EA Football Community Event Blog (5/29-30)

[cdj]

Here is ncaa Strategies' preview of the EA Sports Football Community Event being held today and tomorrow (Thursday & Friday, May 29-30).

Today (Thursday), we will be playing NCAA Football 09 and NFL Head Coach 09. As we play, producers from each title will come in to visit.

Friday, we will be playing Madden 09 during most of the day, with us having an option during the evening to play any of the three titles. Madden 09 and NFL Head Coach 09 are still in a position where feedback can play a vital role, similarly to NCAA Football 09 at the NCAA 09 Premiere Event in late April.

If you have any questions about NCAA Football 09, please post them in the thread linked here. Questions for NFL Head Coach 09 or Madden 09 should go in the thread linked here. As of now, there are no questions relating to Madden 09 or NFL Head Coach 09, so the current goal is to play these games and look for features that may enhance NCAA Football down the line.

While not guaranteed, there should be a chance to give updates on the event live from the studio, so keep checking this thread.

[cdj]

Just got internet access in the room. (Pasta was using someone else's CPU with a Sprint Card.)

Wanted to give a few quick thoughts, but will try and have a podcast up tonight with some thoughts from other community guys.

The game is 'wide-open', but not nearly as much as it was in the build in NYC. Once people really get the hang of it, that may change.

We have visited with quite a few producers and are currently playing NFL Head Coach until the 'open' evening session.

For NCAA, we have the 360, PS3, and PS2 versions available. I have spent all of today on the PS3 thus far. IMO, it plays just fine - no lag, delay, sluggishness, etc. that plagued NCAA 08.

Some answers to a few detail-oriented questions:
- Player class IS editable, 70-man rosters, cannot edit hair. Have not looked into new equipment yet.
- No formation subs, just formation audibles.
- You cannot zoom in on the plays in play-call screen (or if it is, we've not seen how).
- Random play selection in Practice Mode is for base formation (Dime), but you cannot use it for specific formation (EX: 3-2-6).
- Online roster sharing is tremendously easy. A person does not have to be on your friends list (though that is one way it can work). So long as you know the name of the person hosting the file, you can search for them by name and view their EA Locker content and then download the file.
- Custom Stadium Sounds: Great feature. Placed a few songs on the hard drive and used it. There is no reverb/echo effect, but you won't notice or care. The audio clips add a lot to the game and you still hear the crowd over the clip. The clips are also tied to your profile.
- The producer in charge of playbooks has not made an appearance yet, but we've been told there are new formations and lots of new plays. I'll try to get a list of the new formations tonight or tomorrow.
- Short passing game is very efficient. Still seeing some high QB completion percentage, but that doesn't necessarily translate to a shootout. For example, playing A&M vs human, their QB was 15 of 19 at one point, but only had 10 points.
- Really a lot more fun and enjoyable than 08.

- PS2 Version: Not a whole lot of changes were made, but we've been told they addressed the pursuit angle issue from 08, which seemed to be one of the bigger issues with the game. Yet to go hands-on yet with it, but will before the Event is over.

Expect more answers and report later tonight.

NFL Head Coach:
- LOTS of options and abilities. For those who want the most in-depth 'franchise'-esque experience, this is it.
- Making/editing plays on the fly is very quick and easy.
- Lots of varying injury types.
- Sounds like they really focused on fixing what plagued the first version of HC.
- Seems like it would be worth putting on the PC to help alleviate the loss of Madden PC, but is only available on PS3/360.

[cdj]

Originally Posted by Thelaw

Online for PS3/360-Can we pick what stadiums we use like we used to be able to on the ps2.

No, stadium select - but you can use alternate uniforms and also The Weather Channel feature online.

Originally Posted by WVU4LYFE

When passing, can you actually see in the flats and along the sideline to determine whether or not your receiver is actually open? i.e. Does the view pan out more as you drop back?

I know this sounds odd, but let me look at it more. It seems like I have better vision of the receivers out wide, but I'll try to get a pic & video from my dig cam showing this. What may be 'OK' for one person, may not work for another.

I have VERY limited space on my dig cam for videos, but will try to get a few taken and posted tonight.

Originally Posted by MSchneider84

Duplicate #'s! Duplicate #'s!

Sorry. Unless EA has duplicate #s for players on the default rosters, this isn't possible.

I have conveyed how the community wants features like QB Auto-Pass, CAS, FCS, duplicate numbers, larger rosters, etc.


Also, in online dynasty you cannot realign conferences. We may be able to get a peek at Online Dynasty later today.

[cdj]

Podcast coming shortly.

Main focus is NCAA 09, but we have a segment with NFL Head Coach 09 info.

[rhombic21]

-- means the issue was not addressed significantly, / means that the issue was partially addressed but may still be problematic in some instances, + means that the issue was addressed effectively.

Just a couple general thoughts.

1) This game plays completely different than '08. If you're playing '08 in hopes of practicing for '09, you're basically wasting your time, because everything is different. I found myself calling plays today that I would have never called last year, and vice-versa.

2) At least in head to head games, the option is not a major issue at all, so it should definitely be back and open to the sim community this year. There were a few borderline pitches, which basically resembled what we've seen on last-gen, but the pursuit was really solid and I didn't see any option plays go for huge yards routinely. Not that it can't work, but it seems like it's been brought back down to size.

3) I personally couldn't get the spectacular or rocket catches to happen with any frequency, but Kobra was pretty good at them, so that may be an issue to wait to evaluate as the game is out longer.

4) Man coverage against curls and hitches seemed better than last year, but it may have taken a turn in the other direction. We discovered a few plays which involved short 5 yard hitch routes, and they were essentially money plays if you had the patience to take 5 yards a pop. Worked against zone and man.

5) I felt like the pass rush was a major issue. A lot of times it felt like you had all day to pass the ball unless the person blitzed really heavily, but this year because of the slide protection and the general improvements to the playbooks and to OL pass protection, that type of strategy doesn't work as an every-down type play. A lot of us agreed that the game more or less forced you to drop guys into coverage and just try for coverage sacks. In terms of containing the mobile QB, I felt like it was a little better than last year. If you spread and looped the line, it got really good containment. It seemed like blitzing from the outside had a similar effect, but otherwise it was still relatively easy to get outside.

6) I definitely feel like this game is going to put a lot of pressure on people to develop stick skills, particularly on defense. The game is just set up to reward you for making the play. The controls were really responsive and I did feel like it was similar to last-gen in that regard. I was able to play underneath and deep passes equally well on defense. Offensively it's basically the same thing. You can probably get by without great stick skills on offense, but the game really rewards a well-timed juke or cutback, so some degree of stick will probably be necessary to be successful online.

7) Playbooks were a massive improvement on almost every level. The only downsides were that the flexbone still isn't really implemented properly (no WB runs at all), and they didn't add some of the WR screens that you'd see a spread offense like Tech run. The did add a lot of new plays and formations though, so generally you can replicate whatever kind of scheme you're basing off in real life.

8) I generally felt like the passing game was relatively easy. Partly because of the pass rush issue, and also because it seemed like zone coverage against shorter passes was basically non-existant. It seems like all the zone coverages drop back a couple yards too far and leave some of the underneath stuff open. Again, the offense has to be patient to take advantage of it, but because the pass rush is so lame, there aren't a lot of sacks with just a 4 man rush, so you can pretty much afford to sit there and wait for somebody to come open underneath.

9) One cool thing that they added to practice mode is that now when you throw and interception or fumble the ball on offense, the play is just blown dead, so you don't have to sit there and watch the CPU run the INT back.

10) Slide protection seemed to work pretty well. Honestly the pass rush was such a non-factor most of the time that I didn't really see the need to use it very often.

11) There appeared to be some issues with kickoff returns. Virtually every time we were getting returns out to the 35 or 40 yard line, and a couple games had multiple KR TDs in a single game.

12) I felt like the run blocking and run defense were both really solid. You can run the ball, but the defense does a pretty good job containing their gaps and not giving up cheap yardage. I spent some time running FB dives over and over, and it didn't seem as effective as last year. I had some success with it using Georgia against the computer on AA, but not a ton, and against a human opponent I really don't think it'll be a major issue. They've added a lot more tackle animations where the ballcarrier is stopped for zero yards after contact, so you don't see nearly as many of those FB dives up the middle resulting in 6 or 7 yards because the guy fell forward for 4 yards after contact. Also, it seemed like DL and LBs were better at getting off blocks and playing their gaps, both on inside runs and outside runs. I think that '09 is going to be the year of the pass online -- not because the run game is impossible broken, but just because run defense is pretty realistic, while pass defense still has a ways to go.

That's about it, I'll add more when I think of it. We have a pretty long day ahead of us tomorrow, so I'm going to try and catch a couple hours of sleep before we go back to the studio for 12-14 hours of Madden.

[cdj]

Some random pics and video on the way. It's late here and we have a full day of checking out Madden & NCAA tomorrow, so apologies if I don't get everything posted tonight. I'll try to get the biggest stuff posted.



Did you know: The new EA LOCKER feature in NCAA 09 gives gamers FREE ROSTERS online right in the game? All you need to do is search for the Gamertag or PSN of someone who has it and then just download it. It's EASY and FREE.


The customizable music is really cool. However, you will want to make sure the clip is loud and clear. Songs directly from fightmusic.com do not sound good in the game. Also, my version of "Hell's Bells" I tested was too quiet, so it was inaudible over the crowd/commentary. "Start Me Up" on kickoffs was loud and clear and every who heard it was impressed by it. You will want to get high quality MP3s of each
song.

I agree with rhombic's gameplay thoughts. More media on the way...


EDIT - I should add that we plan on tweaking some sliders tomorrow to see how that helps address the coverage over the middle. As mentioned in the latest podcast, while this game is offensive-minded, it has been noticeably toned down from the build played a month ago.

[cdj]

A look at NCAA 09 on the PS2

[cdj]

Screenshot of Customizable Stadium Sounds & Music feature with songs added in:




The most discussed facemask in the game:

[cdj]

Tennessee FB shows off the shimmy:


Passing view when playing on widescreen:


Missed FG return:

[cdj]

This year, they went in and added what I call 'penalty animations.'

In past editions, your penalized player would be called for something despite the replay showing him not doing anything close to wrong.

Here is a pic of the Texas Tech center actually commiting a hold.

[cdj]

Today is a big day of Madden 09, with the evening being a 'free for all' where we can play anything.

I'll be looking for cool features in Madden that should be in NCAA down the line and try to get something posted on it this afternoon.

[cdj]

Sorry for the lack of an update during the day, guys. Played some Madden and spent a lot of time chatting with producers of the game.

NCAA:
Was unable to get Online Dynasty question from texacotea answered or clarification on weather in online games. SHould be able to get that via e-mail next week.

Got a look at Online Dynasties today. Looks just like offline Dynasty, but with some online options (EA Locker, for example).

You CAN zoom in on plays in playbook. The option is not shown on the screen; it was stumbled across. To zoom in, highlight play and press L2.

The pass rush on NCAA is not as strong as I think it should be. Right now, that's the one issue I'm having trouble with. It seemed that adjusting sliders didn't help either. I'm interested in seeing what strategies you guys come up with when you get the game.


Madden:
At first, I wasn't sure what to think as I was absolutely horrible at it....however, after some time with it I improved and made the final four of the tournament we had today, losing to the runner-up.

NCAA NEEDS to bring over a very similar playcalling system to Madden. Going back to NCAA after playing Madden really makes the current playcall system look archaic. Having the ability to make formation subs from the playcall screen is a great feature. I'd only suggest that the playcall screen continue to show the college stadium backdrop as it does in NCAA currently. That would add to the atmosphere, going to the holographic backdrop during playcalls on Madden (when playing head to head) loses some of the game atmosphere.

Madden is a really solid title this year and (in limited playtime, mind you) I think it's the best football title of the three coming out. The extra development time between NCAA and Madden really helped this franchise. You can see a lot of similarities among the two and I wish the defenders in NCAA were as sharp as in Madden and the pass rush increased.

The new animation/tackling engine is really great. It flows very well and I enjoy seeing my leaping RB get speared occasionally. As well AS NCAA flows, Madden is even better. (That's not a knock on NCAA, but rather praise to the Madden team.)


EA Fantasy Football:
We had a brief presentation on this today. I'm not a fantasy football fan, but it looks really cool - particularly the console options. If you get the live stattracker, you have an option to either see live stats (as you would on Yahoo, ESPN, etc.) or a PIP (Picture in Picture) version. This would just give your team name and score which you could put in your PIP while watching NFL games.


This evening we had the Madden tournament, won by Shopmaster of maddenwars.com. He also won the NCAA tournament yesterday. Madden lead producer Phil Frazier spent a lot of time with us today and a LOT of the Madden team came down to get feedback, error/issue reports, etc. (What stood out to me were some banner/stat errors, however they already knew of ALL of them and are at work on fixing them before release.)

It's a late night here at Tiburon, but many of us are still here and we're playing NCAA & Madden to get more hands-on time for impressions and thoughts.

[rhombic21]

Hey guys, I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep and have been at the studio for 13 hours now playing Madden and NCAA after playing NCAA for 13 hours straight yesterday, so I'm not necessarily mentally coherent.

Anyways, I agree with cdj that the major issue on NCAA is the pass rush. After playing Madden today, which has a stronger (although not totally realistic) pass rush, and then going back and playing NCAA later, it really stood out to me. The bottom line is that I think the passing game will probably be overpowered at least on the default sliders and (obviously online) because it's almost impossible to get any pressure at all on the QB, even if you blitz heavily, which combined with the more effective passing plays and slide protection will cause the game to be very offense oriented.

Perhaps this issue can be addressed in some type of patch after the game comes out if the community at large reacts the same way those of us here at the studio have. Otherwise, I think people will probably have to do a considerable amount of slider work to try and get a realistic experience, and honestly, even then those efforst may be of limited success.

Anyways, Madden is really strong this year, and they're still making improvements to the game, so the final build will probably be even better than what we played today.

We did get a chance to spend a lot of time talking to producers about both NCAA and Madden today, and got a chance to both give feedback and learn more about the process that goes into making the game. I don't want to get into anything right now about that, because I'm fading pretty rapidly mentally and I don't want to misquote anybody, but our discussions were very positive, and overall the team is very dedicated to making both of these games as good as they can be, and are just as frustrated as we are when time constraints cause the game to ship in a state that they aren't 100% satisfied with.

I'm going to go and try to get sleep, I'll try and answer some more questions sometime after I get back and get rested.

[cdj]

Originally Posted by gonova

Was a PSP demo available and if so, how'd it look?

Thanks!

This event was just for the three EA Tiburon titles, as well as a very brief presentation on EA Fantasy Football. With NCAA 09 for the Wii and PSP being made elsewhere, we did not get to see them.

Originally Posted by soce

I would really like to hear more about any difference in guys ratings by position if you think that is possible. Like does a fast QB with a weaker arm matter? Does a highly rated DE player better and get more pressure on the QB then an average DE? Are there any differences in WR pass route running abilities? Do guys with higher awareness set down in zone holes better for example?

That is something we talked about with producers. It sounds like it is a constant battle of tweaking the system to help promote the importance of ratings. One example of player ratings making a difference is within the new control system. Big players (FBs & TEs) don't cut and juke as effectively as smaller backs or WRs. The best part is that it's not overdone for those who can juke & cut.

You could definitely tell that some ratings are pretty important. Only the best receivers (tall & elite) can routinely go up and get jump balls (spec. catch). Faster RBs have better luck running the ball, etc. It would take more time than we had to really sit and look at how DBs play and react, etc. I did think that it was better to have tall DBs if you were playing against tall and talented WRs. I would say that NCAA does a good job of factoring ratings into the players and personnel decisions.


Right now, the one issue I'd like to figure out is how to generate pressure on the QB. The DL does get through sometimes, but not often enough or quick enough to force QBs to make a quick decision.

[rhombic21]

Non-NCAA gameplay highlights of the trip:

- Mad Sci writing coded directions to the hotel, and then not remembering what his shorthand meant, and thinking that he only had half a map when he had the entire map the whole time.

- Moos getting mad during NCAA tournament game against Kobra and punching the wall so hard that it knocked a huge poster down.

- Nearly getting lost on the way to Wendy's last night because Russell's GPS device was constantly "recalculating."

- AndyP and Bobby Storm going into double OT in the Madden tournament because Bobby missed 2 chip shot field goals (one in regulation, one in the first OT) that could have won it, and Andy forgot that he called his last timeout and ran the clock out when he was well within field goal range at the end of the first OT.

- Madden lead producer Phil Frazier making a random cameo appearance in Mad Sci's league interview video with Moos and Boza by making funny faces in the background.

[rhombic21]

Originally Posted by cdj

Right now, the one issue I'd like to figure out is how to generate pressure on the QB. The DL does get through sometimes, but not often enough or quick enough to force QBs to make a quick decision.

I definitely agree, although I noticed that Boza was able to get some solid pressure in a couple of his games against Moos, although he was admittedly taking a lot of chances on defense and dialing up some all out blitz packages, and it seemed like Shopmaster was able to play pretty solid pass defense in the tournament games, and the NCAA game that I saw him play tonight, so maybe people will be able to figure something out. I guess the positive is that the downfield coverage is generally pretty solid, so with the exception of the short passing game underneath, you can at least get a fair amount of coverage sacks or interceptions if people try to roll around all day and throw deep.

I dunno, I found myself getting less happy with NCAA after we played Madden, but I think part of that is just that Madden is REALLY freaking good. Aside from the issues with pass protection, NCAA was really good too, but Madden had almost no flaws at all, and they were still tweaking gameplay to deal with a couple minor issues (and even made some tweaks today during the event based on feedback).

[cdj]

There is an issue that I keep seeing discussed on other forums and that is the thought that the CPU snaps the ball too quickly. Tonight I was able to sit down and look at this. Here is what is happening:

We have two scenarios:
Scenario one (S1) is if the human player picks his defensive play before the :25 play clock starts.
Scenario two (S2) is if the human player picks his play after the CPU picks its offensive play - play clock will stop at :23.

In S1, the CPU will snap the ball with around :17-:19 on the play clock. If they snap the ball with :19 left, there is obviously little to no time for pre-snap defensive adjustments.

In S2, the CPU will snap the ball with :14-:17 left on the play clock. (The CPU will let the clock run in some circumstances, IIRC one is at the end of the quarter, when time remaining is > the play clock. It also seemed like they snapped the ball even quicker in the fourth, at :18 on the play clock when down 20-7 with 3 min to go.)

The difference between the two can give the defensive player up to an additional :03 (maybe more) to make pre-snap adjustments. This does not sound like a lot, but could result in an additional one or two pre-snap adjustments. Waiting each time may give the user more time to make pre-snap adjustments, but it also reduces the number of plays in the game.

Having the CPU wait longer to snap the ball is a touchy issue. On some plays, users definitely don't have time to make all the pre-snap adjustments they want (which offenses sometimes attempt to do in real life), while on other plays there is enough time. If the CPU routinely took more time, there would also be people unhappy that they have to sit and wait so dang long each play. It's a debatable issue, but I felt more often than not that I had enough time to make some pre-snap adjustments.

[cdj]

Today is a travel day, so there won't be much info or feedback. Expect more thoughts and impressions on the three football titles Sunday and throughout early next week.

[cdj]

Some additional notes before departing for the airport:

- Playbooks had at least 800+ new plays added. We were able to chat with the playbook guru for a while and it's always great info. (I'm hoping they do a blog with him this year.) The playbooks have added more 'complimentary' plays. IE: You'll have a run play, a playaction off that run play, etc. This way foes won't be able to rule out a PA pass based upon formation.

- There wasn't a lot of time to play much versus the CPU, but in some limited playing I didn't think they went deep enough. However, I had a game or two where I buried the CPU on All-American (using the better team) and also a game (or parts of) where the CPU really picked me apart and moved the ball on me. The CPU is no dummy, but I do wish it took a few more shots downfield.

- Defensive Run/Pass Commit is in the game, but there is no on-screen notification.

- I was going to save this for a bigger report, but the game has improved a lot over 08 and also since the build in NYC a little over a month ago. There are a couple items I'd have liked to get more time to figure out, but they may need a tweak or adjustment if there is a patch down the line. (I don't think they have decided if there will be a patch or not, but every other EA Sports title in the last year had one, so I'd guess this will as well.) The issues worth keeping an eye on are: (lack of) pass rush, short passes over the middle, and kickoff coverage.

- Madden is a pretty damn good game this year. NCAA plays smooth, but Madden is even better. Between NCAA, Madden, and Head Coach this is is going to be a very good year for next-gen football. It's pretty safe to say this is by far the best year of FB overall on next-gen.

- The PS3 versions of NCAA and Madden run smooth and equal to the 360. I didn't get into a 'color'/'crispness' showdown, but they both run equal and that sentiment was echoed by everyone who played both. (We did not have Head Coach on the PS3 to try out.)

[cdj]

Originally Posted by kbell97

How are both speed options from both under center of shotgun? ON ps2 the qb from the speed option shot out like a rocket while on the 360 seemed to a non entity.

Is HFA still ridiculous?

I'm at the Orlando Airport now, so I don't time for many questions, but I did want to touch on a few items in your post.

I took some video of the speed option in practice mode. I am using West Virginia versus Pittsburgh. For the defense, I am showing off the Random play selection. After looking more closely, the specific formation you have highlighted is what you get random plays from. I don't believe you can do a Random All or a Random from all variations of the formation. (IE: Plays random in 4-3 Under, not all of 4-3.)

HFA was toned down since NYC even. I didn't think it was bad at all, but they did some work to it. Will explain later.

Plane is boarding.....