Madden 12....

[IndyColtsFan]

So, I didn't buy Madden last year and with it looking more and more like we may not have a season, I'm considering buying Madden 12 this year (sorry Cuda!) to get my NFL fix. I've read some summaries of the features and it sounds as if this one may offer some significant improvements, at least over the pile of steaming dung that was Madden 11.

Anyone else looking ahead to Madden 12? Should we try to get another AT league going?

 

[Homerboy]

I'm sure I'll be getting it. I get every one of them.
I notice the changes from season to season.

 

[Homerboy]

Also, if there's no NFL season, that gives the Packers 2 years as champs.
....just sayin'

 

[AstroManLuca]

Every year I think I'd want to play Madden, and every year I remind myself that I suck at it, don't know how to play defense, don't know how to call plays intelligently on offense OR defense, and the whole game is just drudgery for me. I had a little fun firing up my old copy of Madden 09 and playing a season with a fantasy draft, but I just simmed all the games and still didn't really know what I was doing. Got bored within an hour or so because honestly it's just looking at stats screens.

Oh also I never play against people because I get destroyed 100% of the time by people who know what they're doing. And when I play against the computer it's never a close game, either the difficulty is too low and I can do no wrong, or it's too high and I can do no right.

 

[American Gunner]

I don't see the point in paying $60 for a new Madden, when there is no football. Just buy last years, since the rosters won't be accurate in this one.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Oh also I never play against people because I get destroyed 100% of the time by people who know what they're doing. And when I play against the computer it's never a close game, either the difficulty is too low and I can do no wrong, or it's too high and I can do no right.

You would have probably been OK in the AT Madden 10 league we had that I ran. It was a lot of fun but the problem is that while we got really great response at first (I believe we filled 23 or 24 of the 32 teams in the Madden league), after the first 4 or 5 games, there were less than 10 regulars who kept playing. We made it through 14 or 15 weeks in Madden before calling it quits.

I don't think anyone ran an AT Madden 11 league last year, but I was commissioner of our AT NCAA 11 league and it was a lot of fun but we had the same sort of issue with people dropping out. NCAA's dynasty format wasn't as conducive to a large number of players (you could only have 12 players IIRC) even though the game was great fun.

It would've been interesting to complete a season in either football game. I ended up finishing with the best record in both the Madden and NCAA leagues and it would've been fun to have had human vs. human in the championships.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I don't see the point in paying $60 for a new Madden, when there is no football. Just buy last years, since the rosters won't be accurate in this one.

I've gone to every other year (at a minimum). Madden 12 might be significantly better than Madden 11, and I'd rather have better features and gameplay than accurate rosters.

 

[Boobs McGee]

You would have probably been OK in the AT Madden 10 league we had that I ran. It was a lot of fun but the problem is that while we got really great response at first (I believe we filled 23 or 24 of the 32 teams in the Madden league), after the first 4 or 5 games, there were less than 10 regulars who kept playing. We made it through 14 or 15 weeks in Madden before calling it quits.

I don't think anyone ran an AT Madden 11 league last year, but I was commissioner of our AT NCAA 11 league and it was a lot of fun but we had the same sort of issue with people dropping out. NCAA's dynasty format wasn't as conducive to a large number of players (you could only have 12 players IIRC) even though the game was great fun.

It would've been interesting to complete a season in either football game. I ended up finishing with the best record in both the Madden and NCAA leagues and it would've been fun to have had human vs. human in the championships.

I think i only had two actual human opponents in the league. They need to fix some stuff like the free agency and what not. Some dude picked up the raiders, signed every single free agent above 70 rating and then basically quit the league. Well he didn't quit, he just never showed or played any games.

I may get 12 this year. I didn't buy 11 either. It just didn't look like they added enough to me to be worth it. Hopefully there are some real improvements for franchise mode, both offline and online.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I think i only had two actual human opponents in the league. They need to fix some stuff like the free agency and what not. Some dude picked up the raiders, signed every single free agent above 70 rating and then basically quit the league. Well he didn't quit, he just never showed or played any games.

I remember that happening. We had a lot of people who just refused to communicate and that was the biggest problem.

I think I played 3 games vs. humans that year, and I had another 2 or 3 that were scheduled against people but by the time those rolled around, those guys had quit the league. I don't recall if you could make custom divisions/conferences in Madden 10. But if 12 supports it, that might make it easier to have more human vs. human games. Or we could fill certain divisions before allowing people to claim teams not in those divisions. At any rate, the communication factor is the big part and we MUST have that in order to succeed. I'd be willing to run a Madden 12 league (assuming I get it), but after my experiences with the Madden and NCAA leagues here and trying to get MLB, NBA, and NHL leagues going, I'm not too hopeful. Of course, if Sundays are empty this fall, football fans won't have an excuse NOT to play their Madden games.

P.S. I claim the Colts (just in case).

 

[Imported]

I say to myself every year that I won't get Madden.. and I end up caving and getting it. I don't see anything different happening this year. :x

 

[gorcorps]

I had 10, skipped 11 (and didn't miss it) so I'm up in the air with 12. My buddy seems to get it every year so it may be worth it if I have somebody to play with as I get very little use out of single player.

 

[PimpJuice]

They should just remove all AI teams from the season mode and just let real players have a season so its always human vs human. If a human doesn't show up, then maybe the AI could play the game for them.

 

[Gibson486]

I don't know....

Madden 10 on the PS2 was miles better than Madden 11 on the PS3...I think I will skip 12 and wait for 13.

 

[zinfamous]

I honestly don't understand why anyone buys Madden.

One is, in the end, just like all the others. The new gimmicks are "neat" for about an hour, then they are exposed as completely useless to the overall play.

 

[chalmers]

I honestly don't understand why anyone buys Madden.

One is, in the end, just like all the others. The new gimmicks are "neat" for about an hour, then they are exposed as completely useless to the overall play.

I certainly don't. I think I've bought 3 Madden's ever, and I'm an insanely huge football/video game fan. Problem is I don't care much for sports games, and I don't buy games that produce a new version every year either, i.e Madden or Call of Duty. I don't like being part of a flock of sheep.

 

[Cuda1447]

Alright IndyColts, convince me. What are these new features that are supposed to convince me that when I hike the ball and see a giant snickers logo on my centers ass that I won't care... the game is improved?!?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Alright IndyColts, convince me. What are these new features that are supposed to convince me that when I hike the ball and see a giant snickers logo on my centers ass that I won't care... the game is improved?!?

If you see something brown on your center's ass, that probably isn't a Snicker's logo.

Watch one of the videos. The graphics may only be slightly (if at all) improved, but what I saw of the line play and tackling was very impressive. Defensive AI was supposed to be a focus this year.

Don't worry though -- I am not buying it on day 1 (unless there is no NFL season and I am dying for NFL action). I'll wait for reviews before I bite. I'm still skeptical and am playing NBA 2K11 now to get my franchise fix.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I honestly don't understand why anyone buys Madden.

One is, in the end, just like all the others. The new gimmicks are "neat" for about an hour, then they are exposed as completely useless to the overall play.

That hasn't always been the case. Some iterations of Madden (2005 as an example) introduced some very necessary and useful features which made it great. Hmmm, wait a minute -- Madden 2005 had competition. What a coincidence!!

I am going to buy every other year or every third year in all likelihood. Year-to-year, the updates aren't much but after a couple of years it is worth it.

 

[Imported]

Only reason I buy it on release is cause Amazon almost always has a $20 credit for it.. Otherwise you'd have to wait a couple months for it to go down to $40 when reviews are typically in within the first week or so.

 

[zinfamous]

That hasn't always been the case. Some iterations of Madden (2005 as an example) introduced some very necessary and useful features which made it great. Hmmm, wait a minute -- Madden 2005 had competition. What a coincidence!!

I am going to buy every other year or every third year in all likelihood. Year-to-year, the updates aren't much but after a couple of years it is worth it.

I believe that is the one that I have. Well, had...it's somewhere in Uganda now.

is that the year they added the "hit stick?" Ooo, the big feature. what a worthless POS that was.

fun game though, just no real need to buy it based on added features that really don't do anything.

 

[HeXen]

i got madden 11. my first since sega's Dreamcast 2ksports. and madden on N64 before that.....i didnt think much of it, i mean i really enjoyed 2k on dreamcast and some before it...but Madden 11 sucked. dunno why exactly, i just didnt enjoy plyaing it...so thats a no for me.

 

[Chess]

After reading alot of reports and videos of E3 and online stuff

Madden has changed drastically IMO this year....

I am a huge NCAA fan and always pick up Madden and NCAA but Madden this year is a must have

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I believe that is the one that I have. Well, had...it's somewhere in Uganda now.

is that the year they added the "hit stick?" Ooo, the big feature. what a worthless POS that was.

fun game though, just no real need to buy it based on added features that really don't do anything.

I thought the hit stick was added a little later (maybe in 2006 or 2007?) but I could be wrong and am too lazy to verify right now. The one key feature they added was position-by-position defensive audibles (I think their buzzphrase was "Playmaker" or something like that). They had added offensive playmaker the previous year IIRC, but the defense got no love. Since I am mainly a defensive-minded player, it paid huge dividends for me.

The problem with it now is that the game moves so fast that you don't really have time to audible to players very well. In 2005 or so, I could flip to 2 or 3 different defensive players and change their plays, but I'm lucky if I can get a single defensive audible now.

EDIT: Oh, and I will say, the hit stick saved my ass in our AT Madden 2010 league, so it wasn't a useless POS. I was clinging to a narrow lead against the 49ers (forgot which ATer played them) and he drove down for a winning field goal. There were about 30 seconds left and to eat time and gain a few more yards for cushion, he decided to do a short TE pass to Vernon Davis. Vernon caught the ball and turned up field and I hit sticked him, causing a fumble that I picked up for the win. I finished the league 14-0 and that play saved me.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

After reading alot of reports and videos of E3 and online stuff

Madden has changed drastically IMO this year....

I am a huge NCAA fan and always pick up Madden and NCAA but Madden this year is a must have

That was my impression as well. As one of the E3 correspondents said, he could tell from the previews last year that NCAA 11 was going to be the king of football games. He said it appears that Madden will be the king of the hill this year. NCAA 11 was certainly a blast and we had fun in our AT NCAA league, but the big issue with it was that it was restricted to 12 human teams which really sucked.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Only reason I buy it on release is cause Amazon almost always has a $20 credit for it.. Otherwise you'd have to wait a couple months for it to go down to $40 when reviews are typically in within the first week or so.

That's a good point. I might have to do that and can apply the $20 credit to Uncharted 3.