Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

[bucky60]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

Absolutely not. My position which apparently is so disagreeable here is that there's more to a sports video game than the sport itself. Particularly in a career mode context where the user is actively competing against other teams not only on the field but also via team-building, information about how other teams are constructing their rosters must be at a user's fingertips so he may react appropriately and make informed team-building gameplay decision.

Wouldn't proper roster mechanics be at the top of the list of things that would give a career mode more context. I guess my position, which seems disagreeable to you, is that accurate NFL mechanics, like roster mechanics, and other off season mechanics, bring much more context and depth to a sports video game than FASHION TWEETS.

Let's consider this from the Madden NFL 13 dev cycle perspective for a second. Let's say that instead of the Twitter feed, that no longer exists because instead the team chose to properly implement a one-week waiver period for players with less than four years of NFL experience (no way to implement a 24-hour window in the current weekly setup) and also a practice squad (ostensibly, extra roster spots, but players here are ineligible to play in games and players may only be on the practice squad if they have less than three seasons of league experience). CCM in Madden NFL 13 now no longer has a means of updating players on game results, players of the week, trade occurrences, free agent signings / releases, scouting activities of other teams, and so on. The player now essentially must operate blind as to what other teams do unless he goes digging for information about player movement, trade happenings, etc.

Not sure exactly what this has to do with FASHION TWEETS. And if the information about team transactions and players is that hard to find, then the game is POORLY DESIGNED. I don't have that problem in NBA2K13, and they don't have FASHION TWEETS. Practice squads, contract restructuring, waiver wires, etc are important parts of the NFL team building and team improving strategy and process.

YES it makes the game much better (for a franchise mode). No reason at all why Madden should not have this by now. I could care less about FASHION TWEETS.

Is that really better? I don't think so. Again, my point of view is that the player ought to be kept informed of what's going on in his league, and that's more important than minor roster management nuances, particularly when there's a reasonable fallback option (unrestricted free agency) already in place. Again, waived players automatically revert to free agents after 24 hours (and Madden has no concept of hours), and players on practice squads may be signed by any team to the active roster at any given time, so in both cases the players might as well be free agents. It's an excusable omission, IMO, and a low-priority feature to implement. I completely understand and agree with the point of view that there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to implementing a proper career mode.

Low priority? A waiver wire would solve problems with cutting players just to immediately sign them for lower contracts. Also, allowing true contract restructuring would be a significant feature and not a "minor management nuance". These things are important to team building strategies. Much more important than FASHION TWEETS.

I'm starting to believe that you're not trolling and you really believe that FASHION TWEETS are more important than more accurately portraying how the NFL and teams operate which would provide much greater off season depth and add greatly to off season strategy.

[LingeringRegime]

So basically it is a underhanded message to people who are demanding authentic details in their game?

Status quo Ftw.

[SmashMan]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

...he's arguing from a pro-fake Twitter feed stance, not specifically from a pro-UniWatch inclusion stance.

If you're going to argue against it, it'd be fair to not over-simplify his end of it.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

First, basically what SmashMan said. I'm talking about the Twitter feed as a whole at this point, not just the addition of the UniWatch guy (ostensibly, the addition of content to the feature, I could not care less what it is for the purposes of the point I've been trying to make). As you have done on previous occasions, you're deliberately twisting my words in an attempt to make my point of view sound preposterous and ridiculous, something I really wish you would stop doing.

Wouldn't proper roster mechanics be at the top of the list of things that would give a career mode more context. I guess my position, which seems disagreeable to you, is that accurate NFL mechanics, like roster mechanics, and other off season mechanics, bring much more context and depth to a sports video game than FASHION TWEETS.

Context (n) - the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.

The inclusion of any roster management mechanic doesn't add or subtract anything from the context of a simulated world within a video game. Any feature added typically to enhance the presentation of the mode - in this case, the Twitter feed - adds context by building up the artificial world the video game is attempting to simulate. It adds a purpose - if only an artificial one - to what the user is doing. This is similar to the robust non-basketball feature set of NBA 2K such as the shoe editor, Nike endorsements, My Player billboards, postgame interviews, etc. etc. None of those features are basketball-related, but they add to the atmosphere of the game and improve the game as a whole. The MyPlayer mode in NBA 2K succeeds so well because there are so many features which add context such as what I listed above in addition to a great-playing game of basketball. Neither side of the coin succeeds in delivering the feature on its own.

This is why I support the Twitter feed in Madden. It adds context. It adds a purpose to what I'm doing by providing information and narrative.

And if the information about team transactions and players is that hard to find, then the game is POORLY DESIGNED.

You, myself, this message board, the GameChangers, and Josh Looman himself all agree that a proper transaction log is a glaring omission from the first iteration of CCM. Though I have no inside knowledge one way or the other, I would like to think that its inclusion is a high-priority item in Madden NFL 25, given that it was right up there with player editing and fantasy draft with regard to highly-publicized omissions from the first iteration of the mode.

I wholeheartedly agree that the user interface in Connected Career mode could use improvement and have stated repeatedly in this thread and elsewhere that poor UI is my biggest problem with the mode.

Low priority? A waiver wire would solve problems with cutting players just to immediately sign them for lower contracts. Also, allowing true contract restructuring would be a significant feature and not a "minor management nuance". These things are important to team building strategies. Much more important than FASHION TWEETS.

I'm not sure you understand what waivers are in an NFL context. To reiterate, waivers don't come into play for any NFL player with over four years of NFL experience, thus it doesn't accomplish what you are saying it will. Players with more than four years of experience immediately become free agents at the termination of their contracts. The mechanic is only relevant for younger players whose contracts are terminated, and waived young players typically only get claimed if there is an interested team and the player has a favorable salary cap hit for the current year. Further, since Madden doesn't simulate the progression of a franchise with a proper calendar, rather using a weekly time progression, the proper 24-hour waiver window cannot be implemented; if a player is unclaimed on waivers after 24 hours, he becomes a free agent. As such, it can make sense for a young player to hit free agency immediately in the video game.

The omission of the waiver wire if nowhere near as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. Would it be nice if it were there? Sure. Can Madden get away without it? Absolutely.

[bucky60]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

First, basically what SmashMan said. I'm talking about the Twitter feed as a whole at this point, not just the addition of the UniWatch guy (ostensibly, the addition of content to the feature, I could not care less what it is for the purposes of the point I've been trying to make). As you have done on previous occasions, you're deliberately twisting my words in an attempt to make my point of view sound preposterous and ridiculous, something I really wish you would stop doing.

This thread is about TWITTER FASHION. I haven't made any comments about twitter in general. Just TWITTER FASHION. I'm not the one twisting anything. Even when twitter was introduced last year I didn't make any comments about it. I'm commenting about the THREAD TOPIC.

The inclusion of any roster management mechanic doesn't add or subtract anything from the context of a simulated world within a video game. Any feature added typically to enhance the presentation of the mode - in this case, the Twitter feed - adds context by building up the artificial world the video game is attempting to simulate. It adds a purpose - if only an artificial one - to what the user is doing. This is similar to the robust non-basketball feature set of NBA 2K such as the shoe editor, Nike endorsements, My Player billboards, postgame interviews, etc. etc. None of those features are basketball-related, but they add to the atmosphere of the game and improve the game as a whole. The MyPlayer mode in NBA 2K succeeds so well because there are so many features which add context such as what I listed above in addition to a great-playing game of basketball. Neither side of the coin succeeds in delivering the feature on its own.

Are you Bill Clinton? You pulling that "defining what is is" stuff on us? How about "building up the artificial world" by building up the things that are relevant and important to the NFL and NFL off season? Stuff that's missing in madden.

This is why I support the Twitter feed in Madden. It adds context. It adds a purpose to what I'm doing by providing information and narrative.

And proper roster management/off season/financials adds much more of a purpose to building and running an NFL team than fake twitter feeds. I have nothing against twitter being added. I have something against significant aspects of the NFL being incomplete or non existent and adding twitter before other more important aspects of the NFL have been added.

You, myself, this message board, the GameChangers, and Josh Looman himself all agree that a proper transaction log is a glaring omission from the first iteration of CCM. Though I have no inside knowledge one way or the other, I would like to think that its inclusion is a high-priority item in Madden NFL 25, given that it was right up there with player editing and fantasy draft with regard to highly-publicized omissions from the first iteration of the mode.

A proper transaction log is just one of many glaring omissions in Madden.

I'm not sure you understand what waivers are in an NFL context. To reiterate, waivers don't come into play for any NFL player with over four years of NFL experience, thus it doesn't accomplish what you are saying it will.

It does make madden come closer to how the actual NFL operates. And it would make a difference in the game for players with 4 years or less of experience.

Players with more than four years of experience immediately become free agents at the termination of their contracts. The mechanic is only relevant for younger players whose contracts are terminated, and waived young players typically only get claimed if there is an interested team and the player has a favorable salary cap hit for the current year. Further, since Madden doesn't simulate the progression of a franchise with a proper calendar, rather using a weekly time progression, the proper 24-hour waiver window cannot be implemented; if a player is unclaimed on waivers after 24 hours, he becomes a free agent. As such, it can make sense for a young player to hit free agency immediately in the video game.

There are ways of simulating an order that teams are allowed to claim these players, even in a week to week advancement.

The omission of the waiver wire if nowhere near as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. Would it be nice if it were there? Sure. Can Madden get away without it? Absolutely.

And how CM Hooe of you to ignore all the other things I mentioned and just focus on one thing. And how you ignore that I've only been commenting on how useless and unimportant TWITTER FASHION is. Heck, I wouldn't even care about twitter fashion if EA/Tib didn't produce such an incomplete game. I wouldn't care one way or the other if NBA2K14 had twitter fashion. I would just chuckle at it. But I wouldn't care. Why? Because NBA2K13 is a much more polished game. Madden, this entire gen console, has been greatly disappointing. At this point, adding TWITTER FASHION is just frustrating.

[roadman]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

I don't really think anyone thinks EA is going to cut gameplay resources because of this twitter fluff announcement. I just think people feel like they are being kicked in the nuts when this stuff gets what most people feel is undue attention.

This can be blamed on the media, though, not EA.

I think people want to lash out at EA for something they didn't market or so it appears.

[SmashMan]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

This can be blamed on the media, though, not EA.

I think people want to lash out at EA for something they didn't market or so it appears.

Exactly. This came from UniWatch, not EA.

I'd guess whatever new personalities have been added are just going to be listed in a random hype blog post in the middle of the summer with little, if any, fanfare. As it is, people are always looking to the future and without actual game news yet, minor notes like this get blown entirely out of proportion.

[SmashMan]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

And how CM Hooe of you to ignore all the other things I mentioned and just focus on one thing. And how you ignore that I've only been commenting on how useless and unimportant TWITTER FASHION is. Heck, I wouldn't even care about twitter fashion if EA/Tib didn't produce such an incomplete game. I wouldn't care one way or the other if NBA2K14 had twitter fashion. I would just chuckle at it. But I wouldn't care. Why? Because NBA2K13 is a much more polished game. Madden, this entire gen console, has been greatly disappointing. At this point, adding TWITTER FASHION is just frustrating.

I have to ask, since you single out the phrase 'Twitter fashion' - your opposition is only to UniWatch being added to the list of Madden's Twitter personalities?

There seems to be a disconnect between the point/counterpoint you guys have going on.

[Scribe1980]

Madden is a mess. Lukas writes a good column on ESPN.com, but if I wanted to read his stuff I'd be doing that, not sitting in front of the PS3.

Madden will never again be EA's flagship game. It has been passed permanently by FIFA, and Tiburon desperately responds to the game's growing irrelevance with silly crap like this.

[ubernoob]

I'm taking this one a bit off topic here, but I find it humorous that FIFA is always mentioned yet it has the same things going for it that Madden does. The license and good graphics. Granted they have gotten better, but its still an arcade game of soccer.

Run down the flank and cross it into the middle. That's what FIFA was and still is to some extent.

[bucky60]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

I have to ask, since you single out the phrase 'Twitter fashion' - your opposition is only to UniWatch being added to the list of Madden's Twitter personalities?

There seems to be a disconnect between the point/counterpoint you guys have going on.

I'm staying on topic. The "TWITTER FASHION" being added over some incredibly significant improvements that are either incomplete or totally missing in Madden and have been missing or incomplete for an entire decade or more is insulting, frustrating and infuriating.

I never posted a frustration or complaint about twitter being added even though it's more fluff over substance, which is still frustrating. But blanking "TWITTER FASHION" just completely jumps the shark.

Our point/counter point disconnect happens quite frequently. Someone posts something, then "somebody else" counters with something kind of related but logically outside of the original point to try and disprove the point.

I'm getting used to it.

[roadman]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

I'm staying on topic. The "TWITTER FASHION" being added over some incredibly significant improvements that are either incomplete or totally missing in Madden and have been missing or incomplete for an entire decade or more is insulting, frustrating and infuriating.

I never posted a frustration or complaint about twitter being added even though it's more fluff over substance, which is still frustrating. But blanking "TWITTER FASHION" just completely jumps the shark.

Our point/counter point disconnect happens quite frequently. Someone posts something, then "somebody else" counters with something kind of related but logically outside of the original point to try and disprove the point.

I'm getting used to it.

Bucky, I'm one that didn't like much about 13, but I find it difficult to rail on EA for this one because they didn't market or break this story.

If they did, I'd be all over this one.

It just seems too easy to point fingers at EA, but in reality, they didn't break this story.

I highly doubt marketing wanted this story leaked as a front runner to thier upcoming released information regarding Madden 25.

Any news, whether it's about fake Twitter feeds, real refs, or helmet to helmet hits will be put out quickly and try to be the first one to break it in media regarding Madden 25.

[cuttingteeth]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

Bucky, I'm one that didn't like much about 13, but I find it difficult to rail on EA for this one because they didn't market or break this story.

If they did, I'd be all over this one.

It just seems too easy to point fingers at EA, but in reality, they didn't break this story.

I highly doubt marketing wanted this story leaked as a front runner to thier upcoming released information regarding Madden 25.

Any news, whether it's about fake Twitter feeds, real refs, or helmet to helmet hits will be put out quickly and try to be the first one to break it in media regarding Madden 25.

True...but then, what has EA done to quell the news with something better? Was it the picture of Andy Reid being photographed from every angle?

[SmashMan]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

True...but then, what has EA done to quell the news with something better? Was it the picture of Andy Reid being photographed from every angle?

Also not news that came from EA. Thinking that EA would release "better" news to offset some people's displeasure with UniWatch saying he'll be in Madden's Twitter feed is odd.

We all know Madden's info release schedule by now, they're not altering it because UniWatch and the Chiefs posted minor news about the game.

[cuttingteeth]

Re: Madden to Feature Uniform Fashion Critic in its Fake Twitter Feed

Also not news that came from EA. Thinking that EA would release "better" news to offset some people's displeasure with UniWatch saying he'll be in Madden's Twitter feed is odd.

We all know Madden's info release schedule by now, they're not altering it because UniWatch and the Chiefs posted minor news about the game.

A marketing department's job is to positively market their product. If some news about their product (no matter where it comes from) does become too big of a negative, they would be within the full liability of their job requirements to quell the news with something else/better/positive. Trust me on this. I see it happen every week. I've made such decisions a few times. In the film industry, it is sometimes as simple as release the "other" stills, maybe the newer teaser/trailer. Other times, it is more complicated in the case of "let's release news of a director's cut/alternate cut/extra footage version and then sell that." So, no, it's not beyond expectation that they can or would release information to keep us more upbeat. I think the more appropriate questioning, now, though, is that if they release absolutely nothing to offset the bad vibes from leaked news thus far, does that mean they don't care...or does it mean they just don't pay attention much after all? Neither one impresses me when, again, I'm someone who sees professional entertainment companies do more concerning projects with far less (independent range) budgets to work with. Guess what that does, though? It kicks it right back into the debate of time/resource usage. Oops.