NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

[fistofrage]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

It's a wonder that EA bothers patching this game at all given the harsh and scathing reception some people here are giving them. They're not obligated to do anything with the game post-release, but yet they're posting a patch because A) we've requested it (some with controlled, polite language; others using a far more disappointing tone), and B) they want to.

I'm not excusing the game's development cycle for playing out the way it did, as certainly there have been some unnecessary missteps (particularly with the rosters; this can't happen again), but if EA says they're going to add / fix content to the game with a patch or an EA Locker downloadable file, and we take their words at face value, does it really matter this year that the patch content is not on the disc? We're getting it either way.

I feel for the people who don't have internet access through their consoles, but for most people in this forum there's no reason to use such harsh language towards the developers when all they really want is to create an enjoyable and good college football game.

I agree that there is no need for harsh or vulgar language.

But look at the big picture. Lets say 1,000 people on OS buy this game. Thats probably a real conservative number. Not only are we giving EA $60,000 to beta test their game for them. But we are also providing them free market analysis. If the video game demographic is really the 18-35 year old male, and they are selling a sports game, there is really no better place for them to go than Operation Sports. You'd have to pay alot of money to assemble a focus group this size that reflects your customer base.

OS provides a valuable service to them. I really don't understand why people think we should be so grateful that they are here. They should be grateful that we take the game serious enough and provide them with free productive feedback. Its a two way street. They come here to find out what the market likes and doesn't like. They use us to ferret out problems with their game that their Q & A inexplicably cannot find. They need to hear the criticism, that is why they are here. As long as we are respectful, fire away. If I was them, thats what I would want. Noone in there right mind would turn down a free service like OS provides to EA.

So yes, be respectful, but also be critical where need be. Thats why they are here.

[kkman187]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

Russ, any chance we get a look at the final rosters in a spreadsheet?

[sparker]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

I hope the first patch would fix the bad shotgun snap=incomplete pass snafu. Will it?

[da ThRONe]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

I agree that there is no need for harsh or vulgar language.

But look at the big picture. Lets say 1,000 people on OS buy this game. Thats probably a real conservative number. Not only are we giving EA $60,000 to beta test their game for them. But we are also providing them free market analysis. If the video game demographic is really the 18-35 year old male, and they are selling a sports game, there is really no better place for them to go than Operation Sports. You'd have to pay alot of money to assemble a focus group this size that reflects your customer base.

OS provides a valuable service to them. I really don't understand why people think we should be so grateful that they are here. They should be grateful that we take the game serious enough and provide them with free productive feedback. Its a two way street. They come here to find out what the market likes and doesn't like. They use us to ferret out problems with their game that their Q & A inexplicably cannot find. They need to hear the criticism, that is why they are here. As long as we are respectful, fire away. If I was them, thats what I would want. Noone in there right mind would turn down a free service like OS provides to EA.

So yes, be respectful, but also be critical where need be. Thats why they are here.

Thank you! We are the customers! It's there job to earn our money not ours to fix there game for them and excuse they're mistakes. I have the utmost respect for Russ and Adam ,but lets not get it twisted we are the boss. No its not there fault they have the exclusive deal but its does put the pressure on themselves. If they cant handle that pressure we they either need to find a dev team that can or get rid of the exclusive deal. But until we start acting like bosses and not NCAA drug addicts they have no reason to do better.

[atlplayboy23]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

Yea its nice to have the bad snap just let it be ruled a fumble when it does happen

[N51_rob]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

It's a wonder that EA bothers patching this game at all given the harsh and scathing reception some people here are giving them. They're not obligated to do anything with the game post-release, but yet they're posting a patch because A) we've requested it (some with controlled, polite language; others using a far more disappointing tone), and B) they want to.

I'm not excusing the game's development cycle for playing out the way it did, as certainly there have been some unnecessary missteps (particularly with the rosters; this can't happen again), but if EA says they're going to add / fix content to the game with a patch or an EA Locker downloadable file, and we take their words at face value, does it really matter this year that the patch content is not on the disc? We're getting it either way.

I feel for the people who don't have internet access through their consoles, but for most people in this forum there's no reason to use such harsh language towards the developers when all they really want is to create an enjoyable and good college football game.

I respectfully disagree with this. OS is a small community of for the most part hardcore gamers. We represent a tiny fraction of EA's market share. These issues are being patched because A.) people are not stupid and would figure out how hosed up the rosters are and there would be huge backlash among the mainstream once they found out they paid $60 for a game that features only 25 or so correct rosters.

I completely agree that the tone of this thread and forum in general has gone down hill since word got out that the Devs were here interacting with us as a group, but to say that the reason EA is patching what IMO appears to be a horribly flawed game out of the box because we asked for it just seems naive (not saying that you are at all.)

But again, while I disagree with why you think these issues are being patch and some patched again (slider). I do agree that the way people talk to these guys is a little bit over the top. You can criticize with out insulting.

[GHUGHES]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

I have a funny feeling we wont be hearing from anyone on the NCAA development team for about a month. Honestly is this game being shipped with broken roster and non working sliders again thats just comical. Atleast he came out and owned it the guys on the NBA live development team just came right out and said were not fixing any glitches 2010 is where its at. Let me keep it moving before i get a nice pm form one of the mods telling me how thankful I should be to the have the EA reps as guests.

[bigjake62505]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

I can't see why this years game has so many flaws. The player models are the same for the most part, the commentary is the same as it has been for the last three years. I think there were like 8 or 9 new stadiums? The presentation is the same with the exception of bands. So I guess teambuilder and season show down(I am not sure that is what it is called, that is how much I care about it) took up the majority of the development time. I have no idea how long something like this takes but come on. I really thought that last years game was a step toward building a great game. I know that last years game had a ton of issues but I felt that one more development year would produce a good NCAA game for this year. Granted not many people have played this game yet but from every video I have seen shows the same issues that were in last years game. The roster issue is really fustrating. Did I read something that said that there was going to be someone who's job was strictly rosters? If this is true, they should be looking for another job right now!

[hcopenhagenh]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

It's unfortunate that a we've allowed a few things to get by onto the disc in NCAA 10, this kind of thing bother us just as much as you guys... We do have time to work on some solutions, and here is the update as promised:

• Rosters - A new file will be posted on EA locker to start and then we are planning on patching the online rosters.
• Downloadable Content - The plan is to add the off/on toggle in a patch.
• Game-play Sliders - Also planned on being in a patch to increase/fix the effectiveness depending on the slider.

It is extremely important to me (and everyone else on the team) to ensure that we get everything right as soon as possible. I wish I could say mistakes don't happen, but they did and we are going to do everything possible to get things right.

-Russ

So you are again shipping a broken game? Sorry, but the game isn't worth buying new. You guys should think about not shipping the game at all and shipping a game that isn't broken.

Honestly, there should be laws written for people that sell broken software. There are laws for car sales, food sales, etc. There should be something about companies shipping broken or incomplete games.

[mmorg]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

So you are again shipping a broken game? Sorry, but the game isn't worth buying new. You guys should think about not shipping the game at all and shipping a game that isn't broken.

Honestly, there should be laws written for people that sell broken software. There are laws for car sales, food sales, etc. There should be something about companies shipping broken or incomplete games.

Broken cars and bad food kill people. Big difference. I can't believe you made that analogy.

[clayshime]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

How are people who do not follow OS going to learn of the updated roster file in EA Locker? Is it going to be advertised, or do people have to learn from word of mouth?

Obviously this in no way effects me, I'm just wondering

[hcopenhagenh]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

How are people who do not follow OS going to learn of the updated roster file in EA Locker? Is it going to be advertised, or do people have to learn from word of mouth?

Obviously this in no way effects me, I'm just wondering

How are they going to know if the rosters are messed up anyway if they don't follow OS or other sites?

[HST]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

As there is much to be baffled about, what is most baffling to me is that anyone is actually baffled. When I consider the variety of fundamental aspects that are missing, it's hard for me to feign surprise or outrage when it's revealed that something such as sliders have not received even a modicum of exploration in the last two versions.

When I look back at NCAA '08 on PS2 I see a pattern that eludes to a peculiar carelessness when it comes to the college game. For the most part I highly enjoyed '08 and was able to dismiss some of the glaring errors. It's just a game, and my opinions are only one man's judgement.

However, take the pursuit angles of '08, and you can see a pattern. The fact that such a glaring error could leave the production room was a stunning sign of bad things to come. There were two variables at work there: 1) that's the way they wanted it in order to make the game offense oriented and was a reflection of what they thought was more exciting, ie, long touchdown plays as the result of specious and arbitrary reasons. 2) They just completely overlooked it, which, at that time, I considered highly unlikely. After playing '09 it didn't seem that unlikely.

Every other gaming company has seemingly taken the new generation and have run with breathtaking strides and increased overall quality in multiple aspects. EA has seemingly shrugged their shoulders and have insinuated that the new consoles are more of a hindrance to the base of their engine, rather than an avenue that has created more room to roam.

The visual enhancements at the next level are noticeable and truly great in a variety of areas. But I think the most frustrating thing for most of us are the minor details that were available in previous generations that aren't available now; not only is there a lack of major rennovations and creativity, there's obvious regression, such as the much bemoaned lack of chain crews, formation subs, etc. Going backward when everyone else has jumped over the moon is clearly going to induce frustration and vitriolic outbursts on the interwebz.

I imagine that the designers who admirably take the time to post here are often overwhelmed at the level of expectation. The fact that they post while knowing that they'll never satisfy every demand deserves respect. I'm new to these boards, but after viewing the collective coherency of the site it's not surprising why they choose to make appearances here, rather than the countless other sites that are plagued with buffoonery, fragmented sentences, rabid teeth-gnashing and other asshattery.

Their efforts are appreciated. Once again, though, my only disposition toward these guys is that I want to understand how after four years they're unable to transition the things that were in the game prior to having a bigger marble with which to play. Why the regression?

That's the gist of my major question. Perhaps they have in fact run into technical walls that I'll never comprehend as a layman. But how can replacing the things that were available in the previous consoles not be the primary focus at this juncture? How can four years go by without chain crews, formation subs, officiating crews, pass rushes and everything else not be available at the next level? Why do I feel like EA is the one area where I've been punished for doling out more cash for the next best thing when every other company has rewarded me with quality that was beyond my imagination?

[BallinVol]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

about the bad snap ... yes I too would like a bad snap ruled as a fumble, but I have to believe if it was made so then it would be way overdone. I say this because I've seen it like 10-15 times in the demo already. It would become yet again a total turnover fest. If they could tone down how many times it is done, then yes, this would be a great addition. However, the way it ran in the demo, it would be way overdone and would become a nuisance.

[fistofrage]

Re: NCAA Football 10 - Current Plans

So you are again shipping a broken game? Sorry, but the game isn't worth buying new. You guys should think about not shipping the game at all and shipping a game that isn't broken.

Honestly, there should be laws written for people that sell broken software. There are laws for car sales, food sales, etc. There should be something about companies shipping broken or incomplete games.

The European Union thinks so too.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31638/EU-wants-two-year-software-guarantee

EA would have alot of refunds to give if this ever made it stateside. Especially last year when the sliders were proven to have been broken. Think about it, we are screwed as loyal customers who buy the game at launch. Try taking an open game back. There isn't a place in Michigan that I know that will give refunds on opened software.