Interview by: William Abner

Madden NFL 10 was a big step in the continuing development of the Madden franchise. We went so far as to call it the it the best version in the history of the series (and stand by that claim.) Last year we spoke with Mr. Cummings about Madden 10 and thought it a good idea to do a follow up interview to discover what we can expect from this year's game -- from its new features to under the hood tweaks to the future of online franchise mode.

Just to start off, are you happy with how Madden NFL 10 turned out? It was a pretty radical shift in design focus and really a pretty big risk for such an entrenched franchise.

Most people that know me know that I really haven’t ever been totally happy with a released product, because I always want to squeeze more out of it and get in the things that had to be cut (it’s a blessing and a curse I guess). But I would say I was definitely pleased with the result, mainly in that we were able to re-shift the focus of the product (and the team) back towards realistic simulation gameplay and broadcast-style presentation. Though it seemed like a big risk back then to do such major changes with things like player control and game speed, I look back it now and believe 100% it was the right thing to do. Madden NFL football, with all its history, HAS to be a simulation game, and in my opinion needs to be the ULTIMATE simulation, which as long as I’m here is where we’re headed.

When looking back at last year – what was the one feature or design change that you wanted to try to implement but couldn’t due to time constrictions?

One area I was really disappointed that we couldn’t improve on was “The Extra Point”. From the beginning, we had plans for actual highlights to be in Franchise Mode obviously, and that didn’t make the cut when push came to shove. The whole thing really just needed one or two more iterations (especially with the audio design, performance, and stitching), but we just ran out of time.

Along the same lines, when the team sat down to discuss the new game, what was the one area that you and the team wanted to focus on most? What was the number 1 issue that you felt had to be improved on from last year’s game?

Easy one: audio. Our very first design meeting for the year was primarily focused around this exact question. We all got in a room and put up all our top priority items on a whiteboard, deciding what the top things we absolutely could not ship with in the following product. Universally, the top priority item was play by play. Tom Hammond worked hard for us, but we just wanted to go in a different direction to add some new excitement to the game. From that very first meeting, we started pushing towards getting Gus Johnson because we knew we really wanted some energy in the booth...a shot in the arm so to speak.