What's the problem with EA?

[SteelerSpartan]

Quote: Originally Posted by chitownballa

but if even the greatest games of our time (Grand Theft Auto 4, insert other great next gen game here) take at least 3-4 years to develop, then how can you possibly expect significant improvements in just 1 year? I mean, it's one thing if you start out with an excellent game on the particular system, but we'd all agree that Madden has not started out great on the 360/PS3. No amount of $$$ is going to make a game improve that much in just one year.

Many would love to see the extreme renovation of Madden and just scrap the current engine and move to an actual NG tech in Euphoria...

I wasn't saying they have to do that...but given what the competition did with their games every year and the bar they set...it would be nice with all the $$$$$ EA has, that they could at least match that.

[chitownballa]

Quote: Originally Posted by SteelerSpartan

Many would love to see the extreme renovation of Madden and just scrap the current engine and move to an actual NG tech in Euphoria... I wasn't saying they have to do that...but given what the competition did with their games every year and the bar they set...it would be nice with all the $$$$$ EA has to at least match that.

I guess that's kind of what I'm saying. With a limited time to fix and mess with the game engine each year, they probably don't have time to fine tune gameplay so that it plays like a football sim should play. But I'm sure there's lots of reasons why Madden isn't where it could or should be at this point. Maybe the developers just aren't good enough. Who knows

[K_GUN]

Quote: Originally Posted by SteelerSpartan

Dude you can dig up the disgruntled/former EA employee stories for yourself...and instead of getting them some help....what does EA do???............ Attempt a Hostile Takeover of Take-Two

go for a walk...you'll feel better

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by chitownballa

I guess that's kind of what I'm saying. With a limited time to fix and mess with the game engine each year, they probably don't have time to fine tune gameplay so that it plays like a football sim should play. But I'm sure there's lots of reasons why Madden isn't where it could or should be at this point. Maybe the developers just aren't good enough. Who knows

My question would be does EA really aspire to be great. GTA IV is a good example: they could've done any number of cookie-cutter quick releases and capitalized off the GTA's popularity to make a quick buck. And given the company's financial situation I don't think anyone could've blamed them. They even delayed the game for quality reasons last year. And it resulted in a truly great game, with so many little attention to detail "features" that people will likely be discovering on their own for I don't know how long. Rockstar could've taken the easy route, instead they seemingly aspired to make a great game and set out to do so.

Halo, GTA, Zelda, Metal Gear, Mario, Madden, Final Fantasy, etc... EA once said it considers Madden to be a game that stands in the company of those great games. But if you look at them all at face Madden is the one that doesn't belong - and it's not because it's a sports game. I don't own The Show, but I think it was last year 989 chose to release the game late - which concerned a lot of gamers. Then this year in a shorter development cycle (because they released last year's game late) they released an excellent The Show '08. NFL2K did something similar - 2K4 released late; everyone said it was idiotic given Madden's huge sales advantage at the time. The next year on a shorter dev schedule they released a benchmark game in NFL2K5. Another example of developers that aspired to make great games and set out to do so.

The battered wife analogy I made years ago stands more true today. When people try to think of reasons why Madden hasn't made the leap other great games have made, you usually get some sort of rationalizing excuse from the fans. It's not the developers fault, it's the suits. EA's a big company and they need to make the stockholders happy. It's only been three years, give them some time to get used to the new hardware. They got the dev kits late and it's thrown everything off (my personal favorite). Like a battered wife, making excuses for the reasons her man is the way he is. Yeah, he gave you a black eye in '06 and kicked you down the steps in '07, but he's not hitting you as hard in '08... he's getting better. People have become so used to it, they're actually happy for less azz whoopin's instead of the fact they shouldn't be getting any azz whoopins. Is it a self-respect thing when someone chooses to continue in a bad situation? When looked at in those terms, it doesn't seem to cool to be bragging that they're going to buy Madden/NCAA "regardless" of what it is, because they can't help themselves.

Of course I'm not meaning to take something serious like spousal abuse and equate it to videogames. But the similarities are there. And until people start having higher expectations of EA instead of lowering their expectations to meet what EA does, this cycle will continue. Since EA has managed to eliminate competition, more than ever fans need to have higher expectations of them because there will be no other company pushing them.

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

My question would be does EA really aspire to be great. GTA IV is a good example: they could've done any number of cookie-cutter quick releases and capitalized off the GTA's popularity to make a quick buck. And given the company's financial situation I don't think anyone could've blamed them. They even delayed the game for quality reasons last year. And it resulted in a truly great game, with so many little attention to detail "features" that people will likely be discovering on their own for I don't know how long. Rockstar could've taken the easy route, instead they seemingly aspired to make a great game and set out to do so. Halo, GTA, Zelda, Metal Gear, Mario, Madden, Final Fantasy, etc... EA once said it considers Madden to be a game that stands in the company of those great games. But if you look at them all at face Madden is the one that doesn't belong - and it's not because it's a sports game. I don't own The Show, but I think it was last year 989 chose to release the game late - which concerned a lot of gamers. Then this year in a shorter development cycle (because they released last year's game late) they released an excellent The Show '08. NFL2K did something similar - 2K4 released late; everyone said it was idiotic given Madden's huge sales advantage at the time. The next year on a shorter dev schedule they released a benchmark game in NFL2K5. Another example of developers that aspired to make great games and set out to do so. The battered wife analogy I made years ago stands more true today. When people try to think of reasons why Madden hasn't made the leap other great games have made, you usually get some sort of rationalizing excuse from the fans. It's not the developers fault, it's the suits. EA's a big company and they need to make the stockholders happy. It's only been three years, give them some time to get used to the new hardware. They got the dev kits late and it's thrown everything off (my personal favorite). Like a battered wife, making excuses for the reasons her man is the way he is. Yeah, he gave you a black eye in '06 and kicked you down the steps in '07, but he's not hitting you as hard in '08... he's getting better. People have become so used to it, they're actually happy for less azz whoopin's instead of the fact they shouldn't be getting any azz whoopins. Is it a self-respect thing when someone chooses to continue in a bad situation? When looked at in those terms, it doesn't seem to cool to be bragging that they're going to buy Madden/NCAA "regardless" of what it is, because they can't help themselves. Of course I'm not meaning to take something serious like spousal abuse and equate it to videogames. But the similarities are there. And until people start having higher expectations of EA instead of lowering their expectations to meet what EA does, this cycle will continue. Since EA has managed to eliminate competition, more than ever fans need to have higher expectations of them because there will be no other company pushing them.

That's it right there. EA mastered the art of BS and milks their fanbase for everything they are worth. I'm included since I've owned every Madden and NCAA.

At the end of the day tho, the games are still far far from where they should be on these amazing consoles, yet I still have fun with them(NCAA that is, Madden is ok). That's all people care about. If they can play with their favorite teams and have some fun that's all that matters. It all comes down to personal preference. I would love to see Madden and NCAA take the leap, do I expect it to happen tho, hell no. At least not until these consoles are on their way out.

I also think the public allowed EA to get too big. It the same with anything, allow someone or something to get too large and they take advantage of their popularity and put sub par products out. Just look at 50 cent.

[countryboy]

The argument that Madden should be making leaps and bounds from one installment to the next such as games GTA, Halo, Zelda, Mario, etc is tough to justify because those games aren't on a one year development cycle.

I would think that for EA to successfully overhaul its game engine they would have to take at least a year off, which isn't going to happen.

As its been said time and time again, Madden's core gameplay is going to remain the same from now til the last installment just as it has from its beginning til now.

People have to decide if Madden's core gameplay is still worth getting excited over or not. For better or for worse, that is where we are right now, and where we'll be for the immediate future.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I would think that for EA to successfully overhaul its game engine they would have to take at least a year off, which isn't going to happen.

Sorry, but that's an excuse. They had the perfect opportunity to do that overhaul - when everyone was transitioning to the next gen systems. And at the time, most fans rationalized that EA wasn't making huge improvements on the PS2/XBox in '05/'06/'07 because they were gearing up for next gen. Which transitions into the "they got the dev kits late" excuse some used with Madden '06 (on the 360).

And they did overhaul the game. Completely different front end, overhauled graphics, game lacks the momentum system EA installed at the beginning of the PS2-era, etc. The problem is the direction EA/Tiburon took was wrong - and now they're attempting to do a 180. It doesn't require a year off, it requires a company focused on making a great game (imo). They have the fanbase, they have the money, they have the exclusives. Every advantage in the world and the game is at the point it is. Either EA isn't focused on making the best game possible, or they just don't have the talent to do so - lack of talent would be an even worse situation because they should have their pick of the litter in terms of quality programmers. It's hard to see it as anything other than those two things

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

Sorry, but that's an excuse. They had the perfect opportunity to do that overhaul - when everyone was transitioning to the next gen systems. And at the time, most fans rationalized that EA wasn't making huge improvements on the PS2/XBox in '05/'06/'07 because they were gearing up for next gen. Which transitions into the "they got the dev kits late" excuse some used with Madden '06 (on the 360). And they did overhaul the game. Completely different front end, overhauled graphics, game lacks the momentum system EA installed at the beginning of the PS2-era, etc. The problem is the direction EA/Tiburon took was wrong - and now they're attempting to do a 180. It doesn't require a year off, it requires a company focused on making a great game (imo). They have the fanbase, they have the money, they have the exclusives. Every advantage in the world and the game is at the point it is. Either EA isn't focused on making the best game possible, or they just don't have the talent to do so - lack of talent would be an even worse situation because they should have their pick of the litter in terms of quality programmers. It's hard to see it as anything other than those two things

Good Points