What's the problem with EA?

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by seanmac

The biggest mistake EA made in their move to the next generation was putting too much emphasis on the player models or the stadiums at the expense of animations. The game play felt much more fluid in last gen because the player control was smooth and because the animations matched up well with the graphics. Now the players are incredibly detailed, but they animate poorly and they have very little interaction with each other, which detracts mightily from the feel of the game. All of EA's next-gen games concentrated first and foremost on player models (NBA Live is the worst offender) while the 2K games concentrated on animations (NBA 2K8, anyone?). The lack of believable interactivity between offensive and defensive players really kills EA's football games at this point.

[ohyeahbaby123]

It's not that EA is lazy, or that they aren't skilled enough; it's just that they are catering to the casual crowd. Poor OL/DL interaction may be a "bug" for us, but for the casual gamer, they don't really care. I believe that the casual gamer rarely cares about stuff like OL/DL interaction because they buy Madden for other reasons besides realism.

For example, many casual gamers may get excited about many things that we don't get excited about. Many gamers by Madden to see how many yards they can get with LT in a season by giving him the ball 40-plus times a game. We, the sim gamers, obviously feel that this is unrealistic. I mean, I have a friend who, in NHL 2k8, went something like 80-1-1, but had a blast doing so. Obviously, we wouldn't have fun doing that, but the casual gamer does. And that is the crowd EA likes to cater to.

Us sim gamers here on OS (probably 3% of the gaming pop.) think that EA is making a crappy game year in and year out. But to casual gamers (the other 97%), EA is making a great game year in and year out.

JMO