Real Announcers vs Generic Announcers

[SkinsFan4Life]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Yes but who do you think costs EA more? Madden/Michaels or 2 generic voice actors? For the price they pay these pros they could probably get 10x the announcing for the game at the same, exact price.

Well, you just answered your own question. They cost the same in your scenario. One contains lots of comments (substance) and one contains big names (marketing). I don't know about you, but in this day and age, I've noticed more interest in marketing than substance when it comes to making money. America is about brands - Trump, American Idol, Movie Stars and Sequels and Remakes drawing crowds. We are in a land of marketing. Madden / Michaels is more marketable. Plus, if they say ten times the comments, people will say "ten times what?" Then, what happens the next year, are they going to do ten times the original ten times?

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by SkinsFan4Life

Well, you just answered your own question. They cost the same in your scenario. One contains lots of comments (substance) and one contains big names (marketing). I don't know about you, but in this day and age, I've noticed more interest in marketing than substance when it comes to making money. America is about brands - Trump, American Idol, Movie Stars and Sequels and Remakes drawing crowds. We are in a land of marketing. Madden / Michaels is more marketable. Plus, if they say ten times the comments, people will say "ten times what?" Then, what happens the next year, are they going to do ten times the original ten times?

Yeah I get your point, you're looking at it from a company point of view. However, one thing a lot of folks complain about is the repetition of commentary so one way to make the game better for marketing word of mouth, as opposed to bullet points on the box, would be to have 10x the commentary with no names.

[SkinsFan4Life]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Yeah I get your point, you're looking at it from a company point of view. However, one thing a lot of folks complain about is the repetition of commentary so one way to make the game better for marketing word of mouth, as opposed to bullet points on the box, would be to have 10x the commentary with no names.

Ah, but here's the thing. Who complains about the commentary? Diehard fans who are going to buy the game no matter what. If diehard fans will always buy the game, the company (I know this sounds whack, but think from the company's POV) does not need to cater to the diehard fans. Rather, the company wants to attract new buyers. How can they do that? With a big name like John Madden. A potential new buyer isn't going to buy the game because it has more comments.

[maddenps2]

Quote: Originally Posted by bears5122

This isn't really a Madden question per say, but one for all sports games. Do you feel that having real announcers is an important aspect to the game? I would argue it's not, and that games could benefit from using two generic voices. The reasoning is access and cost. Getting guys like Collinsworth are nice, but he's realistically not going to spend too much time in the studio and most likely won't be changing things up much on a year to year basis. It's just too tough to get a guy of his caliber into a studio for regular work. Just look at how often Madden, Michaels and Summeral added new commentary to the game. A generic crew can spend much more time and can add new commentary on a yearly basis with ease. They can spend twice the time in their working and produce much more random commentary. I can't remember the games off the top of my head, but there were a few in different sports that utilized generic announcers real well. You could play for months and still come across new sayings and comments. While I think having real life announcers gives a nice feel to the game, I think generic announcers would improve the commentary in sports gaming that seems to have hit a wall since the early part of the decade. Any thoughts?

Madden and Summeral not being updated was more EA's normal attitude of being content with leaving things the same IMO. Summeral wasn't the best play by play announcer anyways he was very limited.

I agree though if you got the RIGHT generic crew it would probably turn out better than using famous announcers.

I don't see why EA has such trouble with announcers when other companies with less football resources and money do much better.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by SkinsFan4Life

Ah, but here's the thing. Who complains about the commentary? Diehard fans who are going to buy the game no matter what. If diehard fans will always buy the game, the company (I know this sounds whack, but think from the company's POV) does not need to cater to the diehard fans. Rather, the company wants to attract new buyers. How can they do that? With a big name like John Madden. A potential new buyer isn't going to buy the game because it has more comments.

Well obviously EA listens to some things at least though because they are ditching the radio guy. But i know where you're coming from on this.

[SkinsFan4Life]

I'm not saying I agree with the way they operate. Just trying to look at it from that perspective. Also, ditching a radio guy is saving money, no?

[K_GUN]

Dan & Peter was one of the reason's I went to 2k----pat/john just became so stale for me

[bears5122]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Well obviously EA listens to some things at least though because they are ditching the radio guy. But i know where you're coming from on this.

They ditched the radio guy because it was an absolute embarrasment. It set back sports commentary in video games 10 years.

And I understand the marketing aspect of big names, but I also know sports commentary has gotten stale in games. We really haven't evolved much in the past decade. It seems companies grab an announcing crew and recycle it for a few years while maybe throwing in a tidbit or two.

I think a generic crew with a deep commentary log would be great for the presentation and atmosphere of the game. The guys would grow on users in the next couple years and you'd get used to their voices. It would be nice to hear some unique things we'd never hear pro announcers say due to their limitations.