Sports video game developers focus on det: to make products more realistic than ever By ERIC BUTCHER, DalaNescom Sal Weer Late-season championship push- es. Unforgiving deadlines, Relentless competition. Such is the lift of the 100 or so people who worked on the just-re- Teased “NCAA Foothall 2004” from EA Sports — not to mention the 80- plus members of the "Madden NFL 2004 team who are sill hard at work. ‘The workload for developers and pressure to push the boundaries are ‘ypical in the $6.9 billion sports vid- co games industy. As games yet more relist, devel- ‘oping sports video games has almost become as complicated asthe job re- al sports general managers face With competition among game publishers ~ foothall publishers, in particular ~ at an alltime high, development teams are constantly challenged to take itt the next level, Players who behave like thelr real life counterparts, playbooks that aimie the real thing and even Key financial decisions such as manag- ing salary caps are key componenis of most football games. SEGAs upeoming “ESPN NFL Football for example, willbe the only [NFL gaine this yar to feature a rue The busnss of sorts ideo games, 1A ‘On THEN (Cable Ch 38): Wate Texas amar” on Thursdays Between 7-8 p.m, ye Dallas Morning Neros {In The Dallas Morning News: Tun to Samson ae and industry a, ‘On Dallasews.com: Find punchouton rive eens, deo ea ae. first-person point of view, giving players the opportunity to “see” the {ane through the eyes of an NFT. player Traditional NFL games are plajed from a third-person point of view, which allows the player to ae- tually see his character onscreen.) "Madden NFL 2004" one of least, five NFL games to be ly and August, will featu ‘Owner Mode It allows the assume fll financial and : responsibilty forthe franchises ev- erything from managing the Stary gramming sequences and algorithms that tells each computer controlled player what to do and when to doit. “Mimicking human behsvior i ex- ‘remely dificult, especially in the football world, where certain behav- iors are expected and can turn the flow of the game,’ said Jeremy Stranser, lead producer for "Madden NFL 2004” "We spend a lot of time earning and understanding football ‘We work with players and coaches each year to understand how things should work and then spenc! count- less hours trying to make it'Yel right inthe gamer Computer-controlled linebackers and comerbacks will now “read” of fensive tendencies and formations and react accordingly. Comerbacks will move into pres coverage o drop back {nto zone depending on the offenses formation, Linebackers wil eall u- dibles based on changes in offensive formations. Computer-eontrolled quarterbacks are also smarter, reading defenses and checking off when necessary. They'll ‘ran ano-huddle offense wien they're down by 10 with two minutes to go, ‘oF Fin th play clock down to noth- ‘ng when leading late in the game. ‘Al even extends to compater-con- ‘tolled coaches, who will make deci ‘on situations in the game andl he teal-ife tendencies ofthat ii Festa el nations a Lis ports game deen fee tate neon 28 tional level of realism. Combined with ‘good Al, animations give on-screen thavactess lifelike qualities that ri- ‘al those ofreal athletes. Tiger Woods ("Tiger Woods PGA Tour Gol), Ja- ‘mal Anderson (Madden NEL Foot ball) andl Marshall Faulk (Madden NEL Foothall) have all participated in gamedevelopment. Animations are essentially the bridge sbween play sequences, cDodysuit with white ping- pongballsattached to it The athlete 088 through a series of motions, which are:eaptured digitally and converted into a format that allows litdike movement and control. When done, the process gives the animated players inthe game a more fluid, hu- ‘malike appearance when making tackla or etches oF svnging season, more and are added tothe mix, aelding am even more impressive lev- elofrealisimto the game, In*Madiden NFL 2004" developers added ani- ‘ip-toe sideline catches, y appreciate even more Tike this now with] they put in to make this as eal as posse aid Minne ‘aking hartemack Damats Cal ‘Pepper, the cover athlete for "Madden Ne abo2® PT eee ee ee a ined a teste ean ad dor tocrerthing “Our ttre tam dos 2 great bl panting eveything fom Unfors wo player tases? Straser a Developers work with NF. play- cs ad once Well aa Blane ol oie tasall opees the same inutng playbook lye and coach tendencies and critical in-game stages. All players in the “Madden” game are rated on @ 100-point sys- ‘tem in a number of categories, such ‘sped nteigens ay stent, ‘ecteleration and throwing speed and fceuray (or quarterback), Players are also given an overall pe ‘on their individualnumbersEm=» phasis is always placed on accep and attention to detail, Tics tha. rts icteric were all born in it,” said Oakland Raiders running back Tyrone Wheatley, who has served as a con- sultant for “Madden NFL Football.” fyveve seen the prosreatiet ef emries come from little stick men to now al- rat vial le ‘What does the future hold? Noone, othe than te fella So- ny, know when the rumored “PlayStation 3” will hit U.S. store ieee ica eaten Rumored “Khoe New” and Nintens cicierteeeees tn te atts at eel els ae Cees cometigee eee ‘our fare iterations” said EAS Vuong, ‘Tthinkwhen you talk about nee plea eee ee tim of consoles, you have to consi ‘er a wider audience for o1 and the demands for new online content "I don think thers anyone here (at EA] that is not excited about the Destie of wie ween da At mes oust, this isa gent tine ‘Dbe inthe posts that eae!