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Originally Posted by Official_Mole |
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I can understand Madden NFL trying to create a Casual/Hardcore balance due to the fact that the NFL is the most popular sport in America and chances are more people "casually" buy Madden NFL than any other sports game out there. So I can see why Madden NFL would need to accommodate the casual features but also give us hardcore gamers true simulation fundamentals in game play.
NCAA Football, in my opinion, should have a slightly difference perspective on the Causal/Hardcore balance. Most NCAA Football gamers (from my experience) are a little older, like high school and up, and are hardcore NCAA Football fans. Most who continue to play NCAA Football after the release of Madden (or don't get Madden at all) are hardcore NCAA and want things to be as real as possible, in every part of the game.
Now my final thought is this.....
Make Madden NFL and NCAA Football fundamentally realistic, provides users more control. If that makes the game harder for the casual users then that means your making progress because a sport as complex as football is not easy to learn. However, this is a business, you want to attract more fans, I totally understand. That's why I'm glad Ben Haumiller said in the interview that they are providing tools and guides to help those who are new to the game learn and get better. That is how it should be. Provide the user with game tutorials to learn the game but teach the sport.
When I played Madden NFL 07/NCAA Football 08 Online for the first time my combined record was probably -130 wins to losses. I was terrible, but I learned, I got better. Now each year I get +100 wins to losses at least (not counting league games). People can learn to play the sports, do not be afraid to make the game more real even if that means more complex to the casual fan. If they really love the game they will want to learn. And when you can accomplish something like getting better and better at Madden or NCAA then its even more fun.
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Those words are great, but you game changers never seem to say that. When you do your own podcasts/ radio shows or whatever, all I ever hear is cupcake questions like "has it been a challenge finding the right balance between fun and realism"? Then you let the rep give his pre scripted response and you move on to the next talking point.
At no point do I ever hear you guys say "well as a player of the game, I'm disappointed every year by your insistence on trying to draw in the casual crowd at the expense of us hardcore fans that have been with you year in and year out" I never hear that.
I never hear a GC say "speaking for most of the community, we'd like to see you focus on absolute realism (good, bad or ugly) even if it pushes some casuals away". You just said it here, why not say it on your podcasts and at events?
You or somebody else will probably say, well they have business concerns that they have to think about so we give them a pass based on that. I say hell no we shouldn't. We here are fans, short for fanatics, by definition we are not rational people when it come to the things that interest us.
I'd love for a GC to tell an EA rep that we as a community dont give a damn if every pure casual up and leaves, because there will always be enough hardcore fans out there to more than sustain the series. In fact, making it more hardcore will probably make it MORE popular.
But you won't tell them any of that. You guys don't want to ruffle any feathers, you want to keep your free sneak peaks at the game, you want to keep your (i suspect) free copies of the games, etc. I just wish the GC would ACTUALLY speak for the community instead of just pretending to as EA sanctioned message filters.