When it was announced that Madden 10 for the Nintendo Wii would have a "unique style" I was worried. We were all woried. Many imagined a bunch of out-of-touch executives sending down orders to have the characters be represented by Bobbleheads or Mii versions of the professional players. Since its launch, multiplayerform games hitting the Wii have had PlayStation 2 graphics in the same way that multiplatform games hitting the PS3 have had Xbox 360 graphics. Developers created a two tier system, in a way, with the high-definition consoles in one and the standard-definition systems in the other. Because of this, and because they didn't want to spend extra money, most Wii games were (and, often, still are) PlayStation 2 ports with waggle. Even some high-profile games fell victim to this folly, and it left Wii owners feeling a bit betrayed.

At a recent EA event, I had a chance to talk to the developers, and learned that, in reality, they're taking the Wii version very, very seriously for this year's version. With new controls, new gameplay mechanics, and a new style, Madden 10 for the Nintendo Wii looks to make football a full-contact sport again.



This year, EA Sports is moving away from that stigma of laziness, and everything I saw of Madden 10 for the Wii got me excited to play some football with the remote and nunchuck. Instead of slapping last-generation textures on PlayStation 2 models, the players are caricatures of themselves, stylized in a cartoonish vision of the NFL. Instead of enjoying the Wii's benefits and ignoring its faults, EA is building around the console's limitations with a new, appealing style. Wide receivers have long, skinny legs and running backs look like they're made of stone. The style looks great in these images and even better in motion, especially with the new gameplay mechanics.

The classic mode of "swing remote up to snap, swing forward to throw" is still available, but Madden 10 on the Wii will default to a more friendly setting. Players can point at the player they want to throw to and press A to attempt the throw, giving it an RTS feel. Before plays, they can select units by pointing at them and rerout them very easily. It looks like EA has taken the Madden mechanics and thrown more strategy into the mix. The motion controls have also been simplified a bit, trying to avoid overloading the player with too many commands. Instead of needing to swing the controls to the left to dodge, to the right to sprint, up to jump, and down to break through people, motion is more context sensitive. If the defensive player is near the ball when it is thrown, any motion should jump at it, and there's little chance of the player confusing one action for another. While I didn't get to play (despite my insistence that I would) I saw enough to get me excited.

     

The style, however, isn't the game's only selling point. Madden 10 for the Wii will sport two console-exclusive modes that were not being shown. From the look in the developers eyes I could tell these weren't throw-away minigames, but something truly special. Hopefully I wasn't reading them wrong, because it looked like they thought they had something special up their sleeve, and I highly anticipate that announcement.

The Wii version will launch alongside its PS3 and 360 counterparts, and looks to finally be optimized completely for the Wii. While the past few Maddens for Nintendo's console haven't been the best, it appears that they've truly found their niche this time, and hopefully the game plays as good as it looks come this August.