[360] Madden 10 Online Franchise - Week 10

[denoginizer]

Pete,

You can join the franchise at any time during the season.  You just have to claim any CPU owned team.  I'm pretty sure the Eagles are taken but the Lions and Chiefs are available.   

[Teggy]

You should take Washington because then the whole NFC east will be human players.

[msteelers]

I have a copy of Madden 10 I got from Knightshade but due to all of the work I've been doing around the house I haven't even loaded it up yet (or any other games for that matter).  While I missed the cutoff to join the online franchise, if anyone is interested in getting random non-franchise games in for fun or practice I'd be interested as I'm in full football season mode and would love to get in some online games like some of the epic battles I've had in the past against online friends like denoginizer, Jancelot, etc. 

Too bad I missed the franchise.  Perhaps next season.

You definitely can still join the franchise mid-season and just take over a CPU controlled team. I was going to advance the week tonight, but if you want in I can wait until you register.

All you have to do is register for the online franchise. It's a code included with your game, I think in the manual. Once you "unlock" that portion of the game, I can either send you an invite to join the franchise directly, or you can search for it. The league name is GamingTrend and the password is GTFootball.

[msteelers]

It's Week 5 now! Get your games in. Pete, if you are still interested in playing there is still plenty of room to join.

[BEEFHAMMA]

It's Week 5 now! Get your games in. Pete, if you are still interested in playing there is still plenty of room to join.

Pete, since you were a GamingTrend vet long before I, I would willingly give you the Eagles if you want them.

[PeteRock]

It's Week 5 now! Get your games in. Pete, if you are still interested in playing there is still plenty of room to join.

Pete, since you were a GamingTrend vet long before I, I would willingly give you the Eagles if you want them.

No, that's cool.  You claimed them first.  I'll look through available teams and try to get into the league later today.

[PeteRock]

Well, I joined as the Saints.  They seem to most match my play style (outside of the Eagles) with comperable offensive weapons and hopefully a similar playbook (although I assume I can change my default playbook to the Eagles so that I am most familiar with available offensive schemes, otherwise I'll have to completely relearn a new offensive system).

And it figures I'd choose a team with a bye this week.   

See you guys next week. 

[Captain Caveman]

Despite giving up 3 touchdowns to Clinton Portis ( ), the Panthers just defeated the Redskins 33-21 to move to 4-0 on the season.

[Octavious230]

Wow didn't even realize the Saints were still available. Still have to get my game in. I'll try and get it in tomorrow.

[BEEFHAMMA]

the Bucs are as bad in the game as they are in real life. Eagles 24, Bucs 0.

[Octavious230]

Giants steamrolled the Raiders 24-7. Their only score came off another interception by Eli. I can not for the life of me get the passing down this year. Jacobs and Bradshaw both averaged over 4 yards a carry and just punished the other team. 

[denoginizer]

The Browns laid an egg in Buffalo last night, losing 26-14.  5 turnovers, including 4 ints by Brady Quinn were the difference.  The Browns fall to 3-2 on the year and face the mighty Steelers in week 6.

[Octavious230]

Cool next week will be only my second H2H game. I'm taking on Pete and the Saints! You're lucky to start out against me Pete. I can't pass for the life of me in this game. I think Eli has like 40 QB rating.   Jacobs is going to bring the pain though!  

[PeteRock]

Cool next week will be only my second H2H game. I'm taking on Pete and the Saints! You're lucky to start out against me Pete. I can't pass for the life of me in this game. I think Eli has like 40 QB rating.   Jacobs is going to bring the pain though!  

Looking forward to playing!  Guess I should get a few SP games in to learn the controls a little better as there seem to be a few minor changes from last year's version (LB and RB no longer cause your linemen to do spin/swim moves).  The running game is a tad different as well.

Jacobs may bring the pain, but Bell, Bush, and Thomas will instead just run around you.  Right into the endzone.     I seem to have chosen a team that is 1-3 at the moment, so I need to turn things around for the New Orleans organization.

So do we just coordinate together to choose a night and time to play our game?  I'm currently on Pacific time until early November when everyone else goes back into Standard time, so I'm 3 hours earlier than the east coast.  I saw in your profile that you're in Hopatcong, NJ.  I was born in Alpha, NJ, which is right near Phillipsburg, across the river from Easton, PA.  Small world! 

There are certain nights when my wife has her shows to watch, but outside of that I'm pretty flexible.  Unemployment has that effect.     Send me a PM with what nights and times typically work best for you and we can determine the date and time of your beatdown.........er, I mean our game.   

[Octavious230]

Ya I don't live far from Trent and the rest of the Jersey crew. I'm pretty much available from 9PM EST-1AMEST any day of the week. Once we switch to the next week I'll send you a PM with times that I'm around. I'm going to practice the damn passing till then.

[Teggy]

The Cowboys just pulled off an embarrassing 37-31 overtime win over the Chiefs. How can this be? Let me count the ways:

-The Cowboys 3 first half touchdowns came off of 2 kick returns for TDs and an interception for a TD. They could get absolutely nothing going offensively, could hardly make a tackle, and the fact that they led by a TD at the half was only due to the fact that the Chiefs suck.

-In the 2nd half the Cowboys defense was just as porous, letting Larry Johnson run all over them and giving up 2 TDs. Again, an interception return for a TD allowed them to stay in the game.

-With the game tied in the 4th, the Cowboys drove deep into K.C. territory, where Marion Barber promptly fumbled the ball (and I didn't have fast enough fingers to hold on to it).

The only bright spot to that point was that Barber was finally having a little luck running to the outside. K.C. drove into Dallas territory with under 2 minutes left but stalled around the 22 yard line. With 1 second left, the Chiefs go for the game winning field goal, but the kick bounces off the crossbar and the game goes into overtime.

http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/10825726

K.C. won the toss but were forced to punt. At this point, the Cowboys slowly building outside running game finally broke loose, and Barber finished the game off with a 43 yard TD run.

http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/10825755

A win they most definitely didn't deserve.

[Octavious230]

Wow you got lucky on that FG! I really think they need to up the base kicking values as kickers don't seem to be able to make anything from the 30 yard line. The Raiders tried a 52 yard kick against me and missed short by like 15 yards.

[jblank]

Guys, I'm going to pull out of the league.....in fact, I'm going to sell the game. Just not really feelin' the fun in this years version, like I was earlier in the season. Hope you can get some replacements for my teams and thanks for the opportunity.

[denoginizer]

Wow you got lucky on that FG! I really think they need to up the base kicking values as kickers don't seem to be able to make anything from the 30 yard line. The Raiders tried a 52 yard kick against me and missed short by like 15 yards.

That is strange because I have seen Janikowski make 60 yarders in this years' version of Madden.

[PeteRock]

Wow you got lucky on that FG! I really think they need to up the base kicking values as kickers don't seem to be able to make anything from the 30 yard line. The Raiders tried a 52 yard kick against me and missed short by like 15 yards.

That is strange because I have seen Janikowski make 60 yarders in this years' version of Madden.

That's something to be able to kick the equivalent of his age.  Not so impressive with the younger kickers though.   

[Teggy]

Wow you got lucky on that FG! I really think they need to up the base kicking values as kickers don't seem to be able to make anything from the 30 yard line. The Raiders tried a 52 yard kick against me and missed short by like 15 yards.

That is strange because I have seen Janikowski make 60 yarders in this years' version of Madden.

That's something to be able to kick the equivalent of his age.  Not so impressive with the younger kickers though.   

And like I said, the Chiefs just blow.

[PeteRock]

Guys, I'm going to pull out of the league.....

You do realize that pulling out isn't really a reliable method, right?   

[Octavious230]

Guys, I'm going to pull out of the league.....in fact, I'm going to sell the game. Just not really feelin' the fun in this years version, like I was earlier in the season. Hope you can get some replacements for my teams and thanks for the opportunity.

Bummer but if it's not fun what's the point?

[Dcurse]

I just had to send my xbox in for repairs so I'm going to be out until it returns.   Hopefully it will only be one game.

[msteelers]

Sorry to see you go jblank.

It's Week 6 now in the league! Get your games in!

[Teggy]

I have a bye

[Captain Caveman]

Just took down the hapless Bucs 31-14. I took advantage of the match-up to launch Julius Peppers into the lead league in sacks. 

[Octavious230]

Pete and I are scheduled to play tomorrow. I'm hoping I can at least do better then the first H2H game I played where I threw like 55 interceptions. 

[denoginizer]

msteelers let me know when you want to play.  I am free weeknights between 7-11pm est.

[msteelers]

msteelers let me know when you want to play.  I am free weeknights between 7-11pm est.

I should be available Thursday around 7:00 or 8:00. I'll find out for sure and then let you know.

[Octavious230]

Pete and I got our snoozer of a game in. Only one score the entire game and not much offense the whole game. I had a pretty decent drive towards the end of the second quarter that went nowhere when I couldn't remember the button to spike the ball and the clock ran out on me. The only score of the game was Bradshaw pulling another spin move in traffic and running it in for 6. http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/11562485  I'm pretty sure when Pete get's used to this years version he will kick my sorry butt. Thankfully he hasn't had time to get used to it yet.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Apparently I'm to play ForsakenPenguin's Broncos this week.  I can pretty much make myself free any time this weekend after the TX-OU game on Saturday afternoon if I get a little lead time to let the gf know I'll be busy.  Otherwise my week is kind of spotty.  Tonight is out.  Tomorrow I can probably play late.

Also, did you guys know there's a neat iphone app to manage your team, etc.?

[PeteRock]

Yeah, it certainly was a snoozer, but a frustrating one.  Other than Bradshaw's unstoppable runs despite the game's 35-player gang-tackles (it was like "How to Play Football" at about the 1:30 mark  ), New Orleans' running game was non-existant, passing was an awful struggle (tons of dropped passes, Brees threw 2 INTs), and the Giants could move the ball between the 20's entirely at will while it was a cause for celebration if The Saints earned a 1st down.  While some of my throws were forced, some DBs still exhibited aspects of ESP comperable to past Madden iterations, receivers would sit back and wait for the ball to come to them while DBs were far more interested in making the necessary effort to make a catch, and without being able to change the playbook to the Philadelphia Eagles (the team I always play as whenever I play Madden) I was lost in NO's offensive scheme.

Not to mention the changes in game controls.  Leave it to EA to take out useful controls while putting in stuff of little value whatsoever.  One key omission is the ability to control a defensive lineman and use LB/RB for swim/spin moves to make a play on the quarterback.  Now you can only push forward and hope to get by the blockers.     Another key omission since Madden 09 was one of the most valuable features of any prior Maddens.  The "1st down hot route".  The selected receiver would run the route designed for the original play, however they'd be conscious of the 1st down marker and run their route so that a caught ball would result in a first down.  If their "out and left" route would normally put the receiver a few yards shy of the 1st, this hot route feature would cause the receiver to run their route on the correct side of the markers.  What good does it do me to run a route that falls three yards shy of the 1st?     This option could very well be in the game, but it certainly isn't activated by the same control option as last year. 

Oh, and the accelerated clock?  Garbage.  How are you supposed to read the defense and set applicable hot routes if you see a blitz coming if you only have four seconds to snap the ball?  There's barely enough time to get the snap off before a delay of game penalty let alone setting hot routes, calling audibles, or even sending a player in motion.  I couldn't even shift a TE in time.  Friends I play with online continue to tell me "you just need to get used to it."  Get used to what, simply pressing "A" to snap the ball as fast as I can no matter the defense I'm facing?  I'd rather the game take longer so that I can actually play a game of football, and while the accelerated clock makes games more efficient, it is at the detriment of the game of football and a player's ability to do more than merely snap the ball and hope for the best.

Every so often Madden games, even despite their flaws, culminate in a fun game of football (for the most part).  But there are also versions that cause more headaches and strife, and this year's version so far has proven to be more frustrating than fun for me.  Could have something to do with playing as a team I don't care about and am not familiar with, but control changes are also frustrating me. 

And that's no slight at Octavious.  I had fun playing with him, and I'd love to get some unsanctioned online games in while playing as the Eagles to see how I'd fare.  But I'm pretty disappointed with my first experience in the online franchise.         

[Teggy]

Apparently I'm to play ForsakenPenguin's Broncos this week.  I can pretty much make myself free any time this weekend after the TX-OU game on Saturday afternoon if I get a little lead time to let the gf know I'll be busy.  Otherwise my week is kind of spotty.  Tonight is out.  Tomorrow I can probably play late.

Also, did you guys know there's a neat iphone app to manage your team, etc.?

Is that finally out? It was supposed to be out with the game, but it had been so long I finally stopped searching to see if it was released.

[Teggy]

Regarding the swim moves, I do believe if you push left or right on the right analog, the defender will make moves. At least that seems to happen when I do it.

[msteelers]

Not to mention the changes in game controls.  Leave it to EA to take out useful controls while putting in stuff of little value whatsoever.  One key omission is the ability to control a defensive lineman and use LB/RB for swim/spin moves to make a play on the quarterback.  Now you can only push forward and hope to get by the blockers.    

If you push down on the right stick, I believe the lineman will do a power move. If you push up, he does a finesse move. Each player is also rated differently with each move. Aaron Smith is a monster coming around the end using the power move, but other people will get taken out of the play as soon as I think about using a power move, instead dominating with the finesse.

Another key omission since Madden 09 was one of the most valuable features of any prior Maddens.  The "1st down hot route".  The selected receiver would run the route designed for the original play, however they'd be conscious of the 1st down marker and run their route so that a caught ball would result in a first down.  If their "out and left" route would normally put the receiver a few yards shy of the 1st, this hot route feature would cause the receiver to run their route on the correct side of the markers.  What good does it do me to run a route that falls three yards shy of the 1st?     This option could very well be in the game, but it certainly isn't activated by the same control option as last year. 

Agreed. I remember seeing that it was in the game, but I haven't seen it.

Oh, and the accelerated clock?  Garbage.  How are you supposed to read the defense and set applicable hot routes if you see a blitz coming if you only have four seconds to snap the ball?  There's barely enough time to get the snap off before a delay of game penalty let alone setting hot routes, calling audibles, or even sending a player in motion.  I couldn't even shift a TE in time.  Friends I play with online continue to tell me "you just need to get used to it."  Get used to what, simply pressing "A" to snap the ball as fast as I can no matter the defense I'm facing?  I'd rather the game take longer so that I can actually play a game of football, and while the accelerated clock makes games more efficient, it is at the detriment of the game of football and a player's ability to do more than merely snap the ball and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, it is something you have to get used to. The part that they need to work on is on a change of possession, or after a penalty. The playclock seemingly isn't the full 40 seconds, and you really don't have time to do anything other than quickly select a play and hike the ball. On most plays though, there is plenty of time to call a play, read the defense, and make adjustments like normal. It all just takes time to learn where the plays are, and how to quickly make the adjustments on the line and not have to think about it.

Every so often Madden games, even despite their flaws, culminate in a fun game of football (for the most part).  But there are also versions that cause more headaches and strife, and this year's version so far has proven to be more frustrating than fun for me.  Could have something to do with playing as a team I don't care about and am not familiar with, but control changes are also frustrating me. 

And that's no slight at Octavious.  I had fun playing with him, and I'd love to get some unsanctioned online games in while playing as the Eagles to see how I'd fare.  But I'm pretty disappointed with my first experience in the online franchise.

Just let me know whenever you want to get a game in.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Also, you can still call smart hot routes.  Y to highlight the receivers, select your receiver, and click the R stick to call the smart route.

I didn't love the accelerated clock initially either.  But as I get used to it I like it more.  40 seconds is a lot of time between plays, and allowed people to do some cheesey things.  Running 15 seconds off of that still leaves you with 25 seconds to call a play and make whatever line adjustments you need to, which I find to be plenty of time.  Of course, I'm a lot more used to playing NCAA, where you only get 25 seconds anyway, so maybe I'm just more used to it.

Yeah, the iphone app is available, and it's free.  I tried to post some screenshots, but I'm at work.

[IkeVandergraaf]

Also, Pete, you and I have been talking about a Giants Eagles matchup for years now, and we've never gotten around to it.  I'd love to get a game in with you sometime.

[msteelers]

Also, you can still call smart hot routes.  Y to highlight the receivers, select your receiver, and click the R stick to call the smart route.

THAT'S what that does. 

[IkeVandergraaf]