Discussing the Best New Feature of 2014 (Roundtable)
 

2014 was a good year for new features in sports gaming. We had a long laundry list of new features and innovations to choose from. At the end of the day, our staff picked the course creation suite in The Golf Club as their favorite new feature of 2014 while our reader's picked year to year saves in MLB 14 The Show as their favorite new feature.

Let's discuss the winners...

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Glenn Wigmore - I thought NHL 15's crowd was only so-so. They got rid of all team-specific chants like "Let's go Buffalo!". During play, the crowd noise is very dead. I guess taking selfies was more important than crowd noise.

The Golf Club's creation suite is the easy winner here. And I think Jayson Young absolutely nails it, word for word.

Developers are afraid in my opinion. I believe that they are somehow afraid that the community might actually outdo them and that therefore their jobs would be threatened. However, they have it all backwards imo. They should be embracing and working alongside the community. It's the community who will feed them never ending new ideas and content. And I am actually starting to like the idea of the Golf Club as this sort of evolving game as opposed to yearly versions. I would be okay even if they packaged some user content together in a DLC along with their own creations/updates/patches. I would pay for a DLC like that. And they could then share revenue with the content creators. The users as co-developers. Make them feel like they are a part of the team. It's going to take thinking outside the box and not relying on old outdated business models. It's time to move forward.

Well said, jpollack34 - console developers are finally feeling the threat from mobile and micro games, as they gain popularity over consoles with a younger generation. These other platforms have been allowing customization for years. Golf course creators are nothing new. PC games had them in the 80s and 90s. Most on this site are probably too young to remember Earl Weaver baseball's stadium creator - it was years ahead of its time, and today you still don't see a stadium creator anywhere. Online, you have sites like PennantChase.com that have been allowing people to create their own style of simulation leagues for years, letting their creativity build communities that no single developer could ever do.

Let's hope this trend continues for console games.

I was reacting specifically to the visuals. The audio package (of the overall game, frankly) is a different story. I don't think the crowd audio is bad, but I take your point. i think the visual part is quite a meaningful change, and it's been seen in FIFA (and slightly in UFC too).

Yeah I definitely agree with that. The visuals are great in the entire game - not just the crowd. Now if only there was true collision detection for the puck and sticks... but that's a whole different story.

Re: Discussing the Best New Feature of 2014 (Roundtable)
 

The crowd signs and superfans were definitely a nice addition to NHL 15, but some of those heads and faces came out looking like hideous, deformed monsters:

It's not like we can use the Game Saves in 2014... Would be a great feature for 2015.