Public Beta Test...Why not?

[cbc72]

Quote: Originally Posted by brokenthumb

Why give away a beta when you can charge 60 bucks for it.

Indeed.

[mavfan21]

Quote: Originally Posted by CS10029

I'm an offline franchise player and I'm having a good time with it.

I just simmed 2 seasons and not one HB in the league progressed. TE's went NUTS. 4 WR's progressed in 2009. Any drafted rookies whose equipment or #'s I changed didn't progress.

I can't have fun with that. Not in Franchise Mode. The whole point is to build and develop a team....if there's no logic to the progression or it doesn't work....the mode is worthless.

[therockstar2005]

Now would they be able to put out a beta without having to take time out of production in order to make it? I think that they had to for Halo 3, and quite honestly, I don't think EA has the timeframe to be able to do that. That's why they can't make a beta.

Again. The real solution is to double the timeframe, have the game release every two years, and sell a roster update. Hell, if they brought out the game every two years and sold a roster update in the year without the game, I'd pay like 10-15 bucks for it, with new rookies and all that. It'd be a lot better then paying 60 bucks for some hit and miss features. Then we'd have a real great Madden, and they could do public betas and stuff like that. But we'd have to convince the higher ups, not the peeps coming onto this forum of that.

[MaxMan1000]

Quote: Originally Posted by NIUDAWG

I believe a good time line would run like this......... May 1st: Beta 1 June 15th: Beta 2 August 12-17 the release Opening Day: Patch with roster and other fixes what are others opinions?

I don't know about that June date because they wrap up production on Madden in June. By then, the most changes that can be made are minor if any can be made at all.

If they're going to do this, they should consider releasing beta's sometime shortly after the Super Bowl. By that time there will only be about 4 months of production time left and they'll have more than enough to show for the communities to test. The beta's should allow for offense, defense and special teams, but be more like a demo in terms of options and only 2 selectable teams. You don't wanna give too much away even for testing purposes.

There should also be a limited franchise only beta.

The more chances the communities get to lend direct input the better.

Someone mentioned that games like Halo and other big time titles have more production time which makes this easier. That's a good point, however from watching some of the things people have brought to the Madden Team's attention and then seeing them fix it based on that feedback, it tells me that some (not all) issues can be fixed in a reasonable amount of time if they're caught with enough time left, but sometimes it just takes "outside eyes" to catch them.

[PlyrzNumber1]

Any "bugs" we find within a day or two has probably been spotted by Quality Assurance and reported to the Dev team. It's a matter of priority, and whether or not EA deems it profitable enough to try to fix the "bugs" before the game goes gold.

This game is extremely polished compared to the NCAA release. And I'm (surprisingly) having a blast playing head to head.

[MaxMan1000]

Quote: Originally Posted by PlyrzNumber1

Any "bugs" we find within a day or two has probably been spotted by Quality Assurance and reported to the Dev team. It's a matter of priority, and whether or not EA deems it profitable enough to try to fix the "bugs" before the game goes gold.

Yep... priority will always play a major part since there are always budget concerns to remember, too (even Madden has a production budget). But we shouldn't discount the power of more eyes. After all, there are bugs in Madden that people bring up that I never see, but certainly come across as game killers (mostly franchise stuff). Certain things get revealed based on play style and preferences.

Quote: Originally Posted by PlyrzNumber1

This game is extremely polished compared to the NCAA release. And I'm (surprisingly) having a blast playing head to head.

I think that illustrates my point very well... I've had no problems with NCAA 09 myself. I Love it. But I don't get as deep into modes as the average OS poster does and my play style is more skill than strategy, so I never see what they're pointing to as a big problem, but I understand why those problems are important to them.