Deeper Look at Pro-Tak
by 
This week’s blog posting for Madden 10 takes an even more detailed look at the Pro-Tak system that has been discussed a great deal the last couple weeks. This is a really extensive and technical overview of what Pro-Tak will provide this year along with two videos displaying the gang tackling and pile pushing. You can read the article in full and watch the videos here.
In order to truly match the look of the NFL, motion captured animation is still the answer to stay authentic and be realistic. But you can only fit so many animations in the game because of the memory limitations of the hardware. So knowing all that, we knew the way for us to truly build dynamic and fun NFL gameplay was to use a mixture of run-time manipulation and motion capture. This approach can make one animation look totally different every time you see it, while still retaining an authentic look that can be controlled artistically.
I came away from the Pro-Tak demonstration impressed. Still it is difficult to gauge how effective it will be without playing it and seeing things like the gang tackling, pile pushing, fumble pile-ups, and pocket formation in the proper context and frequency.
May 4, 2009 at 10:10 pm
The videos actually look pretty good. This interests me NOW.
May 4, 2009 at 10:14 pm
looks sweet
May 4, 2009 at 10:15 pm
That looks awesome bro. Can't wait!!!
May 5, 2009 at 3:13 am
Me either lol. Hey Pasta any idea when the ratings will be released? I heard early june but I figured you'd know. Also who will host them this year? With SG gone and all is there gonna be that ONE site or will they just generally release them in a pdf or excell file?
May 4, 2009 at 10:27 pm
This is awesome and to know that they arn't done yet shocks me. It already looks 5 times better then Madden 09. Pro-Tak looks to be pretty awesome. I can hardly wait to say AP fighting for a couple yards to get the first. Great Job EA I think this is the most realistic game of any sports yet!
May 5, 2009 at 4:30 pm
This being the most realistic sports game yet is kinda a stretch …
May 5, 2009 at 5:14 pm
yeah dude they got a long way to go for that title. starting with actually releasing the game
May 4, 2009 at 10:31 pm
THIS looks like the Madden that we've been waiting a loooooonng time for. Now all we have to hope for is that the Beta testers catch bugs before the release date….. So for though, VERY promising…
May 4, 2009 at 10:47 pm
WEEKY FRANCHISE TALK
Trading – The computer GMs have brain as well, and they use them sometimes and trade amongst each other. Just make sure that the AI uses its brain properly and make trades that make sense (with the very slim chance of a questionable trade). Trades don’t have to be just limited to season and draft day, they can occur in the off season as well. Prior to or after the draft.
Another addition along with CPU trading is trading beyond one year ahead future draft picks.
May 4, 2009 at 10:48 pm
WEEKY FRANCHISE TALK
Highlight Show –After the week is finished, a weekly recap should be shown to show the biggest highlights would show the biggest plays, the hardest hits, and the most memorable moments.
At the end of the season, the same thing can be done, but from a season standpoint.
Practice Squad & Inactive Play – Teams have reserved players like the NHL has reserved players in prospects in the AHL. If injuries happen, teams got a replacement in place at the practice squad for the depth charts rather then having to look through the free agent pool, unless they have to.
Players can also be placed on the inactive player list to open up roster space as well.
May 5, 2009 at 5:02 am
uhh,yeah dude,your gonna have to wait for MADDEN 15 for that,or 2K12!!
HUMM,i could of sworn 2K3 or 2K4 introduced us to the highlightshow's pre,half,& post!!!!
maybe when the new XBOX 420 comes out,we can get a halftime highlite show!!!
May 5, 2009 at 4:23 pm
haha, you said xbox420……i like it!
May 4, 2009 at 10:50 pm
WEEKY FRANCHISE TALK
Full Coaching Staff – The Head Coach and coordinators don’t do everything. There are coaches for every position who truly help players on their techniques and improve their skills. Having a full coaching staff will give a more direct way of improve their player skills.Season Fatigue – Players aren’t as healthy as they were in the beginning of the season. The season wares on and it takes a toll on the body. This needs to be reflected in Madden, and make those bye weeks matter more.
If a team is a lock at it’s current playoff spot during the last games of the season, the CPU should rest it’s starters in order to rest them up an protect them from injury. Meanwhile players should not get mad about sitting a game.
May 4, 2009 at 10:53 pm
ok so this is in it, why doesnt EA get on with it and tell about the other improvements such as franchise and superstar modes im not hearing anything……. well i mean besides from what was realeased about franchise….. " now u can run franchise like the pros trades, drafts," well from every madden i have you can do that tho alot of times there were things wrong with it they never fix it for the better i dont even know when the last time they fiddled with superstar or franchise. Great they now have towels, and theres pro tak, from what i hear u can also mix the jersey combinations up as well, im just getting frusterated i guess and hopeing that they make this half decent instead of half assed.
May 5, 2009 at 2:01 am
they wont be releasing big info till around e3 they said
May 5, 2009 at 2:03 am
they wont be releasing big info till around e3 they said, all this info we have gotten this year is basically when they wouldnt of told us anything last year. To say they are half assing it this year is ludicrous unless u are just an EA hater.
May 4, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I hope this year the QB does not get rid of the ball in 0.5 secs mad me so mad when I got a good rush coming and the QB would get it out of his hand so fast.
May 5, 2009 at 4:29 am
or on a play action pass the cpu threw it almost immediately without seeing if anyone was open?
and still made the completion?
May 4, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Wow that looks fantastic
May 5, 2009 at 12:30 am
they said more on online and franchise will be released in june at E3. Chill your lucky you have heard this much, so just be greatful damn.
May 5, 2009 at 1:20 am
I know they said they have to rebuild the franchise mode but I hope they add in a few new wrinkles like improving the free agent signing period and *re-adding* holdouts
May 5, 2009 at 1:46 am
I hope they add rookie camps and stuff like that they just need to add more to the off-season.
May 5, 2009 at 1:54 am
Yeah that would be a nice feature as well. I think they should even include players running the wrong routes (only in Franchise) who don't have enough experience in a system.
May 5, 2009 at 1:46 am
Pasta, any new word on franchise improvements?
May 5, 2009 at 2:05 am
yea if they could get it something like nfl head coach that would be nice, however, i dont expect to hear anything about franchise for a little while.
May 5, 2009 at 2:27 am
I like it I love it I want some more of it
May 5, 2009 at 3:08 am
That would be cool. Got to really train a rookie's in a new system make them work to be good in the game that could be cool something like that. I want them to do wht nba 2k9 does and be able to have workouts for rookies before the draft do QB drills and stuff like that and if they do good than they should move up in the draft. Get a higher grade.
May 5, 2009 at 3:09 am
It's time for EA to develop a Madden game just for PS3. Just because the 360 can't handle certain things doesn't mean they shouldn't get the most out of the most powerful system. PS3 needs a price drop soon.
May 5, 2009 at 3:44 am
EL OH EL
May 5, 2009 at 4:46 pm
man shut up the 360 is well more than suffiecient enough…..
May 5, 2009 at 6:55 pm
lol ur dumb. the ps3 cant handle it. if u havent noticed the frame rate had to be droped just so it can get on that weak ass system
May 5, 2009 at 3:54 am
weekly franchise talk
Training Camp/Pre-Season – This is a busy time of the year as teams prepare their players and finalize the roster for the season. Practice and player cuts is the main focus during the period, and the roster limit should be expanded so teams can evaluate their players and decide which ones to place on the practice squad, and those who should be cut from the team. Starters should get very little play time during the pre-season that some may not play any games at all after week 2 on CPU teams. It’s likely that most of the starters are set, so other players should be playing and getting plenty looks in practice to see who should earn a spot in a position battle or stay on the team.
Quick Notes · Real-time score ticker; real time simulations. Two things. One, games that start at the same time would be simulated at the time (meaning if your starting third quarter, then other games that started at same time may be in third quarter as well, or halftime (or even late 2nd quarter if game is moving slowly). Second, if your game quarter length is 7 minutes, THE WHOLE LEAGUE SHOULD BE SEVEN MINUTES. Therefore simulations and stats that occur in game matches with your game evenly.
May 5, 2009 at 4:36 am
very cool blog. pro tak looks really good but thats not what got the most of my attention. what did was the video of the defensive/offensive line interaction. the pass rush is definitely gonna be awesome this year.
cant wait to see if the run blocking has improved as well.
May 5, 2009 at 5:47 am
…I've been playing AP2K8 recently and I just hope that they can bring the presentation like NFL2K5. I KNOW that they can do it and it would be perfect to accompany the on-field additions…PLEASE EA!!!!!
May 5, 2009 at 1:53 am
It look like the Madden game is coming along nicely. I give them credit for improving gameplay. To me the biggest issue with gameplay was lack of intelligent run blocking. I had boosted up my offensive line to 99 AWR and found out that they will run block correctly and will pass block as they should so that facet is in the game they just need to shore it up so that you don't need Stephen Hawking's intellect to know to block the man right in front of you. The only other issue I had was with Franchise (which I spend most of my time in Madden playing) needs to have personalities and players fitting certain systems. Some guys can play in any system but most guys fit a particular mold with a team that makes them successful i.e. Wes Welker.
a little off point but did yall see the video posted? M. Barber got his head ripped off! Now that's football players swarming to the ball!
May 5, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Yea my eagles do a good jobwith that
May 5, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Nice…..the first paragraph kind of addresses all the BACKBREAKER fans out there, it aint gonna happen. EA is sticking to animations which is good. The tech looks awesome and cant wait to see it in action. This is going to change things in Madden forever. The game is no longer going to feel like the same old game anymore.
May 5, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Nice vids..again, reminded of how Steve Smith is such a monster. Im actually EXCITED for this year's Madden in a looong while.
May 5, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Yeah I watched the video and saw EA sucking it up again. The say that they are focusing on the smallest of details yet the still cant get it right. Watch the video with the Titans. Look at the stripes on their helmets. The stripes don't go all the way back in real life. They don't even do that in 09. If I were in charge of whoever it is that makes sure these fine details are in place they would be fired. Here is a list of EA's half ass work. Titans helmets, Falcons throwback uniforms, nameplates too small, Patriots with no stripes on socks, Miami's logo too big on helmet, Cowboys logo too big on helmet, Jersey color errors, Many throwback issues. I could go on and on. This is just over the past three installments of Madden. Why cant the best selling franchise have a little bit of quality control. This is just presentation. I cant get pissed about gameplay until I see it. I was really excited hearing about these new features, but early photos are starting to really tell the tale. I hope these issues get fixed, but I don't count on it. Madden needs competition to keep their workers on their toes.
May 5, 2009 at 5:18 pm
LOL yeah everyone is getting excited about this game. More than likely it will only be marginally better than last years version. It's easy to post screenshots and give out great news but the truth last longer than a lie. All will be made final when the game is released. Until then, I'm giving nothing
May 5, 2009 at 8:31 pm
you guys need lives….
May 5, 2009 at 10:36 pm
The fact that you even know shit like that is pretty pathetic (and, dare I say, gay. Dress-up dolls anybody?). No one who really cares about the game of football gives a shit about stripes and minute color variations. These guys (EA) have been doing a good job working on more important things (tackling, blocking interaction) while still dealing with some of the "whiner" stuff (hand towels, for god's sake). They've also been doing a great job keeping in touch with the community (half of them are on Twitter) and reacting to some of the more important concerns of the fans (button-mashing fumbles are a great example).
So really… do you want to play football… or do you want to play dress-up with all of the studly men in the game?
May 5, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I'm with you Darkheath. I'm more about the gameplay and even more towards the simulation aspect. Uniform's change all the time and even though they should get it entirely correct I really could care less if they exclude a stripe on the sleeve, but that's just me.
May 5, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Thanks for the support. I know that post was a bit harsh, but I'm tired of the whiner nit-picking. I guess you have to grow up playing Statis-Pro & Apba games, while manually keeping all your stats in a notebook, to fully appreciate where the technology is at these days.
hell, even in video games I remember how stoked I was when Madden '92 came out and there were green Packers & purple Vikings! I think Madden '95 was when we 1st got actual team helmets… woot!
May 5, 2009 at 4:52 pm
P.S. The photo of the Bills at the top of the page has the wrong pants stripe. EA, do your homework!!!!!
May 5, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Quit looking at the guy's pants and notice that there are 4 defensive players tackling the ball carrier (hehheh… he said "ball carrier") and that there's an amazing depth of field in the shot.
May 7, 2009 at 6:51 pm
HOW HARD IS IT TO PUT THE RIGHT EFFIN PANTS ON THE GUY. REAL TALK!
May 7, 2009 at 8:28 pm
"Real talk"? hunh?
And really, how hard is it to get a nearly photorealistic video game with 70,000 humans on screen?
Just get over it and try to look at the GOOD they are doing (there's a lot of it) and stop nit-picking every little bullshit thing. Really… you'll live longer if you "don't sweat the small stuff".
Oh.. and one other thing. How does everyone know what the Bills pants stripes look like. A lot of teams change shit like that up every year. Maybe they DO have it right.
May 5, 2009 at 6:22 pm
o yea. it looks like its actually gonna be fun playing as a pass rusher. u can get a much quicker and realistic rush to the qb.
May 9, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Darkheath.
The pants on the Bills dude is not the current Bills uniform. Its a throwback pants. With 2009 jersey and 2009 helmet.
You can mix and match helmets, jerseys and pants in Madden 10 this year.