Hopes for presentation

[DorianDonP]

Agreed with a lot in here. Especially crowd reactions and stat overlays. You'd think with the ESPN liscence, they could literally just COPY everything they see from a broadcast.

Quote: Originally Posted by DorianDonP

When NCAA got the ESPN liscence, I always felt it was important that they bring authentic ESPN style presentation to the table. That area of the game has been lacking for awhile, but they added the swipes and pre-game graphics/music which was a solid babystep. I still felt they needed to COPY exactly what they saw from a ESPN broadcast, including the replay angles and stat overlays. This is still an area where they need major improvement. The in-studio updates and priority alerts are a good step in the presentation, but I can't help but think it will feel incomplete to get updates of the stats of other teams games, while the stats of my game are absent. Although I've always noticed that stat overlays were missing, I wanted to actually go through a real life game and a NCAA game and see how far apart the two sides were. I wanted to see how frequently overlays happen, in what context, and what kinds of overlays occur the most and could be duplicated in a video game. I traded in NCAA 12 so I had to look for a video on youtube showing a full game. For the real college football game I wanted to watch the first possessions of both teams and then watch the fourth quarter after teams had accumulated stats to see how they present the information. I realize by actually paying attention to how they do it, that they are passionate about telling a story with their stats. ESPN really does a nice job of doing that. Anyway, I turned on a 2011 game featuring Oregon and USC. It should be noted that Oregon ran a lot of quick plays which limited the overlays and replays ESPN was able to show (they cut mid replay a bunch of times). Even with that, there were dozens of overlays in the first 7 or 8 minutes alone. 1. After the kickoff, and before the first play, a screen showing the history between the two teams popped up. Spoiler 2. Before the first snap for USC, the season statistics of Matt Barkley is shown. Spoiler 3. After the first play from USC (a screen play that gets stopped for a loss) a stat overlay pops up for the Oregon safety that made the tackle. Spoiler 4. A graphic pops up that shows "impact players" for USC before the next play starts. Spoiler 5. Then they show the "impact players" for USC. Spoiler 6. After the USC 3 and out, they decide to punt. Before the punt, there is a stat overlay for the punt returner. Spoiler 7. As the Oregon offense makes their way to the field for their first possession, there is a stat overlay for their starting QB. Spoiler (notice that it also has a sub-stat overlay for his record as a starter) 8. After a few plays, the impact player graphic pops up. Spoiler 9. And Oregon's impact offensive players are featured. Spoiler 10. After Oregon goes 3 and out, a stat overlay pops up for the USC punt returner. Spoiler Fast-forward to beginning of 4th quarter. Oregon is down 20-38 and have possession of the ball. Oregon is running a hurry up offense so there isn't much pause in the action. They march down the field and score a touchdown. 11. As the Oregon player celebrates the touchdown, a stat overlay shows how long the run was. Spoiler 12. The next stat overlay shows the game statistics for the RB that scored a touchdown. Spoiler Barkley throws a pick and then Oregon goes down and scores another rushing touchdown on their next possession (very quick plays, no stat overlays.) 13. After USC goes down the field, they face a 3rd and short and a stat overlay pops up for their third down conversations. Spoiler (Notice it shows both season averages and the game stats) 14. After USC picks up the first down on the ground, a stat overlay for total plays and yardage pops up. Spoiler 15. A play later, USC fumbles the ball and Oregon recovers, and a stat overlay for turnovers pop up. Spoiler 16. As Oregon marches down the field to try and tie (or win) the game, there is a stat overlay for the QB's stats for the game. Spoiler 17. Once they are in field goal range, and inside a minute left, a stat overlay for the kicker pops up showing his career long and stats from previous week. Spoiler 18. Inside of 15 seconds, Oregon down 35-38 and in the redzone, an overlay pops up stating that Oregon will clinch their division with a win. Spoiler 19. As the kicker runs out on the field a stat overlay for his season numbers pops up. Spoiler 20. A stat overlay showing Oregon's home winning streak and pac 10 winning streak totals pops up. Spoiler 21. Oregon missed the kick and won the game. Stat overlay reveals the current records of both teams. Spoiler ______________ Since coverage for a Saturday Night game featuring a top 5 team late in the season may be different than 'ordinary games', I decided to look at a noon game with a borderline top 25 team (Auburn ranked at 21) and unranked Clemson that took place early in the year (september). 1. After the kickoff (Auburn got the ball first), an impact player screen pops up showing the starting QB and his season numbers. Spoiler 2. After Auburn fails to convert a 3rd down, an impact player tracker overlay pops up showing the QB's passing numbers on the drive. Spoiler 3. When Clemson goes on offense, an impact player screen pops up for Clemson offensive players and Auburn defensive players. Both show stats for the season. Spoiler (Only showing two of them) Fastforward to the 4th quarter after players have accumulated stats. I've noticed that if you are designated as an impact player in the pre-game, they show your stat updates a lot more and call them 'impact player tracker'. Spoiler 4. One play later, they do another overlay for the QB. I notice they almost always do a stat overlay for the QB if he misses a 3rd down throw. Spoiler 5. An overlay shows the punter and returner. Spoiler 6. After a short run on the first play after they field the put, an overlay is shown for the RBs game totals. Spoiler 7. Supports my thought that after an incomplete on third down, they show the QB's numbers. Spoiler 8. A summary of the game screen pops up in the early 4th quarter Spoiler I used this online dynasty game to compare the use of overlays. First thing that's noticeable is the ESPN scorebox is outdated on NCAA 12. That doesn't bother me because ESPN updates their scorebox every year and NCAA will always be a year behind. Hopefully, NCAA has updated their scorebox for NCAA 13. No overlays for the first possession of either teams drive. This is what it looks like when a player scores which was accurate as of 2010. If EA updated their scoreboard for 13, then a touchdown should look like screenshots 11 and 12 for the Oregon/USC game posted above. The only kind of overlay system that seems to be in place consistently is a recap of what just happened on the previous play. 4 yard run. 5 yard run. -1 yard run. Etc. With 30 seconds left in the 1st quarter, the first overlay pops up. Once I was well into the 2nd and still hadn't seen any more overlays, I skipped to the 4th. There were a few more non-dynamic (meaning they didn't use season stats or put the info into any context) overlays like But for the most part, I went an entire game and saw essentially a handful of overlays. So it doesn't matter if it's pre-game, first series, or late game situations when stats are accumulated, NCAA 12 does not have stat overlays to help support the ESPN style presentation. This isn't new info by any means, I just wanted to document what was in last years game, and what broadcast style was featured by ESPN last year. I understand that it would be impossible to get every single real life overlay into the game, but I think screenshots 1,2,3,5,7,10,11,12,13, 14, and 19 of the Oregon/USC game and screenshot 8 of the Clemson/Auburn game are not only doable, but infinitely more immersive than what is currently there. It should also be doable to use the ESPN logic of 'third down incomplete pass=show the QBs stats for the game.' These overlays would breathe life into the dynasty season, and really help distinguish one game from the next.

[LastExit]

Quote: Originally Posted by darren1024

Am I the only one who thinks Brent Mustburger would be a great addition to this game? Even it was for the GotW and the bowl games. Ive always wanted Vern Lundquist, Gary Danielson, and Tracy Wolfe from CBS for the SEC games and the Army/Navy game.

+1 on this.....but I'm sure it would be something for the next console. They could use him and Herbstreit for the big game of the week (thus in your dynasty you won't hear hear him that often) but they could call your bowl game.

On a side note, it's a shame that Ron Franklin isn't calling games for ESPN anymore. He was always a great play-by-play guy who didn't insert himself into game with over the top calls.....after a big play or a touchdown he let the atmosphere in the stadium speak for what just happened.

[LastExit]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpartyParty11

I just want them to fix the crowd noise. Every time someone gets a first down or big play, the crowd would cut out for a bit, then cut back in either super loud or you'll here the sigh. it's annoying and a lot of the time i play on the road because im sick of the crowd noise.

Amen to this.

I'd love for EA to come out with a punch list of stuff that they noted was not working properly from the prior year and that they've addressed.

In terms of crowd noise, at this point if they can't get what they're working on now (the swells and so forth) right then go back to to the crowd noise that was in the game years ago and implement the new crowd noise when it's ready.

[Sundown2600]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrMagic91

we dont even have to go all the way back to college hoops 2k8. NCAA Basketball 10 did a excellent job with the ESPN integration

NCAA Basketball 10 was a good game and could have been a true gem. All it needed was a little TLC through patches. The presentation was miles ahead of what has ever been in an NCAA Football game. That is a sad but true statement.

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

Basically, to answer all of these, a big differentiating factor in APF 2K and Madden NFL / NCAA Football is the amount of graphics resources used on the on-field action and stadiums. Madden's on-field players and stadiums are quite obviously high-poly meshes with many high-resolution textures across all assets. 2K conversely sacrificed on-field quality of meshes and textures (particularly for players and stadiums) for quality of the entire environment and game, be it fully animated sidelines, animated background objects, presentation wipes, and whatnot. Madden could implement fully-animated sidelines, more and more varied presentation wipes, and whatnot, but it'd sacrifice visual fidelity of the on-field action, something that is quite obviously a priority for Tiburon.

SO bascially your saying EA values fluff over substance? Correct me if I'm wrong and do not allow me to put words in your mouth.

[mrMagic91]

Well Fellas, Tis the week for presentation. Not a make or break but definitely a huge factor. If they are to feature post game highlights I think that would be featured the Dynasty news.

As far as Thursday goes, Im looking for:
-Different Entrances
-Various pre-game stuff (not the same crap we get everytime!)
-Virtual commentators (Madden got it last season, i dont see why we cant)
-WAYYYY Better commentary. Dynamic commentary
-Better crowd reactions, player celebrations, coaches interactions with refs.
-Some sort of College Gameday or College Football live deal. Idk.

Lets see what they have. 4/18

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sundown2600

SO bascially your saying EA values fluff over substance? Correct me if I'm wrong and do not allow me to put words in your mouth.

No. Absolutely not. I'm saying EA values graphics of the players on the field - what the player most commonly sees during interactive gameplay - over all else.

Graphics are not "fluff"; graphics sell games. Bethesda, the shop behind Crysis, recent said that 60 percent of a AAA game's budget goes towards graphics. Now, I don't know that this is true in all cases - Minecraft, Q.E.D. - but by and large gamers want their games to be pleasing to look at, and the sheer amount of praise that the industry leaders in graphics technology earn is proof positive of this. EA Tiburon isn't immune to gamers' desire to buy good-looking games, and as such they invest in their graphics tech to make sure their games are as graphically impressive as possible.

[BenGerman]

I'm interested to find out about a College Gameday section. I've always thought that it wouldn't happen until the next-gen consoles, but I wouldn't be surprised if they sneak it in for '14.

I say this because last year we got the in-game updates with Reese, and Madden had visual commentators last year. With Reese on the team, I wouldn't think it would too hard for them to plop him down and get some more lines out of him. We'll see, I'm not sure how difficult that might be for the developers. Other things I actually expect to see:

- New entrances, including a choose your own entrance.
- New stat overlays that pop up during the game.
- Improved crowd noise (it has been atrocious, but last year was a step in the right direction. Whoever is in charge, I hope they remembered to crank up the crowd volume).
- The return of a 12th man feature. Nothing fancy here though.
- Updated commentary, but still not where it needs to be.
- A much better version of the studio update.

[xrayman26]

i want players to get in trouble again. have a discipline rating. recruit a thug, bad things can happen. also want hair style and hair color back.