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 Assistant designer Jonathan Crankshaw lets you in on all the searing Excel spreadsheet action.
Let's get right down to it—who puts the Madden ratings together?
It's me, I have the final say. Before a game comes out, I assemble a group of media experts, around 10 people or so, and a bunch of college athletes, and I show them where I think I'm going as far as ratings go.
How do you make the numerical transition from how athletes perform on the field to how they perform in the game?
I look at a couple of things. First is public perception—everyone knows a certain player can do one thing, so he has to be rated as such. Second is what he did last year and what I think he can do this year. We now do roster updates every two to three weeks, so at home I have several TVs along with my laptop documenting everything players do. Some guys are in better situations for stats than others, so you have to watch that. For example, the Patriots' Laurence Maroney got very few rushing attempts last year because Tom Brady passed all the time. But when Maroney did get attempts, he ran real hard. Same thing with a guy like Steve Smith compared to Terrell Owens. T.O. was in a prolific offense that put up 35 points a game while Smith's team was juggling quarterbacks all season, so it was hard for him to get going. You have to read between the lines sometimes.
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Guitar Hero: On Tour
Are you ready to rock…awkwardly?
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Being top dog often means getting lazy, sloppy, maybe not strive for the prize, so to speak. That's our reaction after Nintendo's lackluster showing at E3 this year. While the Wii is selling like hotcakes (200K a week, 700K monthly), it's the software that eventually makes the day. Unfortunately, we're in for some pretty crappy days. The lowlights (or if you prefer, the highlights):
DO NOT WANT
WII MOTION PLUS Here's what Nintendo's announcement of a WiiMote attachment should've sounded like: "Hey, our original controller kinda sucked, so here's more add-ons to maybe make it better. No it won't be free—you have to buy our other games to get it."
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With Nintendo's turn at announcing the rest of their 2008 lineup, they seemed to be satisfied with simply proclaiming themselves the victors of the past year (which they are, sort of). They've sold the most hardware in terms of units (Wii sold at a rate of 200K a week and 700K monthly) and have seemingly garnered much of the mainstream press with software/hardware like Wii Fit and Wii Sports. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see them roll out much of the same, most notably Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort. Are we to be impressed? Read below for the highlights (or if you prefer, the lowlights):
DO WANT
GRAND THEFT AUTO: CHINATOWN WARS Sell $500 million in software your first week and you think you own the world eh? Well, we don't blame Rockstar for whipping up another iteration of the popular series. The Wii and the DS missed out on all of the GTA IV hoopla, so the game company is obviously trying to reach an untapped audience. And yes, hardcore gamers should get really excited about it too. We don't know why yet, but GET EXCITED NOW!
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