Madden 09 online play gets first piece of disappointing news

Madden 09 producer Phil Frazier is continuing to answer questions in the game’s official forum. The most notable piece of info to come out since the set of news I posted on earlier is that variable weather will not be found online. Hearing that doesn’t bring about much confidence that other much needed online enhancements will be coming this year.

Weather will not be available online. It’s clear that many of you are interested in this functionality so it’s already on my growing list of features from the community. Honestly, I’d prefer if we solved the online lag issues before we worry about weather. We will be featuring the live weather feed in Madden 09.

Well so much for the hope that online play was going to be taken seriously for once. That great looking screenshot from the other day? You’ll never experience it in an online game. Seems unlikely then that even night games will be in then. It would also mean that online franchise (if added this year) would have no weather or night games which would ruin part of that whole experience. Get ready for a bunch of stale ideal weather games yet again if you play online at all.

Granted it seems to be asking a bit much for these necessary options to be added when they haven’t even gotten the game to run lag-free or avoid high rates of disconnects yet. However EA Canada’s recent releases (NBA Live, NHL, FIFA) have brought about vastly improved online performance along with added modes and options. Will depth charts transfer online so people don’t have to set them before every game? Will you be able to choose the stadium that is played in? Will alternate uniforms be selectable? Will unranked games be tracked at all? Will there be any form of co-op play? All seem even more unlikely after hearing that variable weather hasn’t made it in this year. Disappointing to say the least.

Hey, but field goal nets have been added to the game (thankfully) so now that one can be scratched off the easy complaint list.

NFL Head Coach 09 will have standalone release

Just two weeks ago I wrote how the possibility EA Sports would change their decision to make NFL Head Coach 09 exclusive to the Madden 09 Collector’s Edition was still very much alive. Today EA made it official that the game will be out the first week of September to coincide with the opening of the NFL season as a standalone title and will retail for $49.99

This development doesn’t change the value of purchasing Head Coach and Madden together (save $20 plus getting it three weeks early) but it does make it possible for anyone who wants to pick up Head Coach (whether it is because they don’t want Madden or already own it) to do so.

Madden Mock draft picks 27-32

These final five picks concludes the Madden Mock Draft with only a recap of the entire mock still to come. With the exception of the 49ers all of these teams will go into the game next year as powerhouses. Despite that they can still capitalize on their picks and improve their status in Madden through them.

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Madden and NCAA Football screenshot update

EA Sports will be releasing a screen of a new alternate jersey every weekday. With the stated 50+ alternates that should run it all the way up to around release time. The first came out yesterday and displayed the Kansas Jayhawks red jersey. I won’t be doing a post for each screen but they will be added into the gallery on a daily basis or you can check the NCAA Football 09 website for them as they go up.

*Notre Dame now added to the gallery.

I have the full size Madden 09 snow screenshot which offers a much better look than the “micro” one that Gamestop decided to run with. Both “Madden Monday” full size screens can be found in the gallery.