Press Row Podcast - NHL 15 Fallout, Gus Ramsey, and Tap Sports Baseball
 

The 101st episode of the Press Row Podcast run the gamut, from big-time AAA sports games to brand new mobile indie offerings. Up first, host Rich Grisham interviews NHL 15 producer Sean Ramjagsingh about the launch of EA’s pro hockey title – what went well, whether fan expectations were fair, reactions to the lack of modes that had been in previous generation versions of the game, and the future of the franchise. It’s an honest look at the extraordinary difficulties that surround making the leap from one generation to another. Up next, ESPN’s Gus Ramsey (and his new puppy Bronco!) joins Rich for his annual take on Madden 15. Lastly, Rich is joined by PastaPadre’s Bryan Wiedey to interview Mike Saperstein, the creative director of the new Tap Sports Baseball mobile game that many of our listeners have found to be a lot of fun. They discuss the ideas behind the game and how it came to life.

Joining us this week:

• Sean Ramjagsingh, EA Sports (@Rammer34)
• Gus Ramsey, ESPN (@GusRamsey)
• Bryan Wiedey, PastaPadre (@pastapadre)
• Michael Saperstein, Tap Sports Baseball
• And your host, Richard Grisham, GamesRadar/OXM/@GAMER (@richgrisham)

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Run Time: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes

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GAMEPLAY is good.
PRESENTATION was the big selling point and while it hits it mark on a few things, it misses the mark on one of the most important aspects. STATS.
They really blew it with STATS during the game. No player stats during game only before, no league leaders during game, no standing during game, no season goal totals after scoring a goal.
The box score at the end of game only shows season total for player of home team and not the away team (bug?)
HUT, when compared to Madden's version this year is borderline terrible. Madden's HUT layout and interface was so well done and then you see NHL's and it is barely there. It's like it is just there to be there, if that makes sense.
There are a bunch of other things that can all be blamed on the next gen crossover, but I think it's just a silly and lazy excuse.

Re: Press Row Podcast - NHL 15 Fallout, Gus Ramsey, and Tap Sports Baseball
 

To answer why more people weren't playing GM Connected like EA anticipated when they put it in NHL 13:

-- Extremely slow menus and even slower schedule advance speeds made navigation a nuisance.

-- Not many people have the time or patience to complete a full 82-game season, plus another 15 to 20 games in the playoffs. There needed to be an option for shorter seasons.

-- You could not make your own draft picks, since the CPU automated the draft process ala NHL 15 on PS4/Xbox One.

-- You could not pick a single set of custom gameplay sliders for every game that's played in your league. For people wanting a hockey game that is close to a simulation experience, EA's NHL series hasn't been much fun to play on the default settings.

-- It was too easy for a commissioner to sabotage a league if things weren't going his/her way. I was in a league that got 60 games into the first year until the commissioner rage-quit on us and deleted the entire league, wiping out everyone else's progress.