First details on Madden 09 for the Wii
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As with what we’ve seen from NCAA Football 09, this year’s release on the Wii for Madden 09 will help to kickoff the All-Play brand of games on that console. The idea behind it is to make the games more inviting to inexperienced players who have felt the games have been intimidating and confusing. The entire line of All-Play will be designed from the ground-up for the Wii as opposed to receiving a port of the PS2 version with motion controls tacked on and mini-games added.
Yesterday Peter Moore showed off the Wii version of Madden 09 and talked the media through the thinking behind it as recapped by Kotaku. Included in the game this year will be simpler menus, a five on five mode, and the ability to create plays on the fly by outlining receiver routes. There will also be less that gets in the way of playing by eliminating timeouts, huddles, and cutting down on penalties which will keep the games moving at a brisk pace. We also know there will be online play, however whether it will differ in structure or options from last year has not been discussed.
Clearly the hardcore crowd isn’t going to be very interested in that but that isn’t who the game is marketed to for obvious reasons. The hardcore gamers will get what they want from the 360/PS3 and aren’t looking to the Wii for that experience. It is a different crowd on the Wii with those looking for more accessibility and fun, or for a different game than what they would already own on their 360/PS3.
Whether this will end up being more successful than the previous attempts remains to be seen. But given the focus on producing the titles to specifically take advantage of the Wii and offer a unique experience there is reason to be optimistic.
May 21, 2008 at 8:37 am
Wow, what a crock of you know what! Is it too much to ask to get the same game as the XBox 360/PS3 version with the motion controls? There are a ton of “simulation hopeful” Wii fans out there, and it would be nice to see EA Sports realize that. I’m not even sure this is going to be worth a rent if it doesn’t have the usual dynasty stuff included.
Pasta, is it entirely based on All Play, or will there still be Dynasty, Superstar, etc. included?
May 21, 2008 at 9:25 am
In a strange way, THIS move makes much more sense to me than EA’s decision to put that unholy abortion of a “feature” – EA Sports Rewind – into the versions on XB360 and the PS3. I really don’t have any dispute with the idea that the Wii version of Madden should be where the majority of “casual-gamer friendly” or targetted features go.
I still believe that Wii owners in general are a bad bet for increasing software sales, but as long as the game is being designed and built specifically with the Wii in mind (rather than a port of a more hardcore foucsed version of Madden) then I wish EA all the luck in the world with this. In fact, I am actually really hoping it works great and sells like the Wii Fit is…that way Peter Moore can wake up to reality faster – the PS3/Xb360 is “real” gaming and its audience is mainly made up of far more hardcore gamers who don’t want or need to have “casual” features in their games, the Wii is ideally positioned to test whether or not 50-60 year olds and the under 10 crowd WANT to even play an NFL-like game or not, so please keep ALL casual features there!
(That’s obviously over-stated, but in general I really WOULD like to see casual-feature innovation pioneered and developed on Wii games and THEN ported over if the PS3/XB360 crowd ASKS for them!)
May 21, 2008 at 11:44 am
“simulation hopeful” Wii fans
Now that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever seen one.
If you were truly “simulation hopeful”, you wouldn’t have bought the Wii in the first place (or any Nintendo for that matter).
I, too, as Dan stated, think that this is a good direction for them and that console.
Actually, a couple of years ago… at a drunken party, we played a Madden game on DDR mats! It was a trip… not to mention pretty hard to execute. But… wouldn’t it be kind of cool to design the game that way? (Again… not for hard-core franchise play, but just for screwing around when a bunch of guys come over.) Having a DDR-type mat for running, juking, spinning, etc. and a Wii-mote for passing and menu functions. Now that would be a blast. I actually think we’ll see that in the next couple of years.
May 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm
[quote comment="21680"]Wow, what a crock of you know what! Is it too much to ask to get the same game as the XBox 360/PS3 version with the motion controls? There are a ton of “simulation hopeful” Wii fans out there, and it would be nice to see EA Sports realize that. I’m not even sure this is going to be worth a rent if it doesn’t have the usual dynasty stuff included.
Pasta, is it entirely based on All Play, or will there still be Dynasty, Superstar, etc. included?[/quote]
I would suggest you buy a PS3/360 if you want a real version of Madden.
May 21, 2008 at 1:07 pm
[quote comment="21680"]Wow, what a crock of you know what! Is it too much to ask to get the same game as the XBox 360/PS3 version with the motion controls? There are a ton of “simulation hopeful” Wii fans out there, and it would be nice to see EA Sports realize that. I’m not even sure this is going to be worth a rent if it doesn’t have the usual dynasty stuff included.
Pasta, is it entirely based on All Play, or will there still be Dynasty, Superstar, etc. included?[/quote]
Dude, you bought a wii…
May 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Seriously
May 21, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I might buy NCAA for Wii, but I’m just gonna play that with my family if I do get it at all and play dynasty and stuff on 360.
May 21, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Pasta when do you think Madden will talk about the next big feature? Or was that stupid rewind it? I hope for a big new gameplay feature.
May 21, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I had an XBox 360, but it quit on me about 13 months after I got it. Microsoft won’t be getting any of my money anytime soon. It’s a shame what a piece of crap that system is, and they should be ashamed of putting it out.
As for the decision to get a Wii, it had a lot to do with family and finances. I was pushing it to get a Wii, and there was no way we could afford a PS3 at the time. If someone wants to throw in a couple hundred extra dollars for me, I’ll be happy to get a PS3 as well.
I’ve been happy with the Wii, and there a lot of Wii owners who would like simulation sports games. The Wii is good for the younger audience, but it can be good for the older audience as well. You can go to any Wii message board on the internet and see how many fans want simulation games on the system. I wasn’t just making that stuff up.
You people can bash on me all you want, but it shouldn’t be out of the question to have some simulations on the Wii. It’s not all about the 10 and under crowd.
Also, if you are telling me Madden will sell better because of the All Play, you are a full of crap. Madden is going to sell on any system regardless of what the hell is included in it, so they should make the versions as similar as possible (with the exception of graphics and online capabilities of course).
May 21, 2008 at 2:55 pm
[quote comment="21702"]Pasta when do you think Madden will talk about the next big feature? Or was that stupid rewind it? I hope for a big new gameplay feature.[/quote]
I know they still have features that are under wraps, but I don’t believe there is going to be anything “big” in that sense, depending on what is important to an individual though they could be cool additions or enhancements.
May 21, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Sorry, Cody. I wasn’t meaning to bash you in particular. Just Nintendo. I have never had any system by Nintendo because frankly… I’ve NEVER seen anything that I would be interested in playing on the system. I am not surprised that there are a lot of people asking for simulation games on the system because there are not any… of ANY genre really. And if you look into the history of Nintendo… you’d be hard-pressed to find any at all.
Instead of Project Gotham Racing you get Mario Cart. That about sums it up right there.
Now you have a family with young children so, yes… I’m sure it’s a good choice for you. And I’m sure family nights are fun. But inherently… the Japanese entertainment culture is just goofy (godzilla, pokemon, yo gi yo or whatever, and geez… just search “japan tv show” on youtube for dozens of other examples!) and Nintendo will be dominated by Japanese games.
I don’t know what you did with your Xbox, but Microsoft extended all 360 warranties for 3 years. They realized the problem and stepped up to take care of it. Luckily (or unluckily if it craps out after the warranty) it seems I got a pretty good ‘box. As far as I’m concerned, there has rarely ever been a game on any system that I couldn’t get on Xbox. “Uncharted” on PS3 being the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
Anyway… as I said before… it seems this is a good direction for Madden Wii, but I’m sure there are many like Cody who disagree.
On another note… what do you think of my DDR-pad/Wii-mote football game idea?
May 22, 2008 at 7:25 am
Darkheath, No biggie man. I traded in my XBox 360 when Microsoft told me I would have to pay $150 or whatever to get it fixed. Then, about a month later, Microsoft extended the warranty to 3 years. Yeah, the timing of all that stuff wasn’t very good for me, but oh well. It was fun while it lasted.
The DDR pad/Wii-mote is actually pretty funny. I can’t imagine how fun that would be after a few beers.
May 22, 2008 at 11:22 am
It would be a BLAST after a few beers! Or in my case… whiskey.
That REALLY sucks about your Xbox. Sorry to hear that.