Through an interview with producers Justin Withers and Ronnie Morales I was able to get a good idea of everything involved with the setup/procedures and new features that are being rolled out this year with EA Fantasy Football. The confusion created by the previews that have been released on it should be taken care of thanks to this discussion.

First of all the website based leagues remain. Drafting through the websites will function as normal. They are still completely free including the live web-based drafts and even the live stat tracking. The exporting of teams into Madden 09 will work for all types of leagues regardless of whether they use the website or live console draft.

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Earlier this morning I reacted to the info provided by IGN regarding EA’s Fantasy Football leagues. It turns out the details they provided weren’t accurate (or at the very least weren’t explained properly).

It turns out that not only has the pricing not been finalized, but the $15 that was cited by IGN for the 360/PS3 draft application would be per league and not per owner. The optional live stats would be on an individual basis which is the norm with most league offerings.

I have an interview later today with the lead producer for EA Fantasy Football. Any questions that you feel would be worth asking drop in the comments.

Update: Full details on EA Fantasy Football from the interview can be read here.

Update: Specific details coming soon. The IGN info isn’t completely accurate.

Update #2: Full details on EA Fantasy Football thanks to an interview conducted with the producers can be read here.

While the details on EA Sports Fantasy Football were somewhat vague they sounded great. There would be drafting and live stats via the PS3 and 360 and importing of your teams into Madden 09. The leagues and teams would be free. Apparently they specifically mention those being free because the actual drafting and live stats won’t be.

The Fantasy Football download will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points (or $15 on PSN) with live stat tracking available for an additional 400 MP ($5). While drafting your fantasy squad isn’t possible online just yet, you and your friends can sit in your living room, pick your squads the same as you’ve done in the past and then upload them to EA’s online fantasy website. There are video clips that will play after picking the top 60 or so players with stat summaries from the previous season to let you know what you can expect in the coming year. You can also load that team into Madden and use it as a standard fantasy draft squad. (Via IGN)

Originally I had imagined the drafting and stats would be accessed through Madden but it looks as though it’ll be a standalone program. It’s understandable that they would want to charge for this considering the amount of work that has been put into it. I just don’t see many people utilizing these services given the prices no matter how cool they may be. The majority doesn’t spend money on league services and can live with their current Yahoo (or wherever) experience. Good luck getting a group of friends together that are all willing to pay $15-20 towards this when that money could’ve been pooled for the league winner.

There are also some important questions that need to be answered around the importing of teams into Madden. Those include how the teams are filled out at positions not utilized in the fantasy league, the customization options, and whether they’ll be playable online.

The EA Sports Fantasy Football website now contains a trailer that details some of what to expect from their league system. It will officially be launching on June 11th.

• Leagues/teams are free
• Manage league drafts through the 360 and PS3
• Live scoring on the 360 and PS3
• Import your fantasy team into Madden 09
• Advanced commissioner scoring and setup

Back at the end of February EA was actively looking for suggestions on how to integrate fantasy football into the Madden experience. It looks like they’ve taken some of those ideas and implemented them such as the importing of your fantasy team into the game along with also offering the live drafts and live scoring via the PS3 or 360. For the importing of teams I’ll be interested to find out how they are filled at positions that aren’t being utilized in the fantasy league.

I’d still like to see something along the lines of fantasy football “achievements” on the website and a ticker in the game that would display league stats, scores, and news (such as transactions) throughout the week.

Hopefully you’ll be able to play with your fantasy teams in unranked online games. You basically could do that last year but it was a lengthy (and at first confusing) process to put together a custom team and play online with them.