Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

[queens211]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

It has now been well over a week since NCAA Football 09 was released and we have seen just about every reaction possible about EA Sports newest game. Our very own Patrick Williams was in the middle of the release frenzy and checks in today with an article discussing his thoughts on how the releases reaction was received among the community in his latest article, Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story.

This has to be one of the most pointless articles ever. What is this? A summer book report for extra credit?

[MassNole]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Honestly speaking, if people didn't think OS was in bed with EA before, I am sure they do now. I am trying to make the best of this game, I really am. Sure, it is funny to make Preston Parker look like the genetically engineered super child of Barry Sanders and Peter Warrick on every punt return, but after a while it just gets old. I was expecting a decent game, I gave up on 2008 within weeks, but yet again this game leaves me wondering if EA Programmers have ever seen the American version of football.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Damn...

I've always tried to fight to about the objectivity of OS... but goodness man, that article shouldn't have been published.

It almost makes it seem like the article was written ahead of time and planned to be released before the issues were even discovered.

I look back and the NCAA series has always been heralded here at OS. NCAA 2004... 2005... I look at those games and don't recall them having all these issues... sure, they weren't perfect, but did almost all of the major new additions have problems, as well as the gameplay?

An article like this just makes me feel like whomever is writing them are either out of the loop or have a particular slant.

You can say you're enjoying the game; You can say there are many who are upset about issues with the game (that are facts)... but to make it seem like those who mention problems with the game are just complaining to complain... as if they can never be pleased?

Wow.

It was written a few days ago, then held to be re-written a bit to talk more about the forums than the game -- because that was the original idea of the story. I think maybe it's also important to point out that Patrick probably brought in the MaddenMania impressions and feelings into his thoughts in this article as well.

I think if your thoughts are more the consensus moving forward then we'll make sure to have someone edit the article that is a little closer to the forums than I could be during the last few weeks when I was busy. That way the person who edits the article can check for tone and make sure that it fits the general community.

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

OK, fair enough. I still don't think the final message is stop complaining and have fun. One of his points is that people tend to talk about negatives more than positives though, which I mean I think is fair, it tends to be easier to articulate negatives than positives as well.

Honestly Chase, the negatives outweigh the positives RIGHT NOW .

I say "right now" because the ball is in EA's court to change that.

Every major feature is broken right now. That's undeniable.

There are issues on defense as well. That's undeniable.

Dynasty Schedules are broken. They go in reverse. That's undeniable.

Dynasty Stats are severely messed up. That's undeniable.

On a positive note...I love the running game. I love the smooth control online. I love the Stadium Sounds (even though they are causing issues for people pre patch) because it allows me to create the ultimate stadium atmosphere.

But the scoreboard in the game of Postive vs Negative is Negative in a blowout right now. Again I stress....RIGHT NOW.

We'll see if that changes by September.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

What's up is that article is basically a propaganda piece.

What "Sun" do you see? Not a single patch has even been released yet, which is why my Online League is still in a holding pattern due to freezing rosters, hijacked dynasties, and glitchy Stadium Sounds.

That's not even concerning the mental midgets on defense and the 95+ speed players who have jet packs on their backs.

There isn't a "small faction" that's unhappy right now. If I made a post saying "If you are unhappy with NCAA pre patch, post here"...I guarantee you it would be at 10 pages within 2 days.

And as I've stated repeatedly, I respect the opinions of guys like Abner and Rhombic, etc. Heck, some of my posts have been NICE compared to what Rhombic and Bill Harris have posted...and what they posted was true.

In other words...the article is wrong.

"Over the next few days, and those leading up to the actual release day, if you visited the forums you may have heard the sky was falling, down was up, and Atlantis had risen. This tends to happen every year, but seemed particularly outrageous this release."

I don't think he ever says the "sun" is showing now or anything, it's left as a question as well.

I still don't follow the propaganda angle though just because it doesn't say the game is good or bad because that's not really the point.

But do you think the article is wrong because it doesn't say enough about the outrage? I think a good amount of the article is about outrage (he mentions rosters as one of the main ones.) He doesn't talk about all the issues in-depth because once again it's about the forums not the issues.

[KingVMSU]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

It has now been well over a week since NCAA Football 09 was released and we have seen just about every reaction possible about EA Sports newest game. Our very own Patrick Williams was in the middle of the release frenzy and checks in today with an article discussing his thoughts on how the releases reaction was received among the community in his latest article, Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story.

"Paid for by the friends of Pasta Padre and EA Sports"

You gotta be kidding me with this "article" right?

[vegaas]

I didnt think it would happen, but with the partnership with Madden Mania OS has become an EA marketing machine. This years NCAA game is screwed up in every area and yet these OS articles gloss over them every chance they get. The 8.5 review score was joke and is ruining OS's credibility. OS used to be the place where you could trust the reviews and you knew the site was impartial. It looks like those days are gone. For a great break down of all the problems with NCAA read Bill Harris's blog. His blog is called Dubiousquality and it is at blogspot. He has two fantastic articles that break down the problems with NCAA. The most relevant point is the speed breakdown by position.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Honestly Chase, the negatives outweigh the positives RIGHT NOW .

I say "right now" because the ball is in EA's court to change that.

Every major feature is broken right now. That's undeniable.

There are issues on defense as well. That's undeniable.

Dynasty Schedules are broken. They go in reverse. That's undeniable.

Dynasty Stats are severely messed up. That's undeniable.

On a positive note...I love the running game. I love the smooth control online. I love the Stadium Sounds (even though they are causing issues for people pre patch) because it allows me to create the ultimate stadium atmosphere.

But the scoreboard in the game of Postive vs Negative is Negative in a blowout right now. Again I stress....RIGHT NOW.

We'll see if that changes by September.

OK, and does Patrick directly say any of this isn't an issue? I think the only real positive he says is that some people are now starting to enjoy the game basically. Now if that's not true, then fair enough and like I said I'll make sure someone who is closer to the issue than I could be the last few weeks, edits the article moving forward so we don't have these outrages, and thus people think we are in bed with EA etc.

I mean those type of things are going to be said anyway, but you know we want to try and alleviate those as much as possible to make sure people realize this is an independent and unbiased site.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

I didnt think it would happen, but with the partnership with Madden Mania OS has become an EA marketing machine. This years NCAA game is screwed up in every area and yet these OS articles gloss over them every chance they get. The 8.5 review score was joke and is ruining OS's credibility. OS used to be the place where you could trust the reviews and you knew the site was impartial. It looks like those days are gone. For a great break down of all the problems with NCAA read Bill Harris's blog. His blog is called Dubiousquality and it is at blogspot. He has two fantastic articles that break down the problems with NCAA. The most relevant point is the speed breakdown by position.

Oh cool, you read Bill Harris too. I posted his first article in the glitches thread because I was curious if others were experiencing those issues as well. He's good when it comes to sports coverage. The OS review is interesting, just because it's not like the review was written by a former MM guy or anything, and it's just one person's opinion. I've always said a review doesn't mean it symbolizes everyone's opinion, just one writer who tries to articulate why a game is good or bad. It is OS' official score, but it's still just one person.

[KingVMSU]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Oh cool, you read Bill Harris too. I posted his first article in the glitches thread because I was curious if others were experiencing those issues as well. He's good when it comes to sports coverage. The OS review is interesting, just because it's not like the review was written by a former MM guy or anything, and it's just one person's opinion. I've always said a review doesn't mean it symbolizes everyone's opinion, just one writer who tries to articulate why a game is good or bad. It is OS' official score, but it's still just one person.

Then dont have the person present a score.

Plain and simple that person represents this website and frankly denying that or lessening the importance of that persons opinion is weak sauce.

If it;s truly one mans opinion post it in here, otherwise having a front page article means more and as we all know perception is reality.

[Pared]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

It was written a few days ago, then held to be re-written a bit to talk more about the forums than the game -- because that was the original idea of the story. I think maybe it's also important to point out that Patrick probably brought in the MaddenMania impressions and feelings into his thoughts in this article as well.

I think if your thoughts are more the consensus moving forward then we'll make sure to have someone edit the article that is a little closer to the forums than I could be during the last few weeks when I was busy. That way the person who edits the article can check for tone and make sure that it fits the general community.

Here's the thing:

We've discussed in the past about the differentiation of articles and forums; They aren't the same thing and like to be held as separate entities.

However, in an article of this nature, how can you make comments like:

Now reports of people actually having fun with the game are starting to pop up, and threads of gamers posting their best experiences and great games are prevalent. Work is being done to help each other overcome the problems, and slider and music customization help is a hot topic.

and insinuate the happenings of the forum. There is nothing else really to discuss here in the forums aside from anything positive because mentioning the issues is just a constant re-tread that tires everyone out. Where is the discussion about posters being told by the mods to keep their frustrations in line and that they aren't accomplishing anything by asking for answers from the devs who were more than willing to answer almost anything pre-release? (Summation)

Personally, I feel this article is an outlier from anything you'd see from someone who has spent a significant amount of time in this forum. It just makes me feel like OS has lost touch with the same forum members who helped make this site what it is today.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Then dont have the person present a score.

Plain and simple that person represents this website and frankly denying that or lessening the importance of that persons opinion is weak sauce.

If it;s truly one mans opinion post it in here, otherwise having a front page article means more and as we all know perception is reality.

I'm not trying to downplay it, I was just telling you my general feelings about a review. That's OS' review, if we end up being wrong according to most then that's the way it is, it's an opinion. My point is if you write a review by trying to please the community, then that's not a review either, because you're writing the community's impression, not your own.

Like I said I haven't played this year's product and I really don't plan to because I'm pretty anti-football these days though. Otherwise I would probably be more vocal if I agree or disagreed with the complaints being made.

[elprez98]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Quite frankly,

I do not understand how the tone of the piece is not recognized immediately as condescending. Words like "soap opera and panic button" infer that the complaints are unfounded. I agree people sometime fly off the handle when game bugs are found, and this NCAA release is no exception. But this happens with every sports game, every year and it is not an OVEREACTION like the author tries to portray.

I think the most upsetting part to me is the part that says:

After the eye of the storm passed, the other problem became abundantly clear: the evil roster glitch. And if you want to see panic, then look no further than a bunch of guys that are without real-life named rosters during NCAA release week.

"Something that is free and provided by ordinary people has become the biggest part of the game to many, and when it was found that the game would freeze, and created names would not work properly, well that is when things really hit the fan."

The game costs $60+ and it is a feature that is expected to function correctly. Whether or not someone takes their time to make a personal roster and share it with others has nothing to do with that $60 price tag.

I guess I need to go back to my basketball forum for some sanity.

[rp71284]

I think another thing that irks a lot of the people who commented is that outside of 3-4 sticky threads, we cannot mention any glitches, or our posts magically disappear.

Yet, day after day, articles that praise the game appear on the main page. I really love OS, trust me, but it gets harder and harder to want to read the forums when the only opinions that are allowed to be expressed are positive ones.

Also, the fact that EA developers are participating on the site now coupled with the "censorship" that may or may not be happening just makes things really uneasy for people. Remember when MLB 2k6 was a completely broken game? I know the site back then was different, but that whole forum was complaint after complaint. And it was justified! Just because a few devs are here doesn't mean we have to cater to them. While NCAA '09 might not be as broken as that game was, it has more flaws than it should.

[ChaseB]

Re: Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

Here's the thing:

We've discussed in the past about the differentiation of articles and forums; They aren't the same thing and like to be held as separate entities.

However, in an article of this nature, how can you make comments like:



and insinuate the happenings of the forum. There is nothing else really to discuss here in the forums aside from anything positive because mentioning the issues is just a constant re-tread that tires everyone out. Where is the discussion about posters being told by the mods to keep their frustrations in line and that they aren't accomplishing anything by asking for answers from the devs who were more than willing to answer almost anything pre-release? (Summation)

Personally, I feel this article is an outlier from anything you'd see from someone who has spent a significant amount of time in this forum. It just makes me feel like OS has lost touch with the same forum members who helped make this site what it is today.

OK cool, see this is the type of stuff I'm looking for. And yea we did talk about forum vs. front page in the past and I think it has gotten better recently quality-wise. More writers now (a few which are OS people who stepped up and wanted to write articles) has allowed everyone to spend more time on articles and all that.

As for the mods stuff, I don't have a hand in the moderation so I didn't know about that either.

But I think definitely I will be more cautious of this type of thing and be proactive in trying to make sure we have guys who are entrenched in the community edit these types of articles moving forward. Sometimes a little wake-up call like this is necessary for me to take notice of an issue, and this does appear to be one.