Madden and the wand-troller

[Glockstar]

Madden Headed to Revolution
Football done right. A ground-up version built specifically for Nintendo's console.
by Matt Casamassina

April 27, 2006 - Electronic Arts revealed today that a new version of its lucrative football franchise, Madden NFL, is in development for Nintendo's new generation console. The game is -- in a first for the studio -- being developed outside of Tiburon by a new team at EA Canada formed for the purpose of creating Revolution games. Madden NFL for Revolution will be shown at E3 2006 this May.

EA senior vice president John Schappert recently revealed some specifics about the Nintendo build of the game. He said that EA didn't believe in porting games to Nintendo's console, which is why it formed a dedicated group to focus on the machine. "The approach we took is, okay, we're making Madden for Revolution. Forget what the control scheme was before, what should it be?" he told game developer publication Gamasutra.

More interesting, though, is that Schappert also illustrated some of the game mechanics that will separate Madden for Nintendo's new console. To hike a ball in the version, gamers will simply pull up the controller. To throw a ball, they will gesture with a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures may result in bullet passes while more relaxed gestures could effect lob passes, he said. Meanwhile, to kick, players would "... take the controller as if it were your foot and swing up on it." Apparently, the straighter the motion, the more likely that the ball will fly true.

Schappert also noted that more titles for Nintendo's system are already in development by EA and will be revealed at a later date.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/703/703501p1.html

LOL Weeeeeee!

[Gadfly2317]

Good old EA. They're also in the game news lately for finally paying up on the class action suit, and a couple days ago one of the bigwigs there was claiming the Revolution is really hard to program for.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Playing Madden on the Rev doesn't sound like much fun. Actually, from the description, it sounds like I would be better off buying a real football (a NERF if I wanted to feel like Montana) than doing all of those motions with the wand.

It will be interesting to see how long EA has a dedicated team making games for Rev.

[trebor]

To throw a ball, they will gesture with a throwing motion. Hard, fast gestures may result in bullet passes while more relaxed gestures could effect lob passes, he said.

Yeah, bullet passes - until the wand slips out of your hand and goes right through your TV. :mad:

[Gadfly2317]

It will be interesting to see how long EA has a dedicated team making games for Rev.

Not long, probably, except maybe it's WWII shooters. I expect unless there is massive adoption of the rev, they'll go to porting over stuff with the traditional control setup. And as far as original non-sports stuff, that really isn't EA's thing.

Does EA still do the harry potter stuff? A Wand game for that is a no-brainer. Zzzzzaaapp. Zzzzzzaapp. It's weird, but that new name really took the wiind out of the wand for me. Logically, I know it's just a name, but damn. It's like they stopped just shy of calling it the Nintendo Wii-ner, the remote long having been viewed as a surogate penis in the hand of the couch-potato male.

[Fivespot]

one of the bigwigs there was claiming the Revolution is really hard to program for.

That's funny. Probably because they'll have to do more than just port some dumbed down version of last years game taking zero advantage of the new functionality. Didn't they release some DS games like that?

Hard to program for could be subjective slang that really means they have to do work this time around and can't continue releasing rehashed versions. Seriously though, is it truly hard to program for in a computer/programming sense or is it because they now have a wide open slate of options and have to really think long and hard including possibly testing different possibilities?? Just a theory.

Another thought, the Rev controller doesn't have enough buttons for a Madden game so it might kind of force them to use it's functionality rather than shoe-horn a game into a limited button set-up.

[shogun]

Given how stagnant the last 10 years of football games have been gameplay-wise, this actually sounds pretty neat. I can see some ways they might screw up the implementation, but they have caught at least one non-football fan's attention.

[Gadfly2317]

Given how stagnant the last 10 years of football games have been gameplay-wise, this actually sounds pretty neat. I can see some ways they might screw up the implementation, but they have caught at least one non-football fan's attention.

I used to play football a lot, though my preference was for the outrages one's like Blitz, and that one with the robots where the quarterback's head would explode if he got sacked to many times (that one used to be in all the bars.) Any football game would seem like new since it's been so long since I've done it, but I concede, I'm a wii more interested in this than I otherwise would be.

My fave Baseball game--I'm sure I've said it before--was Basewars on NES; robot baseball with hitpoints where you steal, and then joust/fight over the base. I can think of at least a dozen reasons why this thing HAS to see a glorious remake for the Revolution.

[Cuddly Knife]

A Castlevania with a Belmont would be good on the Wii. Whip action could be done like a real whip, and that's really all you need other than the analog to control the character and a button or two for sub-weapons. I would kill for a 2-D vania done on the Wii.

Jeez, I sure hope the wantroller will be able to take all the abuse that people are going to be putting it through. I'm sure Nintendo has thought of this, since they do plan on catering to the non-gamer gamer, who will be flinging the wand like no ones business. Hell I've seen non-gamer gamers do the flinging with just a regular controller, and this wantroller is looking to make things even more interactive than what they are? I see a lot of broken teeth and lamps and wands in the future, courtesy of the Wii.

[Fivespot]

and that one with the robots where the quarterback's head would explode if he got sacked to many times (that one used to be in all the bars.)

Cyberball 2072? I also loved that game back in the arcade days. It's available on the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 compilation which is how I remember it's name.