My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

[parker002]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

You know Madden gets work done on it than the Fight Night series and they give each player their tendencies in that game. Fight Night Round 4 does have every boxer's tendencies and styles down. It Fight Night was a total sim it would sell. I'm an EA Moderator and EA Community leader who goes to every site on te internet with Fight Night Round4 talk. Everyone is complaining about how unrealistic this game plays...The keyword unrealistic! This sounds like fans want a sim to me.

The thing is, maybe 10-20% of the people that play FNR4 care enough about it to post on a message board.

I helped run an NFL team site for almost 8 years and if there's one thing I can say for certain - message board members are NOT representative of the average fan/consumer.

Like I said before, the king of boxing sims (VB) sold a measly 130,000 copies in a YEAR.

We have to face it, ARCADE SELLS.

[parker002]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

Great letter.

I have yet to play online with this game. I think with sports games the online is pretty much awful. Not to excuse it, but there will always be ways to exploit the game engine. My favorite online sports game was All-Pro Football 2K8. That game was pretty hard for the exploiters to abuse.

Sad, that online sports gaming has come to this.

It's not just sports games, it's all online games.

I've been playing online games since the days when MMORPG's didn't have graphics.

People cheat whenever they can get away with it. It's human nature. And online, when anonymity is so easy to achieve, cheating is much more attractive.

[SHAKYR]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

The thing is, maybe 10-20% of the people that play FNR4 care enough about it to post on a message board.

I helped run an NFL team site for almost 8 years and if there's one thing I can say for certain - message board members are NOT representative of the average fan/consumer.

Like I said before, the king of boxing sims (VB) sold a measly 130,000 copies in a YEAR.

We have to face it, ARCADE SELLS.

I know you are not saying VB was a sim boxing game? It had some sim aspects that it, but the game was unrealistic. No one slips like you did in VB. There was so many other things. The game was fun for a while and the game didn't sell well because of it being a japanese import and the last game was an PSP exclusive.

I'm a huge boxing fan and ex-boxer who does alot of research on boxing games. I know for a fact sim can sell, it's just never pushed.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

It's not just sports games, it's all online games.

I've been playing online games since the days when MMORPG's didn't have graphics.

People cheat whenever they can get away with it. It's human nature. And online, when anonymity is so easy to achieve, cheating is much more attractive.

True.

[parker002]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

I know you are not saying VB was a sim boxing game? It had some sim aspects that it, but the game was unrealistic. No one slips like you did in VB. There was so many other things. The game was fun for a while and the game didn't sell well because of it being a japanese import and the last game was an PSP exclusive.

I'm a huge boxing fan and ex-boxer who does alot of research on boxing games. I know for a fact sim can sell, it's just never pushed.

VB is heralded as the most "sim" boxing game ever, by people that profess to be "sim" players. It sold 130,000 copies WORLDWIDE, including Japan.

Being a boxing fan, researcher, or ex-boxer has nothing to do with it. One only needs to take a quick surf through the TV channels that are popular with the same demographic that generally buys video games.

The average gamer wants instant gratification. A sim title is ultimately "boring" in the grand scheme of things.

I admire your gusto, but it's simply misplaced. The same arguments were made for APF2K8 and while it has a loyal, cult following, it's just that - CULT. Notice that there was no 2K9 or 2K10? The numbers simply don't support your cause. Sorry.

[DaveDQ]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

The thing is, maybe 10-20% of the people that play FNR4 care enough about it to post on a message board.

I helped run an NFL team site for almost 8 years and if there's one thing I can say for certain - message board members are NOT representative of the average fan/consumer.

Like I said before, the king of boxing sims (VB) sold a measly 130,000 copies in a YEAR.

We have to face it, ARCADE SELLS.

I agree, but why not put it all on the table and call it what it is and then offer an alternative? Call one difficulty setting "arcade." Call another "simulation." I think it was Forza that did that.

The game is meant for the arcade crowd, no doubt, but it also suffers from some core issues, arcade or not. Shaun mentioned about how the aggressor slows down after stunning a guy. 9 times out of 10, if you stun someone, you are able to crowd them and try to finish them off...not have to chase them down with a sudden quicksand feel to your movements. Arcade or simulation, that should not be the case. Arcade would actually allow you to demolish the guy.

[parker002]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

I agree, but why not put it all on the table and call it what it is and then offer an alternative? Call one difficulty setting "arcade." Call another "simulation." I think it was Forza that did that.

The game is meant for the arcade crowd, no doubt, but it also suffers from some core issues, arcade or not. Shaun mentioned about how the aggressor slows down after stunning a guy. 9 times out of 10, if you stun someone, you are able to crowd them and try to finish them off...not have to chase them down with a sudden quicksand feel to your movements. Arcade or simulation, that should not be the case. Arcade would actually allow you to demolish the guy.

I certainly can't answer that - that's a question for EA. My guess is that, like most video game titles produced by the big production companies, they do just enough to make sure it sells and very little more...

[SHAKYR]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

I thought Facebreaker was EA's arcade mode and Fight Night Round 4 was going to be it's sim mode game.....

[acts238shaun]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

Ditto...offline legacy w/ sliders is the only reason I still play this. That and the few sim guys I know on the 360.

[acts238shaun]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

To show a point, here are the stats from my three online fights today:

I won in four rounds

Total Knockdowns 1 0
Punches Thrown 304 286
Punches Landed 165 116
Jabs Thrown 55 13
Jabs Landed 24 5
Punches Thrown to the Head 164 77
Punches Landed to the Head 79 24
Punches Thrown to the Body 140 209
Punches Landed to the Body 86 92

I won in two rounds

Total Knockdowns 1 0
Punches Thrown 130 184
Punches Landed 95 76
Jabs Thrown 54 37
Jabs Landed 41 29
Punches Thrown to the Head 107 124
Punches Landed to the Head 79 60
Punches Thrown to the Body 23 60
Punches Landed to the Body 16 16

I lost (1st match today - took DQ at very beginning of round four)

Total Knockdowns 0 0
Punches Thrown 357 122
Punches Landed 216 47
Jabs Thrown 34 11
Jabs Landed 29 7
Punches Thrown to the Head 194 44
Punches Landed to the Head 117 17
Punches Thrown to the Body 163 78
Punches Landed to the Body 99 30

The guy I lost is a top ten fighter who would honestly be good in a sim manner, but he weaved constantly and punched out of the weave, cutting the animation short with his punch. If I threw a head punch it was a counter, period. He has great stick skills and he'll be good whatever changes they make. However, 357 punches in three rounds without tiring at all is ridiculous for heavyweights, especially weaving every three seconds between punches. He's good, don't misunderstand me, but this is indicative of the arcade manner of this game. The punch accuracy setting online is way to high and hitting someone in the head while in mid-weave is near impossible, making it near cheese if they know how not to get hit in the body while doing it.

I want to reiterate I wouldn't have beaten him, just to get that point across. However his tactics are based more on cheesey animations and constant punching with great stick skills than anything to do with boxing.

[nickelplaydit]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

Guys please remember that every fighter has his strengths and weaknesses...while i agree with most of what was being said ..i really dont want to see foreman as nimble as Ali..he never was elusive ...just braun power...they did a good thing with the ratings..

now if they can just ease up a bit more on stamina loss, these wild swingers would think twice about swinging as much as they do. most of those fellas hate guys who really box and they most of them dont know how to use the ring properly.. it should be easy wins for for sim guys..its that the stamina problem..there should be more of a penalty for those who punch them selves out (which never really happens)

But strategy can really help out against most of these button guys.... I take it as a challenge..for now

[acts238shaun]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

It also sucks the jab is near useless...would deter a lot of problems if it could hurt someone a little without being cheese.

[parker002]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

I thought Facebreaker was EA's arcade mode and Fight Night Round 4 was going to be it's sim mode game.....

On the surface sure.

But don't kid yourself - FNR4 without cheesy haymakers and exploding counterpunches wouldn't appeal to half of the people that are playing it now.

[DaveDQ]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

It also sucks the jab is near useless...would deter a lot of problems if it could hurt someone a little without being cheese.

I use the jab to the body to keep off haymaker throwers. That helps, but yes, the jab is not effective against a body spammer. However, if you fight a guy that doesn't spam, the jab works. It's when they get up on you and just constantly body punch.

In all of this, I'm learning that playing online is messing up my legacy. In my last fight against Toney, I lost because I threw myself out. My stamina was gone in the mid-rounds. I threw too many punches and lost the fight because of it. Online makes me fight different and I don't like that. I have to make a decision to stick to my guns or not play online.

[acts238shaun]

Re: My email to an EA dev...a parting letter as I am almost done with FNR4.

Same here...I choose to fight like I do in legacy when I play online as much as I can. The CPU doesn't spam, they pressure, but don't spam. Fighting a Lamon Brewster CAB I had to be careful and pick my spots as he cornered me and kept me cornered a good bit of the fight. When I could get to the middle of the ring I kept him at bay with my jab and circled his right (southpaw). He boxed me while throwing a lot of punches, but he never went crazy like the unlimited stamina guys you see online. He knew better than to punch himself out, of course I was facing the CPU who thought more on a logical boxing mindset. Even Tyson, who comes at you the entire fight, throws a lot of punches, but it's not three a second for the entire fight. I choose to fight sim online because I like boxing. If I want a free for all over a few minutes I will buy Street Fighter 4 or Tekken, etc.