-Hi, I'm Scott Stein, senior editor at CNET.com and we are here at a live cover shoot for Madden 12.
Peyton Hillis was voted as the winner, a surprised underdog.
Now we're also on the eve of the NFL draft and the NFL has been in a strange state of lockout but here EA is showing off Madden 12 that kind of kicked off the NFL season.
We get a chance to peek at it and also talk with some of the producers about what's gonna be a little bit different this year.
Come on in.
-I wanna get all the fans to give out to EA Sports.
-Madden has sort of upped the ante.
How do you do it?
What do you do each year to get people to come back?
-Well, this year that was our big focus, was as much as we could possibly do.
We wanted to blow people's minds, total black and white difference.
Huge lighting upgrades this year including progressive lighting, a true broadcast.
So it's gonna look like you're watching the game on TV.
-So I got a question for you.
When are you actually gonna
have Bill Belichick as a coach as opposed to that weird guy who shows up as the patriot's coach each year?
-Any coach?
Well, that's up to Bill, like we want the coaches.
We have 31 authentic NFL coaches.
They all come in.
They get their heads scanned.
-We gotta get them involved.
It's 31 and you know--
-It's up to him.
We want him involved.
-Yeah.
-So Bill, if you're out there, you know--
-We're here with Phil Frazier, executive producer for EA's Madden franchise.
So you're in a unique position this year.
Normally, you don't kick off the NFL season.
But with the way of the lockout and everything that's been going on the NFL and the draft tonight, you guys are kind of in the front lines for what's going on.
-Yeah.
I think with this whole cover vote, we announced Peyton Hillis today.
I think there's generally a lot of interest in the Madden product.
And, you know, the lockout is unfortunate, you know, the fact that the NFL and the players are still trying to work through their differences.
We do work a lot with the community.
I think this is an example of that with the cover vote.
I think on top of that we're very active on Twitter and forums.
We have a very active and passionate community out there.
I think this year,
we've touched every single feature on the game.
We've got great game plan improvements.
We've got new collision system, new A.I., a brand new presentation system that actually uses actual cinematography from NFL films.
It looks amazing.
We've got a new custom playbook system.
Right now, you know, the goal with Madden 12 was to deliver an authentic in-game presentation and a gameplay experience.
And I think we're gonna be delivering that.
I'm looking ahead that storage room and experience a little more context as to what's happening around the league as you're playing on Sundays.
It's definitely where we wanna go.
-So, we're having a peek at some of the
new features at Madden 12, apparently, more realistic camera presentations.
Is that going to be enough to get you to spend another 60 dollars on Madden this year?
Well, unfortunately, for better or for worse, if you're an NFL fan, you kinda got no other choice.
So, I'm probably gonna be getting it too.
I'm Scott Stein and that's a preview of EA's Madden 12, and hopefully, there won't be a lockout this season.
