EA Sports shows how Madden 09 is actually different

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 28th 2008 at 8:30PM }

If there's any criticism we've heard about EA's Madden NFL series time and time again, it's that since EA got the monopoly exclusive rights for the NFL license, the only thing that seems to change about the game year after year is the number at the end. Whether it's the doing of EA Sport's new head honcho Peter Moore, or some new vigor at EA Sports, the company is definitely looking to show that Madden NFL 09 is improved.

Above you'll find EA showing off the differences between Madden 08 and 09. We've placed several other videos showcasing new features and animations in Madden 09 after the break.

Gallery: Madden 09

[Via Evil Avatar]

Tags: ea-sports, madden, madden-09

Related From Joystiq

EA bringing Battleship, Connect 4, Monopoly to iPhone
9 days ago
Report: EA acquires social games dev Playfish
24 days ago
Madden NFL Arcade coming to XBLA & PSN; $15 this Dec.
25 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ May 28th 2008 8:38PM

Well, the grass looks good.....

RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ May 28th 2008 8:39PM

*DISCLAIMER*

I'm English, so I understand nothing of American Football, or what many of you will call Football. This may skew my view somewhat.

Maverick Saturn @ May 28th 2008 8:45PM

You're not alone :)

Drew @ May 28th 2008 9:34PM

Dude don't feel bad. I'm American and I still don't understand American football either.
09 does actually look better.

Noshino @ May 28th 2008 9:49PM

I don't understand football at all, but one thing I know is that NFL Street was fun as hell, and this coming from a soccer/football/futbol fan...

harvsorrow @ May 28th 2008 10:47PM

Actually I think it's field turf...but it DOES look nice!

RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ May 28th 2008 11:36PM

Oh, undeniably. I just don't get what they're doing on it.

xFenixKnightx @ May 29th 2008 12:44AM

Roblink, you're excused for obvious reasons. The rest of you...theres no excuse. Damn is this place (the Stiq)really THAT nerdy? Yes, I said it :O No wonder we have different views on games.

LMMFAO!!!

As for the game, it looks great. I haven't bought another Madden since 06 when it first debuted on 360. Hopefully this will shut the Madden haters up (myself included) because this is probably going to be the best Madden ever. Oh and that greass does look good :)

RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ May 29th 2008 1:41AM

The 'soccer' version of Madden, FIFA 200(enter year here), has always been the underdog in terms of quality to Pro Evolution (I believe it's Winning Eleven in JP, possibly US), but has sold very very well.
However, this last year the improvements made to FIFA have pushed it above and beyond Pro Evo, and it's the best football game out there. This could possibly happen to Madden too..... I laughed last year when people said it may happen to FIFA.
Not that I'd realise if Madden did get better, you understand.....

Noshino @ May 29th 2008 2:58AM

Actually RobLink, it is Winning Eleven for Japan and America, and Pro Evo for the rest of the world.

Anyway, I haven't really heard much nor kept up with the FIFA series, as far as I knew FIFA had a lot catching up to do to Winning Eleven, with their only forte being their amount of licenses.

FOXHOUND @ May 29th 2008 7:04AM

Actually, I was pretty amazed that FIFA08 for PSP wasn't too bad. Nice mini-games too. As for MADDEN09; I'm "going shallow" and will most likely pick it up for reasons that include the cover athlete, Brett Favre, this time around(GBP'fan here).

...though having Wayne Rooney on FIFA was pretty effin'cool too(MANUTD'fan as well).

linkbob @ May 29th 2008 7:16AM

If you check out the controls for the game on the left, it is the 360 version....(RB,LB,A,B,RT,LT) all that good stuff. I bet they are just showing in standard def.

Alexander @ May 28th 2008 8:39PM

So it's not as MUCH of a rip off.

Scott @ May 28th 2008 8:46PM

Is it just me, or does the first part of that video look like the PS2 version of 08 vs. the PS3 version of 09? I'm pretty sure 08's grass looked a little more detailed than that.

AwesomeTown @ May 28th 2008 8:49PM

Ha, yea, I thought so too.

ApolloIV @ May 28th 2008 8:49PM

I'm actually pretty sure the video was of the PC version. I played the PC version and the 360 version and I'm pretty sure that was the PC version.

albinogoldfish @ May 28th 2008 9:19PM

I second that, I've never played a madden game so seeing that '08 footage made me wonder how any game could still look like that these days, puts all that criticism I kept hearing into perspective that for sure...

Freelance @ May 28th 2008 9:36PM

That was the first thing I thought too.

Matt @ May 29th 2008 12:34AM

I was thinking along the same lines--I thought that it was 08 using composite cables vs. 09 with the full glory of HDMI, personally.

But PS2 vs. PS3 or 360 makes even more sense, haha...

Ethan Rom @ May 28th 2008 8:48PM

I see they didn't fix everything. In the last video, LT is brought down for a loss and he gets up and celebrates the two tackles he avoided.

AwesomeTown @ May 28th 2008 8:48PM

I'm not really into Madden, but it looks like
EA compared Madden 08 for PS2 to Madden 08 for PS3.

AwesomeTown @ May 28th 2008 8:50PM

*09 for the PS3

duggie @ May 28th 2008 8:52PM

So it plays exactly like last year's, but the animation is a bit better. Uh, who cares?

Bonus points for showing last year's version zoomed out and at low resolution.

gamerprophet @ May 28th 2008 8:54PM

No surprise madden hasn't changed.

Mez Jr @ May 28th 2008 8:56PM

What they showed is EXACTLY what the madden iterations have become on the latest generation of systems. A few more animations, some touched up graphics and a bunch of fans praying we get features that were in versions of Madden we played five years ago.

I've bought madden every year for the past ten except '07 (I bought '06 twice, once on ps2 and once on 360) and '08 was pathetic. The franchise portion was kneecapped, the draft scouting was entirely unfinished and the animations got old after about five games. Strangely enough, NCAA '08 provides a more long term engaging football experience than Madden does.

Madden for the past 3 years has been F'ing pathetic.

Ben @ May 28th 2008 9:49PM

Totally, completely agree. I bought every iteration from 2000-2007, and then actually skipped 08 and just bought NCAA. I found it to be an altogether non-sucky experience. This is not to say it was great, just that unlike Madden it didn't make my brain hurt after five minutes by how frustratingly awful it is.

I am not going to buy 09 until I've played it somewhere else. I just have no faith in this brand any more. What a complete and total waste of an exclusive contract.

Phillip @ May 28th 2008 9:56PM

"Strangely enough, NCAA '08 provides a more long term engaging football experience than Madden does."

That's because college football is better in every aspect than the NFL could ever hope to be. Every game matters in college. And the video game version is better too.

Anchorman 2! @ May 28th 2008 11:31PM

"college football is better in every aspect than the NFL could ever hope to be."

The BCS is garbage and as long as college football lacks a playoff system NFL > college

kbomb1upc @ May 29th 2008 10:10AM

I love how everyone is willing to jump on the "bash Madden" wagon but haven’t purchase a Madden game in years and claim that they aren't doing any thing new. For all those who would like to know what Madden has been doing for 09 I suggest you go to their website and see them talk about some of the 85 NEW features they've added to this year alone or go the your favorite game store (GameStop) website for Madden Mondays when they talk about a new improvement for Madden. Like how they have got rid of their old tackling and animation engine and created something totally new (similar to NBA Street Homecourt).... or added a way to mulligan your last play. But instead you blindly bash a game you've saw one bit video of and claim NFL2K5 was the best football game ever but hasn't played it since 05 or didn't like All Pro.

kbomb1upc @ May 29th 2008 10:12AM

Mez Jr @ May 29th 2008 9:17PM

@kbomb1upc

Did you not read my post? I bought every year except '07. I bought '08, everything I said was in reference to the current "ultimate" Madden experience. I in fact have never spent any significant time with the 2k series so any issues I have with Madden are in comparison to previous iterations, (or another EA Sports game: NCAA Football) specifically the total castration of the franchise feature and the consistent addition of "new" features that barely impact game play, or are features that were present in previous versions and have just been "re-added".

@Anchorman 2!
In terms of the organization of the sport you can debate NCAA vs. NFL all day long. In NCAA every game counts, its like the whole season is the playoffs. The NFL has the excitement and the intensity of the playoffs at the end and is a better way to determine a true champion. However, my comment was in regards to the game experience. NCAA has an awesome recruiting feature, Madden's weekly minicamp feature is terrible, the scouting of rookies is blatantly meaningless, the in-season progression makes little sense and is so ill-defined compared to previous versions. In terms of the franchise vs. dynasty it's not even close.

Chase @ May 28th 2008 8:59PM

The Beach Boys called, they want their dance back.

Hardcore @ May 28th 2008 9:03PM

$60 for more realistic grass? Where do I sign up?

Sora267 @ May 28th 2008 9:16PM

$50 if you get it on the Wii and PS2....But they probably aren't getting the better grass.

Ethan Rom @ May 28th 2008 9:11PM

This really sucks. I bought every Madden and NHL hockey game since the Sega Genesis days. Last year was the first year I skipped both. I rented them and could not see myself playing for the whole season. These games have just not been fun. Or, maybe I'm just getting too old for gaming. Please tell me that's not it!

Luke @ May 29th 2008 1:58AM

You are getting too old, sorry.

philosophico @ May 28th 2008 9:22PM

Last madden I bought was 07, every year the number of people buying madden DROPS.

This is what happen when there is no competition. I guess EA thought everybody would just fork over there money each year because of the name madden on a roster upgrade, ha!

Im skipping this years madden to by the way. Exclusive rights FTL.

LayLow @ May 28th 2008 10:01PM

ESPN NFL 2K5 > Insert Any Football Game Here

CGamble20 @ May 28th 2008 11:06PM

I love ESPN Football.

Trethan @ May 28th 2008 11:07PM

With the exception of GameDay 98, you are completely correct.

+1 for you sir.

xFenixKnightx @ May 29th 2008 12:48AM

LOL, damn right LayLow. I have that on Xbox. Best 20 bucks I ever spent on a sports game. I cried when I heard it was going away.

Seriously...I cried. :(::::::________

Leave me alone, I'll be in my room.

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 1:57PM

@ trethan

Gameday '00 beats 98 IMO

Brian Fantana @ May 28th 2008 10:05PM

Never buying another Madden until they use Euphoria.

Noshino @ May 28th 2008 11:36PM

HELL YAH, Amazing Idea! Why isn't there any game in which the players can get high?...

wickedpheonix @ May 28th 2008 10:34PM

What can I say people, it's economics - it costs money to put more effort into new versions of a product, so when EA realized that no matter how much effort they put into Madden, it still sold like hotcakes, they also realized that they could save money on development to make even BIGGER mounds of dough every year.

What I really don't get though is why communities are willing to make a whole big shebang and boycott games like Battlefield Bad Company and not games like Madden.

Vcize @ May 28th 2008 10:46PM

Well, it's not that they haven't spent time adding stuff, it's that they've spent time adding worthless gimmicky features to make it seem like they're adding something big. The o-line AI has been forever broken, but instead of work on it (which 80% of people won't notice) they add useless gimmicks like weapons and superstar mode.

I blame the fans as much as I blame EA. If they were able to take Madden '04 and refined some of its kinks we'd get the perfect football game. But then fans would moan that it was just '04 with a roster update, so they have to spend the time and effort to add something "new" like Superstar mode that looks good on the feature list but that no one is ever going to put more than a couple minutes into anyway.

Young_Nastyman @ May 29th 2008 12:53PM

"If they were able to take Madden '04 and refined some of its kinks we'd get the perfect football game. But then fans would moan that it was just '04 with a roster update, so they have to spend the time and effort to add something "new" like Superstar mode that looks good on the feature list but that no one is ever going to put more than a couple minutes into anyway."

Amen, Vcize, a-fucking-men