The main problem with this series is marketing

[stoncold32]

I'll keep this short, but the main problem with this series is indeed, marketing, and it's overkill of importance to EA. I've been to college, I've worked in corp. America, sat in marketing meetings, etc.....I say that to say that I know it is important and vital to business. BUT marketing should not be what your package is all about, otherwise, you're gonna continually disappoint people to the point to where now, they are getting tired of your product. It took a while for it to happen with this series, but it's fallen so far, that now it's catching up.

Why is it a problem? Because now, for some reason, EA seems to think that EVERY thing in the game needs to be billed as a "feature". Which is why we now see the word "New" 20-30 times on the back of every EA sports box or website.

I'm thinking back to '04 or so, and I don't recall reading online(maybe in passing, but not as a feature) about EA bragging about FG nets, cannons after TD, etc, etc.

this is why I don't think FORMATION SUBS made a return this year. Because when it does, they want to be able to market it as an additional "feature", even though this was never done so back in PS2/PS1 days. It was just a mandatory feature.

Same thing with bowl endzones....theres no reason this should be marketed as a feature, when it was simply a given in the past as being "in the game"

[sportzbro]

Its weird that NCAA has taken this route, especially when Madden is marketing a "sim" style of gameplay and not dumb features (Season Showdown). Funny enough, there is more buzz for that game (Madden) than I've ever seen.

And yes, it is funny when they dub fundamental aspects of the game (field goal nets, uniforms, etc.) as "features". They should be in the game, and I shouldn't have to worry if they aren't.

[heavy_hitter]

You are on to something.

I think that most people playing the NCAA are college educated, attending college, or have a relative that went to college and they want to play as that team they attended.

With that said, I think the more educated person plays NCAA than Madden. I mean, have you ever seen the Bozos on Madden Nation? Those guys are as ignorant as it gets. EA does not realize this and thinks they can pull the wool over heads of the people that play the NCAA series.

What really gets under my skin is that NCAA could be the flagship football game for EA if they developed the game properly. There is more tradition, pageantry, teams, schemes on offense and defense, great mascots, etc. etc. than the NFL. The problem is that I don't think the EA brass wants NCAA to be the flagship football game for them. So they cater to the 10-15 year old and uneducated gamer for NCAA.

[Moostache]

Agreed...the franchise needs to address fundamental shortcomings and seems to be caught in a marketing-generated black hole right now. The Coke Zero Season Showdown is pretty obscene seeing as EA has raised game prices on current-gen (to $60 from $50) AND has expanded their external revenue streams with more pervasive sponsorships...I would have far less problem with it if the price of the game was reduced as a by-product of the sponsorship!

[Watson]

picking up where hitter left off,

the game isn't A "SIM" game anymore in my mind. EA markets to kids with an XBOX live/PSN network connection. The best "feature" is CAS, and i imagine that the majority of those users will be in the 12-15 year old range.

Im still going to buy the game but it still wont compare to 05, i.e; the best NCAA ever IMVHPO

[boritter]

I think that the main problem with this game is that there is no competition from 2K sports. Ever since EA got the exclusive license all they do each year is add one or two gimmick features that can appear as bullet points on the back cover of the game.

Anyone who wants to play a new college football game must buy this series. EA knows this and they realize that there is no need to import features over from last gen or fix the gameplay.

[stoncold32]

Quote: Originally Posted by BORN4CORN

Its weird that NCAA has taken this route, especially when Madden is marketing a "sim" style of gameplay and not dumb features (Season Showdown). Funny enough, there is more buzz for that game (Madden) than I've ever seen. And yes, it is funny when they dub fundamental aspects of the game (field goal nets, uniforms, etc.) as "features". They should be in the game, and I shouldn't have to worry if they aren't.

Yeah, they really shouldn't give Madden so much shine. The disparity was never this big back in the day. NCAA was a year behind Madden, but it was always better in nearly every aspect.

I don't think they understand that MORE kids play Madden than they do NCAA. Most people that play NCAA are college football watchers/college students. Don't get me wrong, there are alot of 10 year olds in say, small town Oklahoma, that will buy this game because OU is the one team they've known all their lives. But as a whole, most 10 year olds are gonna buy the NFL game because they are more familiar with the stars, and they are on TV alot more the NCAA players.

So therefore, why do WE get stuck with the mascot-gimmicky type stuff?

Quote: Originally Posted by heavy_hitter

You are on to something. I think that most people playing the NCAA are college educated, attending college, or have a relative that went to college and they want to play as that team they attended. With that said, I think the more educated person plays NCAA than Madden. I mean, have you ever seen the Bozos on Madden Nation? Those guys are as ignorant as it gets. EA does not realize this and thinks they can pull the wool over heads of the people that play the NCAA series. What really gets under my skin is that NCAA could be the flagship football game for EA if they developed the game properly. There is more tradition, pageantry, teams, schemes on offense and defense, great mascots, etc. etc. than the NFL. The problem is that I don't think the EA brass wants NCAA to be the flagship football game for them. So they cater to the 10-15 year old and uneducated gamer for NCAA.

Well said. I agree. Not to diss the hardcore Madden crowd, but Madden def. has more than it's fair share of casual "oooohhhhh that was tight how I ran over 6 guys, then juked 3 others, and high stepped into the endzone." And the guys who only buy because it says, "Madden" on the cover.

Seems like with the overabundance of sales Madden get's, they would be the ones to appease the more casual fan, instead of the NCAA team. They seem to have it backwards.

[zoltan]

Quote: Originally Posted by BORN4CORN

Its weird that NCAA has taken this route, especially when Madden is marketing a "sim" style of gameplay and not dumb features (Season Showdown). Funny enough, there is more buzz for that game (Madden) than I've ever seen. And yes, it is funny when they dub fundamental aspects of the game (field goal nets, uniforms, etc.) as "features". They should be in the game, and I shouldn't have to worry if they aren't.

i foretold this.........

when madden came out of the closet saying "sim sim sim" and ncaa said they were gonna continue their usual way, i said that madden was going to do really well because it comes down to who buys the game, and football fans buy the games, not shooter fans or RPG players............

so people that know about football are going to buy the game, and alot of people know madden is going with a new sim style approach so alot of people that have been sick of maddens arcady gameplay in the recent years past are now going to be buying.

i foresee the same thing happening with ncaa 11........... with maddens sales jumping to higher then ever before, ea will make ncaa follow suit.. its as simple as that......