Madden 2006

[Chris Luva Luva]

The cone for me was very difficult due to the fact that I switched to the Xbox this year, but I fixed that by purchasing an adaptor to use my PS2 controller with the Xbox.

I was thinking about getting the Xbox version but it was too late. How does that adapter work? At this point in time I guess it'd be pointless for me to buy it unless all of my friends purchase their copies for the Box. However, you have the superior version because the PS2 version is plagued with slowdown.

I like the running game but I get most of my yards up the middle by running a singleback formation.
Portis is a beast but you cant press the sprint button right away or else the defender will break tackle. Its funny that when I use Betts, I average 4.8 but with CP I average only 4.0. I will fix that with some practice.

Thanks for the tip on Norv Turners playbook, I'll try it in the morning. Something that really helps with Portis is using the light juke. Im not sure how to do this with the Xbox because the buttons aren't pressure sensitive. With the PS2 you need to lightly press the juke button and he'll cut very quickly to the side instead of a sidestep type move if you mash the button.

[redskincity]

The adaptor plugs directly into the XBox and then you plug the PS2 controller into the adaptor, hit the toggle on the side of the adaptor to Xbox and your in there.

Another good plybook, although not as good as Norv Turners is the Colts plkbk. It has more feel to our plybk last year but its more wide open.

Norvs feature more bunch and trip formations and alot of nice plays for the RB.

[ejay183]

The adaptor plugs directly into the XBox and then you plug the PS2 controller into the adaptor, hit the toggle on the side of the adaptor to Xbox and your in there.

Another good plybook, although not as good as Norv Turners is the Colts plkbk. It has more feel to our plybk last year but its more wide open.

Norvs feature more bunch and trip formations and alot of nice plays for the RB.

Yeah I have that adapter, because some of my friends have an X-box.

[SkinsFanInHawai'i]

I like it but I will have to get used to it.

The cone for me was very difficult due to the fact that I switched to the Xbox this year. The controller was the problem, I fixed that by purchasing an adaptor to use my PS2 controller with the Xbox.

I like the running game but I get most of my yards up the middle by running a singleback formation.
Portis is a beast but you cant press the sprint button right away or else the defender will break tackle. Its funny that when I use Betts, I average 4.8 but with CP I average only 4.0. I will fix that with some practice.

Yesterday I was going through some playbooks and I must tell yall that Norv Turners playbook is beast. It has a tight formation set and has alot of formations that bounce out to the side lines.

After swithching to his Plybk I averaged 40 points a game compared to 24 that I was getting from using that sorry one they gave us this year.

All in all very enjoyable.

I like the Skins playbook. I think running the ball is more fun with the counters and traps because you have to be more patient. The other playbooks you can just run off-tackle and get pretty big gains allmost everytime.

[AZHog]

I just played last night and was pretty impressed with the amount of single-back formations now available. Still, one quick question: Anyone know why Parcells hasn't been listed as the Cowboys coach for the last couple of years? I know there was the same type of situation with Lavar a couple of years ago b/c he wasn't a member of the player's association.

[redskincity]

I think running the ball is more fun with the counters and traps because you have to be more patient. The other playbooks you can just run off-tackle and get pretty big gains allmost everytime.

[redskinz4ever]

very impressed with everything so far except the superstar mode ....are you really going to play for any other team than washington ...i tried six different times to get drafted by the skins and no such luck. but everything else has gotten way better including the soundtrack it self !!
question what difficulty settings do you start with ??? just wondering rookie is way to easy.

[Chris Luva Luva]

very impressed with everything so far except the superstar mode ....are you really going to play for any other team than washington ...i tried six different times to get drafted by the skins and no such luck. but everything else has gotten way better including the soundtrack it self !!
question what difficulty settings do you start with ??? just wondering rookie is way to easy.

I started with All-madden but I knocked it down to All-pro until I get used to the cone.

[Jeremy81]

i like the new madden...the qb vision took some time to get used to because if the other team blitzes, it's hard to switch your vision in time to the open receiver and get off the pass

i don't like that you can't do the defensive line audibles anymore to make them flare out or in, but oh well, that was kind of cheap last year anyway, and when you're the running back you can't call your blocks anymore, don't really like that either

luckily i got drafted by the falcons in superstar mode, cause if i had to play with the 49ers or something i'd be mad...but as soon as i have a stellar year, i'm gunna demand to be traded...to the redskins

[Skinsfan55]

I didn't like ESPN 2K as a whole, but the audible system RULED.

A real team doesn't have a scant 5 audibles to choose from for which you must change the formation...

2K5 had like 4 audibles for every play, with no formation change...

Why doesn't Madden do this?

[Chris Luva Luva]

Quick updates before I run to work.

I made a superstar RB who got taken in the 3rd round by the Falcons....I didn't have enough space on my memory card to save it.

I traded away Betts for Darren Sproles!

I also picked up the rookie RB from the Giants. That cat is like 6'3 250lbs!

I got rid of Brunell!! Teams were jumping up and down to get his overrated behind. I think thats how I got the rookie, I got a lot of draft picks for Brunell.

I also picked up Chad Lewis who is am absolute beast. Him and ey and opposite ends = trouble!

[air_hog]

Actually, I use Royal more than ey. Everytime I pick a play, eys routes suck and Royal is always wide open. The only problem is he's white

In my season, Walt Harris is out for 7 weeks, Garnell Wilds is out for 2 and in a game against the Cheifs, Rogers was out with a sprained wrist. Therefore, ADE JIMOH was starting So I had to put Prielou as my other starter.

I found out I was only playing on pro, that's why I was dominating like 40-0 every game.

[andyjens89]

I usually do fantasy draft and take all the worst people in the game, put it on rookie, and put up like 95 points per game to make the players' progression skyrocket, it's fun.

[vtfootball07]

I dominate on All-pro on both sides of the ball but can't play offense on All-Madden if my life depended on it. I'm lucky to put up like 15 points a game.

[redskinz4ever]

i'm going to move up to all-pro just way to easy on rookie,i started off with rookie until i got a better feel for my offense.

[Hooligan]

What bothers me about Madden is every year we pay $50 for basically the same game as far as graphics and a new gameplay quirk here and there. The most crucial and glaring year-to-year differences, and the EASIEST for them to include, are accurate playbooks and accurate rosters.

I remember all the WWF wrestling games that would keep storylines/outfits/personalities up to date as close to release as possible. Why can't Madden do this?? Two years with no counter-trey??? No shotgun? No Antonio Pierce? Barrow and Gardner are still here? Can't find a picture of Garnell Wilds? This is simple B.S. stuff that needs to be included if you aren't going to make any major changes to a game before you release it again the following year.

Rant over.

[SkinsFanInHawai'i]

What bothers me about Madden is every year we pay $50 for basically the same game as far as graphics and a new gameplay quirk here and there. The most crucial and glaring year-to-year differences, and the EASIEST for them to include, are accurate playbooks and accurate rosters.

I remember all the WWF wrestling games that would keep storylines/outfits/personalities up to date as close to release as possible. Why can't Madden do this?? Two years with no counter-trey??? No shotgun? No Antonio Pierce? Barrow and Gardner are still here? Can't find a picture of Garnell Wilds? This is simple B.S. stuff that needs to be included if you aren't going to make any major changes to a game before you release it again the following year.

Rant over.

I don't know if you play online but they have roster updates. I know there is atleast one on there now. Gardner is definatly gone.

I didn't look to much at the roster though because my roomate and I have got a franchise going with a fantasty draft with some made up teams.(Woodbridge Crackies )

Portis, Taylor, Campell, and Macune are the only Skins on my team though. My roomate took ey at fullback and he doesn't even know who he is. I'm still trying to convince him that he is not really just a fullback but whatever.

I have been

[skinsfano28]

i tell you what, robert mccune is a beast and a half. i started him at mlb, and he has led the team in tackles every game in the current season (5) and also is among the league leaders in tackles. he's clutch too, he comes up with sacks, even when i don't control him, at crucial points in the game. the vision cone thing is getting a little easier, but ramsey can't throw an accurate pass to save his life, but that's mostly my fault for getting him 17 int's this season :-\...im switching it up to campbell, he's pretty beastly, although he looks white in the game? does anyone else have that problem?

[Irn-Bru]

There are 2 things about every Madden release that frustrate me year after year:

Injuries. I can't go for one season without losing 3 to 4 of my stars (not just role-playing starters) to season ending injuries within the first couple of weeks. My brother and I were playing a franchise mode, and, after the pre-season and week 1 of the regular season, there were a grand total of 22 season ending injuries, 30+ injuries of 10 weeks or more, and a plethora of more minor injuries around the league. Game matchups basically became who had their best player and who didn't--that's not how the real NFL works. I know that injuries happen, but if the programmers at Madden cut injuries by 50% then we'd be talking more realistic numbers, IMO. Every year I can only go for so long before having to turn off injuries because I just can't take the frequency.

Fatigue. I've got Clinton Portis, and I can't get the guy more than 15-20 carries a game because he's tired ALL THE TIME. The worst, for me, is when he sits out for a few plays, I punt, the other team gets the ball, the end of the quarter happens, I get the ball back. . .and he's in but he's STILL TIRED. I run Portis for 1-2 plays and he's out again. Why should I have to center my game plan about when Portis will be in and when he'll be fresh? I want to focus on strategies such as run vs. pass, counters vs. off-tackles. . .not wonder if Portis is going to have the steam to carry the ball more than 4 times on this 8+ play drive.


Does anyone else have these problems? Does anyone else think that the problems are re-occuring year to year?

[skinsfano28]

the whole fatigue thing doesn't really affect portis in my game, that is really weird that he can only get 15-20 with you? in the last game, i had him take 47 carries for 350 yards (on all pro) and he went out after 45 for the only real extended period of time all game. Betts got about 7 carries and then portis was back into the game. on the topic of injuries, i noticed the same thing. although it hasn't happened this year (yet), last year i lost shawn springs, sean taylor, and CP all in the same game for anywhere from 3 weeks to the entire season. it really bugs me because, as you said, it comes down to who has their best player available. i think madden is on the cusp of being a good game, as long as they can get the realism down and tinker with the graphics a bit.

a side note: i remember in last year's game, Priest Holmes went down with like a broken leg or something, and the description of length for his injury was career threatening. has anyone else experienced something like that?

[SkinsFanInHawai'i]

Yeah I've seen career ending injuries. It's kinda funny though, what if you were a player playing as yourself and that happend? That'd be a little scary.

Can you turn the frequency of injuries and fatique up and down in settings? I think it starts half way up.

[spudstr04]

should i drop ade jimoh and pick up artrell hawkins on my game??

[skinsfano28]

drop ade jimoh and put brandon noble at corner, im sure he would do a hell of a lot better

[EasyMoney]

What bothers me about Madden is every year we pay $50 for basically the same game as far as graphics and a new gameplay quirk here and there. The most crucial and glaring year-to-year differences, and the EASIEST for them to include, are accurate playbooks and accurate rosters.

I remember all the WWF wrestling games that would keep storylines/outfits/personalities up to date as close to release as possible. Why can't Madden do this?? Two years with no counter-trey??? No shotgun? No Antonio Pierce? Barrow and Gardner are still here? Can't find a picture of Garnell Wilds? This is simple B.S. stuff that needs to be included if you aren't going to make any major changes to a game before you release it again the following year.

Rant over.

Football videogames are like baseball cards. I buy it because it's a good game and it's just too much of a pain to make every roster move for every team in the offseason. Sometimes you get stuck with the salary cap trying to add players, sometimes a disgruntled player will not re-sign, etc. Easier to just spend the $50. In order for any developer in the sports gaming industry have a game ship nationwide on time, they're not going to be able to make last minute roster updates and signings. The game had to be mass produced at least a month before it's release. Before Barrow was released and before Gardner was traded. Pierce is in the game this year and he was the #2 under Marcus W. last year. Just take control of all 32 teams and make the changes yourself if you're all about making it as realistic as possible. They'll never release a game with a play named "counter trey" even if Gibbs is here for another 20 years. EA makes up their own names for plays and they review a ton of film to make the playbooks as accurate as possible. I think they did a great job on Gibbs' offense this year. Last year... not so much.

FFA, I haven't seen anything close to what you're describing in the last two years. I can usually run Portis 3 of 4 times in a row and depending on how long the runs are he'll come out on the 5th or 6th play but he's back in the play after. In my current franchise the only player who is injured is Taylor Jacobs, out 8 weeks. Surprise, surprise. The players are more susceptible to injuries when they're fatigued. When you're calling plays watch the color of the players when you're picking your formation. If a player is yellow don't call a play to that player. Use as much of the play clock as you can and you'll see them go from yellow and then back to white. I think there is also a way to do this on the field as well. I can't picture your copy of the game being different than mine but that just doesn't make sense. I'm not sure if you knew about the color coding thing but I thought I'd pass it along just in case.

[dcsportsfan5]

Where do you get the controller adapter for the xbox to use your ps2 controller? Do you notice any problems like delayed movements etc?