It's about time for my 2 year upgrade and this one is at the top of my list.

Boy I sure could use a BMW, maybe I need to jump on this demo. Downloading now.

I just might buy this now, 29.99 you cant beat it.

Your right, EA basically killed all the competition with that exclusive licensing agreement a while back, but I still think that people would play a title with no names if it was solid from a gameplay standpoint but no one has been able to do that so far, or hasn't wanted to. I reminisced on my the days for exclusive licenses a while back in this post

First thanks for your comment, though I wouldn't say my impressions are false they are simply different from yours. I didn't say that the data from the demo is telling them that people "love", gameflow I said like and I think that the data Ian mentioned supports that, as well as the early feedback I am getting from readers and my Twit peeps. I note also, that he does mention that all of this data on people's perception and actual value they will ultimately find in Gameflow is very early. You may have a point about their ability to collect data from people that are offline and simply signed into the PSN or XBL, I'll ask the EA guys about that though.

The response that the strategy pad decision was made on faulty conclusions, with that many seperate data points I would be very hard pressed to say it was made based on faulty conclusions. The truth is that the data doesn't lie, what changes is who is interpreting it and how. Ian clearly notes that the hardcore Madden player either doesn't really need the strategy pad or plays just fine the way it was and compensates for those "locked state" events. You are right about everyone doesn't buy Madden every year, but after evaluating that many separate game events numbers are numbers. I think as a game designer you have to listen to your players, look at the data and then try to make some sense of it all and you can't make everyone happy. I think that the Strategy Pad was fine, I just think they should have made it optional instead of making everyone change they way they have been calling plays for years, if they had made it a choice from the start and not waited for the community to tell them they would like a choice then this would be a non-issue. Gameflow works great, but if you don't like it you can turn it off, they should have done the same with the Strategy Pad. At this point, its too late, Madden 11 drops next week and the old control scheme won't be back until right before football season starts, guess we gotta get used to it.

The game get's compared to Madden because Madden is the definitive football simulation out there. As you can tell from the review, I was very excited about Backbreaker, about the promise it had but the bottom line is that it just didn't deliver on that. It's one thing to revolutionize the way we play a game, its another thing to go so far in creating a unique control scheme that will alienate a lot of players. If you want people to shift from a brand like Madden then you have got to ease them into it, keep core things "similar" and then win them over with unique gameplay elements, visuals and the like. I think that Natural Motion failed to do those things with this title and the consumers responded.

Thanks Mike for the comments. I am a huge Madden fan and one of the their biggest critics, while I think that none of them will disagree that they did get a little stagnant a few years back, the truth is that they have really been committed to making a better game over the last 2 or 3 years and it shows.

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Thanks Mike for the comments. I am a huge Madden fan and one of the their biggest critics, while I think that none of them will disagree that they did get a little stagnant a few years back, the truth is that they have really been committed to making a better game over the last 2 or 3 years and it shows.

I am glad you felt that way because I just never got the warm and fuzzy I was looking for. As I said, I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't happen. I mean you can't bring a control scheme like that when your competition is EA and their sports titles. If they had made the controls exactly the same as Madden or NCAA, with the same core gameplay mechanics then the game would have been much better. As it stands, from my experience and other people that I have talked to about it, it just wasn't fun to them because they never felt in control. But there is something for everyone. Thanks for the comment.

Yep we know how you feel, we are working on trying to find out if and when the demo will drop. Stay tuned.