An impassioned plea to EA to please go and Fuck themselves.

Madden 2008

Happy Madden Day. If you are a Maddenite and need to get the game as early as possible, check out Gamestop. They are doing a midnight promo for the game and will be selling it then. I'll be in bed snoring loudly, but you go ahead and enjoy. Here are some features of the new release thanks to Maddenboard:






NEXT GEN

1. Editable Players
2. Co-op
3. Better physics (make weight a factor)
4. Real Gang Tackling
5. More announcers and better announcing.
6. Training Camp
7. Fantasy draft in Franchise mode
8. More celebrations TD / First Down / Sack
9. Pre-game halftime and Postgame shows.. Sportscenter- NFL live
10. Spectator Mode online
11. Hall of fame in franchise mode
12. Better records tracking and displaying.
13. Ring of honor and retired jerseys
14. Option to redo the draft and free agency at the start of a franchise
15. Better Draft classes
16. Option to have expansion teams join the league.
17. Player lock and color chooser for Co-op games (users pick the POSITION on offense and defense they want to start on and get to choose thier color from a spectrum and save it in a profile)
18. Custom playbooks and custom plays.
19. CPU vs CPU (played out where you can watch it) SIM
20. Online Franchises
21. Better Contracts with Incentive Bonuses and real NFL structure possibilities.
22. Create a team with a lot more options.
23. The AI overall needs improving as it always does.. in the follwing areas
    1. Coverage
    2. Play Calling
    3. Knowing when to try to kick FGS
    4. Clock management
    5. Blocking
24. Save Replays
25. Add more to the draft
26. Total customization of controls (and put slide and dive on different buttons)
27. Improve the no Huddle (more plays)
28. Cut to other games
29. Increase contract amounts faster (shouldn't take 5 minutes to max out a contract)

CURRENT GEN

1. Better physics (make weight a factor)
2. Real Gang Tackling
3. More announcers and better announcing.
4. More celebrations TD / First Down / Sack
5. Pre-game halftime and Postgame shows.. Sportscenter- NFL live
6. Spectator Mode online
7. Hall of fame in franchise mode
8. Better records tracking and displaying.
9. Ring of honor and retired jerseys
10. Option to redo the draft and free agency at the start of a franchise
11. Better Draft classes
12. Option to have expansion teams join the league.
13. Player lock and color chooser for Co-op games (users pick the POSITION on offense and defense they want to start on and get to choose thier color from a spectrum and save it in a profile)
14. Custom playbooks and custom plays.
15. Online Franchises
16. Better Contracts with Incentive Bonuses and real NFL structure possibilities.
17. More options for Create Teams (longer names more logos)
18. The AI overall needs improving as it always does.. in the follwing areas
    1. Coverage
    2. Play Calling
    3. Knowing when to try to kick FGS
    4. Clock management
    5. Blocking
19. Add more to the draft
20. Total customization of controls (and put slide and dive on different buttons)
21. Improve the no Huddle (more plays)
22. Cut to other games
23. Increase contract amounts faster (shouldn't take 5 minutes to max out a contract)

Why do we put up with it?

Carry over problems from game sequel to the next... Case in point: I was playing APF 2k8 last night and I am down 17 -10 with 40 seconds left on the opposition's fifteen yard line, so I call a play and get to the line of scrimmage to resounding boos from my hometown fans. Did they really expect me to kick a field goal in that situation? Overtime ensues and the computer has the ball on their 35 yard line or so with about one minute left to go. It then proceeds to call two running plays and no time outs killing the rest of the clock. Did they want to concede the tie?? Dumb AI decisions with clock management like this and atmosphere in the previous example are a carry over of the NFL 2k series and they still haven't been addressed. Don't get me started on Madden. I could make a laundry list of issues I bet are still carried over in Madden this year. Why do we put up with it? We keep paying more for games each year and putting up with more crap.

APF 2k8 is still a good overall game, but this kind of thing annoys the hell out of me. Maybe there will be a patch, but I doubt it.

RIP: Vince Young

Vince Young has been named the next cover athlete for Madden 08, The Craptacular Edition (ok, I added that last part). Why is it always the young ones?!?!? Poor guy, had a blossoming career started. For more details about the Madden curse, go here.