E3, the electronic gaming expo, is THE big event in the gaming world. All the developers get together in LA for the biggest conference of it’s kind. It’s a huge deal., and for the first time in a long time, there was a real connection to the NFL there.
Electronic Arts always uses the event to show off the latest version of “Madden,” the only true NFL game franchise on the market thanks to an exclusive rights contract. Usually though, the “unveiling” is met with a collective yawn from the gaming community. The Madden franchise hasn’t really changed in at least 6 years. Every new game is just a roster update and some poorly tacked on features that don’t change the experience in any way. The only real change since the very first year of PS3 was last year’s franchise mode update, but even that left the game mode way behind that of other sports games.
This year is different. For whatever the reason, EA finally decided to upgrade Madden in a genuine way. They’ve created an entirely new game engine; graphics, controls, game physics, everything are computed using entirely new code. The game now uses the weight, speed and direction of the players when computing the result of the collision. All collisions are independently evaluated; there’s no more canned tackling animations.
Madden has also thrown out the old franchise and superstar modes, and combined them into one connected career mode that includes online connectivity, and integration with twitter and facebook. I have no idea what this means or what to expect, but it sounds like a supped up superstar mode with some franchise control. We’ll see, at least it’s something new.
The result is a lot of buzz that the franchise hasn’t had had in a long time.
Early screen shots of game footage look decent. It’s tough to tell that there’s much different from past versions of the game, though I’ve been told the player movements look more realistic. We’ll have to wait until the game is actually out make that judgment though. EA is notorious for releasing CGI movies and claiming that they are from the game when they’re actually not. Don’t trust any vids you see before the game is released.
As for the one question that you probably want answered: Yes the Seahawks new uniforms are in the game. And yes, the “feathers” still look like tulips. And yes, the helmets do look like they got ran over by a small car. Oh Goodie…