Saw this elsewhere and wondered what you guys think of it. Just Google Tucks face madden mask and look at it. Clearly a huge leap for me. (note for edit, kept erring when I tried to upload the photo)
Giants fan and Tucks my favorite player, so happy to see it in the game. Unfortunately, equipment stuff like this just doesn't do all that much for me
Who gives a flying fuck about equipment? Madden is better this year for a multitude of reasons - none of which having anything to do with equipment or dreads.
I was always going to buy it. I've had it pre-ordered since last year. This just makes me more comfortable about this buy.
I think it's these little things that jump your football game over the top, the gameplay comes first, then the interface of things such as choosing plays and menus within the game should be second, and then I believe all of this little stuff comes to play. It's this sort of stuff that will make me that much happier about the game when I see J Tuck get up after a sack and has the realistic facemask on for me to know that they really put a lot of effort into the game. I hate all this "don't give a fuck" attitude too because it's things like this that go to show that they are trying to improve their game on all cylinders.
The title, the poll, and your post make very little sense together. A facemask will never make one game better than the other. I don't care if NCAA adds every helmet and facemask that has ever been in existence next year, it would have no effect on how I felt about the game. As long as they have the basic stuff in the game, extra bells and whistles with equipment don't really add much substance to the game... I think Tuck's facemask is stupid looking. If he can see out of fine and it really makes a difference in terms of mask grabbing... then I can see the benefit, I just think it looks dumb. As for the poll question... it's impossible to tell without actually playing the game. Infinity engine might put it over the top, but unless they make another round of big changes next year, I think NCAA will surpass it again if Madden ends up being superior to NCAA this year.
I hate all this "little things are important" attitude too because I realize when it comes to developing game, the largest decisions are all weighed with a cost/benefit type of analysis. What that means is for every dipshit facemask, new dread type, 64th alternate sock color and coaches headset model that gets into the game something else did not get into the game. Those something else's in the past could have been a salary cap for online franchise, an updated progression system, or hell a physics engine. The point is, when you guys whine about shit like this, stuff that can really make a difference in the game doesn't get in. Period. EA is in the business of making money, if they invest all their development time coming up with 65 facemasks, thats less time they spent working on REAL shit.
To think that something getting put into the game takes away from something else in a video game is a flawed idea. When you make a video game you have specific team of people working on all types of parts of the game, the people who are working on the graphics of the game and the customization of the players in the NFL are not working on the infinity engine at the same time. Therefore to say that something cooler/something would be working better because of people in the graphics department making cool additions to their game does not make any sense. What it tells you is that Madden is giving itself a much higher standard and all regards of their game and that every team is stepping up their game.
Do you work in the video game industy? No? Okay then you have no idea. We're both just guessing. IMO it comes down to resources. If the community is bitching and moaning about new facemasks and dreads, then presumably some decision maker at EA is going to invest more resources into the teams working on those areas. At a very basic level then, resources are being siphoned away from things that ACTUALLY MATTER.
It does not take a lot of research to understand that when you have a team of people on board to make a game, they aren't all doing the same thing and when you go into that industry there are specific things people go to learn for. For instance if you watch the interviews for Madden 13 when the guy is showing how the much different the game looks graphically and how much better the lighting is, he isn't telling them about the physics engine or all the new details they have added to the gameplay because that isn't his forte. They brought him on (who I might add is an NFL photographer) to help make their game look as realistic and as clean as possible, you think he helps making decision on what to add in CCM? Hell no. He's a graphics/lighting guy who is doing his job extremely well and to say we have no idea about what I just posted above is absurd, I know plenty of people who work in the film industry and people who have worked in the gaming industry so no I'm not just guessing. As far as what you had to say about the resources; I sort of agree but at the same time I don't since EA has openly said that they have practically doubled the amount of people they have working on Madden 13 so obviously they have the resources to put out things like this so IMO if they have the resources and they're working on the physics engine as hard as it sounds from the guys on this site, it doesn't bother me that they are adding fine touches to make this game that much better.
I am in fact a computer programmer and also game programmer, what you said keller is completely wrong, those other things are decided way before the facemask and images there. And that is a completely different team, you have your animators that come up with the images and manipulate them, the gameplay guys and menu guys are a whole different team, so Caleb is correct and you can stop complaining about the little things now, knowing that they have nothing to do with the gameplay options there. Those take time, waaaay more time than a fucking facemask.
Why not just hope for player editing inside the franchise that has been in NCAA for years...if they have it, then just hope they make that facemask an option. The amount of options in the NCAA player editor are fantastic... Hard to imagine a facemask as unique as that one would make it into the game however.
