Madden 11 Online Team Play Video

IGN has released a video interview regarding the 3v3 Online Team Play mode that is debuting in Madden 11. Online Team Play was made official last night even though we’ve known about it since April. The video includes talk about the mode and gameplay footage, along with that a decent opportunity to hear the new commentary with Gus Johnson in the booth.

Given that Online Franchise is not being improved on my hopes turned to OTP but after watching this my expectations have dropped significantly. Nothing was said about the mode having any gravity to it. I don’t see what about it, without some sort of competitive edge through tracking rankings and records, what the motivation for playing the mode beyond just initial curiosity. As stated in the past if they were to be just one-off games interest will be lost quickly. This clearly isn’t along the lines of the EASHL in the NHL series.

I also don’t like the decision to lock users into certain positions. Being able to change positions pre-play was one of the few things about the online co-op that was implemented well last year. This is especially the case on offense where users could switch based on the play that was being called in order to have more active duties. (Update) Apparently the IGN article was wrong and “any” can be selected even on offense, however the incentives would not factor in when “any” is chosen.

What do you think of the Online Team Play details? How about the commentary that is found in the video? Leave your thoughts in the comments!