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Become a student of football in Madden 15
The "overhaul" to Madden 15's defensive controls announced in June is intended to make players more successful on that side of the ball, yet that won't help those new to the sport itself. For that, the development team at EA Tiburon is turning to the game's Skills Trainer mode to help players become better students of the game. "In Skills Trainer for Madden NFL 15, we are attempting to do something we have not done in the past, which is teach players basic football concepts in addition to stick skills," Madden 15 Assistant Producer Danny Doeberling told Joystiq. "When we playtest Madden year in and year out, we found out that a good chunk of players are not familiar with some of the terminology and some of the intricacies of the game, and football in general."
Madden 15 cover art wants a high-five
Madden NFL 15's cover art, which features Seattle Seahawks cornerback and Super Bowl champion Richard Sherman, appeared on Amazon's listing for the game today. EA Sports confirmed to Joystiq that the box art is legitimate, though we're not entirely sure what Sherman's pose is supposed to indicate. As a rare defensive player on the cover of a game that emphasizes an "overhaul" on that side of the ball, perhaps Sherman is posing to tell the offense to stop in their tracks? Or he's about to shout "Jumanji" at a stampeding herd of exotic animals? Maybe Sherman is directing traffic at a crosswalk or is in need of a high-five? The star defender's pose on the cover is lost on us, though one thing is certain: Madden 15 will launch August 26 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out larger versions of the box art in our gallery below. [Image: EA Sports]
In Madden 15, defense wins championships
It's commonly agreed that Richard Sherman is the best cornerback in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks player was voted by fans as the star of Madden NFL 15 late last week, making him one of a few rare exceptions in a long line of offensive players like quarterbacks and running backs to grace the game's cover. He also may wind up being one of the most fitting cover stars. Madden is typically an offensive player's game. The football sim traditionally favors bold spins and jukes or strong-armed throws over the understated defensive player's actions, and Creative Director of Gameplay Rex Dickson knows that well. In a phone conversation with Joystiq, Dickson recalled choice quotes from fans on how playing defense in Madden was previously "boring," or that players would opt to simulate their snaps on that side of the ball.
Madden 15 cover vote starts, rookies packed into Ultimate Team
EA Sports kicked off its cover athlete vote for Madden NFL 15 during the first round of the NFL Draft last night, and is slated to end after four rounds of voting on June 6. The vote features just 16 candidates this year instead of the standard 32, which is an even more rapid decrease from Madden 25's two brackets of 64 football players. The first round's eight match-ups can be found after the break. The developers at EA Tiburon also celebrated the first round of the NFL Draft by inserting each of the first round's 32 draftees into Madden Ultimate Team card packs in Madden 25, starting today. It makes for a fine opportunity to check out the digital versions of each recruit without having to wait to play as them in Madden 15, which is due to arrive August 26 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Just don't trust Madden to predict which rookies will be picked by teams in the draft, it won't go well.
Madden misses Drafting 101 with 6% of NFL picks
Our grand experiment with Madden NFL 25 this week, in which we simulated the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft using Electronic Arts' popular football game, ended as the NFL finished round one last night. In all, EA's Madden 25 only managed to place two athletes on their correct teams: Cornerback Justin Gilbert with the Cleveland Browns [#8] and defensive tackle Aaron Donald with the St. Louis Rams [#13], making for a lackluster success rate of six percent. Good job, good effort, Madden! The game did manage to place players of correct relative positions with five teams in the first round, as Minnesota drafted a quarterback, San Francisco took a defensive back and Pittsburgh selected a linebacker last night as well. Yet EA's Madden 25 wasn't able to account for the eight trades that took place last night, in which Cleveland traded back from the fourth pick to the eighth spot, which is where they chose Gilbert, later selecting quarterback Johnny Manziel [#22].
Madden NFL 15 hitting current and next-gen turf August 26
The next game in EA Sports' treasured football series, Madden NFL 15, will launch August 26 in North America and August 29 in Europe, the publisher announced today. The game will arrive simultaneously for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Madden 15 will include "an entirely new broadcast presentation that delivers Madden NFL game day like never before with dramatic all-new camera angles, as well as dynamic pre-game and halftime features," according to the announcement. EA will begin a cover athlete vote on May 8, starting with a special announcement at the NFL Draft. The accompanying release date trailer features Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, who may be a popular choice for voters as he's the reigning NFL defensive player of the year. [Image: EA Sports]
Design your own team logos, uniforms in Madden NFL contest
EA Tiburon kicked off a design contest late last week for the next game in the Madden NFL series. The developer is challenging fans with creating new logos and uniforms for the game, and is accepting submissions now through March 7. EA's last release in the series, Madden 25, brought back the ability to relocate NFL teams in the game to 17 different cities. While the contest announcement stresses that EA prefers user-created logo and uniform designs based on those 17 cities and the dozens of team names that were created for Madden 25, it will accept submissions that involve other team names and locations. Those looking to enter their designs for, say, a Milwaukee-based football franchise can download EA's uniform and logo design packet (in .zip file form) to get started. [Image: EA Sports]
Madden 25 title update to fix Ultimate Team issues and injury woes
The next patch for Madden NFL 25 is on the way, EA revealed in a blog post. The title update promises "improved stability" across all game modes and addresses a number of gameplay concerns had by players, such as the frequency of injuries and the ability to truck through tackles being tuned too high. Additionally, players were previously being awarded wins without completing solo challenges in Madden's Ultimate Team mode – another bug being squashed in the upcoming patch. Among the Connected Franchise mode tweaks the title update is expected to fix is the accelerated clock issues found in head-to-head games, as the play clock would not automatically wind down when being set that way in the game's career mode. The patch also addresses a bug in which some athletes from imported draft classes would not have facemasks on their helmets, which just sounds like a group of rookies that prefer to live dangerously to us. We've contacted EA to find out when the patch is expected to arrive and included the full list of fixes provided by the publisher after the break.
Madden 25 scores CoachGlass companion app so you can pretend to be a defensive coordinator
With yearly Madden titles appearing for every platform under the sun, Microsoft is attempting to set itself apart with CoachGlass, a companion app that will work exclusively with Madden 25 for Xbox One. CoachGlass will let players up their defensive game by offering information on opponents, including offensive habits, best players and even advice on the best formations to use. In short, it does all the legwork for you to pretend to be a real NFL defensive coordinator. CoachGlass will be accessible as part of the Xbox One's SmartGlass tablet app. The Xbox 360 SmartGlass app is currently available for iOS, so we imagine the Xbox One version would make an appearance on the App Store sometime between now and the new console's November 22 debut. [via Joystiq]
Madden 25 getting play-calling assistance on Xbox One
EA announced a Xbox One-exclusive SmartGlass app for Madden NFL 25 called CoachGlass today. The app will be available to players with a phone or tablet that can support SmartGlass at the system's launch on November 19. CoachGlass pulls data from "tens of thousands" of online matches to offer suggestions for play-calling on defense. It factors in the down and distance at any moment in the game, points of reference for where teams are on the field, to determine an opponent's tendencies on offense. The app presents players on defense with a list of the opponent's preferred targets at a given moment as well as the areas of the field they opt to throw or run to at that point in the game. CoachGlass is available to use in every mode of Madden 25 as well, so it's not just relegated to online matches. When Microsoft revealed its SmartGlass app for Xbox 360 at its 2012 pre-E3 press event, EA's Madden series was one of the featured properties being shown off. EA Tiburon wound up shelving its original app idea for Madden 13, in which players could create athletes and then take them on the field in the game.
Madden 25 trailer showcases 'next generation of presentation'
EA has unveiled a new trailer for Madden 25 which focuses less on oversized bruisers smashing into one another, and more on the attractive aesthetics to be found in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 incarnations of the game.
How football players make the grade in Madden
If you watch the NFL and play Madden every year as the season progresses, you might use the game as a barometer for real-life player performance. There are over 1,600 athletes playing in the NFL during the regular season, but due to increased roster limits during the offseason - when coaches are testing players to compile their final roster - there could be over 1,100 more players to account for on the field and in the game. Someone has to create and manage the skill ratings for these players in the series every year, and that someone is EA Tiburon's Donny Moore, known at the developer as the Madden team's "Ratings Czar." Moore knows firsthand that some athletes are simply better than others, and they prove it as the NFL season progresses. Take Victor Cruz, for example. He started Madden NFL 12 with an overall player rating in the 60's out of a possible 99, among the worst players in the game. Like other NFL player hopefuls, the New York Giants receiver was an afterthought, since he wasn't selected among the 255 athletes chosen in the seven-round NFL Draft. The odds of an undrafted free agent, and even the occasional players drafted in a lower round in some cases, making a team's final 53-man roster is fairly low, and the perceived talent level of those players, compared to their drafted peers, are even lower. Cruz made the cut, and eventually wowed fans and fantasy football owners throughout the 2011 season. In his debut season's third week, Cruz caught three passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles. In that week's Madden 12 roster update, his overall rating - the out-of-99 score given to players based on performance - jumped from 64 to 72. By season's end the Giants were Super Bowl champions and Cruz's overall Madden 12 rating leapt to 88, thanks to an astonishing 1,536 yard, nine-touchdown season. As Cruz impressed fans, Moore increased his Madden rating, which meant his virtual counterpart's abilities improved as well. %Gallery-188881%
Rank NFL players, impact weekly Madden 25 roster updates
NFL.com is hosting a Madden 25 player rankings challenge hub, in which users can sort through a list of players every week to decide who is the best of the best. EA says these lists will be compiled, similar to EA's cover athlete voting process in the past, and used as a resource when the team does its weekly Madden 25 roster updates. The voting challenge also includes a special list of 25 young athletes making their mark on the sport today, such as Cardinals corner Patrick Peterson or Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb. EA says fans are "solely responsible" for determining who the top "Next Generation" player will be this year, as each week in the voting process the top player earns 25 points toward their cumulative season total, second place earns 24 points and so on. Given that Madden 25 will launch on next-gen systems this November, crowning a top Next Generation player through fan voting is appropriate. The fan rankings for the other listed positions won't have a direct "one to one" impact on the in-game roster updates that happen after every week of the NFL season, but they also won't be totally ignored, EA says.
EA: Madden 25 sells through over 1 million units in first week
In its first week on store shelves, Madden NFL 25 has sold through more than 1 million copies, EA announced. The publisher also noted that Madden players have clocked in nearly 6 million hours of play time and opened more than 3.3 million card packs in the game's Ultimate Team mode, all in its introductory week. Madden 25 is one of the current-gen games included in the Xbox One and PS4 upgrade programs, such as Microsoft's deal for players to trade up to Xbox One versions of select games for $10. Those upgrading from current-gen to the Xbox One or PS4 versions of Madden 25 will receive an extra six All-Pro card packs in Ultimate Team and can transfer teams to their next-gen system of choice.
Madden NFL 25 for iOS available now as a free download
EA's kicking off its free-to-play mobile strategy with an iOS version of the much-anticipated Madden NFL 25. Available now via the App Store, the popular gaming franchise arrives on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as a gratis download, though there are (naturally) a slew of in-app purchases that Electronic Arts is hoping you'll splurge on. For example, there's an All Madden Bundle priced at $100. As far as gameplay goes, the publisher says this year's Madden on iOS has been improved with much better touch controls, which should go hand-in-hand with stuff like Ultimate Team and its trademark official licenses for all 32 squads. Speaking of which, we're really wondering who's listed as the starting QB for the New York Jets...
Here's the full player ratings list for Madden 25
EA Tiburon's player ratings list for Madden 25, at least as it stands for preseason football before the weekly roster updates start in September, is now available. Sporting News has a full spreadsheet with every NFL player's rating, from Seahawks QB Russell Wilson's 86 speed rating to Jets rookie CB Dee Milliner's 88 man coverage rating. Madden 25's release is just around the corner: The game launches August 27 on Xbox 360 and PS3, and will come to Xbox One and PS4 at a later date. Feel free to check out the above trailer for the game's top defensive players, but who doesn't prefer spreadsheets over videos?
Aaron Rodgers, Adrian Peterson top Madden 25's players on offense
EA kicked off its Madden 25 player ratings reveal this week, issuing a single trailer to cover the top five players in each offensive category. The top-rated QB to start the game is Aaron Rodgers at 98 overall, while the top running back is Adrian Peterson, who is rated 99 overall.
Facebook app shows every team's playbook for Madden 25
With the first week of the preseason in full swing and regular season NFL games on the way, players that are eager for Madden 25 might want to do a little game-planning in advance. Prima Games put together a nice tool for armchair QBs in the form of a free, simple Facebook app that shows every team's offensive and defensive playbooks in the game. The app breaks down plays by formation, so it's easy to find your favorite gun snugs routes without sifting through strong I-formation plays. I like the look of Seattle's mix of plays in the pistol formation, which will go well with the running game improvements and combo moves in the game. Madden 25 will launch on August 27 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and will head to next-gen systems at a later date. The game's demo, which features a Super Bowl rematch between the Ravens and the 49ers, will be available next Tuesday, August 13.
Madden 25 features All-25 dream team coached by Madden
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, Madden 25 will include a special All-25 Team comprised of the best players to step foot on the virtual turf, usable in the Play Now mode of the game. Of course, the team wouldn't be complete without the game's namesake, John Madden, as its head coach, who will bring his own special playbook to the sidelines. EA Sports will lift the curtains on two players on the dream team's depth chart per day, starting today with former Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott and former Rams running back Marshall Faulk. EA's All-25 team hub offers a few ratings for each player, such as Faulk's 90 catching and Alstott's 98 trucking ratings. Faulk is a respectable, albeit curious choice, given that Barry Sanders is the cover athlete for the game. Madden 25 will launch on Xbox 360 and PS3 on August 27, and will come to Xbox One and PS4 at a later date.
Joe Flacco is the only new clutch player in Madden 25
EA Tiburon introduced its "clutch trait" for in-game athletes in Madden 12 as a means of providing a boost in players' ratings when the right circumstances were in place, namely when the game is on the line in the 4th quarter or overtime. That trait will carry over to Madden 25, and oddly enough, the list of players that will start the game out with the clutch trait is nearly identical to the one announced for Madden 13 last year. One name is new to the list: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco certainly earned the trait, given his stellar playoff performance and Super Bowl win. Only two other names are missing from last year's list, Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, and that's because those linebackers retired during the offseason. EA Tiburon's Donny Moore, the "Ratings Czar" for the Madden series, tells Joystiq the team "decided when we added these traits that we wanted it to be a special thing, very unique, there wouldn't be a clutch player on every team necessarily, so we sort of stuck to that mantra when we assigned the traits." %Gallery-186852%
