It’s that time of the year again…we’re only a few days away from the first NFL preseason game and you can’t help but feel excited for yet another awesome year of football.  Of course, no football season is complete without the newest version of Madden NFL, and this year we’re bringing it to you in glorious HD on the all-new Nintendo Wii-U console!  Madden NFL 13 for the Wii-U is squarely aimed at seeing the franchise return to its core roots.  From day one, our goal for this title has been to deliver that realistic, simulated football experience that Madden NFL is known for, and with awesome new franchise features like Connected Careers, Gridiron Club and the 3-D broadcast booth starring new commentators Phil Simms and Jim Nantz, we’re positioned to do just that.  On the Wii-U we also have the added benefit of having new and unique features that interact with the game through Nintendo’s new GamePad controller.

The Wii-U Gamepad with its touchscreen interface has been the perfect fit for our new features and play calling is the first benefactor.  Our goals when designing were threefold:  first and foremost, we needed it to be easy to use; second, it needed to be fast and third, we wanted to deliver something that couldn't be found on other systems.  The ability to navigate through your entire playbook straight from the touch screen hits all the high points.  You’ll have access to every corner of theteam's playbook by simply using a series of quick taps and swipes.  With the Wii-U Gamepad and touchscreen, we have the luxury of being able to give you the ability to not only quickly see all of your options laid out in front of you, but also the opportunity to make changes on the fly without having to back out of a series of menus.

Substituting players and player packages is also another area made much easier by having a touch interface.  When you access the Personnel screen through the playbook, you'll be presented with a diagram of the formation you previously selected and have the ability to tap on any of the positions that are contained within that formation.  Doing so will bring up a swipeable list of players eligible for being substituted into that position, and a quick tap on any of those players will insert them into the game.

Finally, our new play calling feature is compatible with both Game Flow and Conventional playcalling preferences, so no matter how you prefer to call your plays, it can all be done with a quick tap on the screen.

After play call, we shifted our focus onto pre-play, which has traditionally been an area that many Madden NFL players struggle with.  For years, pre-play adjustments have required button presses and control stick movements, but now users can perform some of these adjustments quickly, simply and intuitively through the touchscreen.  While on offense, you’ll have the ability to create custom hot routes for your players by simply tapping on that player's icon and drawing them a new route.  This not only gives you the ability to quickly make adjustments at the line in order to take advantage of weaknesses in the defense, but also allows you to create custom plays on the fly which has been a long requested feature from the Madden NFL community.

On the defensive side of the ball, you’ll again be able to take advantage of the touch screen to quickly change the assignments of your players.  Typically on defense, you have very little time (roughly seven seconds) to perform any adjustments before the offense snaps the ball, and changing the assignments of your players can be a very time-consuming process.  Now you’ll be able to rapidly tap your player icons and drag your finger or stylus across the screen onto different zones and offensive players in order to assign them new roles.  This will allow you to perform multiple adjustments, instead of just a couple, in the same amount of time.

Lastly, you'll be able to access and select your audibles right on the touch screen the way you would any play during the play calling phase.  Normally, audibles are accessed via a button press and presented in a series of menus without any indication of what the plays actually look like.  With the touchscreen interface, you'll not only be able to see the play art for each option, but you'll also have them all presented to you at once.

With the latest core gameplay, plus redesigned play calling and pre-play adjustment features made possible with Nintendo’s new touch screen interface, Madden NFL 13 for the Wii-U is set to deliver an authentic Madden NFL experience with the most intuitive controls available to date.