Just in case anyone has forgotten, the Nintendo Wii is a family fun system. You, your mother, your father, the mothers and fathers of your mother and father, your sister, your brother, your cat, and your neighbor's cockatoo can all get in on the fun of the Nintendo Wii. It's all the rage; everyone is playing it, and it's just so easy and fun to use that everyone can.
Electronic Arts hasn't forgotten this and, in jumping on the Wii bandwagon, have announced a "new way to play" which they're calling EA Sports Family Play, exclusive to the Nintendo Wii. This is not a game, but rather a fancy way of saying, "Your drunk aunt can now play NBA Live by swinging her hands wildly." What you've always wanted, I'm sure.
This EA Sports Family Play style of gameplay will be debuting in this year's Madden NFL 08, NBA Live 08, and FIFA 08. As EA puts it, "Family Play is a new way to play that enables players of all abilities to play with the friends and family, without competitive disadvantages." Well it's about time someone took the "competition" out of the sports formula.
Prior to entering a game, players will have the option to choose Advanced of Family Play. Advanced uses both the Wii remote and the nunchuck, while Family Play simply uses the remote. Players control key actions like shooting, passing, snapping, and throwing, while the game takes control of the rest. It's like that movie The Sixth Man where Kadeem Hardison's ghosts helps a college basketball team win the finals.
I find this kind of "dumbing down" and pandering to the Wii's supposed target audience quite interesting. It'll be interesting to see if others follow EA's lead on this one.
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Finally, I can play an EA game without my left hand spazzing out and wildly punching me in the testicles!
To show that they haven't forgotten the hardcore gamer, there is a 300 button controller with the instructions printed entirely in Esperanto coming. The only way to interface with it is through Leeroy Jenkins jokes.
Besides, I need my left hand free to shoot roids and slap my woman to realistically simulate off the field life. Anyone know which waggle motion helps me out of the pre-season rape trial?
So what you are saying is the game basically plays itself but you as the user have limited control of the environment. Great job EA thanks, if I wanted to play a game that only let me control 1 or 2 things I would be playing Oregon Trail still you aholes.
I like it, good idea. I especaiilly like the way it can be activated on the fly with the removal of the nun chuck or turned of when it's plugged in.
It would have been nice if wii sports had optional nunchuk support for tennis.
Wow some forward thnking from EA, who would have thought?
@ Ritalin:
I would so play that game.
That's actually a great idea for letting little kids or unexperienced gamers participate in a match up with the hardcore. Kudos to EA.
Eh, the Wii was about simplifying gaming. This is an extension of that.
That said, something like this makes me glad there's no hard multiplayer online configurations just yet. I don't think people would handle being bested at Madden by a stoned frat boy over the Nintendo WFC.
Additionally, why are any of you bitching? It's Madden fer chrissakes. I haven't played Madden, ever, why should you?
I suppose there is the possibility for cheating online but i'm sure mastering the proper controles could probably give you a lot more freedom than computer helped charachters?
Guess we will just have to wait an see if EA implement a filter for no family mode games when searching for apponants online.
It's a good idea to be fairto EA, c'mon, most of us have surely experinced the frustration of trying to explain the controls to a family member or girlfriend/boyfriend or just a mate who isn't into games. It's a nightmare, they always get it wrong and the spontaneous fun is lost forever.
This "family play" option means that I can "keep it real" whilst the non gamer can understand what the fuck is going on. Can't see why anyone would think this is a bad idea in any way. It simply allows gamers to switch on the console and play with 'anyone' without having to explain the history of gaming every single time.
Additionally, why are any of you bitching?
I... I just don't know how to talk about Madden or EA products without spewing obscinities... It's almost Pavlovian how I've been trained to do it.
@ dvddesign:
I'm not bitching, really.
But allow me to open myself up to fire for a second and say that this is indicative of a trend, and its one of the reasons I probably won't get much use out of my Wii. Personally, I'm not interested in simplifying gameplay experience that I'm already familiar with. I'm interested in fun and innovative games, whether that's with motion controls or a standard controller. I'm not interested in "dumbed down" (this can apply to gameplay or visuals, actually) versions of games I've already played.
It's just another indication that maybe the Wii just isn't for me, and ultimately I'm fine with that. But I really do enjoy many Nintendo IPs, so it's disappointing to me. It's still early in the life of the system, so I'm not damning it or making any final judgments. I'm just thinking out loud here.
i think it's a great idea. imagine how imasculating it will be when your girlfriend is tossing 6 touchdowns on you while saying "would you like your balls back now?" the article doesn't mention this, but family play will also have a simplified playbook. wiitarded tecmo bowl ftw!
i agree with you, Nick. if family play was the ONLY option. but don't you think the advanced control is a very innovative way to play a football game?
I'm also curious as to how the computer controlled AI will handle in Family Play style. If it's disgustingly stupid, then I can see Advanced players being able to find their way around it pretty easily, despite the Family style players easier controls. Alternately, if it's solid enough that just pressing a few buttons and waving the remote around is enough to own the field or court, I can see Advanced players feeling like they're at a steep disadvantage and not wanting to face a Family player.
You saw this with EA Sports' Fight Night games. When they introduced the analog stick controls to the boxing experience, using the buttons was taboo. You'd often get called out for cheating or being cheap if you relied heavily on the traditional (and easier) button scheme.
I'm not sure if this is going to even out a playing field, or just create a new one for more casual players to play amongst themselves. We'll see.
@ saxomophone:
Good point. I'm not denying that the Wii has potential for some truly stand-out experiences, in terms of control. I don't really play sports titles, so I can't speak too much on Madden (I played it briefly at last year's E3 and it seemed like a cool idea ... although from anecdotal experience, most traditional players seem to have rejected it).
the Wii, and EA, so easy Terri Schiavo could play.
I have to think this is a good idea, but Nick's right -- there's a fine line between "everybody can play" and "dumbed down". What I would like is this type of forward thinking with, say, a new IP. Accessible Madden? Fine. Now, give me something new that's equally accessible.
"Personally, I'm not interested in simplifying gameplay experience that I'm already familiar with." Exactly. I want EA to give me something I'm not familiar with.
It's entirly optionl so at the end of the day no one needs to use it.
If you think about it Wiisports did this it controlled your tennis mii's movement, so the fact EA is giving us a user friendly type option AND a normal option is just all good in my books.
@Nick
I wasn't griping at you, and yeah, I agree that new game genres are definitely needed. But the Wii is selling because of it's simplicity in gameplay as well as the unique controls.
Also, so long as people have to buy the Nunchuck and the Wii-Mote separately, there should be a catered to audience for wii-mote only games. Nintendo dropped the ball on selling those separately.
If my parents bought a Wii, they wouldn't think to go buy the nunchuck when getting a second controller.
Now, I haven't played the Madden franchise since the SNES days, so I might not be the best one to comment here. But I think a lot of you deliberately aren't giving EA and the Wii a whole lot of credit here.
Wii is not intended to be a dumbed down console as some of you imply, but a stepping stone into the realm of video games. This control scheme sounds similar to me. Madden games have gotten a rep recently for having very steep learning curves. Now with two levels of control, you can simplify one aspect of the game while you learn the rest, then return to pick up the control details after the flow and strategy of the game are within your understanding.
I think the fear of being dominated by your little sister is likely unfounded. It would seem to me that the ability to adjust your run path or audible on the fly would significantly raise your ceiling in a football game, and I think EA would want it to be this way for all the reasons listed above. Certainly if two people started playing at the same time with similar gaming abilities, and one used the easy control and one the hard, the easy would win the first few games. But as the person with more control started to understand the interface, he would quickly dominate the person that is restrained by their lack of precise control over the situation.
Ok, all fair points being made here, but what I find baffling about the venom aimed at Wii (not necessarily here) by the so called 'hardcore gamers', is that gamers really thought that things were going to remain the same forever. Nothing stays the same forever. The games industry at some stage was going to have to expand and change it's identity, these are early days of that change, and whilst some gamers might not like it, you really aren't the best people to make judgements about it.
Why? Because the gaming community always claim to want new experiences or innovative new games, the reality is that they want to play the same thing over again, just with more polish, I have the last decade of gaming as evidence. Gamers shoudn't say that want innovative games, they should say "I want innovative games that conform to my idea of innovation" because this is what they mean. It's kind of like people who say " I want to have new experiences" and they catually mean they want new experiences just aslong as those experinces trigger the same good feelings as my old experinces. This equals no new experience at all.
There are some quality film directors who blame George Lucas for the demise of intelligent film making, Star Wars dumbed down thought provoking film making and turned it into a summer franchise with a constant eye on kiddie merchandise. Ok, fair enough, they are right. But my response to this claim is the same response to the claim about the Wii dumbing down gaming - It was always going to happen - if George Lucas didn't create Star Wars, some other fucker would have made something which created the summer blockbuster. Same apllies to the Wii, if Nintendo hadn't expanded the market with the Wii, some other company would eventually had done it. Just be thankful that it was George Lucas and Nintendo that got there first, it could have been much much worse.
But my main point is this, the Wii isn't dumbing down anything, it's a piece of hardware, it dictates nothing, as always and as ever, it's the fucking developers who should be getting the blame, the Wii is a perfect machine for experimentation and visuals based on art direction rather than hardware showcases. People can't blame Star Wars for the dross that came after it, just like people can't say the Wii is not for them. The Wii is for them, it's just that the lazy clueless developers aren't for anyone.
I'm not aiming this directly at anyone here, it's just a general response to the tone which constantly hangs over anything Wii related.
@zardoz The Nintendo Wii is not as innovative as all you people who accidentally bought one purport and it will definitely not change video gaming forever.
The Virtual Boy brought us no closer to wearing your favorite console on your face and the Wii wont revolutionize the industry by allowing you to wiggle your way through Resident Evil 4.
Sorry, man.
Nick, I don't understand why you are against or afraid of this trend; giving an option to allow people unfamiliar with a game to still play. It is an OPTION. Are you really that elitist? I think you'd have a point if it was the only way to play.
Many people argued that the controls in madden 07 wii were actually harder than what we were used to.
OWLICKS, if the virtual boy was in anyway popular or successful, it would have.
@mandlebaum123
But it wasn't - because it was a piece of shit half-assed "revolutionary" game system that did nothing but make everyones faces 110% more sweaty.
Man, I don't think I've actually ever seen anyone stand up for The Virtual Boy.
hahahaha FAIL
Watching Nintendo apologist trying to rationalize, and defend EA’s “you're not really doing anything” control scheme is hilarious.
Almost as funny as blind accusations without merit.
@ Owlicks Did you ever play a Virtual Boy, I'm gonna say no. Well I owned one, the Wario game and that flight sim it had were the BOMB. The games looked slick and the 3d was amazing.... but it was a first-gen 3d headset and it wasn't the most comfortable thing. Nintendo tried something new... It didn't work, but it hadn't been done before and was worth and attempt. Can you tell me whats new about the 360 and the PS3... NOTHING. They've both even carried the same name.
So tell me how any console TO DATE was more innovative than the Wii? The motion control may be in it's infancy, but since playing RE4 on my Wii I see how awesome FPS's can be with a Wiimote. I would bet I can simulate about 95% accuracy of my PC mouse (getting a steady 90%+ accuracy in RE4), the 360 and PS3 controllers can't compare even with the game helping you aim.
Also, if the Wii brought nothing new to the table, why did Sony bust it's ass to copy the controller just before release? Six-axis being in a PS3 controller shows Sony KNEW Nintendo was on the right path and tried to follow them their (but failed so far).
@ Nick Brutal So Nick, can you show me the press release that says that EA stopped adding in all new content on Madden '08 to implement the "family controls." How does them adding a new control scheme make any difference at all to a hardcore gamer? Just don't use it...
I have a couple fiends and family that like Madden but aren't hardcore Madden players, and when I tried to get them to play with me on '07 I was constantly explaining controls to them as we played. I can see "family mode" being a huge success when you are playing with people who aren't Madden'o'holics.
From what I've heard the Wii version of Madden will actually have all sorts of new mini-games too. How does a football sim that has barley changed between each iteration need a full dev time for the basics? They don't, they have the engine and basic play down to a science, LET them add new stuff, cause Madden '07, '06, '05, '04 are all the same game with a few new features added in each.
@ Grapefruit juice
No mate, gamers saying they want something new, then playing the same old shit for over ten years is hilarious, no actually it's not funy at all.
Gamers, the most blinkered consumers of all?
who said I wanted anything new?
I've got a virtual boy in the closet, son.
FAIL - it didn't fail to sell cause it was a good product. It failed to sell cause it was a piece of shit.
Thanks anyway though.
Nothing fails because its good. Many pieces of shit are successful.
Best article title ever
@ dvddesign
EA stated that they are going to use their own kind of online service for madden because they hate friend codes, bu yeah ea is online with the wii.
the screenshots of that basketball game look pretty good for wii.