EA Sports Could Take Some Notes From The 2K In Terms Of Commentary

[ufer2]

I broadcast games for a living and 2K11 is as close to the real thing as there is on the market right now. Its insightful, conversational and emotional.

I thought MLB The Show had the best commentary until I heard 2K11. The NCAA series has a LOT of catching-up to do.

[K0ZZ]

Quote: Originally Posted by radiohead

A simple search will show that since at least 2008, which iirc was the first year the devs began overtly posting, people have been asking for a commentary overhaul. However, they're not going to overhaul it and they don't even have the desire to convert to a more dynamic style of commentary. That's from 2009 btw. It shows their entire approach to commentary (imo it also shows their entire approach to the series.) Clean up a little here, fix a few bugs there, add a little here. Although I'm with you guys in spirit, it's safe to say that a commentary and overall presentation overhaul is definitely not on the horizon.

EA already said they have a large amount of capital dedicated towards commentary and presentation for the next edition. I'm not going to pretend I'm happy that they are already working on NCAA 13 with NCAA 12 due out in a month, but at least they are acknowledging it. Like I said some people expect surreal leaps in game design that a one year development cycle doesn't allow for. There just isn't enough time. Like others have said compare NCAA 12 to NCAA 09, NCAA 11 to NCAA 08, the leaps are huge. Hell the leap from the first game on this generation to what we have now is massive and that's the lifetime of one system.

Not an excuse for EA being lazy but when your in a group like EA where strict deadlines are enforced, (Exception being NBA elite/live) there is only so much they can do. Not to mention they need to keep a good amount of developers focused on fan reactions to the current game for patches and tuner packs.

Hell, look at the Call of Duty series, once it became a yearly edition even with developers rotating years (so it's a two year cycle) nothing really changes, new weapons, a story and the same tacked on multiplayer. Compare that to needing to balance fun with realism while still adding onto the game is not an easy task, not being a complete 'EA is perfect' because there is a lot of times I'm frusturated with them. Yet it's wrong to accuse them of pretty much throwing out roster updates year in and out. Even if we don't notice it there are coding and such behind the scenes that get completely revamped for efficiency and power.

[radiohead]

Quote: Originally Posted by chicagopax

EA already said they have a large amount of capital dedicated towards commentary and presentation for the next edition. I'm not going to pretend I'm happy that they are already working on NCAA 13 with NCAA 12 due out in a month, but at least they are acknowledging it. Like I said some people expect surreal leaps in game design that a one year development cycle doesn't allow for. There just isn't enough time. Like others have said compare NCAA 12 to NCAA 09, NCAA 11 to NCAA 08, the leaps are huge. Hell the leap from the first game on this generation to what we have now is massive and that's the lifetime of one system. Not an excuse for EA being lazy but when your in a group like EA where strict deadlines are enforced, (Exception being NBA elite/live) there is only so much they can do. Not to mention they need to keep a good amount of developers focused on fan reactions to the current game for patches and tuner packs. Hell, look at the Call of Duty series, once it became a yearly edition even with developers rotating years (so it's a two year cycle) nothing really changes, new weapons, a story and the same tacked on multiplayer. Compare that to needing to balance fun with realism while still adding onto the game is not an easy task, not being a complete 'EA is perfect' because there is a lot of times I'm frusturated with them. Yet it's wrong to accuse them of pretty much throwing out roster updates year in and out. Even if we don't notice it there are coding and such behind the scenes that get completely revamped for efficiency and power.

Care to provide a link because I certainly have not heard that? Even if they allegedly are revamping commentary and presentation for NCAA 13, given their history they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They've earned that skepticism.

It seems like you've bought into the devs' spin about the limits imposed by the one year development cycle. The community didn't just begin asking for more dynamic commentary a year ago. Same goes for ratings that really matter? Do you think that's a new gripe?

Go down the line and you'll see a long list of issues that have plagued the series year in and year out. This has nothing to do with a one year development cycle and everything to do with their fundamentally flawed approach to the series.

As Hyman Roth would say, this is the business they've chosen. In other words, they need to stop making excuses and LEAD or get out of the way and let another company step up to the plat

Nevertheless, if you cannot cede that this series has become stagnant and lacks real innovation, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

[sundevildave]

"I really thought these teams matched up well" (1-8 SDSU vs 9-0 CSU) after a 50 -0 blowout in Ft. Collins. - Herbstreit

Every game, the same tired cliche's, nothing dynamic...

"He's the fastest HB we've seen all year" - Herbsreit commenting on my FB

Turn off the announcers, turn up the stadium announcer, play it like you're actually at the stadium.

[Warrior8o8]

Quote: Originally Posted by sundevildave

"I really thought these teams matched up well" (1-8 SDSU vs 9-0 CSU) after a 50 -0 blowout in Ft. Collins. - Herbstreit Every game, the same tired cliche's, nothing dynamic... "He's the fastest HB we've seen all year" - Herbsreit commenting on my FB Turn off the announcers, turn up the stadium announcer, play it like you're actually at the stadium.

I'm thinking of doing that with this years game. Turning off the commentary & just listen to the PA announcer & the roar of the crowd.

[ViLLiO]

Commentary needs a complete overhaul. They need different crews calling different games instead of the same ESPN Kirk/Nessler combo. We need;

Musberger and the ABC crew
Danielson/Lundquist on CBS
Thursday night ESPN crew
Notre Dame's NBC crew

For local games;
Big Ten Network
SEC Network/Raycom Sports
Pac 12 dude (forgot his name, fat dude that does all the late Pac 10 games)
etc.

Talk about dynamic. The only game Kirk should commentate would be the GOTW, which would be the 7:00 slot on ESPN (I believe).

[K0ZZ]

Quote: Originally Posted by radiohead

Care to provide a link because I certainly have not heard that? Even if they allegedly are revamping commentary and presentation for NCAA 13, given their history they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They've earned that skepticism. It seems like you've bought into the devs' spin about the limits imposed by the one year development cycle. The community didn't just begin asking for more dynamic commentary a year ago. Same goes for ratings that really matter? Do you think that's a new gripe? Go down the line and you'll see a long list of issues that have plagued the series year in and year out. This has nothing to do with a one year development cycle and everything to do with their fundamentally flawed approach to the series. As Hyman Roth would say, this is the business they've chosen. In other words, they need to stop making excuses and LEAD or get out of the way and let another company step up to the plat Nevertheless, if you cannot cede that this series has become stagnant and lacks real innovation, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

No other company could step up to the plate and I fully believe that. At this point in time no other company is capable. Even at this point 2K sports is only putting out two sports games on a yearly basis, compared to EA's however many.

It's not an excuse but to claim they are doing nothing, and completely ignoring the things they have added.

Like you, I used to be completely opposed to EA and went on a skid of not buying games for a few years, especially when they sent out a survey a few years back and NOTHING from the list was added to the game, it felt like a slap to the face. Yet now you see them adding some things, they also have to answer to the NCAA which if you cannot tell from just dealings in real life with athletes they want to be portrayed in a certain way. I don't know what you are specifically asking for because you've been extremely general to this point so I can assume unless your hoping for suspensions or playoffs, than NCAA shouldn't be an issue.

You can continue to believe that a one year development cycle is not an issue but there are other studios that have said that being in the sports industry is the hardest and EA is one of the few that have been making games on a nearly annual basis.

Like I said, EA isn't perfect but your seemingly just tearing them down for no reason other than to bring some rage around. Especially since you turned a talk about their commentary (lack of) and brought it into an argument of laziness and quick patch jobs.

Edit:

I'll try to find a link, I saw it somewhere on here, but I'm pretty sure it was for Madden, not sure if that flows to NCAA or not. At least they see it as an issue finally.

[mattbooty]

Quote: Originally Posted by ViLLiO

Commentary needs a complete overhaul. They need different crews calling different games instead of the same ESPN Kirk/Nessler combo. We need; Musberger and the ABC crew Danielson/Lundquist on CBS Thursday night ESPN crew Notre Dame's NBC crew For local games; Big Ten Network SEC Network/Raycom Sports Pac 12 dude (forgot his name, fat dude that does all the late Pac 10 games) etc. Talk about dynamic. The only game Kirk should commentate would be the GOTW, which would be the 7:00 slot on ESPN (I believe).

I'm guessing EA will say that there isn't enough disk space for multiple commentary teams (supposedly that is why we can't have more than 70 players on a roster and player info would take up significantly less space than the audio required to add another commentary team).