Madden NFL 12 to Kick Off Another 3-Year Plan

[mjcolosk]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

For 40 years, the Detroit Lions have been unveiling new "3 year plan" regularly.... At their pinnacle they achieved mediocrity.

I fear that Madden may be destined for the same fate.

[hickhitchell33]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

yeah of course it sucks, but whatr else would you rather them say? Lie and say they can turn this around this year, or even next year? The game is rotten to the core, alot of work needs to be done. the 3 year plan sounds realistic to me

[DustinT]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

They aren't starting from scratch guys. It's a pretty new team on the game so they came in and set goals. Let them do their **** and make a game.

Regardless, even if Madden was released and was the greatest video game of all-time (not just sports) people here would still find something to bitch about, like the color of face masks or the tint on Vick's visor.

So just sit back and relax. You're buying this game anyway. We all do.

[Hooe]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Yep.

"Social Loafing":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_loafing

..Hopefully that won't happen.

It's not necessarily even social loafing that's the cause for the diminished productivity.

When a dev house adds ONE new programmer to a project, that programmer has to be brought up to speed on:

• what exists in the current code base and how to properly use it;
• the programming practices, standards, code organization, and paradigms the studio subscribes to;
• and finally, the programmer's own place on the team, i.e. he feels into his spot and gets comfortable interacting with others on his team with related responsibilities.

Beyond that, there's also the debugging aspect; the new programmer, and any programmer ever, is not going to write flawless code on his first try, and as such time will need to be spent to check back on this developer's code, be it writing test cases or holding code reviews or what have you.

There's a number of hidden costs here, and though the mentioned social phenomenon is a concern, I'd contend the programming logistics concerns are greater. Again, though, this isn't EA's first time around the block; I'm sure they've taken all this into account when making this decision.

For those interested, there's an entire book dedicated to this issue.

[BezO]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

yeah of course it sucks, but whatr else would you rather them say?

For my personal preference & curiosity, I'd like specifics. "By 2012, we'll have much more realistic animations & player interactions. For example, edge rushing & double teams on gunners will look like what you see on Sundays."

In other words, my problem is with the 3-year plan being a secret. Let me know what I can look forward to. Let me know the direction you plan on taking. Let me know what you can or want to accomplish for the 2012 release.

A 3-year plan can mean anything. How do we know where they plan to be at the end of those 3 years? How do we know they're on schedule?

[Bgamer90]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

It's not necessarily even social loafing that's the cause for the diminished productivity.

When a dev house adds ONE new programmer to a project, that programmer has to be brought up to speed on:

• what exists in the current code base and how to properly use it;
• the programming practices, standards, code organization, and paradigms the studio subscribes to;
• and finally, the programmer's own place on the team, i.e. he feels into his spot and gets comfortable interacting with others on his team with related responsibilities.

Beyond that, there's also the debugging aspect; the new programmer, and any programmer ever, is not going to write flawless code on his first try, and as such time will need to be spent to check back on this developer's code, be it writing test cases or holding code reviews or what have you.

There's a number of hidden costs here, and though the mentioned social phenomenon is a concern, I'd contend the programming logistics concerns are greater. Again, though, this isn't EA's first time around the block; I'm sure they've taken all this into account when making this decision.

For those interested, there's an entire book dedicated to this issue.

Yeah don't get me wrong. There's multiple reasons why it might not turn out to be a good thing. I was just using social loafing as an example since it states the fact that sometimes members of groups put less effort into tasks as more people getting added to the group.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I think it is a wise move for the long term to go back to the drawing board. They have no competition, so they can afford to make slow, deliberate progress.

Especially if a new physics engine get implemented.

[LiquorLogic]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

It's not necessarily even social loafing that's the cause for the diminished productivity.

When a dev house adds ONE new programmer to a project, that programmer has to be brought up to speed on:

• what exists in the current code base and how to properly use it;
• the programming practices, standards, code organization, and paradigms the studio subscribes to;
• and finally, the programmer's own place on the team, i.e. he feels into his spot and gets comfortable interacting with others on his team with related responsibilities.

Beyond that, there's also the debugging aspect; the new programmer, and any programmer ever, is not going to write flawless code on his first try, and as such time will need to be spent to check back on this developer's code, be it writing test cases or holding code reviews or what have you.

There's a number of hidden costs here, and though the mentioned social phenomenon is a concern, I'd contend the programming logistics concerns are greater. Again, though, this isn't EA's first time around the block; I'm sure they've taken all this into account when making this decision.

For those interested, there's an entire book dedicated to this issue.

Everything you've said is a possibility, but is everything you've said a probability or certainty ? I would say no. What is a certainty is that if they just promoted someone, who was under Ian, from within, and just kept on rolling, there would very little chance for a positive change.

For now, this is great news. It signals not just a change in leadership, because last time, in my opinion, that got us nowhere. It also signals a change in philosophy.

[spankdatazz22]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I think it is a wise move for the long term to go back to the drawing board. They have no competition, so they can afford to make slow, deliberate progress.

Especially if a new physics engine get implemented.

It they're asking people to wait three more years, then I'd view a physics system as a baseline must. I don't see how anything less than better-than-what's-come-before-it should be accepted; Madden/NCAA 11 should've been the best most feature-rich football games to date by default.

[Dazraz]

Well then guys, let's get ready for another 2 years of minimal upgrades, then in the 3rd year another staffing crisis followed by a brand new 3 year plan. We get it EA. While you have the exclusive license to the NFL you in turn have the exclusive right to screw us year on year.

[Broncos86]

Re: Madden NFL 12 to Kick Off Another 3-Year Plan

At this rate, I might only be purchasing NCAA 12 this year. The demo for Madden will need to blow my socks off.

[Hooe]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

Everything you've said is a possibility, but is everything you've said a probability or certainty ? I would say no. What is a certainty is that if they just promoted someone, who was under Ian, from within, and just kept on rolling, there would very little chance for a positive change.

For now, this is great news. It signals not just a change in leadership, because last time, in my opinion, that got us nowhere. It also signals a change in philosophy.

I was referring more to the doubling of the size of the Madden team more than anything else. Obviously anyone who was internally promoted already has an idea as to what is going on, at least I would hope

[hickhitchell33]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

So just sit back and relax. You're buying this game anyway. We all do.

Well that's false.

[LiquorLogic]

Re: Another 3-Year Plan

I was referring more to the doubling of the size of the Madden team more than anything else. Obviously anyone who was internally promoted already has an idea as to what is going on, at least I would hope

That's what I was referring to also; it doesn't guarantee success by any means, but it shows, at least, that they're devoting more resources towards development. A bigger development team costs more money.

[jaynny]

mike wang left nba live....nba live got scrapped........we had nba 2k to beautifully save basketball gaming................Ian leaves madden in the middle of development......i guess ncaa will save us!!!!