EA Sports UFC 2 Impressions: Gamechangers Event 2

[MaddogUFC]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

This kills me. Why do people think that the team that creates fighters is the same one that would work on AI or a Franchise? Like creating 200 fighters is somehow taking time or man power away from the AI team or Modes team. If anything its the online modes that are taking time away from creating a Universe mode. I dont hate your idea at all. I dont think it sells games to non-hardcore fans though. Putting aside the fact that almost half of the fighters you listed wouldnt be used in the game. What makes you think that a training mode (which is what this is) is going to be the thing that sells this game? What data have you seen that shows that casual fans are interested in a training mode and would buy the game for this mode?

Its about getting people interested in the sport. Doing the same thing over and over will not do it. Playing it safe will not do it. When Apple comes out with a new product it is not because they polled people for what they wanted. They have a vision and they sell you on it because they thinks its cool. Your logic is why movies, video games and other mass media have declined. People are looking at test audiences to direct what is made.

If you look at things that were truly innovative and great. They came about when people were like OMG that will suck. Star Wars, The Matrix, Titanic, Avatar, Guitar Hero, Assassin's Creed, Knights of the Old Republic, Tomb Raider, The UFC itself. I could keep going. when those things were first talked about people thought they were a bad joke and a bad idea that was not profitable. They ended up being ground breaking in their own right. There was no test marketing. Someone had a great idea and went with it.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by MaddogUFC

Its about getting people interested in the sport. Doing the same thing over and over will not do it. Playing it safe will not do it. When Apple comes out with a new product it is not because they polled people for what they wanted. They have a vision and they sell you on it because they thinks its cool. Your logic is why movies, video games and other mass media have declined. People are looking at test audiences to direct what is made. If you look at things that were truly innovative and great. They came about when people were like OMG that will suck. Star Wars, The Matrix, Titanic, Avatar, Guitar Hero, Assassin's Creed, Knights of the Old Republic, Tomb Raider, The UFC itself. I could keep going. when those things were first talked about people thought they were a bad joke and a bad idea that was not profitable. They ended up being ground breaking in their own right. There was no test marketing. Someone had a great idea and went with it.

Star Wars had a test audience.
The Matrix had a test audience.
Titanic had a test audience.
Avatar had a test audience.

All 4 movies made changes to the final product based on audience feedback. All were better movies because of it.

If someone is buying a UFC video game, they are likely already "interested in the sport." They are interested in the current sport and want to play current fighters.

For example, I'm a casual fan of English Soccer. I watch matches on Saturday when I get the chance to and I play the Premier League on Fifa 16. I dont play FIFA to learn about the sport. I dont play FIFA to learn about the history of English Soccer. I'm interested in the current league. I could care less about games played 10 or 20 years ago.

If I wanted to learn about the history of the Premier league, I would read about it or watch videos of old games. So if you made me go through a training mode with historical games or scenarios, I would likely skip it.

Also, your idea isnt that innovative. UFC 3 had a historical fights mode and no one played it. The only difference here is that mode is tied to a training mode that teaches people how to play the game.

Again, what makes you think that a training mode would be the thing that sells a game to casual fans? The hardcore fans are going to buy the game because they always do. When has a training mode ever been a selling point in a sports video game?

[japowery]

@aholbert When you played the game (something like 50 fights, right?), did you find there was more variation in fighter stances? For example, seeing Conor fighting with his hands down and the wide stance would be pretty sick.

[woody2goody]

I've been reading this eagerly and I just want to make a comment to acknowledge it,even though I don't have an in-depth point to make.

In all honesty I think UFC 2009 was so good that it torpedoed 2010's sales. 2010 wasn't a great game anyway but it didn't help that people weren't willing to shell out another £40 for a very similar experience.

UFC 3 was a wonderful game but even that took a while to grow on me, and again, UFC 2009 owners may not have seen the need to change. Plus, THQ's demise won't have helped anyone, because it didn't help the WWE games at the time either.

I would enjoy a mode going through the sport's history, but I think having 250+ (mostly current) fighters is amazing, and I think people need to be introduced to a lot of these great fighters who they see on cards when they tune in to see Conor or Ronda.

When I play NBA 2k for instance, it's cool to have some legendary teams and players, but for me I'd rather have the current state of the league recreated in it's entirety so I can immerse myself in the current teams and players.

Having someone like Fabio Maldonado or Gian Villante in the game will not get casual fans' pulses going, but it makes a more complete MMA world for both us and the casual fans.

There are fighters who stand to gain fans from UFC 2, and if it helps more people get into our fantastic sport then this is 100% the correct approach.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by OpenSource

I'll just agree to disagree. I'm not saying this just as a fan, but for business reasons too. That's what I have my Bachelors in, and am interested in the business side of the industry as well. This is the declining trend of UFC games for first month sales: - UFC 2009 sold over 1 million its first month - UFC 2010 plummeted to 414K copies - UFC 3 managed just 340K - EA Sports UFC combined for only 278K copies, then was price dropped heavily Continuing on this path to nowhere isn't going to help anything. I'm willing to bet EA Sports UFC 2 continues this trend. And this time at the end of the year EA will be talking about putting the franchise on hiatus, just like they've done with the NBA and golf in the past when they didn't seem to get it. The same points of opposition are the same exact things that have been done in this franchise since inception, and it's only managed to drag sales down even more each time. I find it strange that there's so much opposition here for a deeper, more meaningful experience in a game like this. The entire argument is it would be bad business to do so, when it's been clearly shown that continuing on this path is "bad business."

Couldn't agree more.
Like you pointed out earlier, most sports games follow the same formula every single year.
Then when a new console comes out, they get to start from scratch and slowly add extra's to the point where by end of the life-cycle, it's back to where it was on the last-gen system.

Combat sports in particular can give so much more than what we get in team sports.
There are so many varying angles that can be explored from promoters, injuries, managing diet, managing a stable of fighters to weekly highlight shows or even personal plots like getting married, being a dink in public, etc.
Imagine a game that marries the better points of the SIMS, GTA and UFC?

Following the same blueprint will only give us the same things over and over.
I'd love for someone to add a completely different flavour to the combat sports genre.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by japowery

@aholbert When you played the game (something like 50 fights, right?), did you find there was more variation in fighter stances? For example, seeing Conor fighting with his hands down and the wide stance would be pretty sick.

This is something I'm proud of. One of the gamechangers and I were able to work with the devs and suggest new fighting stances and idles (using stances from EA MMA, UFC 1 and Fight Night Champion) for all 250 fighters. They implemented a bunch of them (all will be implemented by release) and it made a difference to me in how the game looked.

Its a small thing but it helps each fighter feel different.

[OpenSource]

Quote: Originally Posted by MaddogUFC

Its about getting people interested in the sport. Doing the same thing over and over will not do it. Playing it safe will not do it. When Apple comes out with a new product it is not because they polled people for what they wanted. They have a vision and they sell you on it because they thinks its cool. Your logic is why movies, video games and other mass media have declined. People are looking at test audiences to direct what is made. If you look at things that were truly innovative and great. They came about when people were like OMG that will suck. Star Wars, The Matrix, Titanic, Avatar, Guitar Hero, Assassin's Creed, Knights of the Old Republic, Tomb Raider, The UFC itself. I could keep going. when those things were first talked about people thought they were a bad joke and a bad idea that was not profitable. They ended up being ground breaking in their own right. There was no test marketing. Someone had a great idea and went with it.

Totally agree with this and your previous post. And there's some kind of irony in this discussion of casual fans being alienated that the featured preorder bonuses revealed today are two MMA pioneers that no casual fan would have a clue about in El Guapo and Saku.

The thing is I've never really seen a deeper experience game backfire because the gameplay was too 'enriched.' Maybe too obscure with customization, yeah. The Show could learn from having a little less on ultra slider customization, and that's not what I'm asking for here. I doubt many would find a weight cutting slider training or working on customizing the posture of your fighter in the guard fun, but I'm not asking that. I'm asking for a deeper experience tied into both the history, like you suggested, with the learning of logic and fundamentals of something like BJJ into the single player experience. To say that would alienate casual fans rather than a cut and paste typical gauntlet mode is ridiculous to me.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by OpenSource

Totally agree with this and your previous post. And there's some kind of irony in this discussion of casual fans being alienated that the featured preorder bonuses revealed today are two MMA pioneers that no casual fan would have a clue about in El Guapo and Saku. The thing is I've never really seen a deeper experience game backfire because the gameplay was too 'enriched.' Maybe too obscure with customization, yeah. The Show could learn from having a little less on ultra slider customization, and that's not what I'm asking for here. I doubt many would find a weight cutting slider training or working on customizing the posture of your fighter in the guard fun, but I'm not asking that. I'm asking for a deeper experience tied into both the history, like you suggested, with the learning of logic and fundamentals of something like BJJ into the single player experience. To say that would alienate casual fans rather than a cut and paste typical gauntlet mode is ridiculous to me.

Thats ironic because....you dont know who the third preorder fighter is.

Again, no one is arguing against a deeper experience. For example, I think things like sliders, a universe mode and deeper AI should be the most important things for UFC 2 and UFC 3. I just dont think a UFC History training mode is a way to go about it. Especially given that past games have done this mode and they werent exactly popular.