 |
Quote: |
 |
|
|
 |
Originally Posted by tazdevil20 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hey TNT,
Cool deal. I've been a software engineer for over 12 years. Without revealing the company I work for or any other details, I've worked on a very successful, well known enterprise messaging and collaboration sweet. Much of the code is 20+ years old. The challenge of extending and building on it exists every day. However, your customers don't want to hear that excuse. You don't rewrite everything. However, you do make necessary changes with the idea in mind that you want it to be maintainable and extensible. I don't think they should have rewritten Madden for next gen. They made the mistake that Netscape made when they did a full rewrite and lost out to IE. We did a rewrite of our client about 5 years ago. We knew that we needed to make it at LEAST as good as the original client without increasing cost for our customers to migrate to it and deploy it. We did it in one release cycle. It took committment and hard work by a ton of folks and talented programmers. That's just what it takes. Look at what Konami did with PES for this year. If you really want to do it right, you can do it.
The other issue is, they have had 6 years now to iron out those issues with adding and enhancing.
See this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB6cyaOJGcE
It's from 2007. He is talking about a brand new animation system, dynamic control, blocking assignments and double teams, gang tackling... Sound familiar? Now what did we hear about this year and last year? All of the same stuff again, and it's still not right. As a customer, I don't want to hear excuses or that something is "too hard". In software, that mindset cannot exist or you won't be around long. In enterprise software, if we have a build that is incomplete or contains features that are not fully baked, we GIVE those builds to our customers and partners. We don't charge them a premium. They get to try it out and provide feedback. We don't lie to them about giving it to them in the next release.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
I get what you're saying about "it's hard" being a piss poor excuse... I agree. But I think rewriting code is easy. Rewriting code in a way that customers will like IS HARD.
The problem is that no matter what EA does to the code, there's an element of the customer base that will be highly upset. With a customer base that plays the game for so many diverse reasons, has such a wide set of consumers with varied skill, and such a wide range of opinions about what's already there it's practically IMPOSSIBLE for EA to make us all happy. for example:
If EA does something so players can't RC passes, I'm going to be upset. Not that I RC alot, but it's like a car jack. You never need one til your tire is flat. Removing the ability to user catch any ball would make me REALLY ANGRY. By that same token, many players that aren't as concerned with user catching might be happy about a change that makes the RC impossible.
EA is walking a tight rope between giving us what we want and pissing us off royally. No matter what happens, someone on one side or the other will be upset.
Suppose EA removes the throw/catch anytime passing machanic that simulates both the receiver and the QB sight adjusting the coverage and changing the route - people will be mad. Suppose the leave it in... people will be mad.
Even with the things that we consider 'broken,' if there's a change there will seemingly be something 'broken' on the flip side of the coin. If they change the coverage, it's merely going to open up another way to attack the coverage. If it's blocking, it's going to open up another way to attack the blocking.
It's a constant yin/yang effect. I don't envy EA for the position they are in... If it were merely a matter of rewriting code it would be simple. But it has to make people happy.
I don't know about you but it's tough to keep ONE girlfriend happy... and she likes my 'old code.' I can't imagine pleasing 5 million.
Later