Should There Be Another NFL Head Coach Game?
by 
I’m in Vegas until tomorrow but wanted to drop a question for the community. Reaction from the hardcore crowd to NFL Head Coach 09 has been very positive, but sales numbers have not been very encouraging for the future of series. Personally I found the game to be initially intimidating and overwhelming, so I can only imagine what a more casual group of gamers would feel if they even were to give it a chance. It was just too time consuming for me and I lost interest soon after release.
My question is would you like another sequel for Head Coach? Would you purchase it if they came out with another? What do you think of the 09 offering? Vote in the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.
Do You Want Head Coach Series To Continue?
October 27, 2008 at 10:23 am
I would love for another Head Coach Game, but I don’t think we need to buy the game every year. They should just update the roster and fix several issues with the game and maybe update the gameplay for like $15 bucks, but not a new disk. This game is very fun, but not fun enough to spend $60 bucks every year.
October 27, 2008 at 10:40 am
I agree with Kellin 100%
October 27, 2008 at 11:01 am
I second that sentiment
October 27, 2008 at 11:17 am
Here’s a thought: instead of trying to milk the NFL exclusive license for everything it’s worth, how about adding the best of what Head Coach offers into Madden so that we don’t end up having to pay for 2 seperate products. True next gen sports games (like MLB The Show and it’s RTTS mode) try to offer more bang for the buck, not less.
October 27, 2008 at 11:52 am
I voted no.. but only because they should incorporate elements of head coach into Madden, there’s no reason to separate the games. I can’t imagine that there are casual franchise players that would oppose more depth.
Rebuild Madden into the great game it once was.
October 27, 2008 at 11:56 am
For me, I find this type of game is more suitable for the PC than a console.
I think this should be dropped from the consoles and developed solely for the PC.
In all honesty though, Madden could use all the help it can get solving the bugfest of a game they release every year and perhaps dumping Head Coach and using those resources toward making Madden right might be the answer.
October 27, 2008 at 11:58 am
they should just do the same thing they did this year by adding it in as a bundle with madden. but they should bump up the graphics and the player animations ’cause they were the same stiff players and animations as ‘08 and that took away from the game for me at least
October 27, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Compared to a true football simulation like Front Office Football, Head Coach falls way short. Also, did the patch fix anything in the ps3 version of the game? I still get the same annoying AI issue each game like I did pre-patch.
That said, the game is still fun and I enjoy playing it. I would love to see another version that is even deeper and hopefully, fixes the annoying quirks in 09. But I agree that it should be packed in Madden. If you make Madden’s franchise mode like Head Coach, I think it will satisfy a lot of people.
October 27, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I second AC’s statement
October 27, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Well if they ever decided to release it onto PAL for the xbox 360 then a lot more sales would have arose. Just by looking at the NFL game in London showed how many hardcore NFL fans their are in Europe.
October 27, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I played the demo and was deathly bored by the end. But this game is just not for me. I have no problem with them making games that other people want to play that I have no interest in. But I voted no because I was just so so bored. Then again, I felt the same way about Portal and some people loved it. If there is a market for this game, I’m sure EA will make a new one – I just don’t know how much of a market there really is for this kind of game.
October 27, 2008 at 1:23 pm
[quote comment="43253"]Compared to a true football simulation like Front Office Football, Head Coach falls way short. Also, did the patch fix anything in the ps3 version of the game? I still get the same annoying AI issue each game like I did pre-patch.
That said, the game is still fun and I enjoy playing it. I would love to see another version that is even deeper and hopefully, fixes the annoying quirks in 09. But I agree that it should be packed in Madden. If you make Madden’s franchise mode like Head Coach, I think it will satisfy a lot of people.[/quote]
I agree and disagree. The only thing Head Coach that’s similar to Madden is maybe the in-game engine (and even that was dated) even the attributes on Head Coach for players (like their catching and route running) didn’t match the same attributes in Madden. So I don’t think this should be added to Madden as a new franchise mode. But I do agree this game should be bundled with Madden as a separate game. They should release two versions of Madden. One with Head Coach and one with out (similar to this year) but it should only be around $15 bucks more than the original Madden. I would love to get both of these games for that price and selling it with Madden makes it more appealing.
October 27, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Make a great game of Madden instead of two sub-par games.
October 27, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Another extreme menu’s game? No thanks.
Instead of using the man power to create a super in depth menu game, why not add that game to the madden franchise mode to make that mode better?
October 27, 2008 at 2:25 pm
[quote comment="43249"]Here’s a thought: instead of trying to milk the NFL exclusive license for everything it’s worth, how about adding the best of what Head Coach offers into Madden so that we don’t end up having to pay for 2 seperate products. True next gen sports games (like MLB The Show and it’s RTTS mode) try to offer more bang for the buck, not less.[/quote]
I was gonna say that but you beat me to it. It would be hard for EA to add everything that Head Coach offers into Madden. I don’t even think there would be enough memory space for that. However they should take the resources & developers from Head Coach & apply them to Madden. Maybe we would finally have real looking sidelines in Madden if the Heach Coach developers worked on it. Lol
October 27, 2008 at 2:33 pm
i’m not much of a sim/text-based gamer…….and i think they should just release the next edition onto the pc, instead…………no sense of having murdered on the consoles when both past editions haven’t found success on that particular platform…………..regardless of what ea’s focus is for this game in the future, they should devote much of their resources into making their madden game better cause i haven’t seen any major improvements (gameplay-wise) from that franchise…………just hype.
October 27, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I would rather have a ncaa football head coach game.
October 27, 2008 at 3:33 pm
pasta- instead of nfl head coach or facebreaker, dont you think it be in Ea’s best interest to make a diff game like a College hockey or college baseball next gen, im not a HUGE fan of either sport but i would play and buy both ANYTIME over nfl head coach, Just wondering if i would be the only who would welcome those two games, they are making a tennis game which is cool but why stop there.
October 27, 2008 at 4:07 pm
[quote comment="43250"]I voted no.. but only because they should incorporate elements of head coach into Madden, there’s no reason to separate the games. I can’t imagine that there are casual franchise players that would oppose more depth.
Rebuild Madden into the great game it once was.[/quote]
i agree completely. Bring back Owner Mode with the Head Coach elements for the gamers who want to play a sim football game. Keep Franchise Mode for the more casual gamer.
October 27, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Look I never played head coach, but I would prefer if they include it with madden for free. I mean it would add another layer to franchise mode. I wanted to play it, but i wasn’t shelling out extra cash for something i may never use. I mean up until this year I didn’t play franchise mode and I only played it because I like controlling the front office(trades, signings, free agency). Because other than that I’m not paying any cash for head anything unless it includes a blowjob.
October 27, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I think they are going to be putting some of the Head Coach stuff into Madden 2010. Donny Moore from the HC team is now the lead franchise dev for Madden 2010. And they probably pilfered a few of the other HC guys for the Madden team, at least I’d hope they did. With a little bit of help and being actually able to control players a HC/Madden combination would be phenomenal.
October 27, 2008 at 7:15 pm
[quote comment="43296"]I think they are going to be putting some of the Head Coach stuff into Madden 2010. Donny Moore from the HC team is now the lead franchise dev for Madden 2010. And they probably pilfered a few of the other HC guys for the Madden team, at least I’d hope they did. With a little bit of help and being actually able to control players a HC/Madden combination would be phenomenal.[/quote]
They better and I remember something being said about 10(2010) and dline and oline control. Dline and Oline interaction blows….hard. I could care less about everyone and their chain gangs complaining but I use the giants. i’ve been using them for years and its impossible to bring pressure with a 4man rush. all that aside instead of creating a whole new coaching game just combine the efforts of both studios to create a better man.
Nuff Said
October 27, 2008 at 7:15 pm
whoops Madden
October 27, 2008 at 7:36 pm
if they make it coo, if not i wont loose any sleep.
October 27, 2008 at 8:20 pm
They need to fix draft AI in madden before anything else. Drafting QBs when they don’t need QB’s and other positions is kinda stupid. And maybe make some trades happen. Devote one guy to every division to update rosters.
October 27, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I voted no, but there are still a lot of cool sideline cut scenes that they should add to Madden. Maybe even an above the huddle view while your picking your play.
October 27, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I will never ever buy another Head Coach game, it was awful.
October 27, 2008 at 8:42 pm
plzzz make head coach 10. i love this game. it was 10 times better than madden and i loved madden. they should do it like they did this year. have madden and hc for 80 or 90 bucks, madden for the regular 60, and hc for 40-50 bucks. that is perfect.
October 27, 2008 at 9:22 pm
for real i love this game i disliked the first one but this one keeps me in to it I’m not going to buy another ea game if they don’t come out with another one next year… well maybe NCAA lol
October 27, 2008 at 9:32 pm
When I first purchased the CE Madden with Head Coach in it. My reason was specifically for HEAD COACH. I wouldn’t pay extra just for a collector’s edition. I’m a Lifelong Madden player/fan. Been so since it’s inception. But, when I got home with the CE Madden. I pulled out Head Coach first. And, it never came out of the 360 for 2 weeks! It took THAT long(which was long enough to get annoyed by some of the bugs) to put in Madden for the first time. And, Madden is the game that I look forward to the most all year. I took time out from Head Coach so the bugs could get fixed. I LOVE MADDEN. I ENJOY HEAD COACH. ONLINE PLAY IS BEST WITH NCAA…Like so many have said here, I must agree with. I would like to see Head Coach intergrated with Madden so that there would be the SIM Madden, Casual Madden, and the “Skillz” Madden. But, not at the expense of losing any of it’s depth. If that is too much content or would interfere with Madden being a better game, I would much rather see EA simply use the current game engine that is already available on Head Coach and just give us updated features/rosters/coaches/fixes than to NOT HAVE IT! It shouldn’t take as much from the talent pool to simply do that. It’s not like you have to remake the game from the ground up. Include it with Madden or offer it every couple of years. Maybe bring it back when Madden has returned to glory. Right now, Madden needs dedicated focus. Also, I liked the idea of a NCAA Head Coach too! That sounds VERY interesting.
October 27, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I want another NFL Street series game this time. Go back to the roots game. Nobody wants to be a coach thats lame.
I want to play Arcade NFL football but EA dropped the ball on NFL tour. it was lame. they need to stick to the Street series and call it NFL street 4.
October 27, 2008 at 9:58 pm
[quote comment="43249"]Here’s a thought: instead of trying to milk the NFL exclusive license for everything it’s worth, how about adding the best of what Head Coach offers into Madden so that we don’t end up having to pay for 2 seperate products. True next gen sports games (like MLB The Show and it’s RTTS mode) try to offer more bang for the buck, not less.[/quote]
I agree
October 28, 2008 at 6:14 am
[quote comment="43281"][quote comment="43250"]I voted no.. but only because they should incorporate elements of head coach into Madden, there’s no reason to separate the games. I can’t imagine that there are casual franchise players that would oppose more depth.
Rebuild Madden into the great game it once was.[/quote]
i agree completely. Bring back Owner Mode with the Head Coach elements for the gamers who want to play a sim football game. Keep Franchise Mode for the more casual gamer.[/quote]
i also completely agree…the offseason mode in franchise should be almost a replica of head coach…more depth for madden franchise mode would not hurt a thing…it would only return madden to the glory it once was!!!
October 28, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I think it is a great game and should continue. I play it more than Madden as I like the challenge of building a contender.
October 29, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Head Coach should be canceled. It should’ve never hit the market from EA in the first place. They should’ve been using those elements and resources in Madden and we would’ve gotten a complete game rather than the complete disaster that Madden has been this generation.
I respect people’s desire for HC to go on if they like it, but if you play Madden also then you have to realize how HC hurts Madden’s development as resources are spread more thinly and Madden continues to miss key elements as a result.
October 29, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I love this game I hope they continue it. Everyone Incorperates this game into madden and there is no way they can fit they all into one game. This game is for the hardcore fans but I totally like coaching the game than actually taking controls of the players for the unfairness of people cheesing on madden. Give it one more yr at least.
October 30, 2008 at 7:24 am
saw my dick off.
October 31, 2008 at 8:12 am
[quote comment="43524"]Everyone Incorperates this game into madden and there is no way they can fit they all into one game.[/quote]
They absolutely can. You’ve been fooled.
I’d also like to point out that one of the leads for Head Coach is now working on franchise for Madden 2010, as confirmed by Madden Lead Designer Ian Cummings. So, there’s a good chance that Head Coach will be dead, but the positive result is that Madden will be a better game for it.
October 31, 2008 at 8:35 pm
[quote comment="43309"]When I first purchased the CE Madden with Head Coach in it. My reason was specifically for HEAD COACH. I wouldn’t pay extra just for a collector’s edition. I’m a Lifelong Madden player/fan. Been so since it’s inception. But, when I got home with the CE Madden. I pulled out Head Coach first. And, it never came out of the 360 for 2 weeks! It took THAT long(which was long enough to get annoyed by some of the bugs) to put in Madden for the first time. And, Madden is the game that I look forward to the most all year. I took time out from Head Coach so the bugs could get fixed. I LOVE MADDEN. I ENJOY HEAD COACH. ONLINE PLAY IS BEST WITH NCAA…Like so many have said here, I must agree with. I would like to see Head Coach intergrated with Madden so that there would be the SIM Madden, Casual Madden, and the “Skillz” Madden. But, not at the expense of losing any of it’s depth. If that is too much content or would interfere with Madden being a better game, I would much rather see EA simply use the current game engine that is already available on Head Coach and just give us updated features/rosters/coaches/fixes than to NOT HAVE IT! It shouldn’t take as much from the talent pool to simply do that. It’s not like you have to remake the game from the ground up. Include it with Madden or offer it every couple of years. Maybe bring it back when Madden has returned to glory. Right now, Madden needs dedicated focus. Also, I liked the idea of a NCAA Head Coach too! That sounds VERY interesting.[/quote]
I was the same way, I played head coach about 90% of the time and madden 10% of the time. It took me a while to get all the fun out of Head coach due to the lack of depth in the game (isnt it 15 seasons max?) and my custom head coach really never developed fast (a superbowl win a 3 playoff appearances got me a 42 ovr)…
I loved just being the gm of the team and simming the games. The depth this game brought was amazing, you actually signed people to participate in training camp, your rookies didnt get signed the day after the draft, and you had numerous options for contracts.
they need to implement so many ideas from this game into madden, like player philosophies. Seriously, a guy like wes welker is a great fit for what the patriots want at WR, but hes not going to be the same guy for a team like arizona. They also need to take this whole draft system (player ratings, “potential”, cpu draft IQ, combine, scouting, pro days, and training camp holdouts) and put it into madden.
the only things wrong with this game that they would need to fix before implementing is the fact there’s no practice squad, and players demanded outragous contracts in free agency (Hines ward always leaves pittsburgh and demands 10 mil a year and a 1 or 2 year deal)
May 3, 2009 at 4:14 am
The Emotion of the NFL – New TV broadcast-style presentation and cinematic cameras bring the suspense and intensity of the NFL to your living room.
Enhanced Franchise Mode – Run each aspect of an NFL franchise: draft players, sign free agents, manage the salary cap – just like a real GM. Enjoy all of the action throughout the league via a new, network inspired highlight show.
EXPLAIN TO ME PLZZZ WHA THIS ALL MEANS ..IF THERE IS A HIGHLIGHT SHOW THIS CAN BE THE GREATEST MADDEN OF ALL TIME