Madden 12 drops August 30th

Yeah, it’s a promise they make annually but here are two reasons this year’s Madden promises to be the most realistic instalment in the franchise.

Dynamic Player Performance
In Madden 12, each and every player will have confidence and consistency trait tracking. In terms of confidence, if your star wide-receiver is coming off a multiple-TD week, his confidence rating will be high. Conversely, if your rookie quarterback can’t complete a pass to save his life, this will negatively affect his confidence. Players can get hot and they can get cold, and streaks can last for up to three consecutive weeks (in Franchise mode).

Consistency is the other metric that forms Dynamic Player Performance. It’s hard to predict a single player’s effectiveness in a given week, let alone the whole season. Rookies and younger players will generally have lower consistency ratings, but as they gain experience it will increase. Veteran players will see less volatile shifts in their rating if their performance deviates slightly from their track record. For example, Tom Brady isn’t going to fall to pieces if he throws an interception.

Together these dimensions aid art in mimicking life: a big play or mistake can drastically influence the performance of a player (and consequently the whole team) for the rest of the game. The biggest impact of Dynamic Player Performance though, is that these metrics are updated play by play throughout the game, allowing players to ride the highs and feel the lows of their performance.

Who will your player become?

Player Roles
In addition to playing the mental game with your squad, each player will have the opportunity to earn a “role”. During the offseason, players’ statistics will be measured against pre-determined role characteristics to see if they earn the title for the next season . If they meet the criteria, their performance will exhibit signs of this role. For example, if Michael Vick gets labelled “Fumble Prone”, you’ll think twice about letting him run the ball – especially if your opponent is sporting roles such as Run Stopper or Defensive Playmaker.

Some of the other interesting roles included in the game are: Team Mentor, Playoff Performer, Underachiever, Future Star, Iron Man, QB of the Future and Franchise Quarterback.

This time in Madden, your players’ ratings can fluctuate during the very game you’re playing to give gamers the most accurately simulated action on any snap. With the addition of roles, player characteristics are further emphasized in an attempt to bring their personality onto the field and into your hands.