Madden NFL 25 Hype Machine

Official EA Sports Website

PLAYBOOKS

04/25 - Run Free (link)
Unlock the power, precision and creativity of an NFL ball carrier.
Surprise Playbook - 04/25 - Infinity Engine 2 (link)

05/06 delayed to 05/20 - Connected Franchise Part 1 (link) (link)
Cement your legacy as one of the all-time great NFL players or coaches in the new and improved Connected Franchise.

05/20 - Connected Franchise Part 2
Take ultimate control of your franchise. Not sure how the delay backs things up.

06/24 - Madden Share
The best content from around the Madden NFL universe, right at your fingertips.

07/01 - Madden Ultimate Team
Enjoy new ways to play and build your team in this year’s edition of Ultimate Team.

Pre-Orders (link)

• GameStop - San Francisco 49ers Franchise Pack
  Eddie DeBartolo Jr. -- Connected Franchise only
  Bill Walsh -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Joe Montana -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  
• Amazon - Pittsburgh Steelers Franchise Pack
  Art Rooney Sr. -- Connected Franchise only
  Rod Woodson -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Franco Harris -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  
• Best Buy - Dallas Cowboys Franchise Pack
  Jimmy Johnson -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Troy Aikman -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  
• Wal-Mart - Oakland Raiders Franchise Pack
  John Madden -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Tom Flores -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Fred Biletnikoff -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  
• Origin -
  Warren Moon -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  Kurt Warner -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  
• Target - Chicago Bears Franchise Pack*In Store Only
  Mike Ditka -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  William Perry -- Connected Franchise; Madden Ultimate Team
  

RUMORS

• Some rumors have been floating around that Microsoft and EA (Sports) may have stricken a next generation exclusivity agreement.
  
• PastaPadre speculates that the month long break in Playbooks in June may allow EA to announce a next-gen version of Madden for release this year.
  
• A "Game Changer" called Shopmaster has been credited in saying that Custom Playbooks are usable in Connected Franchises.
  
• Speculators say that the NCAA no huddle style would be implemented in the new game.
  

EA will spill the beans tomorrow on the new updates to their Franchise mode. Here's a first peek courtesy of @PastaPadre. (First released by EA's twitter feed. But screw giving them credit.

Let's start off with this...
A transaction log! FINALLY. Why could this not be patched in last year?!

Some pretty good changes/updates that really solidifies the Franchise experience we're all supposed to love. I'm not sure how a 32 league team can remain active with so much going on. The highlights:

Import NCAA Football 14 Draft Classes
Owner Mode: Earn money to spend money on trainers, marketing, etc.
Training Staff: You have to be able to afford the higher quality trainers. Otherwise, injured players may not recover to their original ratings. Oh shit, Cutler is screwed. Trainers can also slow down regression and such.
Scouts: Your scouting directors have specialties meaning they may not scout QBs as well as they scout TEs. A lot of decision making involved and will truly affect how you approach the draft. Importing NCAA players will also destroy those cheaters who try to use the draft tables leaked out each year.
Accelerated Ratings: Players can reach Superstar status sooner to make those stud rookies feel legit.
You can relocate teams to other cities changing names/logos and designing stadiums (if you enjoy that sort of thing. I trademark the Lincoln Lightning).
You/your coach/owner/players have to answer questions with the media and build that relationship.

New rumor listed above:

Custom Playbooks are said to be working in Connected Franchise this year.

I'm getting really excited!! Took some time away but the Madden bug is itching inside me again!

Just preordered Madden 25 yesterday from Gamestop.  Now that I have no football game on hand, the itch is coming back.

the_EDJ wrote:New rumor listed above:

Custom Playbooks are said to be working in Connected Franchise this year.

Nice, I love that feature in NCAA.  I know that custom playbooks were available last year in Madden, but since they weren't available in Connected Careers I didn't even look into using them.

New rumor listed above:
XBox 360 acheivements state "Enter no huddle with Kinect blah blah blah".  Speculators say that the NCAA no huddle style would be implemented in the new game.

I think that'd be HUGE. I love the NCAA no huddle system and it would be a legit way to call no huddle offenses in games instead of the spam tastic call the last play or just use audibles.

EDJ can you explain what is different about NCAAs no-huddle? I feel like it's more and more prominent in the NFL but it seems cheesy to me to use even though it's part of the game. Every time I have gone no huddle it just seems so easy to march down the field.

Old Madden new huddle equals your offense runs up to the LOS and runs the same play.

NCAA new huddle equals the offense running up to the LOS, however, the play-call screen pops up and you can select a play, but only from plays or formations that match your personnel on the field eg 3 WR only plays, no Goalline with 3 WR.

No huddle can be cheesy, but at least you can simulate the sideline calls. It also gives the defense a chance to change plays.

so beautiful

Sorry if this has been addressed, but are we playing this on the PS3 or PS4? I prefer PS3.

Ken wrote:Sorry if this has been addressed, but are we playing this on the PS3 or PS4? I prefer PS3.

The league will be a PS3 league. The PS4 launch presents an interesting hurdle, like the PSN outage 2 years ago. I'm assuming nowhere near enough people will have a PS4 in November to run a league, but it may leach a few members.

Madden launches in 3 weeks!!!

I just took August 27th off from work.  Madden all day for me!

Madden will have a new hot route and audible system. Something severely needing a makeover.

http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news-updates-gameplay/article/formation-audibles-hot-routes?utm_campaign=mad25-social-na-eas-fb-social-na-eas-fb-madden25-formation-audib&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social&sourceid=mad25-social-na-eas-fb-social-na-eas-fb-madden25-formation-audib

Sigh...

I had myself convinced I wasn't going to buy Madden this year, but who am I kidding. See y'all in a few weeks.

MeanMrMustard wrote:Sigh...

I had myself convinced I wasn't going to buy Madden this year, but who am I kidding. See y'all in a few weeks.

GIGGITY GIGGITY GIGGITY GIGGITY GOO!

LOL

I am actually regressing in my eventually-going-to-quit-gaming-plan. Not only am I not stopping playing Madden, but I bought NCAA for the first time since NCAA '10 or '11.

Looks like the demo drops tomorrow sometime!  I'm as excited as Ron Swanson in a wood carving contest!

http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news-updates-gameplay/article/madden-25-release-date

I'm playing it right now and I'm loving it.

The graphics are noticeably better. The gameplay is like NCAA on steroids. The option runs are nice!

Ken wrote:I'm playing it right now and I'm loving it.

The graphics are noticeably better. The gameplay is like NCAA on steroids. The option runs are nice!

Glad to hear! I'm almost 1/2 way done downloading it right now. Twenty minutes is a lot faster than the usual hours it took before the internet upgrade this summer.

Top 5 offensive players by position. NFC North represented with top QB, top RB, and top WR. Fuck me.

I'm hoping this isn't true THIS season, but....

the_EDJ wrote:

Key Features aka Stupid Marketing Buzz Words: Pro-Tak; Online Co-Op; Online Franchise; Quarterback Avoidance; Fight for the Fumble

SMH at Fight for the Fumble. Stupidest feature since the vision cone.

Also, I was TRBL in the Press Start days. I think I went 1-15 or something my first season. 

MeanMrMustard wrote:

the_EDJ wrote:

Key Features aka Stupid Marketing Buzz Words: Pro-Tak; Online Co-Op; Online Franchise; Quarterback Avoidance; Fight for the Fumble

SMH at Fight for the Fumble. Stupidest feature since the vision cone.

Also, I was TRBL in the Press Start days. I think I went 1-15 or something my first season. 

I loved the idea of the vision cone! Just not the execution. I liked how Awareness separated the QBs. Sexy Rexy had a needle, but Brady/Manning had the whole field.  I wish they would force a passing camera on players that was right over the QBs shoulder. That way blind-side blitzes would be more of a surprise, and you'd have to shift the screen to see last minute checkdown receivers. Less aware players would then have a foggy edge around the screen like tunnel-vision, whereas the elites would be clear.

Vision cone was amazing! Best feature in a football game ever.

I think 2010 was the Madden I hated. I think 2009 was the one I loved. The years kinda blend together for me. The vision cone was awesome as hell, it just couldn't be applied now with the way the physics of the game has changed. For that specific game though, I thought it was awesome. I also liked Fight for the Fumble. NFL Street's "mash" feature gave me good practice at hitting X quickly so I always won fumble battles VS my friends lol.

I loved Madden 06 with the vision cone. More than making the entire game more difficult to play, to me it really separated the elite QB's from the rest of the guys in a way that no other football game ever has. On Madden 13, guys like Peyton and Brees might be way better than guys like Stanzi or Brandstater (aka bums) but are they way better than guys like Cutler, Ponder, Alex Smith, or other average or less than elite guys? Not imho. Thanks to the vision cone in Madden 06, they were. You had elite QB's, good QB's, average guys, and bums. Ever since they took it off it seems every QB can make every throw, some just do it a little more consistently and with a little more zip on the passes.

I don't remember a thing about Madden 07, but IIRC Madden 08 was when they introduced Weapons and Javon Walker was virtually unstoppable in the game (among other WR's) thanks to the ridiculous catches he could make. Madden 10 and 11 were ok imho, flawed but good. Madden 13 is easily the best game on this gen imho, and Madden 25 plays like 13.5 judging by the demo.

I really hope EA hits the next gen floor running with Madden and we don't have to wait 3-4 years for a real next gen Madden like we seemed to have to this gen.