Madden NFL 13 Message Board older than one year ago

#madden I knew what was coming after I lost to Green Bay, 24-17, in Week 11 of my first season in Madden NFL 13. It was the same kind of thing that came in Week 2 after a gutwrenching 24-20 loss at home to San Francisco, in which I was cited for the lack of a "clutch gene." More »

#bestofmetacritic Welcome back to "Backhanded Box Quotes," a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic, Amazon and elsewhere. More »

#madden When it was first shown to writers in April, I knew what was in store for Madden's "Infinity Engine" of real-time physics. This is the YouTube age, where a game's every gaffe, glitch and goof is filmed and uploaded within moments of release, it seems. Realizing how hyper-nitpicked Madden is, I asked if the development team really was ready to expose itself to an infinite number of hilarious screwups in hopes of creating an infinite variety of player collisions and runs after contact. More »

#nsfw One feature of the new "Infinity Engine" physics system introduced in Madden NFL 13 is the fact that the game knows when the ballcarrier's knee has hit the turf. Evidently, Cleveland's Brandon Weeden's never did here in a game between two teams that have never won the Super Bowl. More »

#madden In a stunning upset over Madden NFL 13, Michael Fahey of the Atlanta Kotaku attempts to carry a football analogy too far and fumbles the ball. Then he explodes. And then there was a Frankenreview. More »

A portion of an NWR review...

Madden 13 on Wii is aimed at a particular type of consumer; if you fit that bill, you really can’t go wrong by sampling what EA has put together for Nintendo’s platform. It’s a game that’s heavy on fun, light on simulation, and completely lacking for online play.

Full review here

As the latest in EA Sports' ongoing pro football series, Madden NFL 13 introduced the hard-hitting Infinity Engine and Connected Careers mode this year as noteworthy additions among a fair amount of issues. Our review saw the game as "the foundation for eventual excellence." Here's what other critics around the web had to say about this year's Madden:

• GamesRadar (4.5/5): "It's not often that a stalwart franchise like this reinvents itself so significantly, but Madden NFL 13 has pulled this off with aplomb. Brimming with innovation on the field and off, it's the best Madden of the generation."
• EGM (8/10): "All in all, it's clear the team at Tiburon took a hard look at ways to bring the franchise back to its former glory. Some annoying bugs persist here and there, but overall, Madden NFL 13 stands as one of my favorite football experiences of this generation."
• Polygon (8/10): "Madden 13 gives players a ton of options without explaining them in detail, and that's an issue. But Madden NFL 13 represents a giant leap over its predecessors. It's easily the best Madden title of this console cycle, and it's notable for the ways in which it clearly sets the stage for Tiburon to make a graceful transition into the next generation."
• OXM (7.5/10): "The engine shows a great deal of promise, and Connected Careers features a lot of interesting ideas, but there's no question that this is a rebuilding year. The best news is that EA finally seems to be on the right track. Give it another year, and Madden may at last be a true contender."

#madden One feature I was keen to check on in Madden NFL 13 was its treatment of the Super Bowl postgame. The past two years have included a trip to the virtual White House, complete with an in-game President Obama, for the winning team. That doesn't happen in Madden 13 More »

#madden Creating my player in Madden NFL 13, I was startled and confused by the new helmet options. There was the Riddell TK, and the Wilson F2000. Neither had a facemask. You could put a modern-day visor on them, in clear plastic, smoke or dark, but still there was nothing standing between Brian Urlacher's forearm and your kisser. More »

#review The question is asked every year and yet it seems irrelevant for a franchise with no competition: "Is this the best Madden ever?" It's a high and a low bar at the same time. Of course it should be the best Madden ever. They had a year to update and improve the last one, after all. More »

The common theme of annual sports game entries is usually "better than last year." With all of its issues, Madden NFL 12 was still better than Madden NFL 11. In reality, most of the time, the best a new sports game can do is make players hopeful for the future of the series. Madden 12's "balance of improvement and ongoing flaws," according to our review, wasn't a great foundation for building hope.

Madden NFL 13 has that foundation. And while it's not a perfect game, it has - to borrow a term often used in fantasy football - the upside of being close.

Jeff and Vinny meet on the frozen tundra, where men triumph and fall, mostly due to inner ear problems.

Stay out of the Steelers way.

You have to hone your skills if you want to win.

RG3 who?

The Ravens take to the sky this year.

#humor Best Buy got a little too enthusiastic with its promotional copy for Madden NFL 13, promising features such as "slow-motion chain kills," pickpocketing unsuspecting victims, and a new pursuit system involving a canoe. Truly, this is how you innovate in the sports genre. More »

IGN Live Presents: Madden NFL 13

#madden Madden NFL 13 this year merges its Franchise, Online Franchise and Superstar modes into a single suite, called "Connected Careers." We've done our best to explain what it is, but in a nutshell, gamers controlling a single player will be able to play in the same league against gamers controlling a single player. And that's pretty damn cool. More »

#impressions Of all sports, American football would figure to be the most natural fit for voice command support in a video game, if for no other reason than play doesn't begin until the quarterback orders the center, usually by voice, to snap the ball. Say "hike," and Madden NFL 13 will, in fact, hike. You can see and hear it for yourself in the game's demo, released Tuesday, thanks to a new suite of voice recognition features for Xbox 360's Kinect. More »

My name is Danny Doeberling, and I’m a Designer on Madden NFL 13 for PS Vita. The game is launching on August 28th, but I wanted to let you know how you can get your hands on the action early with the demo, starting August 14th. When designing Madden for PS Vita, the Dev Team set the goal of making the most complete Madden handheld experience to date, and without a doubt I feel we delivered it. Madden NFL 13 is visually stunning on PS Vita — seeing all the superstars decked out in their brand new NFL uniforms in HD on that gorgeous OLED screen really gets you excited for football season to start. The game is built from the Gen 3 engine, so if you are familiar with PlayStation 3, you will feel right at home here.

Our favorite part of development on this title was incorporating PS Vita’s unique features. I’ll just say this: you don’t know how much you need the touch screen until you get it in your hands — you can use your finger to freely draw receivers’ routes! We titled this feature Call Your Shots. It’s quick, it’s fun, and it will make you forget about the old way of individually assigning player hot routes (which we still have for you traditionalists). It also works wonders on defense, too. Quickly send a Linebacker on a blitz or drop your Safeties back off into a deep zone. We love using Call Your Shots in head-to-head games around the office — things get ultra-competitive when people here think they’re an armchair Mike Tomlin. With the touch screen, we also let you call plays, select players, and easily put a player in motion with a swipe of the finger.

When we looked at the rear touch pad, we wanted to use it as a way to provide enhanced control while emphasizing efficiency. The rear touch pad lets you modify each defensive group and offensive line pre-play. You can also double-tap it to do jukes with the ballcarrier or spins with a quick drag of the finger. PS Vita just has so many dynamic features; it was fun getting a chance to experiment with everything. We ended up using the motion sensor function for kicking, and the camera for snapping your photo for inclusion in Superstar mode. As a Designer, it’s really fun getting to play around with new hardware — especially with the tool set this system has — and finding ways to make Madden better.

The demo gives you a taste of the action by letting you play with last year’s Super Bowl teams. So, see if you can start mastering all of your touch screen moves and command the field like Calvin Johnson. Like I said earlier, we have created the most complete handheld Madden experience to date. You can play as a player in Superstar Mode, compete in a full Franchise mode with Fantasy Draft, go head-to-head Online, and get updated rosters and Madden Moments live throughout the NFL season. I am sure you guys will have a blast playing the demo, and I’ll see you online when the game launches August 28th.

#madden The Madden NFL 13 demo arrives on Aug. 14, two weeks before the game's release, offering a rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game, and a Seattle-Washington matchup that showcases Redskins quarterback (and NCAA Football 13 cover star) Robert Griffin III. More »

#madden A dorm-room staple for two decades, Madden brings voice-activated commands—snapping the ball, calling time out, changing the play—that are at high risk of abuse in that particular environment. You may wish to turn them off unless you can be assured you're the only one in the room. More »

#wiiu Madden NFL was literally on stage with the Wii U, the day the console was formally revealed to the world. The unspoken message: No more cartoony, casual American football or minigame bullshit, this is a sports title you can actually take seriously on a Nintendo console. This happened more than a year ago, at E3 2011. More »