Madden 12 Virtual Playbook #2: Presentation

[CCBrink]

EVERYONE POINT OUT THE FLAWS IN THIS SCREENSHOT

[Tengo Juego]

I wish Madden/NCAA looked as good in motion, as they do in these screens.

[BigBucs]

Fixed your fail

EVERYONE POINT OUT THE FLAWS IN THIS SCREENSHOT

Is it his left knee?

[Bear Pand]

I've always and will continue to always say who gives a flying fuck about presentation. I could play in an empty stadium with no crowd effects and I wouldn't care if the gameplay was great.

Truth. I'd take it even further. I could play with ps2/xbox graphics as long as the gameplay was right.

EA builds their games backwards. They refuse to build a solid foundation first and add the glitz and glamor later. You can add in entrances for every team, but by October people will be skipping past those. Is the game play going to stand on it's own once you get past the gimmicks? That's all that matters, maybe not to EA though because they already have your $$ by then.

BTW this is a much better vid than the OP:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN9rDUZhvGw[/ame]

[St. Francisco]

Here's the problem, for those of you jumping to the defense of EA: they just spent nine minutes talking about things that they could've said in two minutes.

"We've added a ton of presentation improvements to this year's game. Custom team entrances with players running out on the field, and blimp shots really fuel the pre-game atmosphere. Unique camera angles for stadiums, and a host of additions to player authenticity like proper equipment, and jersey degradation make this one of the most authentic Madden games to date."

I take that back. 20 seconds.

The green dot on the helmet is a nice touch, but it's not something you even need to mention. That should be an in-game feature where I'm playing, and I look at the replay and go, "Oh damn, the QBs have the green sticker...that's cool. And hey, look at those Under Armour shoes...sweet." Instead, they spent a good portion of that video talking about the most idiotic things. It's not that I (or we as a community) don't appreciate the attention to details, it's the fact that you're trumpeting your accomplishment of adding a FUCKING STICKER to a player's helmet as some sort of crowning achievement. Give me a break. Also, there are ALWAYS two things on the back of the game every year: realistic presentation, and gameplay improvements. And yet every spring, I here these same developers calling out the previous year's shitty presentation and gameplay, and promising greatness in the next version.

The pre-game entrances and blimp shots are great...but they'll be forgotten in a month, and we'll all (probably) be stuck with the same fundamentally flawed game. Once again, nice addition...not at all what you need to be focusing on.

One of these final four videos better be about offline franchise. That will make or break my decision to purchase the game...I'm not even asking for a great franchise, just giving something I can work with and tweak to where it's a bearable and realistic-as-possible experience. What's a cracka gotta do to get realistic and consistent sim stats, a player contract system that actually works, and a ratings system on NCAA-imported drafts that mirror the Madden-generated ones in terms of busts and gems scattered throughout?

I tell ya, for me...just fixing the imported draft classes would make me cream my pants. One of my favorite parts of the game is the draft, and actually being able to look at the draft class, jot down some targets, then go back to my NCAA game and actually scout players based upon ratings and performance would be epic.

P.S.: I'm frankly impressed that these two had the balls to sit here and talk about the player improvements standing right next to a Michael Vick whose facemask is disappearing into his shoulder pad.

EDIT: Just saw that the franchise video is coming May 16th, and dynamic player performance comes on June 6th...the little blip on their website sounds promising. I await with EXTREMELY cautious optimism.

[St. Francisco]

EVERYONE POINT OUT THE FLAWS IN THIS SCREENSHOT

Alex Smith completed a pass?

[Bear Pand]

The green dot on the helmet is a nice touch, but it's not something you even need to mention. That should be an in-game feature where I'm playing, and I look at the replay and go, "Oh damn, the QBs have the green sticker...that's cool. And hey, look at those Under Armour shoes...sweet." Instead, they spent a good portion of that video talking about the most idiotic things. It's not that I (or we as a community) don't appreciate the attention to details, it's the fact that you're trumpeting your accomplishment of adding a FUCKING STICKER to a player's helmet as some sort of crowning achievement. Give me a break.

To be fair they're just catering to what people want. There's a lot of weird people who whine all the time about equipment and things like that. I remember hand towels being a huge deal back on MM. For other people it's facemask / helmet types, cleats or whatever other random accessory. It's one of the reasons they're able to get away with not focusing on gameplay because somewhere there's some clown ready to plop down $60 because EA put helmet stickers in this year.

Also, there are ALWAYS two things on the back of the game every year: realistic presentation, and gameplay improvements. And yet every spring, I here these same developers calling out the previous year's shitty presentation and gameplay, and promising greatness in the next version.

True. It is funny watching them bury their previous games in order to help build up hype from the next one.