Madden NFL 07 for Wii was one of the top-rated and best-selling games at the Wii's launch. Instead of merely porting another version of Madden to Wii, the game was built from the ground up entirely with the Wii remote in mind. Madden NFL 08 will take that to the next level with tighter controls, an online mode, and more. An IGN interview with Madden 08 associate producer Damian Zerr provides more details.
This time around, Madden will include Mii support. Players can import their Mii for the Wii-exclusive Party Mode, a local multiplayer hub that includes 22 mini-games, a trivia mode, and the classic exhibition mode for quick multiplayer action. The game will keep track of each Mii's progress and statistics in Party Mode.
The Wii remote controls are now more refined to make some of the gestures easier to pull off and remember, and new gestures have been added, such as the Audible gesture, which uses the nunchuk exclusively during pre-snap. Just swing the nunchuck in a direction to call an Audible on the fly and adjust offense. Also on the controls front, Damian hinted at something more interesting—something "very new to Wii sports games"—but he declined to comment further.
Damian did, however, go into a lot more detail about the online mode. Streaming scores, two-player exhibition games (both ranked and unranked), updated rosters, leaderboards, and more are all part of the new online mode for the Wii version of Madden. There is no voice chat this time around, but the EA messenger will allow players to talk to each other at any time if both are logged in.
When asked if Madden's online mode would use friend codes, Damian surprisingly responded with a negative. While they are working with Nintendo to integrate friend code support, the game will primarily use the EA Nation Persona to search and manage the EA Messenger account.
The Wii version of Madden 08 is still missing some of the standard features found on other consoles, especially certain online modes like tournaments, but EA says they're already planning on adding even more to next year's iteration of the Wii version.
Madden NFL 08 will hit North American stores August 14, 2007.
This time around, Madden will include Mii support. Players can import their Mii for the Wii-exclusive Party Mode, a local multiplayer hub that includes 22 mini-games, a trivia mode, and the classic exhibition mode for quick multiplayer action. The game will keep track of each Mii's progress and statistics in Party Mode.
The Wii remote controls are now more refined to make some of the gestures easier to pull off and remember, and new gestures have been added, such as the Audible gesture, which uses the nunchuk exclusively during pre-snap. Just swing the nunchuck in a direction to call an Audible on the fly and adjust offense. Also on the controls front, Damian hinted at something more interesting—something "very new to Wii sports games"—but he declined to comment further.
Damian did, however, go into a lot more detail about the online mode. Streaming scores, two-player exhibition games (both ranked and unranked), updated rosters, leaderboards, and more are all part of the new online mode for the Wii version of Madden. There is no voice chat this time around, but the EA messenger will allow players to talk to each other at any time if both are logged in.
When asked if Madden's online mode would use friend codes, Damian surprisingly responded with a negative. While they are working with Nintendo to integrate friend code support, the game will primarily use the EA Nation Persona to search and manage the EA Messenger account.
The Wii version of Madden 08 is still missing some of the standard features found on other consoles, especially certain online modes like tournaments, but EA says they're already planning on adding even more to next year's iteration of the Wii version.
Madden NFL 08 will hit North American stores August 14, 2007.