NCAA Designers Step Up to the Plate

[PlyrzNumber1]

Kcooper,

I agree with most of your points, however, I think the EA developers are coming to the boards on their own time.

[vegaas]

Quote: Originally Posted by kcooper47

3. OS is completely full of manure when they say that EA stepped up to the plate. That's a great way to destroy a community that you've spent years building up. I come here for unbiased (as far as that's humanly possible) consideration of sports games. I don't come here to hear tripe about how great EA is because they are doing their job. I don't say that the garbage stepped up to the plate when he takes away my trash. He supposed to do that. If he didn't, he'd be...well he'd be like EA Sports.

OS has changed and not for the better when they entered the aggreement with whatever Madden site it was that they merged with. It has become nothing more than an EA advertisement since that happened. The preview articles they have run about how excited they were about NCAA and Madden were laughable. Especially the Fact Or Fiction article about this seasons football games. They all claimed this would be the best year ever for football games, they all said they had faith that EA was stepping it up and would deliver. My question to them was what has EA done recently to give you that faith? Every football game they have made for the 360 and PS3 has been a disaster.

[indycolts727]

These designers need to be thankful that we're a bunch of sheep. We'll keep getting in line for their products year after year, regardless of what they sold us the year prior. I bought last year's disaster for the PS3, but there I was in line at midnight when this year's game came out, as were about 40 other people at my local store.

In the Real World, consumers aren't as hopeful or blindly-loyal as we are. I'm in sales, and the company I work for has global sales in the multiple billions of dollars annually. Product branding is one of our highest priorities, so we're constantly staying on top of issues and working towards keeping the image of our various brands spotless. The consumers I interact with will hold grudges against this brand or that brand for things that happened to them 20 years ago.

Look in the mirror if you want to see part of who is to blame. We're the ones that keep putting up with this. As long as they can keep getting away with releasing games full of problems do you blame them for not changing things? Process improvement isn't something you can implement overnight - it takes an investment of time and money. As long as the guys running the show see their sales going up and to the right on the chart (i.e. sales growth) why invest in change? Apparently things are working just right.

Indy

[867-5309]

To be fair to the devs and those who work on the game, there are two key groups that have caused more havoc on next gen games than the devs/testing teams ever could.


Corporate/Management: These are the guys buying up the licenses. They are not free and the money spent is not something that EA is going to eat out of it's pocket. It gets passed on/offset in many different ways. The one that hurts the consumer most is how much manpower is used making/testing games. They are the ones who set the deadlines and budgets for each game.

EA Stockholders: People want a good return on your investment. Reality is that EA has always placed a premium on their stockholders in comparison to their customer.

So the people really getting squeezed are not only the consumer but the employees working on the games. Neither would ever be willing to go the two year plan to play catchup on these feature crippled games. They would miss that large revenue stream that covers these costs and pleases the stockholders.

What really pisses me off most is over the years we keep hearing about how everything costs so much more to make "next-gen" games. Yet, they are also working bigger deals with advertising companies to get more revenue. Also the marketplace has been yet another source of extra income for publishers that was not available last year.

What does the consumer get in return? A higher retail price, less features, buggy products and more ad's in their games.


* A third, smaller group that tends to be at fault would be the gaming media. Could someone ever ask the hard questions to these groups? Is someone willing to ask Peter Moore some tough questions and do so until we get answers?

Hey Petah, why are you charging $59.99 for these broken games? Why is Tiburon constantly releasing buggy products? See Tiger Woods 08 which had just as many online issues and bugs. Why is it EA Canada does so well lately with the NHL and Fifa series, both online and offline? How can we get some of that magic passed over to the Tiburon teams? Why are 3-4 years into this generation and still playing football games without numerous features that can be seen in the last gen games? What exactly do you think the issues are (lack of staff/poor management/not enough talent)?

[rp71284]

Hey you guys know when you go to the main page, the first 4 games in the webpage title are EA made, with the last being NBA 2K9.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

(Waits to be censored)

OS is just the EA forums with smarter posters, but same amount of hush hush as the EA boards.

[PlyrzNumber1]

Quote: Originally Posted by 867-5309

To be fair to the devs and those who work on the game, there are two key groups that have caused more havoc on next gen games than the devs/testing teams ever could. Corporate/Management: These are the guys buying up the licenses. They are not free and the money spent is not something that EA is going to eat out of it's pocket. It gets passed on/offset in many different ways. The one that hurts the consumer most is how much manpower is used making/testing games. They are the ones who set the deadlines and budgets for each game. EA Stockholders: People want a good return on your investment. Reality is that EA has always placed a premium on their stockholders in comparison to their customer. So the people really getting squeezed are not only the consumer but the employees working on the games. Neither would ever be willing to go the two year plan to play catchup on these feature crippled games. They would miss that large revenue stream that covers these costs and pleases the stockholders. What really pisses me off most is over the years we keep hearing about how everything costs so much more to make "next-gen" games. Yet, they are also working bigger deals with advertising companies to get more revenue. Also the marketplace has been yet another source of extra income for publishers that was not available last year. What does the consumer get in return? A higher retail price, less features, buggy products and more ad's in their games. * A third, smaller group that tends to be at fault would be the gaming media. Could someone ever ask the hard questions to these groups? Is someone willing to ask Peter Moore some tough questions and do so until we get answers? Hey Petah, why are you charging $59.99 for these broken games? Why is Tiburon constantly releasing buggy products? See Tiger Woods 08 which had just as many online issues and bugs. Why is it EA Canada does so well lately with the NHL and Fifa series, both online and offline? How can we get some of that magic passed over to the Tiburon teams?

Very well said.

I have nothing against Adam and the rest of the EA reps/devs who come here. The problem is with the executives who makes budgeting decisions in favor of massive profits at the expense of the consumer.

[fishepa]

LOL. It's a no win situation no matter what the hell anyone does.

[Dudd]

Quote: Originally Posted by PlyrzNumber1

Very well said. I have nothing against Adam and the rest of the EA reps/devs who come here. The problem is with the executives who makes budgeting decisions in favor of massive profits at the expense of the consumer.

I don't even have a problem with that, after all, they do have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profits. I blame everyone who rushes out and buys the latest game and then act all shocked when it doesn't work. NCAA stopped being a day one purchase for me after last year's abortion of a game, so I waited this year to see if it was improved, and apparently it's not, so I won't be buying it. If enough people take a wait and see approach instead of just giving them their money and then complaining, they'll have to create a good game before they get our sale.