They took tackling out of Madden?

[Teggy]

This video makes me laugh.

[TheMissingLink]

Wali Lundy may be a spectre.  That may explain things.

[denoginizer]

My favorite part of Madden 360 is that a defender laying flat on his back makes the tackle every time if he touches the ballcarrier.  Yet defenders who are on their feet and squared up miss about 50% of the time. (As shown above.)

EA should be ashamed of themselves for calling that garbage "Next Gen."

[jblank]

Thats borderline pathetic. Why can't they get this tackling thing down?

[PeteRock]

Perhaps it's because I'm so hard up for an NFL-licensed football game that I will play whatever is available, but even though Madden 07 is not without its faults (poor collision detection, stuttering framerates, online lag, being forced to play on unreliable EA servers), it's all I've got to choose from, and so I'm a little more willing to look past some of its shortcomings to notice the good (the good being an NFL football game, decent graphics, online competition with Friends, great sound, cool field degradation, intuitive running back controls).  Madden is definitely not an exemplary football game, but it's all I've got to choose from, and even with its faults it's still fun for me to play.  

The NFL 2K series is by far my favorite console football games (I still load up 2K5 from time to time), but when I'm faced with playing Madden to satiate my NFL football fix, or nothing at all, I choose Madden.  After all, I'm only hurting myself by denying myself what I truly enjoy, NFL video game football.  Yeah, it sucks, but enough for me to not play any NFL video game football?  Nope.

[Destructor]

Yet another bug in Madden. I'm not surprised anymore.

And yet the sheep out there continue to buy the EA brand (or truly don't care about the constant bugs), even though the games tend to get worse and worse every year.

[denoginizer]

...when I'm faced with playing Madden to satiate my NFL football fix, or nothing at all, I choose Madden.

I think it actually says that on the Madden box.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Thats borderline pathetic. Why can't they get this tackling thing down?

You'd figure that'd be a high priority.   

[Hetz]

Thats borderline pathetic. Why can't they get this tackling thing down?

They did on the PS3 version. It is leagues ahead of the 360 version. It's the best tackling I have seen since NFL2k5.

[gellar]

And yet the sheep out there continue to buy the EA brand (or truly don't care about the constant bugs), even though the games tend to get worse and worse every year.

Comments like this make me laugh.  When was the last time you actually PLAYED a Madden?  Worse and worse every year is hyperbole at best... I can see "not significantly better" or even "pretty much the same" but "worse and worse" is laughable.

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?  Hell, Madden isn't even EA's worst sports effort (NBA is... by a longshot).  2K published the buggiest sports game of the year (it's the only one that was actually confirmed as literally UNPLAYABLE by the publisher) in MLB, yet I don't remember any outrage from you over that, Destructor.  Hell, it was the same sort of monopoly on baseball, since 2K locked up those rights just like EA did with the NFL.  Yet everyone always focuses on EA and Madden.

It's old, it's tired.  Get new material.

gellar

[Canuck]

I think he was refferring to EA in general, not just Madden.

Mr Gellar, meet NBA 2007.  I don't believe you two have met.

[gellar]

I think he was refferring to EA in general, not just Madden.

Mr Gellar, meet NBA 2007.  I don't believe you two have met.

Hell, Madden isn't even EA's worst sports effort (NBA is... by a longshot). 

Mr Canuck, meet reading comprehension.



gellar

[TheMissingLink]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all.  

Hell, the most innovative thing EA Sports did with Fifa '07 is totally take the tricks out.  That's right.  You can change speed while dribbling.  That's it.  Apparently, tricks were done automatically but in about 20 games, I didn't see one.  That's not innovation - that's a real baffling design flaw.

The designs EA Sports makes with these next-gen games are head-scratching.  And yeah, the games ARE getting worse and worse - I enjoyed Madden 2005.  Each successive Madden is less and less fun to play...I'd clarify that as "worse and worse."

[denoginizer]

Comments like this make me laugh.  When was the last time you actually PLAYED a Madden?  Worse and worse every year is hyperbole at best... I can see "not significantly better" or even "pretty much the same" but "worse and worse" is laughable.

It's old, it's tired.  Get new material.

gellar

Well I have played Madden 06 on the Xbox and Madden 07 on the 360 quite a bit.  I can tell you that Madden 06 blows "next gen" Madden 07 out of the water in just about every way except visuals.  You can say what you want about 2K sports games.  But they do not take away features (defensive hot routes, reciever smart routes, camera angles, editable player atributes, etc) that have been in the game for years.  And then call it a next gen experience. 

[gellar]

Comments like this make me laugh.  When was the last time you actually PLAYED a Madden?  Worse and worse every year is hyperbole at best... I can see "not significantly better" or even "pretty much the same" but "worse and worse" is laughable.

It's old, it's tired.  Get new material.

gellar

Well I have played Madden 06 on the Xbox and Madden 07 on the 360 quite a bit.  I can tell you that Madden 06 blows "next gen" Madden 07 out of the water in just about every way except visuals.  You can say what you want about 2K sports games.  But they do not take away features (defensive hot routes, reciever smart routes, camera angles, editable player atributes, etc) that have been in the game for years.  And then call it a next gen experience. 

Do totally agree with that actually... but worse and worse implies that this is a pattern, rather than the first year it's ever happened.

Madden 06 for the XBox was the best NFL football game ever made, in my opinion.  Madden 07 for the 360 was a terrible disappointment.

gellar

[gellar]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

That and if you think that's all the right stick does, you haven't played the game at all.  NHL 2k7 is pretty much 2k6, so I think the lack of innovation for that particular series sits on that foot. 

Hell, the most innovative thing EA Sports did with Fifa '07 is totally take the tricks out.  That's right.  You can change speed while dribbling.  That's it.  Apparently, tricks were done automatically but in about 20 games, I didn't see one.  That's not innovation - that's a real baffling design flaw.

Fifa's always been terrible, I won't argue that at all.

The designs EA Sports makes with these next-gen games are head-scratching.  And yeah, the games ARE getting worse and worse - I enjoyed Madden 2005.  Each successive Madden is less and less fun to play...I'd clarify that as "worse and worse."

Madden 06 was better than 05 in every single way possible.  I cannot fathom anyone preferring 05 (which was terrible, IMHO) to 06.  06 is the pinnacle of the series, thus far.

Look, I'm not saying that hating EA is wrong.  I hate EA as a company too.  I just think every now and then, they produce a good game that is worth playing (NHL 07, NCAA Football 07) and they also produce a few absolute turds (NBA 07).  This isn't any different than ANY other company out there.  It's just more trendy to bash EA.

gellar

[TheMissingLink]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

Watch a game of hockey and tell me you don't ever see a skater dig in and give a little extra for a loose puck...

[Calvin]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

That and if you think that's all the right stick does, you haven't played the game at all.  NHL 2k7 is pretty much 2k6, so I think the lack of innovation for that particular series sits on that foot. 

Hell, the most innovative thing EA Sports did with Fifa '07 is totally take the tricks out.  That's right.  You can change speed while dribbling.  That's it.  Apparently, tricks were done automatically but in about 20 games, I didn't see one.  That's not innovation - that's a real baffling design flaw.

Fifa's always been terrible, I won't argue that at all.

The designs EA Sports makes with these next-gen games are head-scratching.  And yeah, the games ARE getting worse and worse - I enjoyed Madden 2005.  Each successive Madden is less and less fun to play...I'd clarify that as "worse and worse."

Madden 06 was better than 05 in every single way possible.  I cannot fathom anyone preferring 05 (which was terrible, IMHO) to 06.  06 is the pinnacle of the series, thus far.

Look, I'm not saying that hating EA is wrong.  I hate EA as a company too.  I just think every now and then, they produce a good game that is worth playing (NHL 07, NCAA Football 07) and they also produce a few absolute turds (NBA 07).  This isn't any different than ANY other company out there.  It's just more trendy to bash EA.

gellar

just to clarify-surely you mean Madden 06 on the Xbox, because the 360 version was baaaaaad.

[gellar]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

Watch a game of hockey and tell me you don't ever see a skater dig in and give a little extra for a loose puck...

Actually play a game of hockey and realize that that little "dig" lasts about 3 strides.

gellar

[gellar]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

That and if you think that's all the right stick does, you haven't played the game at all.  NHL 2k7 is pretty much 2k6, so I think the lack of innovation for that particular series sits on that foot. 

Hell, the most innovative thing EA Sports did with Fifa '07 is totally take the tricks out.  That's right.  You can change speed while dribbling.  That's it.  Apparently, tricks were done automatically but in about 20 games, I didn't see one.  That's not innovation - that's a real baffling design flaw.

Fifa's always been terrible, I won't argue that at all.

The designs EA Sports makes with these next-gen games are head-scratching.  And yeah, the games ARE getting worse and worse - I enjoyed Madden 2005.  Each successive Madden is less and less fun to play...I'd clarify that as "worse and worse."

Madden 06 was better than 05 in every single way possible.  I cannot fathom anyone preferring 05 (which was terrible, IMHO) to 06.  06 is the pinnacle of the series, thus far.

Look, I'm not saying that hating EA is wrong.  I hate EA as a company too.  I just think every now and then, they produce a good game that is worth playing (NHL 07, NCAA Football 07) and they also produce a few absolute turds (NBA 07).  This isn't any different than ANY other company out there.  It's just more trendy to bash EA.

gellar

just to clarify-surely you mean Madden 06 on the Xbox, because the 360 version was baaaaaad.

Yeah... which is why I was so bummed with Madden 07 this year.  I gave the 360 version last year a mulligan because the Xbox/PS2 versions were so good.  When NCAA came out this year and was so damned awesome, I got really excited for Madden 07 because I figured they'd put it all together.

Holy F'in Crap was I wrong on that one.

gellar

[TheMissingLink]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

Watch a game of hockey and tell me you don't ever see a skater dig in and give a little extra for a loose puck...

Actually play a game of hockey and realize that that little "dig" lasts about 3 strides.

gellar

But there IS extra effort AKA a speed burst of sorts IS THERE NOT!?

[gellar]

The uneducated pile on to EA's sports titles (particularly Madden) is tired and annoying.  If you don't like the company, fine, but every year EA produces sports titles (some good, some bad) and they all get the same response from people who don't even play them.  This year EA produced BY FAR the biggest innovation in hockey video games EVER and where were the anti EA folks then?

You shoot with the right stick...you could do that in NHL 2k6.  Mapping the hockey stick to the right analog stick may be innovative, but the game was still awful, innovation and all. 

Yeah but you think speed bursts are "realistic" in hockey.  Your opinion counts for nothing .

Watch a game of hockey and tell me you don't ever see a skater dig in and give a little extra for a loose puck...

Actually play a game of hockey and realize that that little "dig" lasts about 3 strides.

gellar

But there IS extra effort AKA a speed burst of sorts IS THERE NOT!?

It ain't enough to make Aaron Miller faster than Val Bure, but sure.  I can accomplish the same thing in NHL 07 by pushing harder on the analog stick

gellar

[Devil]

I'm with gellar on the NHL thing.

EA stepped it up this year and improved EVERYTHING about there game. There may still be things that 2K7 does better (no, not everything, TML  ) but there was actual effort this year for EA when it came to the NHL, which is more than I can say for 2K7, which took the old EA route and gave us the same game as last year.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Anyone see that one?

I feel the same way about college football videogames that PeteRock does about the NFL.  I don't buy it every year because I want to.  I buy it because I have to.  And despite my complaints, I play the shit out of it.

However, despite being an overall very good game it has taken some significant steps backwards from the non-next-gen last year's versions.  It just stinks of unfinishedness in a lot of ways.

I would like to say that I won't buy EA's other games because I don't like that they seem to think it's ok to continue to try to bleed money out of a customer that's already spent $60, but the truth is that they don't seem capable of making decent games that I want.  My EA "boycott" has been pretty painless.

[Destructor]

I think he was refferring to EA in general, not just Madden.

Yup - EA in general, not the Madden series as a whole.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing 'bugs' and 'EA games' in the same sentence. It's getting way too common for my tastes. Main reason why I simply don't buy anything under the EA brand anymore.

[pr0ner]

This is why the only football videogame I play is Winning Eleven 9.   

[The Grue]

Comments like this make me laugh.  When was the last time you actually PLAYED a Madden?  Worse and worse every year is hyperbole at best... I can see "not significantly better" or even "pretty much the same" but "worse and worse" is laughable.

It's old, it's tired.  Get new material.

gellar

Actually, Madden on the 360 has gotten worse over the two releases its had and the 360 version is usually the inferior release of the bunch because they leave out all kinds of features found in the "current gen" platforms and yet sell it to you for $10 more.  I haven't played the NHL game in years, but I am sure if they did do something like make an innovative feature, which I have heard about with the right stick shot control, that they did it at the expense of crippling some other feature.  EA does it for all their other sports titles, so I can't believe hockey is any different.  The fact that people jump on EA isn't necessarily because they are a big company, but because over the years they have shown that they are willing to release buggy products with missing or broken features and they know there are no repercussions because they are hiding behind the brand recognition that they have established in the past.  What they fail to realize is that the brand recognition can work the other way as well, where if they get a reputation for being a shitty company, people won't buy the few good games they put out because it's EA.

The sad part is EA used to be one of my favorite companies back when I played games on my Atari computer and to see what they've become kind of pisses me off.

[IkeVandergraaf]

I haven't played the NHL game in years, but I am sure if they did do something like make an innovative feature, which I have heard about with the right stick shot control, that they did it at the expense of crippling some other feature.

I don't want to cause (or contribute to) too much of a derail, but I've heard (I admit I've never played it) that while the right stick control is innovative and very well done, the AI is worthless, making for poor SP.  I'll take my answer off-air.

[gellar]

I haven't played the NHL game in years, but I am sure if they did do something like make an innovative feature, which I have heard about with the right stick shot control, that they did it at the expense of crippling some other feature.

I don't want to cause (or contribute to) too much of a derail, but I've heard (I admit I've never played it) that while the right stick control is innovative and very well done, the AI is worthless, making for poor SP.  I'll take my answer off-air.

The AI is actually pretty good.  NHL 2007 is one of my contenders for GotY.

gellar

[gellar]

Comments like this make me laugh.  When was the last time you actually PLAYED a Madden?  Worse and worse every year is hyperbole at best... I can see "not significantly better" or even "pretty much the same" but "worse and worse" is laughable.

It's old, it's tired.  Get new material.

gellar

Actually, Madden on the 360 has gotten worse over the two releases its had and the 360 version is usually the inferior release of the bunch because they leave out all kinds of features found in the "current gen" platforms and yet sell it to you for $10 more.  I haven't played the NHL game in years, but I am sure if they did do something like make an innovative feature, which I have heard about with the right stick shot control, that they did it at the expense of crippling some other feature.  EA does it for all their other sports titles, so I can't believe hockey is any different.  The fact that people jump on EA isn't necessarily because they are a big company, but because over the years they have shown that they are willing to release buggy products with missing or broken features and they know there are no repercussions because they are hiding behind the brand recognition that they have established in the past.  What they fail to realize is that the brand recognition can work the other way as well, where if they get a reputation for being a shitty company, people won't buy the few good games they put out because it's EA.

The sad part is EA used to be one of my favorite companies back when I played games on my Atari computer and to see what they've become kind of pisses me off.

Well, I'd rather play the game and find out if it's fun rather than make an assumption... but that's just me.

gellar

[gellar]

I think he was refferring to EA in general, not just Madden.

Yup - EA in general, not the Madden series as a whole.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing 'bugs' and 'EA games' in the same sentence. It's getting way too common for my tastes. Main reason why I simply don't buy anything under the EA brand anymore.

I agree, but I don't limit that to EA, or to all of EA's games.

The proliferation of bugs in ALL console games is really starting to get on my nerves.  There isn't a game company out there right now that I'd trust 100% to produce a quality title with no bugs.  Everyone has their blemishes.

Certain companies are definitely worse than others though - EA, the people who make MLB2k and NHL2k, they are more likely to produce a game with bugs than without it.

gellar

[The Grue]

Well, I'd rather play the game and find out if it's fun rather than make an assumption... but that's just me.

gellar

You're missing my point.  Because of EA's track record, I don't want to play the game to find out.  It could be the greatest hockey game ever made and because EA has consistently screwed me in the games that I have played by them, I refuse to buy any more of their sports games.  I haven't quite pushed that policy over to the rest of their games, but I have a feeling it is coming.

[gellar]

Well, I'd rather play the game and find out if it's fun rather than make an assumption... but that's just me.

gellar

You're missing my point.  Because of EA's track record, I don't want to play the game to find out.  It could be the greatest hockey game ever made and because EA has consistently screwed me in the games that I have played by them, I refuse to buy any more of their sports games.  I haven't quite pushed that policy over to the rest of their games, but I have a feeling it is coming.

Right... that's my point.  I don't have such principles... I'd rather just play the game and hopefully have fun.

I understand what you're saying, I just don't abide by it myself.

gellar

[Mattc0m]

That isn't a bug! That's an all-new 2007 feature. It was a gameplay decision, not a buggy engine or crappy QA!

You guys are just haters!!!

[Teggy]

The last Madden I bought was 2003 for the PS2.  Assuming I don't care about having the most updated rosters, is there a newer version for PS2 or (regular) Xbox that's worth upgrading to? Gamerankings overall ratings go steadily downward from 2003 - do the newer versions not offer anything more fun or special than the 2003 edition?