Madden NFL 13 - Share Your Thoughts & Impressions

[oweb26]

No offense, but the online crowd has been ignored this entire generation. If you ask me, it's about time they served us up something worthwhile. NCAA could take note and do the same considering we're still dealing with the exact same interface that we've had since it was first developed for 360/PS3.

Didnt they give you gamepad? or whatever it was called. lol

[Playmakers]

Maybe I've been grouchy or something lately but I was not impressed with either the Demo or Season Ticket (perhaps it was because I was playing too many random onliners which is not my thing). Care to share the sliders - I'd like to give them a try once my GameFly rental gets here to see if maybe I should just take the game for $45.

I'm playing on All-Madden here's a link to the sliders I'm testing.
http://www.virtualsportsnetwork.com/...57#post2117557

[GatorBait06NC]

I would like to be able to create myself to a team, play franchise mode, and control the entire team just like I have done every year since Madden introduced franchise mode back around 2000.

This year I cannot do it anymore. EA just says no. I'm forced to play superstar mode or NFL head coach. I can't play Madden the way I have for over 10 years.

I see no way that Madden 14 stays with connected careers without at least giving users the ability to edit players, equipment, appearance, and ratings at any time like we should be able to. Using created rosters is a must in CC.

I just cant get used to the fake players incoming in the drafts. I wish they would steal a line from 2k and let us create our own draft classes or edit current ones.

I just pray that NCAA doesnt go in the direction of connected careers. Sports gaming would be dead for me. And that would suck.

[jaymo76]

A bunch of interesting tweets from Mr. Looman:

The GM‏@theGMsuite
@Josh_Looman I'm sure youve been asked this a million times, but how the hell do I change my team scheme in CCM, not position scheme?



2hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@theGMsuite We're looking into that. There's currently no way to do it.

@Josh_Looman any chance of allowing users to play other games from the "weekly schedule" not just their own, like M12?

8hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@EP_AudioVideo Probably not. We base everything around your character and how much XP they earn in game.


@Josh_Looman Why can't I control more than 1 team in connected career mode? I've done it every year in franchise. Where's this feature?


8hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@leechaolan26 Connected Careers is based around controlling one character and taking them to the HOF.


7hJustin Adkins‏@leechaolan26

@Josh_Looman but you removed the option to play as multiple teams a feature you've had for years. Why?


@Josh_Looman Are you going to patch it where if you retire a created player, they stay in the game (like any real player)?


9hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@RedGoldBleeder We're not going to change that for Madden 13 as of right now since it could introduce a ton of griefing and bugs.


WFF‏@steve_wff

@Josh_Looman great job! One question: how do you extend/restructure contracts for players not in contract year?

11hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@steve_wff We tried to not overwhelm you this year and only ask you to deal with the contracts that are expiring.


@Josh_Looman Would u happen to know if we start a "franchise" online now will the patch that is coming out update it or do we have to wait?

11hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@Chris_Pollack Not sure yet. Some things will automatically update and others may require a restart. We'll know more once we have more info.

Josh Looman‏@Josh_Looman Playing as a coach in Connected Careers is the same experience that franchise mode was last year. Outside of a few features, it's identical.



@Josh_Looman Are fantasy drafts going to be an update?


12hJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@yankeesman999 Nope. See my response yesterday. Fantasy Drafts will not be added to Madden13. They aren't possible in a patch.


We will not be adding fantasy drafts to #Madden13, but we do appreciate your feedback. We realize how important this feature is to you.



@Josh_Looman I'm guessing that goes for player editing as well? (The other big thing I keep hearing from die-hards)


28 AugJosh Looman‏@Josh_Looman

@ntonioChristian We're looking into that.

[jaymo76]

Based on the last tweet I get the feeling that the Tiburon team is feeling tremendous pressure to return editing at least in some way shape or form. This issue has become a lightning rod for offline and online gamers. Tiburon blew it on this one and I think they are trying to correct this huge oversight.

[ram29jackson]

thats 2 years in a row of not being able to fully edit a player in a dynasty

[GatorBait06NC]

I think practically every game plans on there being at least one patch. Especially games that can't / don't want to move their release date.

You have heard of the MLB 2k series, right? That "killed" in another way. NCAA College Football 2k sucked. The NHL series drove the NHL 2k series into submission too. 2k has consistently gotten only one sport right: basketball. Now, maybe if they went all in, assembled the greatest football staff ever, and put every penny they could into making a football game, then they could knock Madden or NCAA off their respective pedestals. But 2k hasn't shown an ability to compete, over the long-term, with EA Sports in anything other than basketball.

EA Sports might not be in business ten years from now. But it won't be because of 2k. Or probably competition at all.

EA is going to put themselves out of business if they keep on releasing crap like Madden 13. Sales are down for NCAA, wonder why? People are just tired of the same ol issues. Competition from 2k or Sony would make EA put out a better product IMO, just like last gen.

EA has good ideas, they just suck at implementing them. EA DOES NOT test their product. There's no way they do. There's no way they would miss this stuff that consumers are finding in 15 minutes of gameplay. Madden and NCAA were both great games when EA had competition. Now the door is open again for someone to compete with them.

Im tired of buying EA Sports games and having to wait 3 months and multiple patches later to play it. It's disheartening. I saw right through Connected Careers from day 1 and knew exactly what it was going to be. A complete bugfest built to cater to the online era of gaming. It makes me sick. They should have left offline franchise alone. Not everyone plays online. Football games are the worst to play online anyway.

People at community days were begging for more editing options and created/edited draft classes. Instead we got what control we did have in the game ripped from us and are forced to play some cheesy BS called Connected Careers.

CONNECTED CAREERS, newsflash, I dont care about seeing some fake tweets from Skip Bayless about some BS trade that the computer made. I dont care to scout and draft a bunch of fake rookies and the cheesy, CHEESY, CHEESY, storylines that come with them like the Heisman Trophy winner thinking of pursuing an acting career. This is just pure ignorance and I have no idea why the guys at EA think this is cool. Its not. I'd much rather create my players, edit players, and even control all 32 teams in a regular franchise mode like I have done for 10+ years. Next gen still hasnt even given us something as simple as a restricted FA signing period that last gen Madden titles have.

To me, it's like Madden as died. And now we are forced to play some mixture of NFL head coach and the retarded superstar modes from previous Maddens. Only good idea is that you can do it online with buddies. That is until you get kicked from EA servers and your game doesnt count and you say F*CK IT.

They need to get away from this online kick that they are on and remember that the game made its name offline with offline modes. Madden 13 looks good visually and presentation is great too. But I can't enjoy it, because of issues like the sliders not working, several players wearing the same numbers. And all these fake storylines, tweets, etc actually make me less interested.

Connected Careers isnt cool at all. Its just one more cheesy gimmick feature that EA thinks is golden, THAT IS NOT. That no one asked for.

[SmoothPancakes]

Based on the last tweet I get the feeling that the Tiburon team is feeling tremendous pressure to return editing at least in some way shape or form. This issue has become a lightning rod for offline and online gamers. Tiburon blew it on this one and I think they are trying to correct this huge oversight.

Tiburon blew it on a LOT of things this year.

[WolverineJay]

People at community days were begging for more editing options and created/edited draft classes. Instead we got what control we did have in the game ripped from us and are forced to play some cheesy BS called Connected Careers.

CONNECTED CAREERS, newsflash, I dont care about seeing some fake tweets from Skip Bayless about some BS trade that the computer made. I dont care to scout and draft a bunch of fake rookies and the cheesy, CHEESY, CHEESY, storylines that come with them like the Heisman Trophy winner thinking of pursuing an acting career. This is just pure ignorance and I have no idea why the guys at EA think this is cool. Its not. I'd much rather create my players, edit players, and even control all 32 teams in a regular franchise mode like I have done for 10+ years. Next gen still hasnt even given us something as simple as a restricted FA signing period that last gen Madden titles have.

To me, it's like Madden as died. And now we are forced to play some mixture of NFL head coach and the retarded superstar modes from previous Maddens. Only good idea is that you can do it online with buddies. That is until you get kicked from EA servers and your game doesnt count and you say F*CK IT.

They need to get away from this online kick that they are on and remember that the game made its name offline with offline modes. Madden 13 looks good visually and presentation is great too. But I can't enjoy it, because of issues like the sliders not working, several players wearing the same numbers. And all these fake storylines, tweets, etc actually make me less interested.

Connected Careers isnt cool at all. Its just one more cheesy gimmick feature that EA thinks is golden, THAT IS NOT. That no one asked for.

I agree nobody outside of EA Tiburon's offices or executive's homes said hey can I get a mode that allows me to play my friend in online franchise, with me playing regularly and him in superstar mode. Lol, still sounds idiotic even after all this time since its unveiling. No not a seperate mode for the extreme minority it was targeted at, but it is the only way you can play a franchise. HUGE blunder and that is why I believe they pushed the Infinity Engine into Madden this year because without it the Madden faithful would have said to hell with this garbage. Fake players after 4 years of importing NCAA draft classes is acceptable not right off the bat. I mean you get a jumbled mess of real players and fake nobodies by year 3 of a franchise. EA Tiburon totally missed the boat on immersion within this mode. Where is the weekly highlight show? Where is the in-game live score ticker (great addition NCAA 13) to show you a living breathing league? Where are the in-game studio updates with important scores (again good job NCAA 13) and real highlights? The total generic feel to the CCM or new franchise mode is what turned me off from buying Madden for the first time in years.

Nobody is asking for a lot of things EA Tiburon decides to put into their games well at least in the manner that they decide to implement them. We as hardcore gamers are at the mercy of the non-hardcore gamers who just see that a new Madden or NCAA is available so they run out and buy it without any clue to what has been added or removed from the game. Just the way it is unfortunately.

[SmoothPancakes]

EA is going to put themselves out of business if they keep on releasing crap like Madden 13. Sales are down for NCAA, wonder why? People are just tired of the same ol issues. Competition from 2k or Sony would make EA put out a better product IMO, just like last gen.

EA has good ideas, they just suck at implementing them. EA DOES NOT test their product. There's no way they do. There's no way they would miss this stuff that consumers are finding in 15 minutes of gameplay. Madden and NCAA were both great games when EA had competition. Now the door is open again for someone to compete with them.

Not that I disagree with you, but sales for all video games are down. Saying that sales for NCAA are down solely because of issues that have been in the game may not be completely true. I used to buy NCAA and Madden every year. Past couple years, I have only bought NCAA and skipped Madden, partly because Franchise in Madden had been stale and because paying $120 for two football games when the money to spend on games was getting less and less over time, something had to get chopped. Because I felt Franchise in Madden was stale, that was the one to get the axe over NCAA.

Also, while Madden would potentially get competition, I just don't see anyone stepping up to the plate and trying to challenge or make a NCAA football game. No company, 2K, EA or anyone else out there has been willing to shell out the money to make a NCAA Basketball game since 2K8 and NCAA BB 10. Regardless of how piss poor or great the game is, the sales numbers just aren't there to justify the costs to produce. I just can't see some other company trying to jump in from scratch with a NCAA football game after looking at what it would cost.

People at community days were begging for more editing options and created/edited draft classes. Instead we got what control we did have in the game ripped from us and are forced to play some cheesy BS called Connected Careers.

CONNECTED CAREERS, newsflash, I dont care about seeing some fake tweets from Skip Bayless about some BS trade that the computer made. I dont care to scout and draft a bunch of fake rookies and the cheesy, CHEESY, CHEESY, storylines that come with them like the Heisman Trophy winner thinking of pursuing an acting career. This is just pure ignorance and I have no idea why the guys at EA think this is cool. Its not. I'd much rather create my players, edit players, and even control all 32 teams in a regular franchise mode like I have done for 10+ years. Next gen still hasnt even given us something as simple as a restricted FA signing period that last gen Madden titles have.

Agreed.

To me, it's like Madden as died. And now we are forced to play some mixture of NFL head coach and the retarded superstar modes from previous Maddens. Only good idea is that you can do it online with buddies. That is until you get kicked from EA servers and your game doesnt count and you say F*CK IT.

I said the exact same thing a day or two ago. Playing it from a GM standpoint (simming the games, doing the drafting, trading, signing free agents, etc), I was able to at least mildly enjoy CCM. But everything else, I honestly couldn't care less about.

The tweets might by "nice" for the first 5 minutes, but after that, who cares. It's the same repetitive, regurgitated shit every 20-30 tweets. And in the process, now I have no clue what the fuck is going on around the league (trades, players dropped, retirements) that I used to be able to go to a simple menu and look, and now have to sort through dozens of tweets and stories in the hopes that just maybe it will be mentioned.

Other than that, as I said a day or two ago, for all intents and purposes, between CCM and Infinity Engine, Madden is dead to me right now. If they add either one to NCAA next year, it might just be the death of football games for me, as sad as that makes me.

They need to get away from this online kick that they are on and remember that the game made its name offline with offline modes. Madden 13 looks good visually and presentation is great too. But I can't enjoy it, because of issues like the sliders not working, several players wearing the same numbers. And all these fake storylines, tweets, etc actually make me less interested.

Connected Careers isnt cool at all. Its just one more cheesy gimmick feature that EA thinks is golden, THAT IS NOT. That no one asked for.

Agreed again.

[Rudy]

Based on the last tweet I get the feeling that the Tiburon team is feeling tremendous pressure to return editing at least in some way shape or form. This issue has become a lightning rod for offline and online gamers. Tiburon blew it on this one and I think they are trying to correct this huge oversight.

This issue has actually bothered me more with time, especially seeing how bad the Dolphins roster was on release. They had at least 3-4 starters in the wrong positions. Ratings for guys like Matt Moore were terrible - he's not a West Coast QB. He throws a good deep ball but is weak on short accuracy and Donny Moore has it backwards. Just looking at the ratings in general there are no bell curves on the ratings. It's like he just sticks numbers everywhere. I still have to test whether the NBA Live 10 roster trick will work on M13 but hopefully they patch in editing.

IMO the right stick needs to be tuned better. It isn't sensitive enough when you try to shield the ball away from a hit. Juking.....I want quick jukes not that hopping juke. And when I want to lower my shoulder to bowl somebody over, it should happen instantly and not take 2 or 3 yards for it to come out.

I've complained about the juke before but I really feel the dual stick system was one of the worst things EA implemented. Nobody cares about leaning our upper body a little to avoid a hit. Nobody uses it for that and EA knows it. But to add the stupid thing they removed the truck feature which I used to love. I can never lower my shoulder anymore to dish out a hit. I will say the stiff arm is a lot better in M13. I've been able to use it pretty good.

Still don't know why the double team WR/TE features got dropped from all the playbooks. Maybe because they were implemented very unrealistically?

[Rudy]

Reading people say the ball hawk feature is too easy to intercept passes. I haven't come close to one lol and I'm trying to use it. Not even sure if it's working for me.

[Rudy]

This game just feels generic and stale for me. I wish it didn't but it does. I'm bored after 4 games and some of the games have been close.

Every team has Tony Sparano's ground and pound philosophy attached to them. In Madden 12 I would see teams mirror their philosophy a lot better. M12 just seemed to have more personality. Late game cpu AI is terrible in M13. It's as though they forgot to program AI for teams and situations and the game was rushed out the door. M13 has Infinity and the new passing system which I really like but there is no personality. It doesn't help that the presentation with their terrible replays took such a big step back.

Hopefully EA releases some patch notes soon about what is getting fixed in September. As an offline gamer this game will not hold my interest if some of these things aren't fixed. I'm actually going to rent Madden 12 again to see if I'm going crazy. I don't think I can go back with some of the improvements but the downgrades are hurting my enjoyment.

The menus are slow as hell too.

[Rudy]

Ask Madden is far inferior to Ask Coach in NCAA. I really like how you can cycle through other suggestions. Madden gives you three max (sometimes less) and if they are all running plays you have to go looking for passing plays.

The menus are quite slow in Madden and the highlights are pretty rough in quality.

[I OU a Beatn]

Reading people say the ball hawk feature is too easy to intercept passes..

It is. Hold Y as soon as you switch to the player and it'll get picked. It takes no timing whatsoever. I love almost everything EA did with Madden this year, but that certainly is not one of them.

But if you're having trouble, as soon as the deep ball is thrown(or any throw, it's just more obvious on deep ball), switch to defender, start holding Y, and then just run to the ball. The animation for the interception is automatically triggered.

[SmoothPancakes]

This game just feels generic and stale for me. I wish it didn't but it does. I'm bored after 4 games and some of the games have been close.

Yep. I played through about 8-10 games or so in my first season of CCM while playing on Season Ticket. After that, I just didn't care to actually play anymore. I simply would simulate every game and treat my coaching CCM like a GM mode, trading players, signing free agents, doing the draft, setting depth charts and resigning players. I ended up getting about 4 or 5 seasons into a coaching CCM with every single game after season 1 being 100% simulated. I just had absolutely no interest anymore in even playing a single game.

[JeffHCross]

/Agree with everything you said, GatorBait.

[psuexv]

It is. Hold Y as soon as you switch to the player and it'll get picked. It takes no timing whatsoever. I love almost everything EA did with Madden this year, but that certainly is not one of them.

But if you're having trouble, as soon as the deep ball is thrown(or any throw, it's just more obvious on deep ball), switch to defender, start holding Y, and then just run to the ball. The animation for the interception is automatically triggered.

Yep, it stinks because it takes no skill. Before it used to be about timing and how good you were at positioning yourself and actually hitting Y at the right moment. Now with Ball Hawk it basically disabled the ability to do it on your own and makes it too easy.

[Rudy]

Just beat the Patriots 27-26 at home with Green Bay. I did see the Lambeau Leap. Rodgers is awesome. Brady was great against me when they actually threw it. New England ran 19 out of the first 25 plays. They did have two long drives that ended in FGs but you are New England! Pass the ball! I scored a TD late to go up by one. New England had no time outs left and got the ball on their own 20 yard line with 25 seconds left. They ran a draw. Then they spiked it. Then they ran a sweep for a first down with a 1 WR package before they spiked it again with one second left on their own 32 yard line. What the heck is going on EA? Team tendencies and late game logic both on offense and defense are retarded. I will not be playing a franchise mode any time soon until team tendencies are patched. I know it wasn't like this in Madden 12. What happened?

[JeffHCross]

Yep, it stinks because it takes no skill. Before it used to be about timing and how good you were at positioning yourself and actually hitting Y at the right moment. Now with Ball Hawk it basically disabled the ability to do it on your own and makes it too easy.

Though it was supposedly patched into NCAA and ... well, doesn't seem to have changed anything.

Unless I just suck.