EA Tiburon to Utilize GamePad in Madden 13 for Wii U

A post on Polygon from today goes into detail about what kinds of changes Wii U owners will be able to expect from EA Tiburon’s port of Madden NFL 13. While that console’s version will be missing features from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions—like the Infinity Engine physics and Madden Ultimate Team—it will offer up some innovative gameplay options that can’t be found on any of its other console cousins.

The main draw, of course, is the play-calling and play-making capability of the GamePad controller. The GamePad will offer players the ability to choose plays way more easily, without having to enter into and back out of menus and submenus by mashing buttons while the play clock ticks down. Even more impressive—to me, anyway—was the revelation that you’ll be able to create your own plays on the fly by drawing them out on the GamePad’s touch screen directly.

That’s pretty awesome.

Apparently, the GamePad’s display will also present information about how each suggested play works in the game, helping to educate players about the difference between, say a shotgun play and play action. This seems huge to me: I tried playing last year’s Madden over the weekend after not having tried a real football game since, like, NFL 2K1 on the Dreamcast (which was awesome, by the way). It was super complex, and not particularly fun. I knew what I wanted my team to do, but the menus and play-selection process stymied me. I hated it.

But this…this sounds like something I could get down with.

I’m telling you, guys. I got a good feeling about this Wii U thing…

Via Polygon