We’re stuck with Madden whether we like their monopoly or not . I love console football too much that a boycott seems out of the question, and so I’m forced to disregard how much I absolutely freakin’ loved the 2k Franchise and how much I loathe EA for puttin’ her down (bastards). I hereby extend an olive branch to EA (as I’m sure they’re listening) but only for so long as they continue to evolve their product. Face it.. monopolies aren’t known for their new features and console football still has a lot of room for growth.

Thankfully the Madden team seems somewhat interested in evolving gameplay. Last year they spiced up the defence game by adding more control to formations, player hits and tackles. For 2006 (read fall 2005) they’ll add Quarterback vision cones. Console football just got a bit more involved - I hope you’ve been practicing.

The Vision idea is pretty simple - a gameplay mechanic is faceted around each quarterback’s “vision” stat. The greater the QB’s vision the wider the cone. A throw to a receiver within your QB’s vision will have a greater chance of completion. The defense cone will be visible to the defense so you’ll have to “fake” look (just like in football) and then hone in on your intended receiver immediately prior to your throw. Amateurs who fixate on their intended receivers will become predictable and often find themselves getting picked off. This adds a great new skill-based gameplay element which I think are key to the longevity of a product.

The control of your vision cone seems rather complex to me, but hopefully it’ll become easier with practice because the gameplay potential sounds fantastic. Gamespy has a good write up.. but for the PS2 version. I hope we get some Xbox 2 screens soon.