CBA and Madden

We had a pretty good email discussion going on this topic, and I'd like to see it grow here.

Will Madden 12 exist? Likely. Will you buy it if there's a lockout?

I will probably be reviewing Madden 12, so I hope they make good on their promise to dramatically improve the offline franchise. It's so unsatisfying right now.

And yes, it's a given it will exist. Whether it will have all the real players though...

I was actually listening to a couple of the Madden development podcasts the other day. One of the podcasts had two of the guys who made Head Coach 09 on there and they talked a lot about how they really wanted to integrate a lot of the features in Head Coach into Madden. I never played Head Coach, but my understanding is that it was a really deep game.

If you listen to the development podcasts, you definitely get a sense that they will be changing up the offline franchise quite a bit. We will see. Here are a couple of changes that I imaging we'll see in 12 (as far as offline franchise is concerned):

- Better scouting of potential rookies
- Custom draft classes
- Create-a-play tools
- Opponent scouting (they have this for online play now)
- Better player progress tracking and possibly the ability to use points to improve players (they have this in FIFA)

If you look at all of the things that they COULD do, some of these things would be relatively easy to implement. At the same time, most of them would require a lot more work to add them to the online franchise mode. My guess is that they won't do shit to the online franchise mode because they have stated a couple of times that nobody plays it...that's because it has been implemented so horribly.

One of the things I think is lacking is the ability to create an expansion team from scratch and try and take that team through the rigors of a supplemental draft etc.

One of the old baseball games had it and I thought it was a cool feature.

[this is kind of a test message]

I will only buy it If I have to. I like the idea earlier of staying in the 11 league until the first big patch for 12.

Everyone in our Madden League will come around just before Madden 12 hits, and more than likely after we have all spent some time with the demo. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't our Madden 10 League still in like week 12 of the 3rd season since Madden 11 came out? I am buying the game. As far as whether it will have real players or not, it don't see an issue since the draft classes in Madden 11 have shown that random players can work themselves into the NFL.

If there is a lockout and IF Madden 12 can not come out how about we play NFL2K5? Because online leagues started there after all. Or a Tecmo Bowl League? We could download it on Xbox Live or play Tecmo Super Bowl with updated rosters. Just a thought.

Madden 12 will need critical updates as a result of the CBA to be included - ie, a longer season with two less pre-season games. So a longer lockout will mean a pushed-back release..

That's one positive with the CBA negotiations.. Madden 12 would be left in partial limbo, and hopefully the time in any delays in agreeing a CBA can be put into revamping the game where it needs the attention the most.

Personally, I am disappointed by Madden 11 and Tiberon as a whole. The fact it took them so long to identify and implement a patch as significant as to actually make defensive backs a lot better doesnt fill me with confidence with them going forward.. This is where I would have loved to see a 2K3 NFL game appear - it would give Tiburon a rocket up the backside and hopefully prompt them to redouble their efforts.. As it is the exclusive license has been extended so no chance of that happening soon.

If there is a lockout and IF Madden 12 can not come out how about we play NFL2K5? Because online leagues started there after all. Or a Tecmo Bowl League? We could download it on Xbox Live or play Tecmo Super Bowl with updated rosters. Just a thought.

Cuz they turned off all of the xbox servers. There is no more 2k5 online.

I buy madden for this league. Whenever I try to start a franchise I never get passed game 3.

Improve the gameplay so I notice in the league, improve the leagues. These 2 things are the only way I buy 12. I see no reason to stop the 11 league unless either one happens.

Gameplay changes or just keep this train rolling I say.

Solly Out! (mic drop)

I'll say that I am even more excited about this years offseason (that is, of course, if we DO switch to Madden 12 ultimately).

I mean, the possibility of having a guy like Cam Newton on the Bengals or even Patrick Peterson or AJ Green.

That's a huge plus to moving to the new game when it comes out.

But then again, I love my young players and I love that I'm building the team the way I want to build it instead of a predetermined outline of -- in my case -- a shitty team.

I'm sure I'll come to love other new players though.

RealJeffSolo wrote:

If there is a lockout and IF Madden 12 can not come out how about we play NFL2K5? Because online leagues started there after all. Or a Tecmo Bowl League? We could download it on Xbox Live or play Tecmo Super Bowl with updated rosters. Just a thought.

Cuz they turned off all of the xbox servers. There is no more 2k5 online.

I was hoping to play a good football game too. Oh well.

You guys are sofa king ridiculous.

Madden 12 WILL be better, you can only expect so much due to a limited development cycle, realize that you're parrots every year repeating the same crap, and be a little more optimistic.

Not sure about Tiburon? Madden 11 has been great (so much better than 10), and you have to anticipate that games will need patches. With tuner sets, we'll get necessary, small updates more frequently.

I GUARAN-fucking-TEE that this game will be "better." Because they've had months to build off an already-great game.

Also, give it time and they'll actually announce some new info. And wait to actually play the game when you can. Until then, I'm pretending you're all typing this nonsense with your butt cheeks. Which is comical.

We absolutely will move into Madden 12. Probably not immediately, but I want a new, updated game. Buncha monkeys!

We absolutely will move into Madden 12. Probably not immediately, but I want a new, updated game. Buncha monkeys![/quote]

I hate it but he is right.

I skipped picking up last year's NCAA and Madden releases in an attempt to "finish" my 10 Wisco/Packers Dynachise.

I fully expect(ed) to buy next year's games. I actually have some experience dealing in lockout year games: waaaaay back before the '98-99 NBA season, I dropped dough on the NBA Live game. Months later, after the crazy Free Agent Free-for-all when the season started, I took the ten hours or whatever to create missing players and fix the rosters.

Thank Zombie Jesus that in this day and age, there's roster updates for all that shite.

(Although I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic that the CBA will be worked out before June....)

When the NHL lockout was going on in '04, I was playing NHL 05' like a madman due to the lack of hockey in my bloodstream. So if madden does come out next year and there is a lockout, I have a feeling I may be playing madden in excessive amounts.

If they don't do anything to the offline franchise mode again then I'll avoid it, just like I did with Madden 10 and 11. I went to NCAA in search of a better franchise (dynasty) experience. It's so much more interesting in the NCAA games!

futhamucka wrote:If they don't do anything to the offline franchise mode again then I'll avoid it, just like I did with Madden 10 and 11

I really like what I'm seeing from the previews of the improved franchise mode, I think this is the year that I buy Madden again

EA has announced that Madden 12 will not feature the new CBA. This sucks for the franchise player

But is anyone really surprised. It's likely that any new deal was not going to get into the game unless the deal got done right away.

Can't blame Madden on this one, but I'll be happy with whatever system they put in as long as Franchise is as improved as they say.

Agreed that it's no surprise that it's not in there. It's a shame that they can't patch it in though, just updated rosters. I think I'll be happy with that, the elimination of 2-a-days from training camp is hardly going to affect the madden player. Some of the new salary requirements might have made things more interesting though.