Madden Beta Testing

[Paytonsplace]

There seem to be many in the community that are a little less than satisfied with Madden '10. I am among them. I was telling my system admin. today about the latest EA debacle and he wondered out loud why EA does not offer the game up to select members of the community for beta testing. That is at some point along the development cycle (perhaps in February) send the game out to 100 or 200 people in the community (have them download it on Xbox live for example with proper copyright protection). And let these folks do what many of us were able to do in a one weekend i.e. find all the major flaws.

I believe something like this was done for "Halo". Why can't it be done for Madden?

Also why can't the Quality Assurance people do what the community does i.e. play the game, recognize that something is out of balance then test the play and see if the AI adapts. If the AI does not adapt then BING a problem has been discovered.

The OS community and the sporting game community is a valuable resource for EA. I would encourage EA to use it. If they don't then I expect Madden '11 to be every bit a flawed as Madden '10.

[torrey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paytonsplace

There seem to be many in the community that are a little less than satisfied with Madden '10. I am among them. I was telling my system admin. today about the latest EA debacle and he wondered out loud why EA does not offer the game up to select members of the community for beta testing. That is at some point along the development cycle (perhaps in February) send the game out to 100 or 200 people in the community (have them download it on Xbox live for example with proper copyright protection). And let these folks do what many of us were able to do in a one weekend i.e. find all the major flaws. I believe something like this was done for "Halo". Why can't it be done for Madden? Also why can't the Quality Assurance people do what the community does i.e. play the game, recognize that something is out of balance then test the play and see if the AI adapts. If the AI does not adapt then BING a problem has been discovered. The OS community and the sporting game community is a valuable resource for EA. I would encourage EA to use it. If they don't then I expect Madden '11 to be every bit a flawed as Madden '10.

thats what i wanted to volunteer for. i would LOVE to do that.

[pelly]

I dont think they test the game all that much. They couldnt, or they do and dont care. I like the game but come on, the problems we are seeing should not make it to the final version.

[Segagendude]

Something similar was done. It was called Community Day.

Anyway, nice idea, except don't you think there'd be some a**holes who'd get the early release download, then try and burn an illegal copy of it and pirate it out? I'd think there would be.....

[Exonerated]

Illogical for a yearly release game with a hard release date.

[Paytonsplace]

Quote: Originally Posted by Segagendude

Something similar was done. It was called Community Day. Anyway, nice idea, except don't you think there'd be some a**holes who'd get the early release download, then try and burn an illegal copy of it and pirate it out? I'd think there would be.....

It may be possible. However each copy of the game could have a "watermark" that could be traced to the user who received it thus putting them into a great deal of legal trouble. Like I said, everyone in this hypothetical program would have to sign appropriate documentation to be a beta tester. It was done for "Halo". What makes Madden different?

Community day was a handful of gamers who played the game for several hours. It was not a large resource to draw from. Moreover it seems to have failed.

[Paytonsplace]

Quote: Originally Posted by Exonerated

Illogical for a yearly release game with a hard release date.

Not illogical at all. You fail to explain why a yearly release would be an impediment. Are you saying that Madden can never improve because it has an annual release date?

[roll2tide]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paytonsplace

It may be possible. However each copy of the game could have a "watermark" that could be traced to the user who received it thus putting them into a great deal of legal trouble. Like I said, everyone in this hypothetical program would have to sign appropriate documentation to be a beta tester. It was done for "Halo". What makes Madden different? Community day was a handful of gamers who played the game for several hours. It was not a large resource to draw from. Moreover it seems to have failed.

And then some. Not having time to implement a feature or fix is one thing but, as previously stated, some of this stuff just should be in a finished product. period.