Madden's vision cone: Ahead of its time or a bad idea?

[@Bumble50123]

I wish they had an actual plan for Awareness after this feature was taken out because after this the stat just became a way to artificially lower the overall of players

[@SuperStunNeedle]

Pretty sure Awareness controlled player AI actions to a huge extent, Jon Bois had bits in Breaking Madden where he cranked down players awareness and they started making some awful decisions like falling for the most obvious playaction fakes and helping their own quarterback get sacked while ostensibly blocking.

[@No-rl9wn]

@@SuperStunNeedlethis just sounds like some typical madden bs tbh 😂

[@fballcoach447]

I actually really liked the vision cone a lot. It made Awareness actually matter on QB's. even 20 years later if you find a high throw power & high throw accuracy QB it doesn't matter if his awareness is a 40 and his overall is a 65 he will play just as good as Peyton Manning. I think the learning curve turned people off but I think it was actually a good idea that made the game make more sense. Just because a QB has the physical intangibles doesn't mean they necessarily have the mental intangibles and the vision cone actually made that work.

[@tomshippoli]

Excellent point completely agree wish they would bring it back but with just left right and center that way could look off safties and coverages

[@CalTy316]

@@tomshippolinow the only way to look someone off is pump fake

[@RobChapala]

when you control the qb awareness doesn't really matter, aside from an occasional sack avoidance. it matters big with the cpu control

[@BigGainer98]

It's inferior to the maximum passing 2K has had since 99. To this day, no game by EA can remotely compete with 2K passing.

[@bradleygallier2916]

The vision cone was awesome... Especially in same room multi-player. You could actually look off a receiver, trick human defenses like a real qb better than any game before or since. Many people hated it but once you mastered it it was AMAZING

[@johnreams3182]

Okay, I liked the cone... however... it was more because of the defensive play. I enjoyed playing safety and reading a worse QB's eyes to ball hawk them. And I always liked playing pocket guys. I agree the size differences were a little ridiculous though. But reading a backup QB's eyes to jump a route and return it for a touchdown... I had always sucked on defense but this kinda gave me the help I needed to do something right

[@tonirrolquimiguitau745]

Couldn’t agree more

[@mdjiles]

Genius idea. Loved it. Desperately needs to be brought back. The fact you can’t look off DBs, target WRs based off coverage is INSANE. It’s football 101! There’s no sight adjust, there’s no WRs trying to find the soft spots in zones. High school football teaches this-it’s never been in a EA title. That’s why they get the heat they do.

[@aceroy9195]

The older madden do actually have the soft coverage aspect to a degree. They adjust their routes for fabor against the defensive package. It could use better logic, but that might just be me having low awareness Wideouts

[@cojo9102]

This vision cone was one of the best features on the game. It worked in the qb's favor if you manipulated it correctly

[@CalTy316]

I looked a Raiders Safety off with Tom Brady one time for an 80 yard TD on 06 and felt like a god. 😂😂😂

[@tvader5040]

The QB vision cone made Mcnabb the best to play with cause his Awareness was decent and he could run

[@SportsPlug-cp1eq]

Then he made the superbowl. So I'd say they Kinda nailed it with this feature. Not arguing with you either totally agree

[@CalTy316]

@@SportsPlug-cp1eqHe made the Super Bowl the year before and the Eagles beat Mike Vick in the NFC Title game without T.O. So even more reason to include it

[@ginocerda3290]

Holy shit memory unlocked

[@joshg1529]

When I went back and played the games with the vision cone it makes defense a lot more fun. It made fun reading the QB’s eyes and made it challenging to play elite QBs

[@LpCruz11937]

Shit was fire. When "get good" madden people had to be about that life.

[@frequentfinesse8904]

💯

[@KaronTedford6891]

Absolutely!

[@Brazil144hopeful]

Tellem OG

[@AM-rp8xn]

5:25 I like how I was also thinking Nathan Peterman as the contrast to pat mahomes 😂 also I vividly remember sitting in the parking lot of a circuit city with my aunt on black Friday to grab this game as a kid. That superstar mode was the best one imo

[@bbryant9455]

I remember getting that game that year during Christmas break. 40 bucks lol good times. 03 and 07 are still my all time favorites.

[@johnfoster2584]

Never liked the cone until I started playing PS2 Madden again recently. Love it now. It's like the zone hitting of passing.

[@CRneu]

I enjoy Kofie From The Couch. If you ever drop a podcast that's the title. You can have it, you're welcome.

[@snc237]

Vision coin was great. Very hard on the GameCube though as you couldn’t snap the cone to a WR. Once I moved to the Xbox it was so much easier. Wish they still had the vision cone

[@M_Shaffer26]

It’s sad they took this away because it was TOO REAL

[@frequentfinesse8904]

💯

[@invisalats841]

It was ass. Realism isn't necessarily good when it comes to video games. You see, in real life, qbs are restricted by their vision but not completely. Part of the issue with the qb vision cone was response time. No matter how refined the system, the players' reaction time, and moving the cone and hitting the button to throw, it was way more time than a qb in real life. Pair than with offensive line play being terrible for every iteration of the game to date, and you end up destroying the balance. I played 07 with the vision cone. Any experienced player will exploit the qb vision system to get more pressure and sacks. It was almost as annoying as the engage 8 bs on the xbox 360 version of Madden 08. If the offensive lines weren't pea brains, maybe the system could work, but it is doubtful. It could work with a vr helmet, now that would be interesting.

[@M_Shaffer26]

@@invisalats841 maybe the mechanics weren’t implemented correctly, but I enjoyed it. Thee best part was that you could just turn it off if you didn’t like it.

[@invisalats841]

@M_Shaffer26 we played with it on for a while. Eventually, we turned it off, and then we all decided to go back to Madden 06, as 06 had the better franchise mode. Which surprised me since most of my group hated the jetpack jumping lol

[@TCat17]

I thought this was brilliant and fair. I loved it and wished theyd bring it back. But you right, itd be perfect and maybe woulda never got removed from the game, if the avg starting qb vision cone was more like twice as big+ but it's totally genius to cnnect it with their awareness. And awesome that it shows the defense if theyre starting down a one route. Definitely bought more realness to the experience.

[@MacTeezy15]

Back when Madden used to in innovate

[@MegaBearsFan]

One of the under-appreciated values of the QB Vision cone was how it affected team-building and play-calling. If your starter with a decent-sized cone got hurt, and your backup has a tiny cone, it would actually give you a reason to look for a veteran in free agency who might have higher awareness than your current backup (even if his overall might be lower), or to look to trade for another team's QB. You might also be forced to change up your play-calling to run simpler concepts with just 1 or 2 reads to try to make your job as simple as it could possibly be with the backup. You couldn't just throw in the backup and sling it all around like nothing had happened. It also allowed for instinctive defensive play, because it allowed defenders to watch the QB's eyes and jump routes. I'm not sure fi the CPU defenders were able to do that, or it only human players could watch the other QB's vision. If CPU players couldn't do that, then they should have been able to, since it would punish a user for staring down a single receiver.

[@CJfromSanAndreas]

The vision cone was one of the best features removed from the game. They should bring it back and make it mandatory to even the playing field for the defense. I'm tired of playing against people who have success doing dumb strategies when we know they're just staring at one receiver the entire play.

[@brianbadonde9251]

Madden isn't meant to be an accurate simulation game anyways, it's an arcade game at hid point. The whole competitive community is just kids finding loopholes and easy plays

[@CJfromSanAndreas]

@@brianbadonde9251 You can't even make this argument. The game has way too many aspects of the NFL to be considered an arcade game. Having the real life dollar amount of some random rookie should indicate to you that they're not going for "arcade". Regardless, it shouldn't make sense for somebody to be sprinting to the right and throwing a laser guided frozen rope across their body to the middle of the field.

[@RD-wg9em]

⁠@@brianbadonde9251they have an exclusive rights agreement with the NFL to make the only SIMULATION football game. That’s why no one has come out with one since 05. When they are contractually obliged to make one they are going to be expected to make a good one. The fact it’s a bad sim and arcade game is inexcusable in these circumstances

[@victorholmes7075]

The cone was great, made Trent Dilfer a sleeper qb for the Browns when someone would get mad if you didn’t take a bad team

[@Jiddy12345]

I always despised the cone. Great example is Madden 08 Peyton Manning and Vick. Vick had a small vanilla ice cream cone. And Manning had a full field umbrella. Vick's throw power was so high he really didn't need accuracy to just zip the ball to his receivers. Then they nerfed his throw accuracy in the game.

[@KDRusha]

The cone wasn’t linked to accuracy, it was linked to awareness

[@maddoxalucard6587]

​@@KDRushawell technically it did have a effect on accuracy If you threw with in the cone you got a little boost in accuracy if you threw out of the cone you got a decrease in accuracy And i know this pretty well Because i use to play with the Falcons and throw to WRs out of the cone very often

[@Jiddy12345]

@@KDRusha I know...

[@KDRusha]

@@maddoxalucard6587 I know it had an affect on accuracy, I’m saying the size was based on awareness

[@leancarter6308]

I don’t like how you said “nerfed” his accuracy like it shouldn’t of been what it was. he didn’t become an accurate passer until his Philly years.

[@cardinalsfan9610]

I didn't like the vision cone because of the button-mashing aspect. I found that trying to read defenses was enough for me, so I was happy that they had the option to turn the cone off. I was 13 when the game came out, and even now at 32 - with a PS2 and Madden 06 back in my hands - I have the cone off again. A QB like Manning having the whole field, while most other QBs would have gotten slivers of the field - also seemed like a bit of a disadvantage. I could see the appeal of the mechanic at the time and since then, but I also see Kofie's point quite well. The cone punished dual threat QBs, or people who wanted to play as Vick, McNair, Culpepper or others in that vein, a little too much.

[@dvon1097]

I liked the cone and the fact it was actually a new feature is something we rarely seen these past 10 years in Madden.

[@ttrain27]

The vision cone is what made Madden 06 my favorite Madden. You could use it to look off defenders or read the QB. It added more strategy and made you pay more attention to timing. Even though I love it, I think it was put in the game to nerf Vick.

[@PaulGaither]

Kofie, use the Wayback Machine for old articles. There are 15 captures of that article.

[@CrestfallenLizard]

i liked the cone, but i'm the type of nerd who likes sports games to be as realistic as possible and gets annoyed when my stats are too unrealistic. though i do think the modern solution is probably better. not only a throw on the run rating, but short, medium, and deep accuracy does more to simulate the real game accurately than the cone itself. i do miss being able to look off defenders though, idk how you bring that back without the cone or something similar. especially since DBs don't seem to bite on pump fakes like they used to. then again i was a die-hard Packers fan back then, so playing as Favre mostly mitigated the drawbacks, so my opinion is definitely colored by that. also, this reminds me of how confused Madden 05 made me about TJ Houshmandzedah. i didn't understand that there was a character limit, so i assumed the 'z' was pronounced as "zedah" in the language of origin and just accepted that.

[@darnell16player]

I loved the cone. For me I love the challenge and details of using it as it depends on the QB and its awareness attribute. Being able to look off coverages and then go over to the other side of the field is what QB’s do.

[@gamesh0w4life69]

The cone drill was my favorite it made it to me more realistic, bc the qb would change his body to the wr he was looking at. It made sense on the awareness of each qb. Today in madden since theres no vision cone ( i believe they have it off) you can see the whole entire field. And you can make these crazy throws) madden 06 vision cone with Payton manning was i belive full vision bc well he has good vision, other qbs vision where prob allow to see just one wr, which in my opinion separates the greatest to the least. Ppl didnt like the vision cone bc "it was too hard" so once they took it out they applied the whole vision to every qb. Or the viewer who is playing the game.

[@beach_boy1141]

I don’t think people knew that you could hold r2 and press whatever receiver u wanted to throw to and the cone would automatically go to that receiver.

[@RobChapala]

I love qb vision. it was awesome being able to look off defenders. all you had to do was look at your guy right before you threw it. even with manning having 99 percent of the field, it was still a major factor being able to look of defenders

[@RobChapala]

like being able to look at a guy, pump fake that way, and the go opposite sife.

[@geekyis2good]

Idk if I missed it but another cool part of the cone was u could change where the cone started pre-play. Either in the middle of the field or change your primary wr

[@tropicten]

It was a good idea in theory. Madden needed a mechanic that would better differentiate QBs. This is still a problem today. In practice, it added another layer of complexity that skilled players appreciated but average players struggled with. I'm definitely in the latter category and it always felt awkward.

[@jgbcreations9368]

It gave being a QB a sense of realism and challenge while not being too hard looking back. Your 75 ovr QB shouldn't be throwing hail mary bombs and in tight windows like he's a 90 or better and the vision cone helped it. It encouraged you to read defenses and try different passing plays.

[@PaulGaither]

In the end, it was always just "skill issue." I am a 49ers fan who used Alex Smith and his 78 awareness or whatever cone that was just as bad and without as much mobility as Vick. You could default the cone to dead center each play with R2/R trigger with X on PS2 or A on Xbox. This is what it was on draw plays and helped to sell the illusion and was more realistic to what QBs are taught to do. It also helped you throw screens and to the flats by only looking to them when you were ready to throw while looking down field. If you know progression reads, your hot, your alert, your escape plan, then you can operate just fine with anyone. Finally, once you got good at it, it just became a chore and extra work to do what you can normally do without it.

[@gcgc6381]

Yeah, if you centered the cone pre-play you could throw it accurately to anybody on the field.

[@PaulGaither]

@@gcgc6381 - Yes. Even with a bad cone, if you knew your reads and footwork/timing, it was very easy to snap to your hot/alert/1/2/avoid/scramble/3/throw away or run for it or playmaker control. I NEVER used the R stick to move the cone. I ALWAYS used the R Trigger/R2 snap to my target. It got to the point that using the cone was just extra work to do the same thing without it.

[@gcgc6381]

@@PaulGaither Especially under pressure, it was like, why am i messing with this stupid flashlight for since the lineman can't block for shit?, then just turn the vision cone off. But ido remember in 06, if you turned it off, the passing would default back to 2005, meaning lower passing trajectories and defeated the purpose of having the new game to begin with. 😉

[@PaulGaither]

@@gcgc6381 - Yeah. I forget the exact settings I used, but I would mess with a combination of QB accuracy and pass lead sensitivity to improve the user experience. However, as I have gotten older and just want a sim experience, I tend to enjoy CPU vs CPU play where the awareness and accuracy of my QBs matter. I like to focus on year-to-year team building and seeing the fruits of that labor in the CPU vs CPU games. Beating up on the CPU and your friends was "cool" when I was a teenager and in my early 20s, but in my 30s and am almost 40, the team building and sim sliders are way more fun and rewarding. Recruiting in NCAA and scouting / drafting / trading signing free agents in Madden. I like to play once in a while for good old times sake, but it is the same rubbish each time. I love running the ball more than passing. More rewarding to read blocks and shake defenders all without using the sprint button. Now THAT feels so nice to break for a TD or chain together a drive. Off tackle, Iso, Power O, Counter trap, sweep/toss. oh man, just typing this makes me want to play.

[@jeremyseaton3314]

It didn't really matter, because you could hold R1 and the wr button to snap to the wr you wanted. But I think if someone was good with it, they could use the smaller cones to manipulate defenses, because you could look people off your target. The thumb stick portion of it was an option, and not a necessity. In fact, it was a last resort.

[@chrish931]

You what I find funny is how many people didn't realize that you could move the cone with the bumpers and highlighting the receiver not just with the right stick, and not only that, but their is big difference in what happens when you do one versus the other, the stick moved your head and vision and was ever so slightly quicker but did not set your feet so throw across your body even in the window and your accuracy would be off. Using the bumpers however, made you hitch your body and feet to throw in the direction of the receiver and was the key to accurate pocket passing. You could also throw fairly accurately outside of the cone, as long as you used the stick and not the bumpers to look to the opposite side of where you had your feet set, you could throw some no look passes to the opposite flat outside of the passing window and complete them, as long as your QB wasn't just complete trash rating wise in throwing accuracy. The window just made you have to be perfect to throw outside of it, it wasn't that you couldn't, just don't ever throw outside of the window across your body or off balance on the run to the opposite field, set in the pocket and not against the grain, you can hit about two thirds of your out of window passes, making no look pocket passes to uncovered flats a killer play call. I used to kill guys with that back in the day, and if they weren't petty about it, Id let them in on the secret of how to no look pass and throw outside of the window cone accurately.

[@seanhettenbach2101]

A real quick tip. After the snap while the play is in progress, if you press the preview play button and hold it, and then while holding it, you press the button of the receiver you want to target, the cone will snap to that player.

[@MegaBearsFan]

Something that people seem to forget about the Vision Cone is that you could hold a shoulder button and press the icon of a receiver to instantly lock the QB's vision onto that receiver. You didn't *have* to sweep across the field with the right stick. Using the lock-on button allowed for scramblers and gun-slingers (Brett Favre) to still be able to hit receivers in different parts of the field, even while running.

[@chrish931]

It was even more in depth than that, when you used the stick to move the cone you were only moving your head and your feet and body would stay in the direction you were facing, killing your accuracy with off balanced throws across the field, even if thrown inside in the vision window, but when you used the bumpers to switch to a receiver, your QB would hitch his feet and turn his body to face the receiver, so you would be even more accurate when you threw, since it would help you avoid throwing across your body (and getting sucked into the Madden cross body throw jump pass animation). I remember I used to tell guys that used Favre and Manning that they should still use the cone to highlight receiver for that very reason, I always played with my Raiders, who had a new QB every year back then so I got really good with the vision cone with half assed unaware QB's, on the rare occasions I'd play with a Favre or Manning, Id still use the bumpers to highlight receivers in the cone, and when you did that, they were almost unbeatable with their accuracy, it helped out more than just with look offs.

[@yaryard.3095]

I loved it to look off safeties and line backers was realistic!

[@justinwatson8944]

Would love to see them bring this back in some way shape or form. An alternate idea might be using controller tilt to basically cycle between left, middle and right of the field? Would minimize the stick multi-tasking but still create some added strategy to passing. So if you lean the controller to the left, QBs focus shifts to the left of the field, and so on. I'm sure someone can come up with a far better idea lol

[@mpbMKE]

I was one of the sickos who liked it. You've never been able to bait safeties and linebackers like this the way you could in this one. You could pre-load the receiver you'd focus on at the snap, and the defenders would typically cheat that way. Then you could snap your vision back across the field to the guy you *actually* wanted to throw to, who was hopefully beating a 1-on-1 instead of getting help over the top. Felt like actual quarterbacking!

[@mpbMKE]

It was pretty funny that Manning and Favre could "see" a full 50% of the field, though. Oh! And you could do no-look passes Mahomes-style (or Jeff George-style, if we're being period-accurate).

[@WaveChronicles0]

I LOVED the cone! I would manipulate coverage with my eyes and look off users with the cone all day my offense was built around it. Skill gap feature.

[@BluePalmetto]

I don't know if you have broken down the hit stick or toughest places to play in NCAA/CFB. I think home and away isn't reflected enough in video games.

[@YOBoiy-Z]

I play the old maddens, people say the vision cone was trash but I like it a lot

[@ramsfreak893]

It's funny to hear Madden's vision cone compared to a first-person feel while 2k included an actual first-person mode.

[@antwuanm]

Loved the vision cone!

[@brettpatterson404]

It was the greatest idea they have ever did and taking it out was stupid because people were to lazy to learn it and wanted it ti be easy. It was a great sim football feature.

[@frequentfinesse8904]

💯

[@ushuaia6284]

It’s not based off being a starter or back up. It’s awareness. Have better awareness doesn’t make you a starter. It’s a simple concept

[@jamaljones566]

The cone was definitely ahead of its time. Bt it may have been toooooo realistic for the average player. I enjoyed the cone because I actually played QB in school. Can’t throw the ball to the opposite side of the field without actually looking. It required you to actually go through progressions. EA would have to get get pass blocking/ pass blocking iQ together in order for something like that to thrive. Pass blocking still doesn’t have any logic

[@Cavs-Trade-45]

I remember Nadden ‘06 like it was yesterday, DAMN LIFE FLYS BY FAST.

[@obi-juantacobi8552]

Absolutely loved the cone.

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

Wasn't there a setting to toggle the "advanced vision"? I think I recall turning it off, but could be wrong. Edit:.Oops, i kept watching. 14:57 ❤

[@drwang4884]

This would be an awesome feature with an eye tracker. There's no way to 'look off' defenders

[@SleeperGuy23]

Idk if you already covered superstar mode but an overview of that in both Madden and 2k solo career. Maybe even just the trappings around it like how back in the day you could do movies and interviews where now it's just the combine. I haven't played madden in years but i think they added press conferences? That could be interesting.

[@MattParry-yl8su]

madden 05-09 on ps2 was the best

[@BranJ89]

Cone literally changed what teams you wanted to play with. Everyone went from using Vick to playing with Peyton Manning

[@victorholmes7075]

I’m not sure if you’ve talked about it but a review of the content in Franchise mode back in the 06 Madden from stadium prices, relocation, and even the Tony Bruno show would be dope. It’s a shame how much of the stuff they cut from Madden over the years that helped them beat 2k in the first place. How there isn’t an in game “podcast” that can update through the year with guests is beyond me? Sidebar Have you made a video on EA Trax? Thanks, keep up the good work!

[@alexanderabbott1863]

Not related to the video topic, but... I can tell that Kofie and I were both in school in NC at the same time because that "we'll look at the computer in a minute" line is scorched deep in my brain.

[@Brazil144hopeful]

All the ones on ps2 was perfect

[@aaronproctor3623]

I loved the cone. All my friends hated it though cuz they couldn't just throw running cross field passes.

[@Coolquip43]

I think you could bring it back but use the trigger buttons to control it left or right. Tap the button to switch between targets

[@frequentfinesse8904]

People hated it cuz they were too dumb to realize u can use icons to move the cone and not just the right stick. You could auto snap to a receiver then throw it instead of manually shift the cone with your thumb stick 3:34 btw I was born in 98 so I was like 7 years old playing this game, the fact so many people struggled with this cone shows how ass a lotta players are. I was a little kid and loved the feature but people older than me struggled!? Maybe its a skill issue and people suck at adapting and actually playing real football 10:44 is how you’re SUPPOSED to use it if you wanted to be good with it. The thumb stick movement sucked, the auto snap was amazing. I think to many people never used it how it was meant to be used and hated it cuz they couldn’t learn. They should add it back and make it to where you can toggle the cone on or off if you’d like

[@lunazalt]

i’m not sure if you tried way back machine for the game informer article, i wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t archived but in case anything like this happens in the future it would be a good option to try to access the desired article

[@whataboutrob442]

That Atlanta Falcons documentary was fire!

[@antoinestroman3431]

Vision cone separated the boys from the men.

[@verse177]

Love the vison cone and truck stick/Hit stick.

[@kevinramsey417]

I never had anything against the cone, I just didn't have any use for it. You see, when I play Madden I use these things I like to call "eyes" to see the open receivers. The cone was nothing but the illusion of challenge. Now the truck stick, THAT was a feature! One of my favorite annoyances in Madden was when you ran a play action and the defense was showing blitz, there was no way to get out of that fake handoff animation so you had BETTER audible out or you were guaranteed to take a sack.

[@BigDropSports]

I loved the cone and wish they would bring it back

[@bugzmccarthy8416]

remember the playmaker stick the year before to post snap redirect recievers it made mike vick OP it was like backyard football just freestyling

[@whataboutrob442]

Vision cone was great in my opinion.

[@kanyeeast1340]

Ahhhhh these were the golden years of sports video games 😩😩😩😔

[@xKingofHearts87x]

Going back to those games there was definitely a learning curve to it but its something when you get used to it. It becomes 2nd nature. Low key wouldnt mind if they brought it back i fuck with it

[@Sharp2012UpTempo]

The cone was fire. If you couldn’t handle the cone, you didn’t belong

[@wyattlauth1453]

I think the right stick for qb vision is the right call, but sprint should be RT, not A. Still tricky to use on the run, but not impossible, and honestly it should be harder to do on the run. If you can make accurate cross-body passes on the run that’s nearly impossible to stop

[@dfrnt_hues]

The cone was such a fun challenge. It wasn’t perfect it was actually painful. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to see your receiver out wide cook the DB off the line and toss it up early instead of waiting until you can see you on screen. If we had the cone we could just turn our head and see that whole side of the field similar to pre-play. I think it should at least be an option. Just sayin 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@DaNewWaveLee]

This is still in the game. It’s evolved a little bit but you can tell in certain target passing practices that where you are in the pocket determines your vision and accuracy.

[@brandonwangrin3585]

If you just held R2 + receiver icon. The vision would move straight to that wr. So you don’t have to use the analog. That makes it way too hard.

[@davidfoster2d]

I stopped playing madden for a long time after this was removed. It took so much practice for me to get good at the qb vision cone that it actually made me mad that they took it off.

[@ghjong001]

The other fundamental problem with the vision cone is that it made checkdowns to the flats harder than chucking deep it downfield, when it should be the opposite. I'm not sure how one would implement it, but there needed to be some sort of exception for receivers within a certain distance of the QB. You don't need to stare down a guy coming directly back to the QB (like he's supposed to) when he's scrambling.

[@ldj7039]

i don't need to watch the full 25 minutes video to know that the cone was great and needs to come back and they never should have gotten rid of it in the first place.

[@Tdez92]

Jameis Winston should have an ability where God illuminates the open receiver or maybe passes thrown straight to defenders automatically deflect to the receiver.

[@N.Doughnut]

I think people in the comments are missing a lot of the nuance with the vision cone. I dont like it because it felt invredibly difficult to control and required too many buttoms to work properly. Its still a good idea in concept to balance out two different quarterback philosophies

[@TL8706]

Know you don’t do a ton on hockey games but would love to see you talk about EA’s switch to the right stick to shoot and deke in NHL 07. Aside from the 90s, I wasn’t much of a hockey gamer but that switch made the series a regular with my college friends. Could also talk about EA doing something similar with Fight Night Rd 3 which caused your hands to actually get tired the more you punches you threw.

[@darekforeman535]

The cone didn't bother me. But lots of things in Madden, Live, and 2k didn't bother me. The games have sliders and every player rating can be changed. If I wanted Vick with his arm power and running ability plus Mannings vision, I could just edit him lol I have never complained about a players rating. Why? You can change them. Any new game I get the first hours are spent customizing settings and player ratings to what I like. College Football 25 is the first sports game in ages that doesn't have customizable players.

[@McSwagBurgerXL]

i still play madden 07 to this day, and i still can’t use the vision cone lmao 😭

[@Pensfan5919]

This was quite literally done better by 2K already. The First Person Football mode was an ambitious, VR-style mode where you could only see field vision from a player inside the helmet and only look through the visor slot. EA couldn't do that and keep in all the stuff that the Madden Series was already doing while having the game run well (try ANY EA game over 2.5G in an emulator, it can play clunky sometimes and 07 for me had tremendous slowdown). My guess for the cone is that they saw FPP and wanted a part of that, but wanted to keep the game running solidly as well. It wasn't implemented well, and when they made it an optional thing in 07, I turned the thing off.

[@DGarrettDG]

QBs like Peyton Manning were always a lot worse in the game than real life. the huge vision cone was one of the only features that made it feel like you were a field general

[@DGarrettDG]

as a kid it was hard af to use tho and i usually turned it off

[@user-to9ge8ii9n]

I think i remember doing a franchise with this game for the Chargers. Brees had a huge pie, but Rivers had a narrow little slice. ❤

[@Akronkangaroo]

I liked the vision cone.

[@Easelgames]

I like the cone! I think it's flawed though. I think you can fix it pretty easily just by narrowing its focus. Make the biggest cone like 50% of what peytons was, and than make even average QB cones be super small. (like 2 inches) BUT you combat this by making the accuracy penalty much softer. So by using it, it becomes an added +2 or whatever to your roll, instead of not using it being a -5. Make sense?

[@da1uheardabt]

Love the format/style of this vid

[@roussin_]

Modern Madden (i haven't played in a few years tbf) could use something that helps pocket QBs and nerf running QBs. I like the idea (i don't remember how i felt about it as a kid, i think i was too dumb to understand what's going on, I also played mostly as Brady so maybe I never noticed)

[@uzzle21]

I loved it develop Your Qb and it’ll get better

[@zealobiron]

Loved it

[@a_real_one2000]

Maybe it’s becuz I played most of all early 2000s madden games on GameCube. I favored controller design. I found the vision cone to be useful. It forced you to play smarter. Even if that met going thru playbook to find plays that match your player awareness. It made you think which side your rolling out to. scrambling met cutting the field in half so choose wisely. QB cone was a equalizer..

[@taylorbaker47]

21:45 RIP GameInformer 💔

[@oaklandtraphouse]

The vision cone was the greatest madden innovation ever created

[@juliancoleman7529]

As a lifelong Bengals fan Love the “prime time” Andy Dalton reference 😅

[@joshuakeller634]

I liked the QB cone. I was also 23 or 24 when I bought the game.

[@eagletrippin]

EA failed by not utilizing the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation cameras for eye tracking as a re-implementation of the "vision cone". Imagine using your eyes to actually "look off" pass defenders ...

[@Corvilux52]

The Vision Cone was amazing for playing against another person. However, it busted the AI. Play Madden 2005 on coach mode, you can pass the ball quite effectively. Now try it on 2006. The QB AI has a hard time locking the cone onto receivers before they make their throw so they end up throwing a TON of incompletions. It’s something that completely busted QB AI after 2005. The Cone itself isn’t bad, and a lot of the issues modern Madden has would be solved with a vision cone. My issue with the cone is that it gives such a HUGE boost to throwing accuracy. Also part of the reason Vick was so OP in Madden 2004 wasn’t just because of his speed alone. This was still in the era of Madden where there were much bigger differences in the speeds of players. Play later PS2 Maddens like Madden 08 for example, you’ll notice the speed disparities are much much smaller. Your slowest ILB/MLBs might have mid 70 speed. In Madden 04 it was possible to find and even draft MLBs with a speed around 55. The speed disparities in earlier PS2 Maddens were much more severe. There was also an overhaul on how players controlled, especially on defense after Madden 04. This is why if you run a lot of Zone in Madden 08, it can be very difficult for someone using Vick to make big plays. Defenders control better, and they aren’t as slow. They did a lot of things to nerf Vick after the fact and after maybe 2006 they started making it much more user controlled than player controlled. A lot of players in later Maddens more or less felt very same-ish. They had definitely started to go into more of the “competitive” PvP side of things.