Update on the Madden 08 PS3 patch

I continue to get emails regarding the second patch for Madden 08 and when it will make its way out for the PS3. I figured it would be helpful to post what is known at this point.

The patch was sent to Sony at the same time it was sent to Microsoft. Apparently Sony had a long line of patches to pass through certification so that is where the holdup is.

Sony’s offices are closed all next week which means that the patch won’t be cleared and sent out until the first week of January at the earliest. There is always the possibility that it shows up next week anyway but it seems unlikely due to the circumstances.

The sixth roster update is also set to be released for both the 360 and PS3. EA is waiting on the PS3 patch to come out first though so both sides will get it at the same time.

FIFA 08 OTP patch fixes

Along with the Online Team Play update that allowed for up to 10 players on their own systems in a single online game, the FIFA 08 team was able to address some other issues at the same time. EA sent out the following detailing the specifics.

Creating and delivering the OTP Update took a huge amount of work on the part of the dev team who really believed they could release the new feature for FIFA 08 even after the launch of the game. During all this hard work they found some time to optimise some other areas of the game after reading feedback from the community. Enclosed is the list of issues we were able to fix in the launch of the 5v5 Online Team Play update.

-Fixed rare Ps3 loading crash and/or infinite load.
-FC Toronto is now referred to correctly as Toronto FC.
-Fixed rare issue where player would lose control of free roam player and/or control free roam player from jumbotron view during online loading.
-Fixed issue where user would be prompted and forced to download squad files every time they attempted to play an online game if they had changed the arena player.
-Reduced CPU free kick ability slightly in lower difficulties.

NCAA Football 08 patch for 360 is out

The patch for the 360 version of the NCAA Football 08 has been released by Microsoft. This is the same patch that came out for the PS3 back at the end of October. EA was able to work around technical conflicts that seemed as though they were going to prevent the patch from coming to the 360.

The patch addresses such issues as toning down the fumbles, more realistic defensive AI, and the ability to better lob passes. It also includes clock extensions allowing more time to choose a play on defense and more time during each pause online.

Madden patch #2 released

The second and more significant patch for Madden 08 has been pushed live by Microsoft. Those with the 360 version will be prompted to download the patch as the game loads up. The PS3 version is expected to receive the patch soon as well. When is dependent on Sony but it is in their hands.

As previously reported the patch addresses the following issues:

Read more

The latest update on the Madden patch

It appears that the long awaited second patch for Madden 08 is nearing clearance for release. There should be an EA producer blog coming very soon that will have more details on when it can be expected.

This is the patch that will address the main issues with the game such as the high rate of fumbles and franchise mode freezes.

It is possible but unlikely they’ll be providing a specific date so we may be looking at range. The impression I get is by the end of next week but there is no way to be certain. It could be any day now or it could be a longer wait. Regardless they wouldn’t be putting out the blog without a solid idea of its status and when it is likely to complete certification and get pushed out.

Updates on some hot community topics

-The 360 demo for College Hoops 2K8 was mentioned as coming “very soon” in the conference call. It seems likely that it is just going through the MS approval process and then it will be deployed. This will probably happen next week possibly on Tuesday, the day the game actually hits stores.

-NHL 08 received a roster update yesterday. It took a long time but a great deal of effort was spent as they updated not just the NHL but the AHL as well.

-NBA Live 08 should be seeing its initial roster update very soon. The Online Team Play is still awaiting approval from MS/Sony before it can be activated.

-The patch for Madden 08 is still going through the lengthy process required before it can be released. There are hopes that EA will soon be able to give an idea on a time frame for when the patch will be expected to make its way out. We may hear from them about that as early as the end of this week. The release of the patch does not appear to be imminent but it is certainly well on the way.

-There has been no additional news on the possibility of the 360 version of NCAA Football 08 receiving the patch that its PS3 counterpart did. The situation is still being evaluated. *Update* There will be a patch for the 360, initial expectations are that it will be out in early December.

-College Hoops 2K8 had the list of 360 achievements come out. You can find them here.

-EA has put out a survey about Madden. It has you rate certain aspects of the game, give your opinions, and even rate All-Pro Football 2K8 in specific areas. You can take the survey here. It takes about 10 minutes to complete.

NCAA Football 08 gets a patch of its own

While the upcoming patch for Madden has been looming for a while, there wasn’t much expectation that NCAA Football 08 would receive one as well. Despite that one was released just recently (under the radar) for the PS3 and seems likely to be out for the 360 in the near future. I am hoping to get word on the status of the 360 patch soon. **See update below the summary for the latest news.**

Unfortunately some of the major issues such as the depth chart button lag were not dealt with, however the gameplay will be affected significantly due to the adjustments. Here is what the patch takes care of:

Gameplay: Fumble Chance has been tuned to more realistic values and logic. Fumbling has been tuned to occur during more realistic scenarios such as big hits and collisions.

Gameplay: Defense Secondary aggressive coverage has been addressed. Defensive players AI has been better tuned for only certain percentile of defensive backs have the ability to make aggressive moves that are effective.

Gameplay: Pass Lead Tuning on Lob passes has been improved.
The user has the ability to lead receivers with lob passes now.

Update 11/1: I have done some digging and found out that due to some technical conflicts there will be no patch released for the 360 version.

Update 11/2: It appears that EA is now attempting to determine if the patch for the 360 could be possible. It had originally been planned to come out for both consoles but the technical conflicts arose for the 360. This does not mean that it is coming, just that they are looking into making it happen. I’ll keep you updated as any news is made available.

Update 11/11: No news on this yet. With Monday the 12th being a holiday, I get the feeling we’ll probably hear something about the 360 version mid-late this week.

Update 11/16: There will be a patch for the 360, with initial expectations being that it will be out in December.

EA clarifies on Madden 08 franchise fix in upcoming patch

As I suspected the patch for Madden 08 will include a fix to the franchise mode that has been causing people to prematurely end their franchises. Unfortunately this information was apparently cut off from the previous blog posting by EA that detailed what the patch was fixing. How they managed to miss that and take four days to clarify I don’t know, but now everyone can calm down.

In addition to everything mentioned earlier the patch will will address:

Franchise - Fixed bug where the FA pool would run out of certain positions

Online Game Reporting- fixed a number of issues where games weren’t being reported correctly or people weren’t getting the right number of ranking points for a win. This will also make stats more accurate.

EA SPORTS World- Accomplishment ‘20 consecutive completions’ not awarded when completions ends up under 100%

Details on the Madden patch

As I previously posted, the second (and more significant) patch for Madden 08 is on the way. In a producer blog the details of what will be fixed with this patch were revealed.

Fumble Fix - Reduced fumble chances in certain situations. This has been tested thoroughly and we feel that people will be happy with a more realistic (and more fun!) number of fumbles. This was priority number 1 for us.

DB Reactions- changes to the way that DBs play man coverage. Defenders in man coverage won’t be able to react to passes that they cannot see. This should make it easier to throw against man coverage.

Favre “Moonwalk”- I love the names that you guys come up with for issues such as this one. You can rest assured that you won’t see Farve (or any QB) dancing toward the sideline anymore.

Hook Zone Flip Bug- I saw a post on a community forum talking about this bug and it turns out the fix was very minimal risk. You can now flip plays with hook zones without the players leaving their zones.

Franchise - Fixed NCAA import issue where players would turn 26

Franchise - Fixed bug where HOF Unlocked players cannot be released in Franchise.

I’m looking forward to going back and playing the game now that the fumbles will have been adjusted. That was one of the first things I noticed at the Community Day and has hampered the experience for me ever since. I just wish they had toned down the kickoff power and frequency of injuries also. The change to DB reaction comes as a pleasant surprise. I’m checking into franchise freeze issues (which weren’t listed) and will post up when I hear back on that subject.

*Update* EA has clarified the details of the patch. It does in fact include the fix to franchise mode. Click here to see the remaining items the patch fixes.

Patch for Madden 08 nearly here

I have been able to confirm that the highly anticipated patch for Madden 08 (360 and PS3) has reached the certification stage. That means should the testing be completed smoothly it will be released in the very near future. I would expect it within the next two weeks.

This coming patch, as I noted about a month ago, is expected to address more highly publicized issues than the first patch did. That includes the abnormally high rate of fumbles and freezes in franchise mode. Once it is released I should have a detailed list of what the patch addressed.

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