Madden Developers Defend Strategy Pad, Promise Patch

EA Sports made a big change in the way gamers make on the fly changes in the upcoming Madden '11 by using the digital pad as the "Strategy Pad". This replaced the old button-based setup that has been used by Madden games for years, and with the demo having been out for almost a week, fans are not happy about it. In his developer Blog, Ian Cummings addresses these issues:

"I've heard a few comments on Twitter to the effect of "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" Well, when we started looking at data, it was in fact broke. Based on the playtests we ran and more importantly telemetry we gathered from the online connected consoles, we saw some pretty major areas that needed improvement:"

This is followed by a detailed explanation on the developer Blog that likely won't make much sense to people that aren't intimately familiar with Madden or American Football, but Mr. Cummings goes on to say that they will come out with a patch that adds in the old functionality as an option.

I was able to play the Madden, and don't see what the big deal is. I prefer the new system much more than the old one. Still, it's nice to see EA Sports pays attention to feedback and is willing to cater to more old-school gamers.