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UPDATE: EA released a software update that fixes the problems detailed below. Nice work and thanks, EA.
Of all the Electronic Arts titles announced back in June, it was Madden NFL '08 that I eagerly anticipated. It's finally here, and it's unfortunate that we're going to have to wait for EA to release software updates before we can have any fun with it.
Madden NFL '08 has video problems with the alumminum iMac. I loaded the game on my 20-inch 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac. The configuration screens are incomprehensible.
For whatever reason, you can't see the Game Modes, but they're there. If you click in the Game Modes area, you'll select something. YouI just can see what you've selected.
This new way of displaying overlapping text is a great way to defeat Belichick-like spying.
The graphics problems spill into the actual game. Look at the overlapping items in the top score bar.
We were able to run Madden NFL '08 on a 15-inch MacBook Pro with an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card without these problems.
According to a posting on EA's support forum:
We are currently aware of some graphical issues for those of you with with ATI video cards, in particular if your system has the ATI Radeon HD 2600.
Apple is planning to release a software update with updated ATI drivers later this month that should address many of these issues.
Gee, I wonder if that "software update" comes in the form of Leopard on October 26?
Way to half-ass it, EA.
COMMENTS:
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Bummer.... I was uber
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2007-10-20 04:37
Bummer.... I was uber excited when they announced this game coming back to Mac, now I'm not so sure I want to run out and plunk down my cash.
Submitted by Michael Dunlop (not verified) on Sat, 2007-10-20 12:38
Wow, the game looks really cheesy too! like a '90s PS1 game! I mean the interface and everything. is it really that bad in person? Is the game play good on the game (when you played in on the macbook pro?) And do you know how well it would play on a 2.16ghz macbook with 2 gigs of ram?
Submitted by StoneE4 (not verified) on Mon, 2007-10-22 18:30
I agree with Michael Dunlop, those graphics look terrible. It doesn't look like much of an improvement over the last Mac version... And that was what? Madden 2000? 2001?
Submitted by A Noni Mouse (not verified) on Tue, 2007-10-23 20:17
The last Mac version was 2005. So long and thanks for all of the fish....
Submitted by Jasen (not verified) on Sat, 2007-10-20 20:00
Did you ever think that the Aluminum iMacs were not available for EA & TransGaming to do QA testing on? The Al iMacs are NEW machines. BF2142 runs fine on my 1st gen 17" Intel iMac. No problems. None.
I suspect that as soon as Apple made the Al hardware available, EA and TransGaming grabbed a set, tested, found the problems, tracked them down and gave Apple a call. Apple has a history of bad GPU drivers.
Why is this problem a surprise and EA's fault? If you want to blame someone, blame TransGaming and the Cider engine.
Submitted by jeffharris (not verified) on Sun, 2007-10-21 05:41
From the screen shots and descriptions, it looks like it might be a font related problem.
Have you tried dumping your font caches and restarting?
Run Cocktail or Onyx to do it for you.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2007-10-21 11:48
this is not ea's fault. go look at the apple boards and all the people having problems with the new imacs. i can't even make a decent title screen in imovie06 with this machine.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2007-10-27 21:58
Madden 08 was working quite well on a MacBook Pro 17. Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5 caused the same graphics issue that has been outlined before. Hopefully EA will realize that if you sell a product on a platform, it is EA's responsibility to figure out how to get their software working.
Submitted by Benjamin (not verified) on Thu, 2007-11-01 19:34
I just upgraded to Leopard....
Madden was working fine on tiger on my macbook pro but as soon as I upgraded to leopard I started to have the same issues presented in this article.
I hope that this upgrade is coming soon, because otherwise they'll have a riot on their hand.
SO annoying.
Ben
Submitted by nick from florida (not verified) on Sun, 2008-01-06 04:37
Im having a problem with my new 24" 2.4ghz imac aluminum.
It wont start up, just get the first little panel with the cover and thats it. Tried it many times. Im just going to get rid of it, I dont like mac games anyways, and the graphics are MUCH less than that of the PC game, and especially of the pS3 version.
Gamers on Mac: Play your games in windows on Boot Camp. There are always better and more current drivers for video cards in windows than Macs.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-03-20 06:07
i dont need the software update and it works perfectly fine
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