EA Posted up their latest blog, after quite a delay, and this one is on playcalling improvements from the CPU AI. It’s a welcome addition. I haven’t had the chance to read through it yet, but we also get a couple new screen shots, one of the Patriots and a few others. I believe that this is just the second or third Patriots Screen, so as a Pats fan, I’m glad to see it. OF course, I’m sure most other fans aren’t too happy about it, given that the majority already think that the Patriots got a little too much love in the ratings department as it is (see the weekly poll…)
Patriots with Welker in the Slot
While the blog goes into some depth about CPU playcalling tendencies, one question I always had is how the CPU will handle injuries, acquisitions, and retirements throughout a franchise. For instance, the Falcons offense under Mike Vick was obviously much different than it is under Matt Ryan, and would the game automatically compensate for that difference through franchise — as offenses changes? This seems to be answered here,
“What if Peterson gets injured or traded?” you may ask. A really cool thing built into Adaptive AI (which was first detailed here) is that the team will re-evaluate itself constantly – so if for example if the Vikings no longer have a feature back like Peterson, they will adjust accordingly (and likely start running the ball much less on first down).
There are still some questions about this — will the playbooks change entirely, etc.? But it’s good to see an effort coming in like that.
It’s also nice to see that teams are getting some more formation specific plays, to highlight key players. For instance, Welker on the Patriots is their 2nd best receiver, yet he usually plays in the slot — similar to how Troy Brown played early in the decade. The Madden team has accommodated for this in Madden 2010.
For example, the Patriots primarily use Wes Welker in the slot in 3+ WR sets. With that in mind, we created 3 new formations (Singleback Doubles Patriots, Gun Wing Trips Wk, and Gun 5WR Patriot) that have Welker lining up in the slot. In previous versions of Madden, the WR2 always lined up on the outside while the WR3 lined up in the slot. You had to use packages or substitutions to get him into that position in the past, whereas now they will just have this setup by default.
Well NCAA 2010 comes out in the next couple weeks, and although I will be avoiding NCAA this year, it still marks that Madden is close to a month ago. Hopefully we’ll see a little bit more before release day.
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