Gamestop Madden Monday: Inclement Weather
by 
The Gamestop blog is back again this week with its “Madden Monday” entry. Last time it covered the user controlled celebrations and now they go over the topic of inclement weather. You can read it in full here.
Unfortunately the screenshot they posted originally was so small that it was difficult to really examine it for what they were describing. So I got ahold of the full size screenshot.
Update: Clicking the thumbnail below will bring up the image. Then click full size to view it as originally intended.
You’ll see deeper snow on the fields, with dramatic accumulation and realistic wear from play. Player’s footsteps will leave imprints, snow will be piled on the sidelines and the yardage lines will be shoveled, just like in a real game.
Improved color correction and stadium light bloom mean that you’ll see the steam of a player’s breath on a frosty night, as well as splashes of water when his feet hit the rain-covered turf. And the 3-dimensional interaction that snow and rain particles have with the wind may tempt you to bundle up when you play. You’ll see it all at a movie-quality 60 FPS rate on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
No mention is made regarding weather being a factor in online games this year which (along with night games) is something that has been sorely missing.
April 21, 2008 at 8:51 am
I wonder if the rain/snow will make it noticably more difficult to juke/spin and also make it more difficult to accelerate. In the past it seemed that the rain/snow just caused more fumbles.
April 21, 2008 at 9:12 am
Looks cool, I think Madden 09 can be the rebirth of Madden if they get the franchise mode right.
April 21, 2008 at 9:15 am
finnaly this might be the hottest football game since 05 and thanks pasta the ea guy is helping me to link my gamertag
April 21, 2008 at 9:17 am
[quote comment="18281"]finnaly this might be the hottest football game since 05 and thanks pasta the ea guy is helping me to link my gamertag[/quote]
glad to hear it
April 21, 2008 at 9:34 am
Well, it sounds promising. If all these new features work as they should, we could be in for a fun Fall with Madden.
April 21, 2008 at 9:42 am
Wow snow games in Buffalo gonna be sweet this year so pumped for football.
April 21, 2008 at 9:44 am
Who cares about snow piles and seeing water spray when they step in the snow. The only thing that matters is that the game will run at 60fps. That IS the big difference that made Madden garbage last year on PS3.
All of the other fluff is nice but won’t mean much on the actual gameplay screens. Hopefully they will get the commentary squared away and utilize the ESPN license. These are 2 additional areas of concern for me. Other than the aforementioned concerns, I am sure Madden will not disappoint.
April 21, 2008 at 9:46 am
Does this mean we’re finally getting random weather [at least offline multiplayer] on the spot instead of navigating through the “select stadium” screen, like last gen?
April 21, 2008 at 10:32 am
They say this exact same thing every year.
April 21, 2008 at 10:45 am
that looks like a picture from the trailer from Madden 06 on the 360. but i gotta say, who wouldn’t want the game to look like that trailer? it looked awesome!
April 21, 2008 at 10:47 am
[quote comment="18286"]Who cares about snow piles and seeing water spray when they step in the snow. The only thing that matters is that the game will run at 60fps. That IS the big difference that made Madden garbage last year on PS3.[/quote]
“You’ll see it all at a movie-quality 60 FPS rate on the Xbox 360 and PS3.”
Sounds like that shouldn’t be an issue this year.
April 21, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hey Pasta why did they change the pic???? It was new england
April 21, 2008 at 11:14 am
I will say that EA is working hard to keep the public informed on the progress of both Madden and NCAA. Although EA has done this in the past this year seems to have a different feel to it.
Hard to believe that NCAA will be out in three months and Madden in four….
April 21, 2008 at 11:17 am
hey pasta when will we be able to rock nikes instead of adidas all the time?
April 21, 2008 at 11:19 am
I would like to see the Weather Channel implemented more. If I’m playing someone online using Buffalo vs. the Bolts in S.D. mid Sept, I need the game to be sunny and beautiful. If I play a home game w/Buffalo against those same Chargers mid Dec, it better be like Buffalo mid December! Also, can they finally put some ESPN love in the game? ESPN stat overlays??? Something????? Beating a dead horse here…….
April 21, 2008 at 11:19 am
One thing Madden needs is trades between 2 non-human controlled teams. It is kind of pointless to allow the user controlled team to trade but not allow two CPU teams to trade in Franchise mode.
April 21, 2008 at 11:37 am
Wow that looks just like a screenshot from that McNabb-T.O. Eagles trailer years back. It only took them what three years to get there? That comparative screen from 08 to 09 is dramatically different. I really don’t think 09 is going to be a let down. Hopefully they will have this kind of weather online though, that would be huge! Pasta any word on if they got the uniforms right this year? Example the Cowboys home white instead of home blue, the Rams gold pants instead of white pants, all those teams that have the all white uniforms (Eagles, Redskins, Bucs, etc.). That was a pretty big mistake Madden 08 made, please tell me that you have heard or seen something on that…
April 21, 2008 at 11:45 am
mj that was already in madden 07 if u would juke in the rain or snow u would fall
April 21, 2008 at 11:47 am
[quote comment="18310"]Wow that looks just like a screenshot from that McNabb-T.O. Eagles trailer years back. It only took them what three years to get there? That comparative screen from 08 to 09 is dramatically different. I really don’t think 09 is going to be a let down. Hopefully they will have this kind of weather online though, that would be huge! Pasta any word on if they got the uniforms right this year? Example the Cowboys home white instead of home blue, the Rams gold pants instead of white pants, all those teams that have the all white uniforms (Eagles, Redskins, Bucs, etc.). That was a pretty big mistake Madden 08 made, please tell me that you have heard or seen something on that…[/quote]
http://www.pastapadre.com/2540/madden-09-producer-interacting-with-community
April 21, 2008 at 11:50 am
the EA “hype machine” is actually working on me this year, I really hope it delivers this time…the visuals look mad good so far and the radio guy is gone so let’s pray it’s the Madden that we deserve!
Pasta, one more question for ya. I know that nobody knows about online weather conditions yet, but what about the Home Crowd “advantage” that NCAA has? EA usually tries to seperate the 2 titles, but that video you show’d recently was awesome. The WR’s routes were wiggly and they seemed confused and the screen was shaking. Very needed…
April 21, 2008 at 11:50 am
The weather looks great, and I’ll assume that variable weather will be available online. Otherwise, why make spend the energy announcing the improvements?
I’ll also take the leap of faith and expect ALL improvements to carry over to online play, including uniforms.
If the Madden 09 producer said the team has addressed the uniform issue, then we should believe him. If EA makes some mistakes, then a uniform update should be released. (Why didn’t they ever bother to do that for Madden 08?)
All in all, I’m happy the graphics are catching up to the commercial from 2005.
April 21, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[quote comment="18314"]the EA “hype machine” is actually working on me this year, I really hope it delivers this time…the visuals look mad good so far and the radio guy is gone so let’s pray it’s the Madden that we deserve!
Pasta, one more question for ya. I know that nobody knows about online weather conditions yet, but what about the Home Crowd “advantage” that NCAA has? EA usually tries to seperate the 2 titles, but that video you show’d recently was awesome. The WR’s routes were wiggly and they seemed confused and the screen was shaking. Very needed…[/quote]
Are you asking if home field will be there for NCAA online play, or if Madden will have home field? I can’t say for certain yet, but I’d suspect yes to the first and no to the second.
April 21, 2008 at 12:09 pm
they should ditch the rocket catch and tone down the nanoblitzes while keeping everything else in tact. Madden was a good offering last year and I am guessing they’re aiming for great and not just good. Ortiz leaving has done wonders for my confidence in this series!
April 21, 2008 at 12:11 pm
[quote comment="18317"][quote comment="18314"]the EA “hype machine” is actually working on me this year, I really hope it delivers this time…the visuals look mad good so far and the radio guy is gone so let’s pray it’s the Madden that we deserve!
Pasta, one more question for ya. I know that nobody knows about online weather conditions yet, but what about the Home Crowd “advantage” that NCAA has? EA usually tries to seperate the 2 titles, but that video you show’d recently was awesome. The WR’s routes were wiggly and they seemed confused and the screen was shaking. Very needed…[/quote]
Are you asking if home field will be there for NCAA online play, or if Madden will have home field? I can’t say for certain yet, but I’d suspect yes to the first and no to the second.[/quote]
I was just hoping for some kind of advantage at home in Madden and already guessed it would be exclusive to NCAA, where it may be more of a factor than the NFL…
April 21, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I think EA is finally utilizing the power of both the PS3 an the 360 to make a great game. But looks can be deceiving, and the game can suck like a newborn baby on a tit. I hope that the game can be just as great as they were on the last years of the PS2. I just hope I dont be as disappointed as I was with Madden 08. It didn’t deliver like the programmers said it would, and I think it wasn’t a epic fail, but it was a fail. I hope we have some of the same features that I see in NCAA Football 09
April 21, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Pasta, any luck on finding a full-size screenshot of this from the company?
April 21, 2008 at 1:00 pm
well if paid attention to with the colts uniform the blue solid socks are in. getting a uniform correct to me is something better than ignoring it. The screenshot above looks close to the film at the 05 nfl draft of what next gen can bring. but still i will keep a watchful eye on what is at hand.
April 21, 2008 at 1:01 pm
they say for next six weeks around june maybe madden cover uveiled
April 21, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Woops, sorry for not seeing that. Thanks Pasta.
April 21, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Pasta, do you know if the on field shadows will move in real time, like in NCAA football 07? Or will day turn into night gradually over the course of a game? I don’t believe these are features that we have seen yet in the Madden series, but have in NCAA Football. However, I could be wrong. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.
April 21, 2008 at 1:49 pm
[quote comment="18337"]Pasta, do you know if the on field shadows will move in real time, like in NCAA football 07? Or will day turn into night gradually over the course of a game? I don’t believe these are features that we have seen yet in the Madden series, but have in NCAA Football. However, I could be wrong. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.[/quote]
They had day-to-night progression in Madden 06 and 07, but took it out for 08 (most likely for 60fps) hopefully it will be back this year….
April 21, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I’m actually getting pumped for these EA sports games. (NCAA and Madden) I noticed that David Ortiz is out as producer of Madden, and with Peter Moore as president, maybe this is why we are starting to see changes for the better….
April 21, 2008 at 3:18 pm
God I just hope they take that useless Superstar mode out or at least make it compact to make room for the franchise, season an quick play modes. At least take out the things that are preaty much useless an make the other parts of the game that people actually play better.
April 21, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[quote comment="18326"]Pasta, any luck on finding a full-size screenshot of this from the company?[/quote]
last week it wasn’t until Wednesday that I got the full screen (its in the gallery). Im not sure when I’ll get this one.
April 21, 2008 at 5:12 pm
jonathan wat r u talkin about the madden cover is releades in three days
April 21, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I hope the graphics are like that Nike commercial from a few years ago, with Mike Vick and TO….
April 21, 2008 at 5:17 pm
This is all good and all but it won’t really matter that much if it isn’t online.
April 21, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Couldn’t have said it better Zack. I hate playing offline unless it’s with some friends. Online is where most of the gamers are and all this stuff will be basically useless to most of us if it isn’t online. Really hoping for an online league mode this year. Glad too see EA heading in this direction though. I’m really pumped for 09.
April 21, 2008 at 7:53 pm
full size image now up.
http://www.pastapadre.com/wordpress/wp-content/gallery/madden-09/fullsnowscreenmadden09.jpg
April 21, 2008 at 7:57 pm
If weather isn’t online who da hell cares???…EA Needs to get weather online
April 21, 2008 at 8:08 pm
[quote comment="18410"]If weather isn’t online who da hell cares???…EA Needs to get weather online[/quote]
what’s with everyone’s obsession with online? Is it really that cool? I would rather play against a tough and realistic CPU oppenent than an online douche bag….
April 21, 2008 at 8:35 pm
wow this is what i wanted the most snow that fills up the field looks so realistic wow pasta ur website is the like the greatest video gaming website
April 21, 2008 at 11:05 pm
“Player’s footsteps will leave imprints”
I’ve seen this before. Believe it was an earlier version of Madden (PC?), but maybe I’m thinking of like Quarterback club or something for the Nintendo 64. Either way, not a dazzling new feature.
“snow will be piled on the sidelines and the yardage lines will be shoveled, just like in a real game.”
Nice touch.
“Improved color correction and stadium light bloom mean that you’ll see the steam of a player’s breath on a frosty night”
Player’s breath might not have been in next-gen (or maybe it was, can’t recall), but it’s been in the PC version for a long time. Not new.
” as well as splashes of water when his feet hit the rain-covered turf.”
Again, isn’t this in it already? Or maybe it’s just the PC version.
“You’ll see it all at a movie-quality 60 FPS rate on the Xbox 360 and PS3.”
Now this I *DO* want to see. Are they able to get the weather and lighting effects running smoothly while displaying a full stadium and field and players etc. with no noticeable lag? I’ll be impressed if they do.
April 23, 2008 at 2:11 pm
pasta i have a question say i make the game with full precipitation will the whole field be covered once it starts up or will the snow deepen as the game progresses