xbox 360 holding madden back?

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by CRMosier_LM

It all depends on the amount of content being stored on the disk. Sports games and their multiple modes take way more space on a disk than any other genre.

Sorry, this is just not true. A sports game has menu/UI, art, and audio/video as the main space-hogs on a disc. The different modes are basically code and some databasing along with additional UI, but those HD textures and commentary really eat up the bulk of the space. If you look at an installed game on the PC, you'll see that the actual engine is much smaller than the art assets.

By far the biggest disc space hogs are RPGs, which have 1 basic game mode comprised of multiple separate systems. The actual code that goes into something like Final Fantasy 13 isn't nearly as complex as what happens on a play to play basis in a sports game, but the reason that requires 3 discs and Madden only needs 1 is art, video, and audio.

[Skyboxer]

In the beginning the excuse is "We are learning the new system and/or we are rebuilding from the ground up"
Then we have a few years of lackluster games.... Then towards the end we get the "system is holding back developmemt"....

Make better games each year and focus on improving the games each year instead of adding BS.
the system is really no different now than it was in 08-09, so why is it now we are finally seeing a (what seems to be) a great game?

Answer: The developers are holding back games, not the system.

[CRMosier_LM]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

Sorry, this is just not true. A sports game has menu/UI, art, and audio/video as the main space-hogs on a disc. The different modes are basically code and some databasing along with additional UI, but those HD textures and commentary really eat up the bulk of the space. If you look at an installed game on the PC, you'll see that the actual engine is much smaller than the art assets. By far the biggest disc space hogs are RPGs, which have 1 basic game mode comprised of multiple separate systems. The actual code that goes into something like Final Fantasy 13 isn't nearly as complex as what happens on a play to play basis in a sports game, but the reason that requires 3 discs and Madden only needs 1 is art, video, and audio.

you are absolutely correct! My fault, did not think of RPG! Usually when I think of RPG I think of pc based.

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

In the beginning the excuse is "We are learning the new system and/or we are rebuilding from the ground up" Then we have a few years of lackluster games.... Then towards the end we get the "system is holding back developmemt".... Make better games each year and focus on improving the games each year instead of adding BS. the system is really no different now than it was in 08-09, so why is it now we are finally seeing a (what seems to be) a great game? Answer: The developers are holding back games, not the system.

To be fair, it must take a few dev cycles to get comfortable enough with the system to make substantial improvements. It's why Halo Reach looks worlds better than Halo 3 or ODST. It's not that Bungie were worse devs when Halo 3 came out, it's that their ability to harness the tech is better now than it was then.

And in this case, those 06/07/08 games set them back 2 years when it comes to the quality of the game. Had they waited until the 07 Madden and taken a full dev cycle, then certainly the game would be further along in terms of feature set, and if they hadn't been so focused on arcade football for those games (especially 07 and 08), the game would be further along in terms of realistic on the field play. Both wounds are self-inflicted, so they aren't completely absolved of responsibility, but it is the nature of the business.

[FinnZzgo]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

I thought I clicked on OS...why am I at ign's boards? Couple of additional things. One-people from EA claim the 2 games are developed separately (ie not ported) so the codebase is different for each game. This was stated repeatedly by one of the devs in the NCAA forum. Two-EA mandates feature parity across the two main platforms. What this means is that the PS3 version of the game cannot ship with something that the xbox360 version doesn't, and vice versa. A user has to be able to go into a store and pick up the game for either platform and get the same basic experience. Three-There are some ways in which the PS3 is less powerful than the 360, namely in terms of VRAM. The poster who stated that they both have 512mb of ram is correct. However, the big difference is that the 512 on the PS3 is split 256 for video and 256 for the system, while the 360 has a shared 512mb, most of which gets dedicated to video. Big difference as the 360 can almost always go above 256mb of memory, while the ps3 caps out at that level. Four-The 360 is much easier to develop for, as its main system architecture is closer to a PC than the PS3. A PS3 lead SKU could potentially be a worse performer, depending on the familiarity and skill of the developers. Obviously PS3 exclusives by companies that get assistance from Sony (Naughty Dog, Insomniac, etc) create games that look generally better than any 360 exclusives made by **** or Bungie/343, but Sony hasn't been willing to engage third parties in the same way as their exclusive devs in order to fully implement the power of their system.

Great post!,But this does not hold true for EAs need for speed shift 2 unleashed.The ps3 version has a youtube upload feature that the Xbox 360 does not...

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by FinnZzgo

Great post!,But this does not hold true for EAs need for speed shift 2 unleashed.The ps3 version has a youtube upload feature that the Xbox 360 does not...

There's always an exception, lol.

[lofeazy]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

The 360 isn't holding Madden back. Just look at the game play of 2k8 and the game play of last gen football. Regarding game play, no one is holding the game back other than the company making it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

In the beginning the excuse is "We are learning the new system and/or we are rebuilding from the ground up" Then we have a few years of lackluster games.... Then towards the end we get the "system is holding back developmemt".... Make better games each year and focus on improving the games each year instead of adding BS. the system is really no different now than it was in 08-09, so why is it now we are finally seeing a (what seems to be) a great game? Answer: The developers are holding back games, not the system.

This is so true.......

[bkrich83]

What we have here is a fundamental lack of hardware understanding as well as a software dev understanding.

The only thing holding EA back is EA.