Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

[Sting]

Quote: Originally Posted by jaynny

HERE'S THE DEAL.....THE GAME IS DECENT...DO WE LIKE BECAUSE EA HAS BEEN DOING SUCH A TERRIBLE JOB MAKING NCAA, THE LAST FEW YEARS ON NEXT GENERATION AND NOW JUST MAKING LIKE IT USED TO BE ON XBOX AND PS2...I SAY f&*K IT, IT YOU BUY UP ALL EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS, THE PRESSURE IS ON..IF YOU DONT GIVE US CUSTOMERS AN OPTIONTHEN, WE WANT THE BEST PLUS MORE FROM YOU..PEOPLE, ARE TOO LITE ON EA.....SOME PEOPLE SAY GET OVER, IT MINOR DETAILS, ETC...DO U THINK CALL OF DUTY, METAL GEAR OR GTA WOULD BE THAT GOOD WITHOUT THE MINORS DETAILS..DETAILS IS WHAT MAKES THE GAMES ESPECIALLY SPORTS....SO I SAY, KEEP THE PRESSURE ON EA, NO SLACK....THEY DONT GIVE US NO OPTION, WE DONT GIVE THEM NO OPTION, NO SLACK!

[Spanky]

Quote: Originally Posted by brk1078

GIVE IT FREAKING TIME. And those who think that the defense sucks, USE SLIDERS. goshdarnit.

Shirley, you're not serious, are you?

Use sliders? Is that supposed to be funny?

[ehh]

"And don't call me Shirley!"

[Bill_Abner]

Wow. That was a fun 7 pages.

I really don't mind being (indirectly) called an Average Joe. I really did like the Dodgeball movie.

But I thought a lot of my pre-release blogging with the retail version of the game was fairly positive, and despite a lot of the sky is falling posts and the posts from members here accusing me of flat out lying about what I was seeing, I tried to document areas that I thought needed fixing (Ghost Jukes, QB completion rate, QB simmed stats, freezing defenders, poor kick coverage, etc.) but by and large I thought I was pretty even keeled. Also, I didn't start one thread on OS about this. I was just blogging away in my free time.

There are still things about NCAA 09 I like quite a bit. I do think that a lot of the gameplay problems in this year's game are hard to ignore -- they sorta jump right out at you.

Now, a lot of people freaked out more than I anticipated when I started touching on the negatives. But not once did I *ever* tell anyone not to buy NCAA 09 or that they were a doofus for doing so--at least not here. (my published review is a shade more direct...still no doofus calling, though).

All that said, I don't have a problem with the article. It's clearly an Op-Ed piece, which is what that stage is for.

[Foddzy]

EA, EA, rah rah rah!
EA, EA, he's our man!
EA, EA, if you can't do it, no one can!
we love the forum traffic, pos-ting devs please don't balk!
neg-a-tives we will quash!
silly sim-gamers take a walk!
EA, EA, rah rah rah!
Eeeeee A!

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by Foddzy

EA, EA, rah rah rah! EA, EA, he's our man! EA, EA, if you can't do it, no one can! we love the forum traffic, pos-ting devs please don't balk! neg-a-tives we will quash! silly sim-gamers take a walk! EA, EA, rah rah rah! Eeeeee A!

Impressive.

[J.R. Locke]

Well written piece. I might actually buy this game tonight....even though I said I wouldn't!!!! I guess I just like a challenge. Wishbone vs ROBO QB!!!

[bears5122]

ChaseB, I think people aren't necessarily upset with the parts of the article, but a perceived bias that OS may be showing toward EA.

OS was one of the only sports gaming sites that was completely neutral in their stance on games. If a game was good, it got praise. If it was bad, it got torn apart. It's why OS grew so much and why the community has so many dedicated people attached to it. While there was some EA/2K banter, it never dominated how a game was seen by the members. College Hoops 2K and NFL 2K5 have been praised here. So have recent additions of NHL and FIFA by EA. Basically, if you make a good game the community will support it. We just want the best sports gaming experience.

Which is why things have been questionable of late. First, the incredibly high score for NCAA. While I can understand a review missing from time to time, it was a bit odd that NCAA was rated much higher than a game like College Hoops 2K (that is hailed by many members here as a phenomenal game). Also that it was pretty close to the rating that The Show got (which is a vastly superior game). Now I know each reviewer has their own tastes, but I can't fathom how a game that has some of its biggest features completely broken (rosters, sliders, online dynasty) receiving such a high score. It also doesn't help that the OS review is prominently featured on the homepage at EASports.com.

The part that bugs me about the article though is the perception that this is just the norm. That negative people always come in and make a big fuss. This isn't just a negative person thing, it's not even an OS thing. EA football sales have been tanking. Madden saw a double digit percent loss of sales last year (think about that, they own the exclusive rights and more consoles were in homes). NCAA presales were reported to be way down. That's a pretty good sign that it's not just a vocal few on the forums that are upset with the recent products.

It also mentions how the negatives went away after the release. I don't think that's necessarily a good judge of what has happened. Most of the negative impression threads were closed while the positive ones were left open. I understand the need to delete duplicate topics, but that is a reason why the perception has changed a bit when taking a glance in.

I guess what I'm saying is that I really hope that the recent reviews and articles are just bad timing. From my perception it could appear that OS is acting as part of the EA markerting team. EA has a history of becoming aggressive with sports gaming forums for positive exposure. I understand OS likes the exclusives as well as having EA interact on the forums, but I would hope that wouldn't come at the expense of neutrality. The reason people come to OS is because of that neutrality, not the marketing hype.

Let's just hope all this is being perceived by the community the wrong way and that OS is running as it has over the years.