2007 Madden wishlist

OK, here we go. Most of these suggestions are not in-game related, just ways to enhance the (mostly) Franchise mode. Any opinions or comments would be welcome ...

1) One of the most ingenious things Madden ever did was to combine with NCAA so you can draft players from college into the pros. Now it's time to expland on that. Only about 225-250 players are transferred from NCAA to Madden, just enough to cover the draft. Why not double that amount (while decreasing the amount of P and K's) so each team could have the ability to sign undrafted free agents? Combine that with signing some low level veterans, and initially build your roster to ... say, 75. That would really enhance the pre-season, because every week you'd have to release players as the roster limit lowers a little at a time. Then, as the pre-season ends and you make your final cuts, allow five players or so to form your practice squad, just like the pros.

2) Put the free agent signings here they should be .... BEFORE the draft.

3) Completely scrap and re-do the free agent process. The interest level guide is completely useless, because all you have to do is lower your offer as little as possible while it still remains green, and you will be able to sign your choice player (The in-season interest level guide is even more ridiculous, because there's not even competition to worry about). Here's an idea: Give the user three chances to sign their player of choice, WITHOUT guidance from the interest level. If unable to sign after three chances, his interest level decreases, and you have to increase your offer.

4) Have an A and B announce team. I think we're all getting a little tired of the Madden/Michaels combination, but since this is HIS game, I doubt we're getting rid of him. But if you added an unknown announce team for the lower interest games, that might add some excitement.

5) Pre-game show. Half-time show. Post-game show. This request is not an uncommon one, so no need to expand on it.

6) Mid-week practices. Analyze every game and target a weakness with a new "area of improvement" feature. Then, use the mini-game feature to target that weakness for practices during the week, with the ability to increase a player's physical stats with great scores, and decrease stats with lousy scores. Add new mini-games for the offensive line, onside kicks, and ESPECIALLY punt and kickoff returns. Since injuries also happen at practice, allow a VERY small window of possibility for a player to be injured during these mid-week practices (VERY small).

7) Another thing I'd like to see scrapped and re-done is the injury process. Here's my idea: Instead of having a player out for 4 weeks, it's a little more realistic if he's out for 3-5 weeks. When a player gets upgraded to questionable (or even doubtful), give us the OPTION of playing him if he's able, but with decreased abilities and increased chance of re-injury.

8) Also, steal this idea from NCAA ... you know how each user gets 100 points after the season to spread out between recruiting, training, etc.? Do the same thing with Madden, and spread it out between injury repair and .. say, advance scouting and mid-week practice. So with this idea ...
a) the more you use for injury repair, the quicker and more often an injured player returns.
b) the more you use for advance scouting, it gives you the ability to scout more college players and in much greater detail.
c) the more you use for mid-week practice, the more an NFL player's abilities can be increased with mid-week practices.

You can even tie this in to the owner's mode. The more money you make, the more points you have to spread out between these three categories.

(Note: If there are any other things you could think of to add along with or instead of the three things I mentioned, I'd love to hear about them)

9) I'm glad kickoff returns have been tweaked where there's a chance of a return for a touchdown. Now do the same with punt returns, as it is almost impossible to return a punt for any distance in All-Pro mode or above. Guys like Dante Hall and Antwaan Randle-El are huge punt return weapons in the NFL, but are basically uselsss here. The (again, VERY small) window possibilty to block a FG or punt should also be prevalent.

10) Give yourself the ability to re-locate a team earlier. I like using the Create-A-Team option, but under the current system, that team won't see the light of day until year 3, unless you want to eliminate a team and its players, which I'd rather not do. There's no reason not to have the ability to IMMEDIATELY re-locate so you can have your team ready by year 2.

Just a few things off the top of my head. Let me know what you think.

[Tigam]

Nice ideas... I'd be insanely happy with the same game play, better graphics, and Madden to say a whole knew slew of things. This is like the third year I've heard the same crap over and over... They just add more on top of the crap they already had.

Couple of more additions I've thought of for my 2007 wishlist....

11) Some kind of measuring chain graphic for balls that are close to the first down marker.

12) QB vision is a good starting point for young QBs, but I think you should take it a step further. There is no way a rookie QB should be able to know an entire offensive scheme by week one of his rookie year. So here's my idea: Take those 20 questions (add more of them if you want) you ask someone in the "NFL Superstar" mode, and apply them to Rookie QB's to determine their intelligence. Based on their score, they have the ability to call anywhere between ... say, 20% to 50% of their team's pass plays. As the season moves along on a weekly basis, use either a mini-game feature or more of those "NFL Superstar" questions to determine how quickly the rookie learns the rest of the offense. The higher the score, the higher percentage of plays he learns. Do this until he reaches the max amount. This will help assure that it's in the team's best interests not to play the rookie QB right away (even with Roesthligberger playing the way he did, even he admitted he did it with a limited playbook).

One more note on my injury idea ... "When a player gets upgraded to questionable (or even doubtful), give us the OPTION of playing him if he's able, but with decreased abilities and increased chance of re-injury." Apply the toughness meter that each player has to this particular situation. Then higher his toughness meter, the more willing he is to play through injury, even if he's listed as questionable (or even occasionally doubtful if his meter is REAL high). The lower it is, the more likely he'll want to wait until he's 100% healthy.

Again, most of my ideas/suggestions (with the exception of improving punt returns) are cosmetic. But they could go a long way towards improving the game.

yea i agree those are some really good ideas at least what i read were, idk if u said anything about extending the season or not but that would be nice idk if ne body ever makes it through the 30 years, i havent yet i been to like 17 and that was in 05' and i think being able to ctreate play action plays would be really tight too.

The key thing I would add to 07 is allow custom playbooks for the franchise mode.

It would also be nice to be able to change the team colors at times.

yea i agree they need to take the creating playbooks to a whole new level, like bootlegs, play action plays, reverses everything needs to be added

j/w i'm playin madden 06 right now and i have been playing with the bengals playbook, is there a better playbook then theres, when it comes down to like trick plays i guess(wr revereses, hb and wr throwing plays)???

bring back the "go to guy" option

I think all the offseason stuff is fine.

My only real issue with this game is that the game play is gradually getting more and more sloppy regarding the kinds of things I do. I like to click on the receiver or DB during the long ball and make a play. In 2006, and quite often in 2005, this sh*t has gotten real, REAL sloppy and stupid. It's like while the ball is in the air you're limited to running around. I can't tell you how many times I click to jump up in the air (my speciality) and grab the ball a ways away from the mark where it'll land, and instead the idiot DB just throws his hands over his head like he's from india and he's taking a basket off his head, OR he just doesn't do anything at all but stand there, and watch the INT take place.

Maybe it's just me, but I used to be REAL good at it after about 45 seasons of Madden 04, and in 05 the WR/DB seem not to respond as well. I just feel it's not me -- I can still land a gold medal in the receiving drill every single time, so my own timing with the buttons and where to be near the football landing mark isn't off.

My sollution is to bring back the mulligans. That way, instead of me flipping out and smashing a $25 controller off the TV screen, I can just re-do the play when I feel I'm robbed off a knock down, or unfairly turned the ball over on an INT that should of at least been a dropped ball, had the receiver done what I intended him to do.

Oh yeah .. and the whole catching the ball out of bounce thing is getting old, too. It never really happens when you throw the ball, but it's a cheap loss of down for the CPU, who does it a few times a drive.

You'd think 8 years later they'd figure out how to not write that into the whole program.

[cashpath]

and instead the idiot DB just throws his hands over his head like he's from india and he's taking a basket off his head

LOL love it...

1.) THE DRAFT SHOULD HAVE AN ANNOUNCE LIKE THIS "WITH THE FIRST PICK OF THE 2007 DRAFT THE CARDINALS SELECT Mike thomas qb from university of georgia" then maybe the player could walk up to the poduim but only if hes like the top players!

2.)Have madden only on special games like monday night football instead of having him on everygame.

3.)involve the eyetoy in it so maybe in the player can look like u.

4.)have the draft combine in the offseason that would be beast!

5.)HALFTIME SHOW!!!! make it better in the superbowl please please please!!! i wanna get entertained!!!!

more later gotta go!!!

I like what you guys have to say about the game. I like the tackles in NCAA better. Dont get me wrong they are better on madden but the ones on NCAA just look more real I love the idea of the pregame too. The one thing I have always wanted though, is a sportcenter type show. Something that shows after the weeks done. (I mean come on does anyone really listen to that crap Tony Bruno show? On my game Mark Brunell is skipping out on mini camp to play B-Ball and Chris Mccallister is going to make a movie....) But it would give you highlights of previous games. Also In Game Highlights. I dont know if any of you remember the old old hockey games but they gave you in game highlights (sega i think it was). Where when there is a break in the action. You here madden say and back to you in the studio for a quick in game highlight. And they show you a TD or something that just happened in another game. Also I hate when you import a draft class the player was a 99 overall in my college game. And he went down to a 74 in the pros. Come on! I had a qb that was 99-99 power to accuracy and he down to 90-85. The problem I have with the qbs is that you can never have a mike vick. if hes fast in college when you import him his speed is high. But he cant throw and he is a dumbass on awarness.

I also wish that there was a way to train more players. Maybe be able to allocate points to players. Or have in season drills or something. But I have to agree with the guys post about the corners and receivers. Man that has just gotten stupid. I hate it when its a man on man. And neither player comes down with the ball. I had a 5'11 corner on T.O. So I just threw it up. The corner knocked it down. COME ON! In the pros they throw the fade passes in the endzones with the recievers having to drag their feet to come down with it. I WANT TO SEE THAT! The goalline play book has been the same since the game was made.

And one more thing. How about being able to block a field goal every now and then. I remember when the game had a glitch and you could move the two DT over and the linebacker would run in a block it. BUt you could never return it. I want to see a blocked kick and return it for a td. And the only blocked punt i have had is when they punted from the 1 yard line and the punter was in the back of the endzone. There was a high snap and my got in to block it for a SAFETY not even a td.

Just a few thoughts...
The Pngwin

ncaa is better to me I averaged about 13.5 a game w/ AJ Hawk and 22 tackles versus minnesota and was named linebacker of the year, in madden I average about 4 or less that sucks,and the way the tackler strips the ball in ncaa its hot. madden needs more improvements on D even on the passing game the corners are always all over the ball not the recievers

[CharioTitan]

You had 22 tackles in one game??!! Damn! That's a lot of tackles.

I agree, though, Madden desperately needs gang tackles and assist tackles so players can have more realistic tackle numbers. I hate that the guy on my team with the most tackles has like 80 tackles.

I also like the idea during the draft where the players come up and hold up the jersey. I don't think the game would be able to hold the names of all of those players. But I would like to see the players come onto the stage. At least the first rounders.

And bring back the damn first down chain. Why did they even take that off of the game? Isn't it in the NCAA game? I just don't understand that.

I would also like to see more WRs asking officials to throw the flag for pass interference. You see that all the time in real football games.

here's a few things I would like to see...

-ST Coach - After a decade or so in franchise mode, all the ST coaches suck. This should be improved.
-Stadium Upgrades - most of them are meaningless. Make more of them help out your team, like the ones that reduce injuries. Maybe better training equipment will develope your players faster, etc.
-Training Camp - This really needs some changes. Trench Fight has been extremely hard for too many years. They need to allow more time. And I don't know about everyone else, but the Precision Passing is much more difficult this year. My QB never throws the ball in the same route twice. No matter how hard I try to use the new "precision" technique, I can't hit the d*mn circles. There is no consistency to how the QB throws, so you can't learn the patter and improve. For me, this drill is impossible.
-Signing Free Agents - does this have to move so slowly? It takes forever to increase or decrease your offer. For some reason it's faster when signing your draft picks, but extremely slow when signing a FA. Please speed this up.
-Soundtrack - It's not bad each year until you've listened to it FIVE THOUSAND TIMES. I don't connect my PS2 online, but I would if I could download an updated soundtrack every so often. Hell, I'd pay for it just to switch it up sometimes. I end up listening to more music on Madden than the radio or online.

Overall - my top beef is with the training drills. It's fun to improve your players, but very frustrating when a drill is just simply too difficult or requires more luck than skill. I like the idea too of allowing you credits to increase the player's abilities based on other factors in addition to the training drills, like mid week drills, how much money you make, your training equipment, coach, etc.

my list
(1) MORE Flippin jukeS i want to see every juke there ever was along with all the other running back moves like cutbacks and hurdling over people ducking under tacklers CUTBACKs and that thing in ncaa where you keep hitin X to break the tackle USE IT its cool and stutter steps also while you are getting tackled you should be able to try to spin or something to get extra yards

(2)Impact players, just copy it from ncaa.

(3) reaching the ball out i dunno how many times ive been tackled at the half yard line cause my stupid back wont reach the ball out.

(4) goal line leaps and need to be able to do them anywhere not just at the goaline, anywhere in the field.

(5) Return fg's like nathan Vasher i want to make a 108 yard play cmon

(6) there shouldnt be as many droped passes as there always are even the defenders drop int

(7) fumbles need to be realistic like make a big pile and everyone tries to get it and the refferess pull everyone off that would be cool

(8) laterals i love laterals they add spice to games and make it more interesting

(9) injuries!!! did you every notice that they always walk off of the field and never lay there and have people come treat them Add this now

(10)diving for the ball is horrible they almost always miss it and never adjust the dive so they can catch it

(11) tipped balls need to be improved i mean there are kind of good but ones at the line of scrimmage would be cool also they shoud go up sometimes so someone can catch it.

(12) Reverses on kickoff and punt returns also fake reverses. that would be so cool also that play that the tennessee titans did that one time where they returned the kickoff all the way to win they game. that would be awesome

(13) this is a totally orginal idea. what if players could have like special abilities like faster than 99 speed, being able to catch very goodly, Super jukes, super jumps, super pass, ect., ect.

(14) another original idea what if every game you got like one chance thing you can use to make a huge play on offense or deffense to make the game winning play on offense deffense or special teams

(15) more one handed grabs

(16) make big piles when there are short yardage situations and your running up the middle.

(17) i can never complete a screen pass please improve this, it hits him on the head

Well thats all i got for now i hope EA sports sees this and uses it

i like your ideas hopfully ea will use them.

[CharioTitan]

Note to Bobster- You can play players that are questionable or probable. YOu just have to go to the player on the injury report and hit x(on Playstation). The game will ask if you're sure you want to play the player and then you can put them in. If they're PROBABLE, they'll usually let you put them in. If they're QUESTIONABLE, they may say that the player's injury is too severe to play. But I've done it before and I know you can do it.

[Shifty]

-oh yeh coachs in the NCAA game should editable (like the players) and available to import vice versa (via Charlie Wies ) from New England to Notre Dame.)
-Maybe hip towels via Reggie Bush.
-Season to season stat scrolls for the league leaders.
-College stats available to view when they get imported to the pros.
-More imported players
-THE MUST: CAN I BLOCK A KICK OR PUNT. It happens all the time in the REAL GAMES. 1 block in like 2,000 games
-Better looking catchs, tackles, get rid of those ones where they fall on there knees then fall down.
-Get rid of that ugly dive in open field.
-More realistic looking goal line stands and runs.