First an important announcement. If you read about the online club feature we have been informed by
EA that it has been cut from the feature list.
Here is part of the email I received from Nathan Fahrenthold – Senior Community Manager
"We are continuing to tune and polish our innovative new passing feature, Vision and Precision. NFL Superstar is coming together better than anyone expected. This new feature is going to be the biggest and deepest addition to Madden NFL since the introduction of Franchise mode.
Unfortunately we have made some changes to the online features that we discussed back in March. The Clubs feature has been cut from this year’s version of the game. As we got closer to finalizing the game, the decision to focus on fixing bugs and tightening online play became the focus over adding this feature.
The additional time will also allow us to optimize our new ‘EA Locker’ feature. Like a memory card in the sky, EA Locker will allow users to share files online, using EA’s servers, so they can play their offline franchise games with an online friend. We think the hardcore fans will love this new feature and are working to make it as strong as possible."Now onto the new features
EA Rep – Last year
EA added a rep system in attempt to allow you to filter out cheaters and quitters and find good games of Madden when online. The system had a problem that we have talked about quite a bit. The system had a feedback option in which you could leave positive or negative feedback for your opponent after the game. Sort of like the current Ebay system. The problem was that these feedback hits did not affect the player’s Rep. Playing complete or incomplete games did however affect the Rep and points were gained or lost depending on if you finished games or not. The thought was that allowing the feedback to affect the Rep would be a bad idea because you would have people giving a bad feedback just because they lost the game. This year the feedback will play a major part in the Rep rating of a player. You will now see a graphical 5 star system for each players Rep. It will have a system that will track unique feedback and help protect against ganging up on a player by sending them multiple negative feedbacks. I still worry as I am sure
EA does, that people who just don’t like to lose will always leave negative feedback. I am hoping that it will balance out though. Another problem that I wonder how it will be handled is the current problem with the EBay system… which is if someone leaves negative feedback you are obviously going to get the same in return even if you were not the one at fault.
A new feature that will go along with the Rep system is the new Leveling System. If you are familiar with the Halo 2 system then this is very similar. It will be an overall gamer rating and skill rating combined. It will include a cheese style game rating which was probably going to be a 1-99 scale. It sounded like the most important part will be the players W-L-T record. Also included in the leveling system will be a social rating . The social rating will be an ongoing year to year system and a cross game system . It will be based on participating in various game modes and events. Think of RPG experience points.
Instead of the basic Play Now feature that has been in previous versions
EA will be enabling what is called
Matchmaking Plus. If you have Xbox live then you have seen this system before. The system will leverage
EA Rep and the Leveling system data.
EA Sports Locker – this new feature sounds very cool and could open up a lot of things for the future. Its an online file storage area where you can upload Madden saves of any sort. It will allow roster files to be traded while still in the game. The best part is it will allow you to run a franchise with friends if you don’t mind uploading the file after you are done with your part. It will be tough when it comes time to engage in the draft since you would have to make your pick… save and then upload it. It may take some time but at least now it is possible.
I asked a question about the setup of challenges online. I didn’t like last year that when you were issued a challenge by someone else it automatically popped up on the screen and didn’t have the option for you to view any stats or the career for that player before accepting the challenge. I was told this has all been reworked and you will now have many more options for filtering out players before playing.
I really think that the improved
EA Rep system along with the Leveling system is going to improve online gaming by leaps and bounds if players choose to use it correctly and not abuse it. We all know there will be some players who just don’t want to follow any sort of rules. My hope is it will balance out and the Madden online community will grow and become stronger than it already is.
