EA adds dumbed down control options for Wii sports games

27 Comments by Ross Miller Jul 5th 2007 5:25PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports

The Electronic Arts sports titles on Nintendo Wii are making every effort to appeal to every Wii owner possible. In addition to throwing on minigames like they were free gifts in an informercial offer, the publisher is also introducing Family Play controls to their upcoming Madden, NBA Live and FIFA Soccer releases.

According to the press release, those who opt for the Family Play controls play without the nunchuk adapter and handle the key actions (e.g., shooting, passing, snapping, and throwing) while the game handles everything else. It sounds a lot like how Wii Sports handled tennis and baseball.

More fleshed-out and advanced controls are still available and can be used alongside a Family-style player. Let's hope the Family Play-assisted AI isn't too helpful and gives them an unfair advantage in multiplayer.

Gallery: Madden 08 Wii Screens

Gallery: FIFA 08 (Wii)

Tags: ea, electronic arts, ElectronicArts, family, fifa, fifa soccer, FifaSoccer, football, madden, nba, nba live, NbaLive, nfl, soccer, wii sports, WiiSports

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Spitkicker: Jul 5th 2007; 5:31PM

What? EA has dumbed something down? LOL.

Davinche: Jul 5th 2007; 5:33PM

This was posted here before, buy you were not so harsh (or should I say real) about what exactly was going on.

Davinche: Jul 5th 2007; 5:33PM

This was posted here before, buy you were not so harsh (or should I say real) about what exactly was going on.

Ska Oreo: Jul 5th 2007; 5:42PM

Before the haters arrive and begin to trash Nintendo:

THIS IS ONLY AN OPTION THAT YOU CAN CHOOSE! YOU CAN STILL PLAY IT LIKE REGULAR MADDEN!!!!!

Admiral_Mike: Jul 5th 2007; 5:46PM

Pretty good idea, simple for the very casual or newcomers who want more wii sports type games, more complex for the hardcore who didn't like the simplified machanics in wii sports.

Vidikron: Jul 5th 2007; 6:01PM

Wasn't the AI dumbed down in the previous Wii version? Will that be the same for 08?

HAHAHQ: Jul 5th 2007; 6:08PM

Wow the help or no help those madden screenshots look like SH*T. The jaggies and draw distance are just horrible. too play it out they made the background out of focus

Ska Oreo: Jul 5th 2007; 6:10PM

@7

That might be because,

IT'S FOR A FUCKING WII GAME!!!

NintendoFanbot: Jul 5th 2007; 6:11PM

Notice how the 'intuitive control for casual gamers' from Madden 2007 are now the 'advanced controls' for Madden 2008. :P

OMG THE WIFE-O-METER THEORY AT WORK

Ian Von Porter: Jul 5th 2007; 6:33PM

The comparison of Madden 07 and 08 basically confirms that the Wii's graphical capabilities have been maxed out... not even a year after release.

CPUs and GPUs from 2001 ftw!

Grog: Jul 5th 2007; 6:38PM

I don't know about anyone else, but I think this is great - it opens up the possibility of my wife actually presenting some competition if I can convince her to play. On Madden 06 I'd have to give her a Madden team and play her with a Euro NFL team just to let her score once in a while.

vidGuy: Jul 5th 2007; 6:42PM

The visuals are looking pretty nice and the addition of Family Play is cool. Making games more accessible is fantastic. The real controls make this game fantastic and much better than any other Madden I've played. I can't even touch 360 Madden or Tiger Woods after playing the Wii counterparts.

Kini Kinetic: Jul 5th 2007; 7:07PM

I may actually buy Madden and Fifa this year... These controls are great. I am as casual as they come, and this works...

Mr Khan: Jul 5th 2007; 7:21PM

@ Ian

I've said it before, you can't claim a game has maxed out the engine unless it looks better than Metroid Prime 3, Resident Evil 4, and Super Smash Bros Brawl (let alone not looking better than THUG)

but i shouldn't feed the trolls

Sean: Jul 5th 2007; 7:41PM

Ian: yeah, because Madden has always been at the forefront of pushing your system to its limits.

WTF? Madden has long been nothing but years of roster updates. The graphics have barely changed year over year for all systems.

Rubang B: Jul 5th 2007; 8:21PM

I'm not interested at all, but hey, it's optional, and the more (options) the merrier.

Matt B: Jul 5th 2007; 8:58PM

Hmmmm....

Dumbed down controls for the wii. Won't bother to make the PS3 push harder than 30FPS in Madden... EA is fkin lazy. If it wasn't for NCAA 08, you would n't get any of my money this year EA you bastards!

vidGuy: Jul 5th 2007; 9:13PM

Matt, do you realize these controls are IN ADDITION to the awesome controls they've IMPROVED over last year's version?

PS3's issues are a result of its hardware, not eA.

Sidepocket: Jul 5th 2007; 9:46PM

@ NintendoFanbot

They said easier controls not casual jerk off. ;D

Patrick: Jul 5th 2007; 9:47PM

"(e.g., shooting, passing, snapping, and throwing)"

Note: shooting controls are only available when playing as the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jonathan Tran: Jul 5th 2007; 9:50PM

This is awesome, now you can play with one hand while you shove doritos in your mouth with the other

zwarrior: Jul 5th 2007; 10:19PM

Its not a bad idea

t_m: Jul 6th 2007; 2:01AM

Sweet!

The EA wii games have by far the most advanced and intuitive controls of any of the versions.. bt its a good idea to add a simplified mode for beginners. (as the Wii has a LOT of those).

Mabui: Jul 6th 2007; 9:09AM

I think it is a good idea, especially if multiple friends come over, so you don't need nunchuks for every person, just a Wii remote. It also might allow people to play games other then mini-game banazas against their friends and relatives that aren't heavy into games.

Good move. Respect + 1

Mike: Jul 6th 2007; 10:58AM

Hey, EA, where's my Wii NHL game?

Lou D: Jul 6th 2007; 3:21PM

As a Madden '05 (Gamecube), Madden '07 Wii owner these shrinked 800x450 (vs. 852x480) screens look like a significant improvement over '07. Nice to see EA's got a handle on the latest dev kit.

Also, now with these new Family Play controls, EA can market this game to the casual gamer for once. I don't know why all the fanboys are whining - EAsy Play has been a feature for a long time now. Last year's intuitive Wii controls brought a new level of joy to hardcore Madden fans. They have been refined even more now.

Fanboys will be fanboys - I guess...

Pandaguy87: Jul 6th 2007; 5:47PM

Hell yeah Spurs, you show Arsenal who's the best in London!

Can we put miis in any uniform we want? That'd be awesome! There needs to be Mii Football and Mii Soccer. You can make grandma center linebacker for your team.

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