Presentation(etc.): What Could Be... - vln13's Blog

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Presentation(etc.): What Could Be... Stuck

Posted on May 25, 2011 at 02:21 PM.

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In the past few years, Madden and other sports games have really improved tremendously in their presentation. We have seen a push for authentic camera representation (Both MLB Games '11, even more impressively in the upcoming Madden 12), real life statistical representation (MLB/NBA Today in 2k Games), movie makers, and even press conferences in NBA 2k11. Some commentary engines have vastly improved, but some, as of last year, remained stale and robotic (pretty much all EA Sports titles.) With visual presentation upgrades in Madden looking SICK, here are some things that all games can consider can take it to the next level in this department.

On Air Personalities/Introductions

We all wish that Gus had left CBS to work with his "virtual" partner in crime.

Ever since commentary was first introduced in sports games, not a whole lot has changed. Sure, the technology and disc space can handle more lines, but it works the same way. The biggest change has really been in the last few years in which real stats and game results in franchise mode can be analyzed, and there can be two part descriptions of players and teams (none of these appear to be in Madden.) What commentary needs is some kind of change that makes the voice-over personalities just that - personalities. Gus Johnson does a great job bringing emotion to the play by play in Madden, but you still get the feeling that it is a robot talking to you. Add anecdotes, descriptions of the game, random stories: anything to make it more personable would go a long way.

At the beginning of the game, and sometimes at intermittent brakes on TV broadcasts, you actually see the broadcasters talking (above, though not quite as interesting!) It would be really cool to get a shot of Gus and Cris just saying "hello" and "welcome" with the stadium in the background (via EA Sports/ESPN Playbook Technology?), even if it cuts in the middle of a stitch sentence to a highlight package or something talking about a player or game like it would in real life. This would go a long way to making the duo feel more real.

Coaches

Coaches are: Outrageous, Evil, Smart, Overboard, Thoughtful, and Aggressive.

If you think players are personalities, the coaches is where it all starts. Yet, aside from shots of them on the sidelines in which they are all doing the same things and playbooks that use some plays that they might have called once or twice, they play no importance in video games at this point. It would be so fun to do a post-game conference as Rex, watch as Belichick in a hoodie sends chills down your spine, watch how Tony Larussa takes his starter out after 22 pitches or Doc say just the right things in the huddle.

Real Analysis

Like classic John Madden or Gruden today, the Telestrator can be used
to make the greatest unintentional artwork ever...

Cris Collinsworth's analysis in Madden makes Matt Millen look good, but his explanations and walk-throughs in real life are Emmy worthy. Why? Descriptions in Madden are too general. In Madden 09, EA Sports Backtrack was a revolutionary feature, but for some unbelievable reason, the Tiburon folk took it out by Madden 11. Yes, it got repetitive when Collinsworth said the same two lines about you either throwing an interception or a bad pass, but why couldn't this be expanded? Can't he show how MJJ or AP put the moves on, or why D'Brick and Nick on the Jets OL pave the way for one of the top rush offenses in the league? Or how even a generic description of how the QB didn't pick up the FS on the cover 2?

In baseball, how about a little rebuttal of the manager once in a while ("I can't believe he told him to hit the showers this early in the ballgame!) or a diagram on top of a replay showing why Ray Allen is the greatest 3 shooter ever?

The Studio

From Sportscenter, to Monday Night Countdown, to Inside the NBA, studio pregame, halftime, and just general programing shows are some of the bread and butter of sports broadcasting. Yes, there was Sportscenter in NFL 2k5 and the terrible Extra Point in Madden 10. There needs to be more of that kind of effort, that much is obvious. I love how MLB The Show now has an out of town ticker the way 2k5 did, but the next step, especially for a game like Madden, is out of town video highlights, maybe between quarters where NBA 2k11 did promotions for other games. The way NFL 2k5 handled this in their Sportscenter show was that user controlled highlights were matched with the best available Berman commentary, but out of town highlights were all pre-packaged animations and commentary with interchangeable visuals and names.

Last few ideas

It is a lot of fun spending your whole Sunday watching straight NFL action, even if you are only a fan of one team. I would love the option in Madden's franchise to play your team's game at, say, 1pm, and then jump to games at 4:15, Sunday Night, and Monday Night. This could maybe work for other sports, too, moving from east to west as the night progresses.

Fantasy sports has become a sport in itself. Wouldn't it be cool to play a fantasy game in your franchise mode with all of your virtual stats? This would present the really fun dilemma that you sometimes come across in real life with rooting for your team vs. rooting for your fantasy player. For instance, say you are playing as my team, the Jets, in franchise mode. If you are playing the Giants, and Hakeem Nicks, their #1 WR, is on my fantasy team, do you put Darrelle Revis, the 99 OVR Shutdown Corner, on him, or do you instead use him on Steve Smith or another option because you still want to win but you want Nicks to get some good yardage? This would be especially fun when implemented in online franchise where you could compete with friends on two fronts.

Lastly, wouldn't it be fun to play some kind of mode as the member of the media, somehow? Maybe a story driven kind of thing? Or if not, maybe you could have reporter personalities in franchise mode?

Overall, these are just some brainstorms of how presentation (and beyond) can continue to evolve, but I think gaming companies are on the right track and I can't wait to SEE Madden 12 (though I am more curious to HEAR it to see if the commentary is any better.) Please, post anything that you would like to see in the comments!

Comments

# 1 ajaxab @ May 25

We've been playing television broadcasts of games since 1983's Intellivision Baseball and its then revolutionary multiple camera angles. Why not ditch the commentary and ditch the television presentation entirely? Leave the highlights and commentary for between games so that, just like real athletes, we can pick and choose whether to watch a virtual sports news show/read a virtual sports website story based on our performances. It seems so much time, energy and effort has gone into commentary that could have been devoted to deeper immersion into the experience of playing a sport itself. 'It's in the game' has not really been about what's in the game, but about what's in the televised game.

# 2 mrmass413 @ May 25

i agree with the read esspecially with the out of town highlights that would make the game more intence in a franchise knowing your 2 games in first place and at half the team in second just won and it puts more pressure on you to win the game. having more than two commentators would mix things up a bit so it wouldn't seem so repetative also

# 3 turducken34 @ May 25

This was a great read and exactly what I've been longing for in sports games, most importantly to me, football. Give me a little telestrator action showing me how the line opened up that big hole on that 20 yard run. Show me the commentators in the booth breaking down the upcoming game, and break away from my current game for a moment to show me the go-ahead TD in another game in progress. Yeah, for me that'd be immersion!

# 4 statum71 @ May 25

@ajaxab....

So much energy and effort has gone into commentary???? Could've fooled the heck outta me.....especially Madden.

I think sports game commentary (with the exception of a few) is the weakest of all areas of production.

# 5 statum71 @ May 25

A few responses to your blog....

First off, well done. Good read. I love great presentation.

I agree with you about on-air personalities/intros. A good example of this is in UFC 2010. When the show first starts in Event mode they have the announcers in front of the screen for just a few words. Very realistic. makes the "show" feel connected and alive.

Coaches: I've always wanted to feel some of the differences in coaching personalties. I'm just not sure how they could incorporate this into the games.

Studio: We are dead on the same page with this. Studio brings the league together. MAN.....do I miss College Hoops 2K8.

As far as the Sunday NFL action.... I can't say I depend on the developers to make this possible. Because I already do this on my own. Thats why I control every team in franchise so I can play any and every game I wanna play.

I pick the best noon game...then I move to 3:30 games....I play the Sunday Night game..etc.

# 6 ajaxab @ May 25

@statum71

There has been considerable time and effort poured into commentary. When you have Gus Johnson or Brad Nessler going into the studio to do recording sessions for a week or two, then have sound engineers tweaking that audio, and then have developers mapping those bits of audio to various game outcomes, that amounts to a considerable investment of time and energy. That doesn't mean that the outcome of this investment has been that good (as you point out, it might be the weakest aspect of contemporary sports games), but it is a considerable investment that could go into other things.

As for your point about coaches, I think that fits well with one of the problems we've had in being trapped in the televised sports game. We really don't get any coach audio when we watch games on tv and when we do, it's typically after the fact. To experience a sport as an athlete would be to be interacting with a coach after a series of plays. That doesn't happen in the sports game because we're stuck in the mold of getting commentary. If we get out of the television sports game design box, it opens up space for doing things like considerably greater detailed interaction with coaches.

I'm not necessarily opposed to commentary and television presentation, but it has shackled sports game designers from taking advantage of a raft of possible ways to mediate sport through the video game.

# 7 vln13 @ May 25

@ajaxab

You make an interesting point. Though games that have tried that route (Backbreaker for instance) have come across bland, I understand that they didn't exactly reach their full potential either. However, TV being the medium that 99.9 percent of fans associate with watching their game rather than being on the field, it seems logical that the game designers exploit that connection to make people feel more connected to what they are playing.

# 8 SHAKYR @ May 25

EA needs to really take a page from 2k presentation-wise. They lack in this area big time. Madden real look like it stepped it's presentation up big time.

# 9 PSRusse83 @ May 25

Ha I had that same exact Fantasy Football idea when 09 came out. I think that would be really fun. Also if they added in the Fed Ex ground and air players of the week maybe.

# 10 statum71 @ May 25

@ajaxab

You make a good point on the "time" spent, yes. But I still have to disagree about that time being spent elsewhere.

Because how many times has it been pointed out on this very site that the different areas of the games have totally different departments.

So no, I don't agree with leaving audio neglected so that another area of the game can have a few more heads. It wouldn't make a better game. In fact, it would be a lot worse.

I also don't agree that sports games should get away from trying to immitate a real life sports broadcast. Everybody doesn't like that "first-person" feel in sports.

Case in point: I skipped Tiger Woods this year because I read you can't turn that caddie off! No thanks. I can't hear him on TV. I don't wanna hear him in my game either.

# 11 Dazraz @ May 26

EA Sports came up with a couple of good ideas with Backtrack & The Extra Point show. They executed both poorly & then, rather than work on both features to make them work, they just drop them.
The poor commentary that afflicts all of EA's games is most likely based on a business decision that great commentary doesn't sell games.
2K have proved that great in game commentary can be developed, particularly when the game is focused on just one league such as the NBA or the MLB. It's this league specific commentary that works well as we hear many relevant analysis points throughout the game combined with individual team/player anecdotes. This is why 2K's games have no commentary in minor league matchups.
EA attempt to aim for a more globally orientated goal with there hockey & soccer games by having a large number of international leagues. With so many leagues you are only ever going to get generic commentary as it is not feasible to expect specific commentary lines for such as large number of teams.

# 12 chen_sc @ May 27

I think that out of town scores are in this year. I've asked this question in one of the madden forums and somebody who played the game said that visual stats got huge improvments...you can be optimistic about that...