Today, EA Sports conducted a live chat between community members and the development team in order to discuss the upcoming LocoMotion technology for Madden 11. One of the biggest concerns revolving around this new dynamic to the game is how quick faster players will overtake players with faster acceleration.

While the team has acknowledged some fine tuning needs to take place, they also have stated that this year’s Madden is going to aim more towards a simulation experience over all else. The development team plans to initiate this goal by creating well weighted players where physics will play into movement a lot more depending on each man’s rating system.

“Even though the core technology is shared between the two games we have the ability to tune them differently. Control and fun is still a priority, but we are shooting for a little bit more of a sim feel with Madden. A little bit heavier feeling players (based on ratings of course) is probably the main difference.”

One of the ways you’ll notice the difference in cutting ability the most is during the kick and punt return game. While in year’s past, players have been able to tackle the return man with their kicker, this year won’t be as easy. If Devin Hester makes a strong cut, all kickers and punters won’t be able to make the adjustment quick enough to matter. This is a great step in the direction of simulation football.

However, those of you concerned that superstar athletes like Chris Johnson who are all-stars in all the ratings that are affected by Locomotion, you can rest easy. Not even Johnson can just hit every hole and corner moving at full speed. If you take the appropriate angle with a solid LB with good acceleration, you should be able to cut CJ off while forcing him to change directions may result in him getting caught from behind.

“One of the big things I see playing the game is that even with a guy who is good in all 3 of the main attributes that affect locomotion, Johnson still can’t cut through traffic at full speed. A defensive player that can force him to alter his direction can slow him down enough that backside pursuit can get there to help out.”

Furthermore, heavier set players will not be able to come in and out of cuts as crisply as those who are far leaner.

“Agility is the main thing that drives cutting. We set the ratings on an absolute scale, meaning that a bigger guy (in general, there are exceptions) will have a lower agility than a smaller guy, which gives him that heavy feel. The cool thing about separating size from the rating is that it gives Donny the power to make agile big guys and lumbering big guys based on where he sets their agility ratings.”

All of this information sounds fantastic given the fact that Electronic Arts and Tiburon has made great strides over the last couple of years with the Madden franchise. We look forward to the Madden Cover announcement on the 22nd and the release of the game this August.