Madden NFL 07 - Producer Interview

GR: How closely will the PSP version of 07 match the PS2 game? Do the console and handheld teams bounce a lot of ideas back and forth for special features?

JL: It’s fairly similar. The current-gen Madden team worked closely with our PSP team this year and we really did bounce a lot of ideas off of each other. One great result that came out of that brainstorming is the feature that allows you to share your franchise between the PSP and PS2 versions of Madden.

GR: How is it, as a developer, making the transition from current-gen hardware to next-gen? Obviously, you have to be excited about the new gear, but are there elements of the current-gen hardware, perhaps familiarity or simplicity, that make a developer prefer the older tech?

JL:  That’s a hard one for me to answer. I’ve been on the current-gen teams for the past two years, so I haven’t had much experience with the hardware on next-gen. I think all of us are excited about the possibilities in store for the hardware once we’re able to fully take advantage of the systems.

GR: Speaking of Madden 08, let's pretend it's one year from now. Should the average, casual gamer with no next-gen systems look forward to more Madden, or is 07 the final call?

JL: There’s been no official decision on that yet, but my gut feeling tells me that it's probably safe to anticipate more Madden current-gen football next year.

GR: Do you think there will ever be a shift away from yearly updates to continuous, downloadable content that keeps the Madden series fresh year round?

JL: There’s no telling. There are lots of possibilities with the new systems, obviously.

GR: What's one thing the team had really wanted to get into this year's game, but didn't, either because of game design decisions or time?

JL:  There are tons of features that we wanted to get into this year’s game. It all just comes down to time. We only have so much time every year to get the game out so some things naturally get cut. I personally have a list of features that is pages long that I can’t wait to get in the game.

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