EA Sports responds to Madden 10 graphical change on Wii
Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 6:00am by Boss Hog
Depending on how you slice it, the new look of Madden NFL on Wii is either a welcome change or repulsive break from the norm. When EA Sports unveiled the unique, admittedly more playful look last month, a lot of fans were turned off. Overnight, the Wii version ditched the simulated realism it was known for in favor of arcade exaggeration. Why?
We caught up with the Madden Wii designer Matt Read for his reaction to the reaction, his explanation of the graphical change, an update on the features to be included on Wii (e.g. online multiplayer, exclusive modes), and why he thinks Madden 10 for Wii “stands on its own as a true to its roots football game.”
The legendary Infendo: Some fans were surprised and unsure what to think of the graphical deviation on Wii. What do you say to them?
Matt Read: We’ve stayed true to the tradition of the Madden Franchise and authentic to the NFL. From the uniforms to the stadiums, you’ll find all details you would expect from a Madden product. We’ve got the pirate ship in Tampa, the Bronco statue in Denver, and even the Ketchup Bottles in Pittsburgh. Our uniforms have been completely redone and have even greater representation than previous years: team-specific name font on the back of the jersey. We’ve had a great time building Madden NFL 10 and we’re excited to get this into the hands of Madden fans around the world.
Why did you decide to move from realistic graphics to more playful ones? What research or inspiration solidified this decision?
The first thing we did for Madden NFL 10 was study Madden as a whole on the Wii. We looked at a visual timeline of Madden and the graphics were pretty much the same since Madden NFL 2001. We also looked at what’s going on with our Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Madden. That product is built to be as photorealistic as possible. Given that our product is on the Wii hardware, we felt the best move was to create something unique that was a better fit for the console. We want it to be instantly recognizable as Madden NFL 10 on the Wii, while staying true to its roots, and stand on its own as a must-own football title.
During our research for Madden NFL 10, we came across an article where the Team Fortress 2 team discussed the challenges they faced and how it related to the market as a whole. That was something we could relate with and felt inspired by. At the same time, we were looking at everything from movies to graphic novels to student films. As we were taking in these influences, we took a long look at Madden NFL 09. We then thought about the lifespan of the Wii and if we stayed with the same approach, it will have been over 10 years of the same look before the next generation of Wii console hits.
In Madden NFL 09, we had three body types. With those three, we observed a lot of silhouette repetition across players that you’d assume would be different. This was especially apparent in your pre-snap camera. In Madden NFL 09, Peyton Manning, Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher had the same build. Manning had the same size on his arms and legs as Urlacher and Moss. We saw aspects like this as an opportunity to push greater distinction across the players. It was also our goal to make it easier for new players to quickly assess a player’s strength or skill based upon the body type. When you look at the game in Madden NFL 10, the body types reinforce the skills and help break up the repetition you can get with 22 players on the field.
Madden 10 features five body types as opposed to three from Madden 09
For our character design, we looked at key positions and emphasized the prototypical build you would associate with star players at those positions. For example, we’ve got the heroic quarterback, the thick-legged, compact running back, the muscular, knock-your-block-off linebacker, the hulking massive lineman, and the dynamic receiver/defensive back. For each of the body types, we’ve designed a unique body, head, helmet, and uniform texture with specific wrinkles that support the overall shapes of the character.
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May 28th, 2009 at 8:28 am
EA HAS 1 GAME THATS WORTH GETTING AND ITS TIGERWOODS STOP ALL THIS RUBBISH PLAESE MORE SUPPORT FOR THE WII I DONT THINK SO SPEND MORE TIME TO GET THE REALISTIC GRAPHICS IS WHAT I SAY EA STOP GIVING THE OTHER TWO THE UPPER HAND WII CAN DO REALISTIC GRAPHICS THE GAMECUBE COULD SO WII CAN PUMP OUT SOME INCREDIBLE REAL LOOKING GRAPHICS IF U TRY HARD ENOUGH GUYS REMEMBER THE WII ONLY NEEDS TO SUPPORT 480P SO LOTS AND LOTS OF POWER TO YOUR DISSPOSLE DONT LIKE THESE EXCUSES WII CANT DO THIS WII CANT DO THAT ITS ALL RUBBISH TALK LOOK AT CAPCOM,HVS,FACTOR 5,BETHEDA,THEY ARE NOT MOANING THE WII CANT DO THIS RUBBISH THEY GET ON WITH IT
May 28th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Personally I love the new look. I think EA is focusing on the most important aspect of what a game should be – fun. Sure the realistic graphics are nice, but given the choice between graphics and game play, I’ll take game play every time.
To me it just looks a whole lot more fun. I can’t wait to give this game a try.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:56 am
The new look is ok. I’m not thrilled with it but at the same time what are you going to do? The visuals will never match the PS3/360 and honestly the visuals of the past Wii Madden games were pretty disappointing, even for a Wii game.
As far as the gameplay….unless they radically change something, then I’m not really buying that the gameplay is better than the other versions. I didn’t feel the past Wii versions were better in the gameplay deparment, so it’s not like anyone was having to choose in the past. I don’t think the “gameplay vs. graphics” argument really applies here.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I’m with Joshdad – I think the new look is fantastic. Photo realistic characters in games are creepy anyway – the Uncanny Valley is a bore. Hats off to EA for giving this game some real style.
I love the look of Team Fortress 2 and I love the look of the new Madden for Wii. Ignore the haters, EA, and keep up the great work. This game will sell just fine.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:40 am
This looks like a must own title to me.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:16 am
As someone that likes football, but never liked Madden franchise, any change is very welcomed by me.
Also, The Incredibles is one of my favorite movies, so I like the style
.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Blah. I will try it when it’s $19.99. Maybe.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
This actually looks cool to me – I think I may get this now that EA has decided to put emphasis on gameplay rather than graphics for the Wii.
Seriously, as a computer game developer, I can tell you that gameplay is 100-thousand times more important than graphics. You get the gameplay down to an amazing replay value, and you have a multi-million seller title in your pocket.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I honestly haven’t liked a football game since they killed the 2K football series. He’s right, though, the Wii can’t pull photorealism so why not optimize the look for the console? it’s as if everyone forgets that you can keep the gameplay solid no matter what coat of paint you put over it. the added visual variety of the additional character model types will do nothing but help. If you’re THAT stuck on having a realistic american football sim, you should probably reconsider your choice of the Wii as your console. it’s just not really meant for that, and that’s not a slag against anyone.
Joltman: please forward your claim about gameplay leading to sales to the crew of MadWorld, they could probably use a laugh.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I’m not trying to start a fight or anything, but must the “graphics vs. gameplay” debate come up every time graphics are brought up? I understand the sentiment and I agree, however there doesn’t HAVE to be an either/or scenario. I’ve played plenty of games with great visuals AND great gameplay, from this generation all the way back to the NES days.
It seems like this generation it’s come to a head, and I feel like the debate has been played out for a long while now. And frankly both sides have led to the abuse; I feel many PS3/360 fanboys put too much into graphics and it’s led to a lot of high budget stinkers like Lair that have great visuals and poor gameplay. But on the other side, I feel many Wii fanboys use it as an excuse for poor visuals on the Wii when the Wii CAN do much better, and in the majority of cases the gameplay in no way makes up for the poor visuals. It seems some Wii fanboys think that a game on the Wii automatically = better gameplay and I think that’s not even close to being a fact.
And I’m not saying Madden ‘10 has poor visuals, I’m just getting a bit sick of the gameplay/graphics stuff having to be brought up every time “graphics” and “Wii” are brought up together.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I love it when a dev can present a thoroughly thought out argument and explanation for why their game is how it is… but people still don’t get it.
Honestly, I couldn’t see this game looking anything but much worse if they were going for realism. Personally I have no desire too look at a bunch of linemens carefully rendered spandex clad asses for hours at a time anyways.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@tylor:
I did say gameplay was more important than graphics; however, if you want to use MadWorld as a reference, please note that they made the gameplay totally worthwhile and excellent FIRST. And then they refined the graphics while not injuring the gameplay engine they developed.
If developers followed this rule (gameplay first, then graphics if you have time), then we would see some more quality games arrive from third-party developers.
Too many developers who develop cross-platform try to make the graphics identical on all platforms first, and then fix the bugs. This is what leads to the whining and moaning about the Wii version.
EA is finally realizing this difference, and is looking to me like the third big-name third-party company to start putting more effort into their Wii games (Sega is the first, Activision second).
May 28th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
they need to stop with the BullSh** seriously the wii can handle good graphics they dont need to compare to the 360 but they can still look realistic instead of making it like backyard football and now they have even toned down the motion controls to a waggle and only a couple original movements remain, even the passing motion is gone wtf. what is the point of getting this if there isnt any good motion controls!? where is wii motion plus? im picking madden 10 up on the 360 and might get this in the bargain bin.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
It’s nice to see they are working on the visuals and not maintaining the status quo.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
@ Joltman: totally correct, but the point I was alluding too is that quality games with good gameplay (graphics aside completely at this point) does not translate directly into good sales. Madworld plays well, reviews almost universally acknowledge that it’s tight and has good gameplay (worst comment I’ve heard is repetition, but that’s a complaint against the whole genre) and yet, it has sold very poorly. There is not always a direct correlation between success in creating good gameplay and success in creating a product that puts up good sales figures.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:35 am
As Players of Team Fortress 2 will attest, as long as a game is a blast to play (and is marketed well), non-realistic, stylized graphics can be forgiven. Sometimes even embraced.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:23 am
@tylor:
Also take note of other violent video games on the market, particularly the new GTA for the DS. That’s an excellently made game just like MadWorld is, but it too hasn’t sold well either.
I think people are just becoming less and less interested in violent video games at this time.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Chill out, Matt. ALL CAPS makes you look like a dumbass
June 1st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Wait until it comes out, play it. Understand how it feels in actual gameplay before you rip it.