something the Madden team has done numerous times in the series? One man's bitter is another man's naive.

On the bright side we do not have to worry about Phil not saying "Redskins!" See, glass half full.
I didn't say it was a new move, just a great one. Phil Simms is solid live but in game he was simply awful. The ability to add throughout the year has merit too, something the team has never even thought about doing. Also, Davis is one of my favorite and one of the most knowledgeable commentators in the game today, college or NFL. Ergo, great move.

bdoughty
06-22-2016, 07:56 AM
Well color me shocked but the commentary sounds pretty good. What does not look good is the clock not stopping after an incomplete pass at the end of the video and someone running hurry up on 4th down?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgG-dQoymyQ

skipwondah33
06-22-2016, 08:50 AM
I'm not shocked, I actually was excited about the addition of Charles Davis and just a new team/voices in general. Which is a shock because I typically don't get excited about much except Gameplay.

edit: Nice to see after the fumble the RB jostle to recover the football, forgot about that.

souljahbill
09-05-2016, 05:54 PM
The commentary will update with the Kaep situation.
http://www.120sports.com/video/v198647684/madden-to-address-kaep-drama?partnerid=120fb

Rudy
09-05-2016, 06:19 PM
The only bad thing is the repetitive commentary every game for specific players. Every game does that so I will be interested in hearing what they say in season two.