OS Roundtable: What are your next-gen expectations?

[RaychelSnr]

The HD generation of consoles, the X-Box 360 and the Playstation 3, are facing the end of their lives in the next couple of years. Replacing them will be brand new consoles from both Sony and Microsoft which will outdo the current generation in almost every way.

There will be more horsepower, memory and storage with which to use for more advanced games. But what will sports gaming developers do with that added horsepower? We asked our staff what they thought.

Read More - OS Roundtable: What are your next-gen expectations?

[The_Gaming_Disciple]

Realistic tackling. Authentic OL/DL play. Chain gang for college football. Mouth-pieces. Elimination of predator dreads. In depth authentic dynasty experience. Did I say realistic tackling. PI calls on the offense and defuse. Linebackers, defensive backs and safeties that do not have brick hands. Did I say realistic tackling? Oh yea, I almost forgot, REALISTIC TACKLING!!!

[sparkdawg777]

I would like to see realistic tackling.

[tical2399]

What are my expectations for next gen? Well expectations and desires are two TOTALLY different things. I expect it will be more of the same with nicer visuals. What I desire is too numerous to list in full so I will only list some.

I desire that heights and weights actually matter in the games. There needs to be a reason for me to draft that 6'2" corner over the faster but smaller 5'10" corner. Getting that 340 space eater at nose tackle is supposed to have a noticeable difference, as he requires double teams, which free up the backers. or other d-linemen.

There needs to be real tackling. If i'm running through a hole and my DT is blocked he should be able to stick a hand out and grab the jersey and try to take the guy down as opposed to just being out of the play because the animation has him being blocked.

Conversely my ball carrier needs to be able to try to knock that hand away to try to escape the grasp. My d-line needs to be able to move laterally while battling the o-line.

There needs to be season and career fatigue. If I give a guy 35 touches a game all year he might start getting tired earlier in games later in the year or his injury rating goes down so he is more likely to get hurt.

Same with career touches. If I give him 400+ touches every year, he might not make it past year 7 without being hurt all the time and his skills declining due to having a 10 year career worth of being beat up in 7 years.

There need to be injuries that take more than the end of the off season to heal. Blow a ACL in the NFC title game and you're not back week one of the pre season. Big injuries need to have lingering effects. That same guy who blew the knee can't come back later in the season and have his rating back where they were, they would need to come back gradually as he gets more healthy.

Some injuries need to have permanent negative effects. We all hear about a guy not coming back quite the same way because the injury robbed him of a step. That CB who was 94 speed and 93 agility is now 89 speed and 90 due to injury.

All the consoles will have blu ray so their needs to be FAR MORE audio clips in the game that adapt to season events. Started 5-0 but dropped six straight, the commentators needs to mention that. Win your last 5 after losing the six they need to mention that and mention how you were 5-0 to start and how you can get in with X team losing later on tonight.

As the ps4 and 720 look to have 4-8 gigs of ram we can have better and longer replays, and clips to accompany a 2k5ish half time show. Also all of the consoles have bare minimum of 8 gigs of storage (wii-u basic) and will likely have 160 gigs minimum with all of the download titles and such, so there is no reason to have tiny (319 kb) draft class files.

The next gen consoles need to not only export the players, but a highlight package from games over their whole career. Not only that, every player leaving needs to make it into the draft class. with their highlights. Coaches making the jump to the pros should also be in the file.

The draft should have pics announced. If the real commish wants to volunteer and lend some voice clips great, if not any voice actor will do. Have the talking heads talk about who needs to trade up and down, who was a reach and who was a value and the shockers of who's still on the board.

This was pretty much about madden but some applies to NCAA as well. All I have mentioned is what I desire, but as I stated before; what I expect is more of the same just prettier.

[Profit89]

Next-gen expectations?

Simple: Take full advantage of the PC, the only real next-next-gen platform.

[Trick13]

Quote: Originally Posted by tical2399

What are my expectations for next gen? Well expectations and desires are two TOTALLY different things. I expect it will be more of the same with nicer visuals. What I desire is too numerous to list in full so I will only list some. I desire that heights and weights actually matter in the games. There needs to be a reason for me to draft that 6'2" corner over the faster but smaller 5'10" corner. Getting that 340 space eater at nose tackle is supposed to have a noticeable difference, as he requires double teams, which free up the backers. or other d-linemen. There needs to be real tackling. If i'm running through a hole and my DT is blocked he should be able to stick a hand out and grab the jersey and try to take the guy down as opposed to just being out of the play because the animation has him being blocked. Conversely my ball carrier needs to be able to try to knock that hand away to try to escape the grasp. My d-line needs to be able to move laterally while battling the o-line. There needs to be season and career fatigue. If I give a guy 35 touches a game all year he might start getting tired earlier in games later in the year or his injury rating goes down so he is more likely to get hurt. Same with career touches. If I give him 400+ touches every year, he might not make it past year 7 without being hurt all the time and his skills declining due to having a 10 year career worth of being beat up in 7 years. There need to be injuries that take more than the end of the off season to heal. Blow a ACL in the NFC title game and you're not back week one of the pre season. Big injuries need to have lingering effects. That same guy who blew the knee can't come back later in the season and have his rating back where they were, they would need to come back gradually as he gets more healthy. Some injuries need to have permanent negative effects. We all hear about a guy not coming back quite the same way because the injury robbed him of a step. That CB who was 94 speed and 93 agility is now 89 speed and 90 due to injury. All the consoles will have blu ray so their needs to be FAR MORE audio clips in the game that adapt to season events. Started 5-0 but dropped six straight, the commentators needs to mention that. Win your last 5 after losing the six they need to mention that and mention how you were 5-0 to start and how you can get in with X team losing later on tonight. As the ps4 and 720 look to have 4-8 gigs of ram we can have better and longer replays, and clips to accompany a 2k5ish half time show. Also all of the consoles have bare minimum of 8 gigs of storage (wii-u basic) and will likely have 160 gigs minimum with all of the download titles and such, so there is no reason to have tiny (319 kb) draft class files. The next gen consoles need to not only export the players, but a highlight package from games over their whole career. Not only that, every player leaving needs to make it into the draft class. with their highlights. Coaches making the jump to the pros should also be in the file. The draft should have pics announced. If the real commish wants to volunteer and lend some voice clips great, if not any voice actor will do. Have the talking heads talk about who needs to trade up and down, who was a reach and who was a value and the shockers of who's still on the board. This was pretty much about madden but some applies to NCAA as well. All I have mentioned is what I desire, but as I stated before; what I expect is more of the same just prettier.

tical2399,

I agree with all that you mentioned. Matthew Coe's comment in the beginning of his statement - "vastly improved single player AI" may be the understatement of the century regarding Madden. In fact, I believe that fixing the game - building the game play around single player, will undoubtedly fix most of the significant issues within the game play.

Outside of game play I am not sure I expect it, but really hoping for a huge move toward "customization". The larger number of options the better the game will be.

On/off toggles for certain features in all game modes (custom playbooks, conference/divisional realignment, position changes, relocate franchise option).

User input on celebrations (within edit player), custom stadium music, custom menu sound tracks, custom uniforms via new powerful editing tools, custom "game-plans" from community uploaded and keyed to certain CPU teams, more expansive slider options, customizable "draft board" where the user re-ranks prospects, removes prospects, and can basically QUEUE the players in your own order which would be used by CPU to draft for you if you have to miss the draft.

A huge upgrade in league customization to include options such as trades that must be "commissioner approved" or voted on by rest of league, waiver wire (with CPU teams participating) so that cut players must "clear waivers" before becoming street FAs, options for "user boot" with no ban, "user ban", "user suspension" based on in-game weeks, transaction resets or undo option for commissioner, options to limit trades w CPU by number (1-5/season/career including/excluding picks 4 picks during draft), custom schedules where comish can "place" certain matchups at certain weeks and have the CPU fill in the rest accordingly, on/off attribute by attribute progression option (basically turn off or lock certain attributes from being XPed, auto/manual XP option, and more that I can't think of now...

[The_Wise_One]

I agree with most regarding the first couple of years being about graphics and easing into the new technology. After that it is anyones guess. Presentation will soon be near lifelike and player movement and physics is beginning to take big steps forward. I really want to see game modes expanded. Millions of options and various circumstances, there is enough space to do some crazy things.

[eye guy]

I wish I had a simple answer to this.

Improved gameplay with dynamic events happening in real time coupled with a physics based gameplay engine would be a good start.

Graphics will be the obvious in the early stages of development for the new consoles, whether we expect it or not, but not in the area of create-a-(whatever).

I could go on but my expectations won't be brought to fruition in the next year or so let alone, at all...