Noticing a new(ish) trend with developers...

[kingsword82]

First let me say I have been roaming these boards for about 3 years and most of the time someone has already said what I would have said about a subject. However, in light of the teambuilder/roster flaws, it means that there has been 3 consecutive years with a huge mess up on EA's part. To be honest EA, hope is running out if any of you guys are reading the boards. So, this brings me to my point and this is not intended to bash EA or any other mentioned devs.

Is the ability to patch games actually ruining the games? If anyone has been on the 8(+/-) month saga with SOCOM: Confrontation you will know what I mean. With Slant 6, they put features on the box that, as of right now, are yet to be in the game. With promise after promise broken, Slant 6 is yet to fix/complete an incomplete game. It appears more and more with games that developers are putting a bad product out there with hopes to fix it via patchwork. Which in turn worries me about this problem with EA.

Obviously many of us have noticed the many flaws in the rosters that, imo, is simple laziness and a complete dependency on the fans of this game because EA knows that they have roster guru's out there that are goin to put much more time into the rosters than they did and make the community happy. I honestly do not know what is worse; the BCS monopoly on the championship or EA catering everything to the top 10 schools. Mark my words (and the many words of other community members) this will not be fixed quickly and this will not be the last problem we have with this game. So, what is the solution?

I, like many others, will be at my local gaming store to pick up the game at midnight because I love college football that much and sadly enough this is what allows EA to have the foothold. I have noticed people say "lets hold off and buy the game used." Understand, that to have used games, people must purchase it. I have heard people say to hold off until next year. Some of us have to have a college football fix. I, for one, do not have the answer to this growing problem. However, I do know that something drastic must be done to get EA to start taking so many of our love of the game serious. I apologize for the soapbox I am on but I am open to any suggestions (and hopefully many others are too) to prod EA in the right direction. Is it boycotting the game? Does anyone have any idea how we can help fix this?

[ak1knight]

PC games have been able to be patched pretty much since the internet became big and it hasn't ruined PC gaming. The problem is MS and Sony force developers to pay to distribute a patch and then they take forever to finally approve it. I'd much rather have a game changing bug be patched before the game is even released than have to wait 2-3 weeks.

[callmetaternuts]

It is becoming a trend which is good and bad. Its nice that they can address issues after launch, whereas in the early 2000's and late 1990's, broken games were just that, broken.

The bad part is it allows developers to release games in a semi finished state and they can patch later. My opinion is, if it cant be right straight out of the box, it shouldnt be in there. Less features, more polished items. A patch should be to add features or correct issues that couldnt be seen ahead of time, not to correct all of the issues as of late

[kingsword82]

Hitler hates NCAA 10 is the cinematic version of my rant.

[GatorFan1963]

I don't really think it's the fact that they can patch games, I think it has more to do with the fact that game makers have underestimated the time it takes to (1) develop a game (2) adequately test it (3) add new features.

Adam has said numerous times about how certain things are scrapped because they would take too much time. To me this is what is hurting sports games in particular. Sports games come out every year, but that just isn't enough time to improve on the game to the point where it feels like a different game from year to year. I think the next-gen gaming era is where game makers will realize that 1 year just isn't enough time to create/modify/test games. It's either that or they will have to add more resources...but we all know that's not going to happen...oh wait...it happened to Madden this year.

[Maximus205]

If they stop putting time in on fluff features and take a whole year to iron out the core then we would at least believe they put the same effort in that the madden devs have. Season showdown and teambuilder could have been dropped post release via dlc for free.

[the onizzle]

Quote: Originally Posted by kingsword82

I, like many others, will be at my local gaming store to pick up the game at midnight because I love college football that much and sadly enough this is what allows EA to have the foothold.

THIS...

you are part of the problem man. every day i am affirming my decision more to NOT buy this game at all this year. college football fan or not, i'm sick of their junk.

[kingsword82]

Quote: Originally Posted by the onizzle

THIS... you are part of the problem man. every day i am affirming my decision more to NOT buy this game at all this year. college football fan or not, i'm sick of their junk.

Agreed. I even pointed that out in my post. So you think the regulars not buying would help?