Back from Community Day!!!

[GiantBlue76]

LOL - you guys are really giving it to TNT. What would make you think he wasn't a cool guy? You saw posts on an internet forum! Hell, I argue on here with him all the time, but that doesn't mean I think the guy is a jerk! :P Actually, even though we disagree on many things, there are things that we couldn't agree more on. I also like the fact that he has a desire to relate real football concepts to his game. That's something I firmly believe in myself and that right there should be the basis for any football game.

[RGiles36]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

Ok - so this whole community day stuff is ok I guess. IMHO, the guys who really need to be going to community day are the guys who haven't been buying the game and those of us who are not at all happy with the end result. Sometimes it takes hearing things that you may not like. I remember going to our REALLY big software conference a few years back. I had implemented a large feature for our product. I got some good feedback which was nice, but I also got some guys asking me why I did certain things the way I did and why they didn't like it. You put your ego aside in this business. The negative comments were the ones I was most interested in hearing. Those guys that were upset enabled me to make changes and enhancements that REALLY stepped things up. Needless to say, a few months later, I was getting kudos on public forums for how robust things were. I can understand the guys who go and the position they are in. They feel enamored with the fact that they flew them down there, gave them all of this stuff, treated them nicely and gave them a good time. Why would you want to criticize them after that? Unfortunately, they need to hear from the guys who are not on the Madden train.

Truth be told, this is all driven by your perception of how things are. Yes, I know you've exchanged some PMs with guys who have gone to prior CDs, but that doesn't mean their opinions are the gospel truth -- the same certainly applies to my own opinion.

But here's the thing: you should know that guys are not blindly enamored by the perks of being invited to CD. In fact, it was stated multiple times by the Tiburon staff to provide unfiltered feedback and not to be swayed by the experience.

Furthermore, although the guys who were invited to CD currently enjoy playing Madden, that doesn't mean that they lose sight of what things other games have done better. In fact, I fired up APF the night before I left just to drum up some additional ideas for CD. Additionally, the day before our first studio session, Coach Ruckus and I chopped it up in his room about APF and even pulled up some videos of where we'd like to see improvement in Madden.

So I know it's human nature to point the finger at any and everybody when the final product doesn't reflect what you want. But to suggest that we're going down there to essentially kiss *** or to pat them on the back is inaccurate. And it's also inaccurate to suggest that the dev team has no interest in listening. As in previous years, we were made aware of immediate changes that were being made as a result of our feedback.

[RedZoneD25]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

LOL - you guys are really giving it to TNT. What would make you think he wasn't a cool guy? You saw posts on an internet forum! Hell, I argue on here with him all the time, but that doesn't mean I think the guy is a jerk! :P Actually, even though we disagree on many things, there are things that we couldn't agree more on. I also like the fact that he has a desire to relate real football concepts to his game. That's something I firmly believe in myself and that right there should be the basis for any football game.

I phrased that wrong, I wasn't trying to imply I didn't think he'd be a cool guy. It was more or less a stupid tongue-in-cheek joke because of our interactions on here in the past. My apologies, and you make good points as well. He definitely knows and loves both the game of football and Madden.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by RynoAid

this is my first year on Madden. It's natural to feel like you should be the one to go, we all think we have the best ideas and would be the most successful at communicating them. But we can't all go, so you should try and find someone who does go that represents your interests and enjoys the parts of the game that you do and make sure your communicating in a productive manner with them. that's probably the most productive solution... calling us fanboys and saying we are the hype machine just looks like your hating on people.

Just saw this post. No no, I do not think I should be the one to go. I don't really care about that stuff. What I care about is that the game goes forward in creating a realistic experience.

I watched your video and I like what you have to say, but like i said, I'll wait until I see it before I believe it.

[Big FN Deal]

Way to rep Goldsboro, NC TNT, Cougar Pride! LOL

I don't know why people seem to be giving CDers the business about their early impression of the game because the final product has been what it has been. WTF do people expect for them to say but their honest opinion of what they had in front of them? lol

If I went to CD and I played a build where zig zag running, ball trajectory, OL/DL interaction and WR/DB interaction, seem to be better, that would excite me at that time. If in August some of that stuff was somehow back in the game, that doesn't change what I thought of the build I played earlier or my excitement for what remains fixed/added.

I try to put what I think and what others say about Madden 13 before it releases into perspective and take it with a grain of salt. Nobody knows for sure how Madden 13 will turnout but it's very unlikely it will not improve on M12 and it basically comes down to if that improvement is substantial enough for you.

If it's not substantial enough for me to finally enjoy the game a whole year, after waiting then 8 years, through 8 different next-gen versions, CD or anything else about Madden will no longer be relevant to me, this console generation, because I will finally move on.

[huskerwr38]

@rgiles36 that makes me happy that you used APF 2k8 to formulate questions to ask the Madden dev team. So can you let us know what kinds of questions you asked in terms of APF and how did they respond, i.e. favorably, negatively, do they look to APF for ways to model Madden, etc?

[Elite49]

Once again if EA was confident with their game they'd let you talk.

[RynoAid]

Quote: Originally Posted by Elite49

Once again if EA was confident with their game they'd let you talk.

you are entitled to your opinion on how they should market and develop their product, but companies stagger the release of info on their titles, it's a basic marketing principle in this industry.