Madden NFL 11

[GamerMan316]

Madden NFL 11 screens are most realistic ever
Just two screenshots that don't give much away... but look how realistic they are!

EA has released two screenshots for Madden NFL 11.

The screenshots won't hold any surprises to anyone who knows what Madden NFL is. Instead, it's the annual routine of EA showing off just how realistic its latest Madden entry looks.

So here they are. Judge for yourself. Looks nice, eh? Pity we'll just end up buying FIFA instead but we can appreciate the effort anyway.

[nCogNeato]

The realism is pretty damn impressive.  Too bad I hate any and all sports games, with the exception of a few 'arcadey' ones.

[Failed]

wow if that's the actual ingame graphics and not just touch-ups, then they're immensely impressive

[GamerMan316]

Drew Brees singled out for Madden 11 cover



Boy, how quickly it all can change: One moment you're leading America's darling Saints to a Super Bowl victory and the next you're cursed  by the very same fans that cheered you on. Such is the fate of New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, who has almost certainly been afflicted with the "Madden Curse" following his selection as Madden NFL 11 cover guy. Perhaps unwittingly, fans hexed Brees through an online poll -- each click like a pin prick in a voodoo doll -- and now the Saints ownership must be scrambling to land a backup QB in the NFL draft tonight.

The first shot at Brees' knees will be televised nationally -- always a good betting opportunity -- when the NFL kicks off its regular season with the Saints hosting the Vikings on Thursday, September 9 on NBC. (That is, if Brees even manages to survive the preseason.) Something tells us he's gonna need more than a good luck kiss on the cheek.

Madden 11 will be released on August 10 for Xbox 360, PS3 (and PS2), Wii and PSP. Mobile versions, including an iPhone and iPod Touch release, will also be available.

[GamerMan316]

[GamerMan316]

Next Madden May Solve Game's Notorious Difficulty Problem



If you'd like to play video game football but you stink at it, don't worry. The next Madden will put a voice in your ear, telling you how to excel.

Kotaku recently had the opportunity to try the "Gameflow" feature of this summer's Madden NFL 11. It is the latest tool concocted by the Madden makers at Electronic Arts to make the game more accessible to those who have not kept up with the series' 20-some iterations. It's something the series has needed, given stagnating sales and, from what EA says, a growing crowd of both lapsed Madden gamers and those, like the author of this post, who just can't seem to get into the game because they can't get good at it.

The Gameflow feature in Madden NFL 10 is optional and is overlaid atop the standard football games that anyone will play off of EA's disc. It's not a special mode of football. It's an aid for playing classic video game football. With Gameflow activated, the feature picks football plays for the Madden gamer at every moment where a play is necessary — be it offense, defense, the time when you need to punt, go for fourth down or prepare for a blitz. The feature tells you which play you will do next — out loud — if you have a headset plugged in, and even sketches the play and highlights the best way to execute it in red, so that you can never be an awful Madden player again.

Gameflow comes from the minds of EA's Madden team. The headset part of it spring from creative director Ian Cummings, who confesses that that aspect came to him after playing a Stuntman game. He could have just as easily gotten it from Rockstar Game's macabre first Manhunt game, which allowed all of the game's sounds to emanate from the player's television, except for the voice of the sadistic director of that interactive snuff film. His voice, if you had a headset plugged in, cackled murderous orders right into your ear.

Gameflow will talk you through the best plays on offense, removing the need to go through the game's dense playbook in order to pick what your next strategy will be. Gameflow — which, again, is optional — can do it for you. When Kotaku tried it, there was no need to select plays. Before each offensive play, a text box would appear, naming and describing the next play. A recorded voice through the headset would describe the play. A schematic of the play would show up on screen, with icons representing controller buttons showing the play's planned routes for several players, the ideal one marked in red. Then, the player can snap the ball. And then they can try to execute the play.

The idea of Gameflow, Cummings said, is to feel like you are a head coach who has an offensive coordinator picking the plays for you. It makes playing Madden a whole lot easier and is designed to be deactivated in stages, dropping the audio or the text, as the gamer feels more comfortable shouldering their football responsibilities.

The Gameflow system is not yet as refined for defense, the aspect of football which is more about reaction than strategic plans. Nevertheless, a Gameflow-activated game of Madden that Cummings had Kotaku play on defense included audio suggestions about what to prepare for in each sequence and how to handle it.

With Madden sales plateauing in recent years, EA is clearly trying to find ways to increase the number of people playing the multi-million-selling franchise. In recent years, a neon training camp feature was supposed to judge a player's skill level before they even started an actual Madden game. Cummings clearly prefers the Gameflow approach, which lets novice Madden gamers get into real Madden matches but sweat less of the details. A bonus, Cummings noted, is that the Gameflow's automatic play-picking speeds up games of Madden, making the whole thing take less time.

The voice you will hear in Gameflow, by the way, is no one special. There were too many lines required for the feature for John Madden himself to do it. The football coaches EA tried to use, Cummings noted, were terrible. So a professional voice actor was employed.

For those of us who have struggled to play the complex game of video game football, EA may have finally found a good solution. Gameflow certainly made life easier during that recent demo we had of the game. Who knew that all it would take would be a voice in our ear?

[GamerMan316]

Drew Brees discusses 'Madden Curse,' fan voting for Madden NFL 11 cover



Even people who avoid sports like the plague know that there is a certain "curse" associated with being on the cover of a Madden game. This year's cover boy, New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees, ain't sweatin' it though -- "it is what it is, but I look at it as a challenge," he told ESPN. Heck of a "challenge," Mr. Brees. The majority of your predecessors didn't fare so well.

On a more positive note, Brees also offered some of his opinions on the voting that led to his appearance on the Madden NFL 11 cover. "This game is driven by the fans, so it means so much more to me and to all the Saints players because we understand the bond we've had with our fans and with our city. Certainly when the fans have spoken, that means so much."

The ESPN interview is pretty insightful, including brief talk on the new Hit Stick controls, as well as GameFlow and GamePlan, the pair of managerial game types available in Madden NFL 11. Hit up the source link and give it a read.

[GamerMan316]

There Is No Such Thing as the Madden Curse

Nice little feature on why the 'Madden Curse' is nothing more than a myth.

[GamerMan316]

Well Alrighty, Then: Here are the Madden 11 Achievements



The full achievement list for Madden NFL 11 is now out in the open. It includes "Laces Out," which gives you 40 Gamerscore for kicking a 60-yard-field goal. That sounds makeable - provided Dan Marino's not holding.

Aside from making homages to 1990s comedies, developers use the achievements and trophy sets to condition gamer expectations, or at least place incentives on the new parts of a game they want them to explore. So I can tell that with "Home Run" (the 80-yard TD cheev), they want you to hear new boothman Gus Johnson going bonkers, and with "The Elusive Man" and "YACtastic" they expect the game's locomotion upgrades to make you a better runner after first contact.

Easy-to-collect achievements, like the five-spot you get for creating a Gameplan (it prioritizes the plays that come up during the new GameFlow playcall mode), are there to get you to at least try that feature.

Then there are the wild-ass badges of honor. Returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game with the same player - that has happened only nine times in NFL history, but twice last year, no doubt inspiring its inclusion here. And winning a fight for the fumble in the endzone to score a touchdown has much more to do with luck than skill.

There are two Secret Achievements. I'm hoping one involves creating a kicker named Ray Finkle, and the other somehow involves Hootie and the Blowfish, making this a trifecta of 1994.

    Very Special Teams
    Return 2 kicks for touchdowns in one game with one player (no Online Team Play) 100

    Butterfingers
    Force 3 fumbles in a game (no OTP) 50

    Man Dozer
    Rush for 50 yards after the first hit in one game (no OTP) 25

    He's Got All Day
    Stay in the pocket for 10 seconds (no OTP) 20

    Did I Break It?
    Win a game by at least 59 points (max qtr. len. 7 min, no OTP) 40

    Winning Isn't Everything
    Catch 21 passes in a game with one player (no OTP) 75

    Old Spice Swagger Return
    Return a punt for a touchdown (no OTP) 45

    Comeback Kids
    Win after being behind in the last 2 min of a game (no OTP, min qtr. len. 3 min) 40

    No Offense
    Intercept 5 passes in a game (no OTP) 50

    Fantasy Freak
    Rush for over 200 yards in a game with one player (no OTP) 25

    The Elusive Man
    Break 5 tackles in a game with one player (no OTP) 25

    Perfect Game
    Have a perfect passer rating in a game (no OTP) 50

    Home Run
    Break an 80+ yard touchdown run (no OTP) 25

    Old Spice Swagger Pick 6
    Intercept a pass and return it for a touchdown (no OTP) 25

    YACtastic
    Have over 100 YAC in one game (no OTP) 35

    Pick Up 6
    Win a Fight for the Fumble in the end zone for a TD (no OTP) 75

    Deadly Accurate
    Have a 92% or higher completion percentage in a game (min 20 att., no OTP) 30

    Laces Out
    Kick a 60+ yard Field Goal (no OTP) 40

    Madden Moments
    Complete the "Super Bowl Sunday" Madden Moment 100

    Defensive Dominance
    Hold your opponent to under 100 yards of offense (min qtr. len. 5 min, no OTP) 75

    Sack Master
    Record 5 sacks in a game with one player (no OTP) 25

    Verizon Master Strategist
    Create a custom Gameplan 5

    Two Secret Achievements worth 10 Gamerscore each.

[DFUSIONITE]

never played a madden game on the 360. Last one i played was on the xbox original. Might rent the new one this time though, it's looking very pretty indeed.

[GamerMan316]

never played a madden game on the 360. Last one i played was on the xbox original. Might rent the new one this time though, it's looking very pretty indeed.

Rent the older 360 Madden games too mate, very easy achievements.   

[GamerMan316]

Obama appears in Madden 11
President welcomes Superbowl winners to the White House

It's not often that a real US President appears in a videogame, let alone the current one. In spite of this, Barack Obama is part of the Superbowl winning animation that occurs if you manage to secure the biggest prize in American Football.

In a video, seen below, Obama is seen greeting players in suits on the South Lawn of the White House. There's even a moment where a replica jersey from the winning team is held up with the name Obama emblazoned on the back.

As Presidential appearances go, though, it doesn't come close to Metal Wolf Chaos on the original Xbox. Until Obama scores the winning touchdown after firing sidewinder missiles at the entire opposing team, we're going to be sticking to FIFA.

[nCogNeato]

never played a madden game on the 360. Last one i played was on the xbox original. Might rent the new one this time though, it's looking very pretty indeed.

Rent the older 360 Madden games too mate, very easy achievements.   

I think Madden 06 was the first 360 game I 100%ed.   

[DFUSIONITE]

never played a madden game on the 360. Last one i played was on the xbox original. Might rent the new one this time though, it's looking very pretty indeed.

Rent the older 360 Madden games too mate, very easy achievements.   

I think Madden 06 was the first 360 game I 100%ed.   

damn,  saw that in gamestation the other day for £3.99, if i'd known it was easy cheeves i would have bought it in a heartbeat!

[Jaynestown]

This, Fallout: New Vegas and F1 are the 3 games I've been waiting for