Madden NFL 19: The Full Interview With Producer Ben Haumiller

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by jfsolo

Most of OS, maybe, but everywhere else they would be vilified. Although they seem to care less about Metacritic than they have in the past, focusing more on player retention year round, a version that was light in new features would review pretty poorly(high 7's low 8's IMO) and that would not be received well by anyone in upper management I'm sure.

I've seen that argument over the years, but at this point we have seen every other sports franchise have years where they focused more on polishing the game and getting what was in the game right and less on the back of the box features and those games did just as well or better. It's very similar to the sandbox argument that used to get thrown around that does sometimes still where people would argue that if we had too much customization options we wouldn't buy the next year's game. It's been proven false and NBA 2k and Out of the Park are two shining examples of when you give your customers what they want they will support you year after year.


People buy Madden every year because they hope this is the year it finally changes. People buy NBA 2k or OOTP ever year because they support the developers and know to expect a quality product.

[Other Guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by scitychamps87

I can't believe a 2k5 style wrap-up show got completely shot down. We don't need the highlights. Just give us pre-made snapshots or Larry Ridley talking about box scores, trades, playoff pictures, and league leaders. ANYTHING. I think Ben is a great addition to the franchise team. But, this isn't rocket science. There's common sense ways to get around the technical issues of the "whole loaf" goal so to speak and still give the Sim community a "slice" of happiness. [/url]

I wish I could like this twice; since I can't, I'll just quote and add on. At this point something, anything is better than nothing. It's disappointing to hear that we're missing out on league recaps because of authentic highlights.

[CM Hooe]

Only on OS will "we don't want to fake it like other games built in 2004 running on weak hardware did" get twisted into "we don't ever want to do this" or "we aren't capable of doing this". Sheesh.

Frankly I thought Ben's response to that question was quite insightful and honest. It's unfortunate that this community doesn't appreciate that.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Other Guy

I wish I could like this twice; since I can't, I'll just quote and add on. At this point something, anything is better than nothing. It's disappointing to hear that we're missing out on league recaps because of authentic highlights.

Oh come on, let's be honest with ourselves. No one on this forum would be happy with a weekly wrap-up show without out-of-town highlights, especially single-team franchise users.

It is simply not true that anything at all is better than nothing.

[GiantBlue76]

Only on OS can you wait 14 years for basics but have it be twisted into "this community is unreasonable" because they don't think the developers of the game walk on water.

Sheesh.

[DNMHIII]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

Only on OS can you wait 14 years for basics but have it be twisted into "this community is unreasonable" because they don't think the developers of the game walk on water. Sheesh.

Exactly.......I don’t really visit here much anymore precisely for this reason.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

Only on OS can you wait 14 years for basics but have it be twisted into "this community is unreasonable" because they don't think the developers of the game walk on water. Sheesh.

A full-fledged weekly recap show with (in a single-player context) dynamically generated highlights from out-of-town games is "basics"? Seriously?

You work in software engineering too, I can't possibly believe you don't understand and appreciate all the technical challenges of something like that, particularly in the modern age of AAA gaming where graphical fidelity is paramount.

How that feature was built in 2004 doesn't work in 2018 for a litany of reasons, that was literally Ben's entire point. And he's right.

[Kingd803]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

Only on OS can you wait 14 years for basics but have it be twisted into "this community is unreasonable" because they don't think the developers of the game walk on water. Sheesh.

Yeah. I agree. I think people would be over the moon happy if they “faked” the halftime show just like APF or 2k5.

But I mean really at this point we shouldn’t be wanting the game to be at least that good. We should want it to be even better than those games. And it’s not. It’s far behind.

Madden is the video game representation of America’s most popular sport. It should be leading the way. It should be better than nba or mlb. Not trying to catch up to a 14 and 10’year old game.

He bottom line is this. If it has been done on previous consoles and games. It should be able to be done now for madden. And if they can’t figure out how to do it, then THEY need to change how they’re working. Or how madden is made. It’s THEIR problem. Not ours.

I mean I think that speaks more to the developers on 2k5 that they were able to fake it so well on that weak hardware.

I mean ****. Here is my biggest point. Even when the madden team doesn’t “fake” things. And does things the way they think should be done. They are still implemented poorly. Or seem half finished. So maybe they should try faking more things.

I don’t care how they get there. I just want the end result to look better than nba 2k or APF. I want my football game to blow me away. I want to love a new football game.

Last thing. Nba live has a cool ESPN package for their halftime show. It’s not great. But it’s pretty cool. And I enjoyed it. The live team can do that. But the madden team can’t?