Madden 08 franchise update

EA has released an update on some aspects of franchise mode via producer blog from Ronnie Morales. It touches on the subjects of tuning in player progression, owner mode, and create-a-team.

I don’t really spend much if any time in franchise mode but it obviously is one of if not the most popular mode in Madden. I tend to play mostly online and the offline time would be more spent in something like superstar mode.

This blog entry is a good look at what they’re doing in these areas. I can’t remember ever seeing graphs and in progress work being displayed like they have here. That has to be encouraging for fans looking for improvements to franchise mode.

Madden 08 Power Rankings (15-11)

The power rankings continue for Madden 08 based on the current NFL team rosters. Below are 15-11, and you can find 32-28 here and 27-22 here and 21-16 here.

15- Detroit Lions

The Lions are one of those teams that will be better in Madden than how well they will do this coming season. They added Tatum Bell and George Foster to the offense which will strengthen the running game, and drafted Calvin Johnson who will be the highest rated and most effective rookie player in the game. Jon Kitna should even have decent ratings after he put up impressive numbers last year. The offense is going to be tough to stop. The defense may struggle, but the offense could do enough to overcome that.

14- Carolina Panthers

Carolina has some interesting pieces and are strong at certain positions but struggle in other areas. The defense should be very good, especially the pass rush will continue to be one of the best in the game. However on offense outside of the explosive Steve Smith it doesn’t look as good. QB will be mediocre whether it is Jake Delhomme or David Carr. The Panthers had a good draft, but how much impact will Jon Beason, Dwayne Jarrett, and Ryan Kalil really have as rookies rated in the high 70’s to low 80s?

13- Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons were generally one of the most powerful Madden teams over the last several years due to two main reasons. The first was how effective Michael Vick could be. The second was how speed trumped all as an attribute. That appears to be changing this year with the introduction of the weapons. Vick will not be nearly as good, and the rest of the team which has been degrading should see a fall off also. They drafted Jamaal Anderson but he will be a downgrade from Patrick Kerney. Joe Horn was a positive pickup, but somewhat offset by the loss of Ashley Lelie.
12- Philadelphia Eagles

The draft isn’t going to do anything at all to help the team in Madden this year. Takeo Spikes is the big addition to the defense, although they also lost a couple solid contributors. On offense Kevin Curtis will look to fill the void of Donte Stallworth. Donovan McNabb will likely be rated just as highly as he was before he was lost for the season. Brian Westbrook can be used creatively.

11- Dallas Cowboys

Dallas comes in as one of the more balanced teams. Tony Romo will be rated relatively high after the job he did last season. Even though Terrell Owens may not have come through for the team last year, he’ll still be a force in Madden (look for spectacular catch weapon but no hands weapon after leading the league in drops). There is the decent RB tandem that offers contrasting styles. The defense will be good in the front seven. The big question is whether or not the safties can be exploited this year, as both Roy Williams and Ken Hamlin struggle in coverage.

NCAA Football 08 Fiesta Bowl video

Check out this new video from NCAA Football 08.

The memorable winning play from the Fiesta Bowl for Boise State, the Statue of Liberty 2 point conversion, is replicated using the game.

A sign of a release date for All-Pro Football 2K8?

No official announcement of the release date for APF 2K8 has been made as of yet. Thus, the speculation on it continues.

Gamestop and EB Games have changed the estimated ship date for the Xbox 360 version on their websites to Monday July 16th. However the PS3 version continues to display the date of August 14th that had previously been listed for both. Best Buy’s website has a mid-July date shown of the 15th and Gamefly shows July 18th.

If this holds true it would put All-Pro Football in stores on the same day as NCAA Football 08 on Tuesday July 17th.

Generally the release dates on the Gamestop/EB sites would not change without reason. While this is not confirmation of a July 17th release date it certainly adds some merit to the thought of a July date, which is widely believed to be the prime period that it could hit the market and have potential for success. Preferably that would be to make its way out prior to both Madden 08 and NCAA Football.

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A look at the Wii version of The Bigs

After wondering for the last few weeks when (or even if) some news on the Wii version of The Bigs would make its way out, Joystiq has posted a hands-on look from the recent Nintendo Media Summit.

The motion controls worked pretty well, too. It’s clear that Blue Castle Games put a lot of thought and testing into the controls, as batting, pitching, and fielding are all fairly intuitive.

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Why doesn’t EA promote the PS2/Xbox versions?

It isn’t confined to Madden, but it seems as if the older gen versions of sports games aren’t getting any attention pre-release. This is especially curious since they actually are sell more copies than the new gen versions do.

EA finally released some details on the current gen news via blog. Why is it that it seems the PS2/Xbox versions go practically ignored?

Money has to be a factor, in how they use their marketing budget. You could split it, or you could concentrate on one version. If you concentrate on one, it is going to be the one that makes you look the best. Clearly that is the 360/PS3. Yet it doesn’t take money to release videos and news that could even be done simply on their own website. That seems to be what EA is headed towards with their producer blogs.

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Radio announcer returns for Madden 08

In a recent IGN mailbag piece, it was noted that the radio announcer will be returning for Madden 08. This is somewhat expected, although still disappointing for many.

Sorry to break it to you, but the EA Sports Radio Network clown is back, to everyone’s dismay. Prepare the mute button. The good news is that EA is very aware that the entire world hates that guy. I would expect a real announcer next season. But hey, Marshall Faulk voices a pre-game show and Schlereth, Sharpe and Hodge of ESPN will host a tutorial.

The commentary in sports games for the most part isn’t that great. It gets repetitive, or there are errors made by those calling the game which distracts even more. At this point with the advantages of next-gen hardware the commentary is likely not going to be anything extraordinary anyway. Even games such as MLB 2K7, which has possibly the best commentary, has its own issues.

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First song from Madden 08 soundtrack announced

EA Sports has revealed the first song from the Madden 08 soundtrack, “I Don’t Want to Stop” from Ozzy Osbourne.

“The anticipation for both Ozzy’s album and this year’s Madden NFL creates a perfect storm of excitement which made I Don’t Want to Stop an ideal lead song for the Madden NFL 08 soundtrack,” said Steve Schnur, EA’s Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing. “Now, The Prince Of Darkness meets The King Of Videogames and we’re enormously proud to have a killer new song from a legendary artist as our first announced track. This is going to be the biggest, wildest and best Madden NFL soundtrack yet.”

Ozzy Osbourne? Really? We’ll see how the song fits with the game, usually EA does a great job with the soundtracks. However an Ozzy song in Madden creating “a perfect storm of excitement” is a little over the top, don’t ya think?

The rest of the songs from the soundtrack will be announced in the coming weeks.

Demo for Madden 08 coming?

Jon Miller dropped a hint that a demo could be coming for Madden 08, and not only that but it could be sooner than anyone would expect. He posted on the IGN insider board…

You’ll have a demo soon enough. Just be ready.

From what I have been able to gather, there are no plans to release a demo for Madden any time soon. I have not heard that there will even be a demo for Madden at all, let alone having one out prior to release of NCAA Football. There has been no talk of an NCAA demo either.

So for now, this rumor started from his comment has no merit. It is possible that demos will be released for one or both of the games. However right now there is no certainty that they will come, or if they do when that would be.

Madden 08 Power Rankings (21-16)

Over the course of the next couple weeks I’ll be posting up my power rankings for Madden 08 based on the current NFL team rosters. Below are 21-16, and you can find 32-28 here and 27-22 here.

21- Minnesota Vikings 

They had a great draft adding in Adrian Peterson, who’ll make for a good combo with Chester Taylor. The run defense should be great in the game, the secondary is another story. But having Tavaris Jackson at QB will be the biggest issue to overcome.

20- Arizona Cardinals 

They still have the skill position players. Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James, and now look to be set at QB with Matt Leinart. The defense is decent although unspectacular with the exception of Adrian Wilson. The offensive line will be the crutch for this team once again.

19- Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers didn’t really anything to improve, and filling Joey Porter’s spot with a rookie actually sets them up to be worse. The look to be a middle-of-the-road type team. No great receivers or runningback and a defense that won’t be as good this year.
18- Washington Redskins

Clinton Portis , Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El will continue to be good offensive weapons, and Jason Campbell should be improved. Sean Taylor we know is a big hitter in the secondary along with newly drafted LaRon Landry. Those are the big names on the team, and will have to carry them to make up for the lack of talent elsewhere.

17- Jacksonville Jaguars 

They replace Deon Grant with Reggie Nelson, so they should be okay there although it will be a downgrade. They have a good set of receivers for the game, but will be stuck with a mediocre QB. A good RB tandem with Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew will help. The defense should be pretty solid overall.

16- San Francisco 49ers

Frank Gore will be one of the best RBs in the game, Alex Smith will be improved at QB and he’ll have good targets with Darrell Jackson and Ashley Lelie joining Vernon Davis. The defense is a little young and the ratings will reflect that, although having Nate Clements now will help a lot. They’ll be used as a darkhorse team this year. Just probably another year away from breaking into the next level.