The problem with "Hitting EA where it hurts"

[fsufan4423]

If you think sites like these don't matter in the grand scheme of things, take a look a Elite 11. The news about that demo spread like wild fires. Which I think had something to do with the quick hook. They may have decided to cancel anyway, but who were they listing to? Those people that just buy the games who don't visit forums.

Just look over the past ten years and notice how EA and 2K now have community day events inviting community leaders to preview their games. I would say sites like these do matter.

[jfsolo]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedudedominick

Exactly. "Well people clearly don't want an NCAA Football game lets just stop making it." They took a huge step in the right direction with NCAA Basketball only to get cancelled due to low sales.

Not to get off topic, but IMO, they absolutely did not take a huge step in the right direction with NCAA Basketball 10. Spending the majority of your time on presentation, when your gameplay, A.I. and Dynasty mode, are sub, sub, par, is asking for your game to fail miserably.

College basketball is by far my favorite sports gaming genre, but on principle I couldn't buy those last two offerings by EA, and had to deal with the reality of the series going away and there being no college basketball games to play at all.

People who feel like NCAA Football is sub standard, should most definitely, not buy the game, they have to hope that EA, says, "how can we get those guys back", instead of "lets shelve the whole game." Buying and voicing their displeasure with the bugs and poorly chosen design decisions, hasn't been working, so it's time to try another tactic.

[JerseySuave4]

Quote: Originally Posted by fsufan4423

If you think sites like these don't matter in the grand scheme of things, take a look a Elite 11. The news about that demo spread like wild fires. Which I think had something to do with the quick hook. They may have decided to cancel anyway, but who were they listing to? Those people that just buy the games who don't visit forums. Just look over the past ten years and notice how EA and 2K now have community day events inviting community leaders to preview their games. I would say sites like these do matter.

Great point.

Quote: Originally Posted by laxman490

Since this forum only accounts for a small percentage of those who buy the game, why should ea do anything to please you all? I understand bugs, but some people are outrageous with requests. This face mask, this sock color, this guy has long hair, this jersey isn't dirty, blah blah blah...

Because it's the people of forums who really let them know if the game is good or not. Sure they can sell as many copies as they want, but those who voice their opinions do so on message boards and you don't want all of those people bashing your game. Eventually it's going to have an impact.

The NCAA team has ran out of mulligans. Slowly people are getting fed up and realizing that not playing NCAA Football isn't that big of a deal if the alternative is playing a bad & buggy game.

And it's not the minor complaints like facemasks and hair, these are major issues like the cpu being unable to run the option or calling 20 screen passes a game, all of which end up in a sack because they can't run screen plays correctly. A casual gamer might think... "WOW i'm awesome at this game because i'm getting so many sacks" while the people who come on these boards understand it isn't you being good, it's the AI being terrible.

[Pokes404]

EA may not miss my $130 over the last two years, but it's a matter of principle. I don't find the game enjoyable enough, realistic enough, or quality enough to warrant a purchase, despite my love for college football. So I'm not going to buy it. Whether that sends any kind of message to EA, I don't know.

Also, I've been very critical of the game (especially these last 2-3 years) and it's kind of hard for people to take your stance seriously if you just go ahead and buy the game anyway. You can't talk about how many problems are in the game and how it doesn't justify a purchase ... and then go purchase it.

I'd like to think that even when someone doesn't agree with me on the game, they can at least respect the fact that I put my money where my mouth is. Which in this case, is in my wallet.

[Josh Knight]

Couple things.

1. Those little complaints are a little hard to believe. I don't want EA even thinking about things like sock length ahead of gameplay concerns. A bunch of your concerns with player models is because they can't base them off real players. Remember, that is not Matt Barkely your looking at. That is QB #7.

2. You know, I never thought that they would just cancel the series, but then, I realized you are absolutely right. Just look at MLB 2k. People bashed the game, stopped buying, so they just decided to pull the plug. Now we have ZERO baseball games on the 360.

3. Off-topic. I really miss NCAA Basketball games. With Cal coaching at UK, I would have so much fun with that game every year. I mean it's not like I have much luck playing with Kentucky in NCAA football. If NCAA 2k12 was even close to NBA 2k12 I would be happy.

Last thing. I do see the same problems that you guys do. But I enjoy being in my OD far to much to ever not purchase. It may not be simulation football, but it's fun. I know that's not a great reason to purchase, but it's worth it to me. Same with Madden.

[Pokes404]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josh Knight

Couple things. 1. Those little complaints are a little hard to believe. I don't want EA even thinking about things like sock length ahead of gameplay concerns. A bunch of your concerns with player models is because they can't base them off real players. Remember, that is not Matt Barkely your looking at. That is QB #7. 2. You know, I never thought that they would just cancel the series, but then, I realized you are absolutely right. Just look at MLB 2k. People bashed the game, stopped buying, so they just decided to pull the plug. Now we have ZERO baseball games on the 360. 3. Off-topic. I really miss NCAA Basketball games. With Cal coaching at UK, I would have so much fun with that game every year. I mean it's not like I have much luck playing with Kentucky in NCAA football. If NCAA 2k12 was even close to NBA 2k12 I would be happy. Last thing. I do see the same problems that you guys do. But I enjoy being in my OD far to much to ever not purchase. It may not be simulation football, but it's fun. I know that's not a great reason to purchase, but it's worth it to me. Same with Madden.

Actually, buying a game because it's fun is the best reason there is to buy a game. Nothing wrong with enjoying a game you find fun.

I'd be lying if I said playing in an OD with my friend's didn't keep me on board with the game longer than I would have otherwise. Eventually, it wasn't enough for me anymore, but I understand where you're coming from.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josh Knight

Couple things. 1. Those little complaints are a little hard to believe. I don't want EA even thinking about things like sock length ahead of gameplay concerns. A bunch of your concerns with player models is because they can't base them off real players. Remember, that is not Matt Barkely your looking at. That is QB #7.

This is a minor detail that would take, maybe a half hour to implement from guys who are not in any way involved in gameplay. I completely understand the resemblance issues. I cannot stand when people complain that player X doesn't have this equipment that he has in real life. However, that does not mena EA cannot add in a variety of equipment.

Quote:

2. You know, I never thought that they would just cancel the series, but then, I realized you are absolutely right. Just look at MLB 2k. People bashed the game, stopped buying, so they just decided to pull the plug. Now we have ZERO baseball games on the 360.

This is an issue of bad design, bad business and overall just bad decisions around the board. 2k made a huge mistake on their initial deal and that has hurt them in the long run combined with the fact they have put out a product that is massively inferior to what Sony put out.

Quote:

3. Off-topic. I really miss NCAA Basketball games. With Cal coaching at UK, I would have so much fun with that game every year. I mean it's not like I have much luck playing with Kentucky in NCAA football. If NCAA 2k12 was even close to NBA 2k12 I would be happy.

Me too, but unless EA can get a successful Basketball franchise going that will not happen. 2k has sports only has the basketball market now. Hopefully there will be some surprises when the new consoles come out.

Last thing. I do see the same problems that you guys do. But I enjoy being in my OD far to much to ever not purchase. It may not be simulation football, but it's fun. I know that's not a great reason to purchase, but it's worth it to me. Same with Madden.[/quote]

[JerseySuave4]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josh Knight

Couple things. 1. Those little complaints are a little hard to believe. I don't want EA even thinking about things like sock length ahead of gameplay concerns. A bunch of your concerns with player models is because they can't base them off real players. Remember, that is not Matt Barkely your looking at. That is QB #7.

I don't really see people expecting the players to look like the guys they are "loosely" based off of. What we want is the ability to make them look that way in terms of equipment/uniforms. When i talk about equipment or something player model related, i don't do so with a specific player in mind, i'm talking in general. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to flip on the tv on Saturdays and notice the facemasks most players use or the types of cleats they wear, or the fact that they wear eye black. All they need to do is give us the ability to add these things.

I don't get on them for having short socks as the default like others do. Yes it's annoying having to edit each guy but we at least have the ability to do so. It's when they leave stuff out that bothers me. Like how they had eye black automatically on certain head models when the game first made the jump to next gen. Then they took eye black out all together. Yea it sounds stupid talking about eye black considering you look at the back of the helmets while you're playing the game. But cutscenes you do notice it and if you're trying to replicate real life, the look of real life, the feel of a broadcast, it looks odd with no one being able to wear eye black.

Does Tim Tebow have eye black in heisman challenge? Remember in college how much attention his eye black got as well as guys like Reggie Bush. Tim Tebow with that eye black, it was so much of his look.

Yea i know i'll get ripped for just writing a paragraph on eye black but it's a small point in a big picture about the lack of upgrades to equipment over the years.

Remember how long it took and how much complaining on these boards for us to finally get some color in the cleats? And that ended up making the player models look more realistic. Just look at a teambuilder player with the generic black or white cleats and a player from an actual college team with correct cleats and colors. One looks generic and the other looks real. It took a long thread about dreadlocks to get them added into the game. Granted they added the worst looking type of dreadlocks but it was better than nothing.

Quote: Originally Posted by Pokes404

EA may not miss my $130 over the last two years, but it's a matter of principle. I don't find the game enjoyable enough, realistic enough, or quality enough to warrant a purchase, despite my love for college football. So I'm not going to buy it. Whether that sends any kind of message to EA, I don't know. Also, I've been very critical of the game (especially these last 2-3 years) and it's kind of hard for people to take your stance seriously if you just go ahead and buy the game anyway. You can't talk about how many problems are in the game and how it doesn't justify a purchase ... and then go purchase it. I'd like to think that even when someone doesn't agree with me on the game, they can at least respect the fact that I put my money where my mouth is. Which in this case, is in my wallet.

while i do agree with you i will say that it's also difficult to be critical about the game if you don't play it. Granted at this point i know what to expect and after all the negative things i've read from the people who have played it so i've decided to cancel my preorder, but you do need to have hands on experience with the game in order to really be critical of it.