A 3 Year Plan (LONG read)

[WTF]

A 3 year plan. This is a term that most of my basketball gaming brethren have grown accustomed to hearing from EA. From the moment they decided to “reboot” on the next gen consoles with NBA Live 06 for the 360 instead of a direct port ala NBA 2k6, they have continually thrown out a blueprint for a 3 year plan.

Throughout the past 6 years, we have watched Live add in new features, new technology, and new buzzwords that were supposedly an integral part of Live’s 3 year plan, only to watch them do what? Scrap them the following year.

Let’s take a quick look at some of those things:

Live 06- Part 1 of the 3 year plan, new graphics and gameplay engine. Solid foundation for next gen titles to build on for the future. Myself, along with other Hoop heads were hopeful. Graphically, the title could compete with the 2010 titles easily. Very nice looking game. Needed some camera angles, some tweaks to the gameplay and AI, and animations, and you’d have a very nice title.

Live 07- Part 2 of the 3 year plan? Nope, complete reboot. An absolutely anomaly of a basketball game. But they rebooted with the new technology, procedural awareness. This was huge at EA. Showing the likes of coverboy Tracy McGrady following a ball on the screen, while chewing gum. EA was proud of themselves with this game. Foot planting technology. This is the wave of the future EA touted. Showed T-Mac in the practice gym planting his feet, shooting shots. This was the extent of the gameplay that was shown before release, because the product was abysmal.

Live 08- Part 3 of the 1st 3 yr plan, or part 2 of the current plan? Nope, reboot. The foot planting tech was there to an extent. This year, we introduce DNA and go to moves, hot spots. We were able to set up plays to run from all parts of the floor. A very solid foundation for a next gen title finally. No real gimmicks, just a good base for the future of NBA Live.

Live 09-Part 2 of the 3 yr plan that was talked about from inception of Live 08. NBA Live 365 daily, updates the DNA according the real life stats and play. New pick & roll offensive controls, building on a pretty solid NBA Live 08 game. Where did hot spots go? What? Scrapped? Signature play calling, calling plays from anywhere on the floor, still in, so we’re still doing alright. Built upon Live 08? Not according to Devs, this was game 1 of a 3 yr plan again. Wait? What?

Live 10 comes along- Massive strides were made. Gameplay was getting there, and was solid. Animations, although some were quirky, were the best that Live has shown in quite some time. Did they need to be tweaked? Of course they did, but the game was solid. Technically, according to the posts on the board, this was game 2 of that 3 yr plan, and was on the right track. Graphics were updated, gameplay and AI were looking better, control scheme was the best that we had seen in a Live title. Needed some things added in, in game injuries among other big basketball things were needed. They weren’t in 09 because of time… it was the foundation game, I can handle this it missing some features.
Live 10, should have been there. The animations were there, they just didn’t have “time” to implement them properly, so they didn’t put them in. They’ll be in next year.

Live 11… Wait… What? No Live 11? Reboot? From a game that was 1 yr away from being a very solid basketball title. The best basketball offering from EA in a LONG time, rebooted, renamed, rebranded.

Elite 11- Year 1 of a 3 yr plan. Sacrificing graphics for “more control” which is what users and players requested right? Who did? I read almost every thread on OS in the basketball sections, and bar none, the concensus was that Live 10 had the best control scheme of probably any basketball game to date. There were no outcries for a new control scheme, just wanting EA to take what they had, and add to it, and make it the game that we’ve been promised since “next gen” consoles hit. Instead, what do we get? A year 1 title of a 3 year process, again.

Quote: Originally Posted by rEAnimator

Why would you have a problem paying full price for a game that has a plan for the future? That seems like a positive to me. If we had no plan for the future wouldn't that be concerning? Wouldn't you be less likely to invest your time into something that didn't have a clear direction set?

Just wanted to throw this quote in there from rEAnimator. And this is my problem. The problem in paying full price for a game that has a plan for the future, is because that’s what we’ve been doing for the past 5 years, and we still haven’t gotten the game which has all parts of the plan implemented. We’re constantly thrown back to the 1st of a 3 year plan, wondering if we’re ever going to be getting the game that we’ve been promised.

Instead, we get games that get really close to be “there”, and get rebooted. So this year, graphically, supposedly the graphics have taken a hit due to a tradeoff for the controls and “real time physics”. How long is real time physics going to be here? A 1 and done? How about this new miracle control scheme? Gonna be here like those superstar controls of 07. What? Control scheme using the right stick to perform superstar moves? That’s been done before? And scrapped.

I’m tired of paying EA full price for the first 2 years of a 3 year plan, when it’s missing things. The animations are laughable at best this year. No in game injuries, and you don’t seem to see why that’s important. And that’s laughable. When I read that you didn’t know why this was important, I shook my head in disbelief. I gave EA the benefit of the doubt that they knew what was going on, and would implement things that should be in, but I put too much faith forward I guess.

Quote: Originally Posted by stepsix

@convince - there has been user cpu footage posted - detroit oklahoma, oklahoma is cpu controlled... Re: sales driven direction, live 10 was the culmination of building on the engine since 07, the result of which if we're going off sales driven design, was not driving sales in the Live series' direction. 07 was built to utilise next gen hardware, but lacked the next gen experience & perspective that EA now has (not to mention a massive undertaking in one year, larger than 10 -> Elite). Elite definitely has the gamer in mind (control etc etc), but is definitely not attempting to alienate its fan base in the process. I've been part of the series since 06, and trust me, none of you have put in as much time in Live as I have, but I plugged live 10 on thursday, and I couldn't get through a half. I enjoyed Live 10 quite a bit and played online for quite a while after it was released, but the 'visual' quality does not come close to the satisfaction of the gameplay in Elite. That being said, visuals WILL become a focus as this game progresses. I'm not in marketing by any means, and I'm as tired of saying it as you are of hearing it, but if you give the demo enough time to unlearn previous control schemes, personally I think you can see past some of the things you guys are accustomed to in a bball series.

And this is the problem. This is most definitely the problem. You were “building on the same engine since 07. But what’s happening is implementing these game changing features, all of these buzzwords (thanks Jesus) that are designed to sell a game, and then scrapping them, never letting the title fully develop. So what good is building on an engine, when you take a step forward each year, but then remove features the following? It makes no sense.

And now Elite is targeting “the gamer” and not the basketball fans. That’s all good and well. But you’re losing all of the hardcore basketball guys that have been by your product, through rebuilding year after year, never getting to the 3rd year of the 3 yr plan.

And visuals WILL become a focus as this game progresses… at what cost? What are you all going to scrap, to pay more attention to visuals. Why does it always come at the cost of something else, and the everchanging promise of “Oh, it WILL be in there next year, or as the series progresses…”

I’m glad you all are proud of your product. I hope you all achieve your 90+ score on metacritic, since that’s the overall goal. Maybe in 2 more years, Elite will be a title that has ran it’s course of the 3 yr plan finally. Hoops gamers will rejoice, and have a complete game. Maybe…

Sorry OS for my long post. If you've made it this far... I commend you.

[HustlinOwl]

great post, NCAA Basketball scrapped and now half the team working on elite wtf?

[Behindshadows]

Great Post Will, and I agree with what you said! I'm finishing up my long blog with 11 videos and 24 images. That is on this same stuff!

As Vets and supporters of EA Basketball even when the world dogged Live into the ground. Just shows over time, no matter how much you stand by a company, it's still just business and the little people's voice are just voices.

Some heard and many ignored. Love your post man, great job!

[travis72]

Great post and perspective WTF. I do plan on playing the demo but from the vids I have seen this is not to impressive. Last year they gained some ground on the competition but this year IMO they have taken several steps back. I think when it is all said and done we are going to see possibly the best game to date from 1 company and the worst from the other. I think we all no which one is going to be the best game to date with out me saying it, just a long as they got the bugs from last year fixed. If not I might be out of luck this year with true basketball game.

[Shawny1983]

I always enjoy reading your posts WTF. All killer, no filler.

For me though, I feel like I'm not paying full price this year with the inclusion of NBA Jam as a bonus. That easily has a 10-15 dollar value, so if Elite blows, back to Gamestop it'll go.

[WTF]

Quote: Originally Posted by HustlinOwl

great post, NCAA Basketball scrapped and now half the team working on elite wtf?

And this is another point that I wasn't going to bring up, but since you throw it out there, I'll touch base on it a little bit as well.

EA was promoting and interacting with the NCAA Basketball board like crazy before release. Getting everyone hyped up, and this is the 2nd year of a 3 year plan...

Post release, guys start experiencing some crazy freezeups and glitches. The game unplayable to most. EA, come and save us.... let us know what you're doing to fix these problems.

EA?....... EA?.... crickets.

Guys paid good money for a game that was not playable, and not even so much as a response. A few months later we find that the plug has been pulled, no more NCAA basketball. EA has your money, they don't need to support the product after all is said and done. Why take resources away from Elite on those people who already paid for your product? We need to create some new buzzwords that will convince people that Elite is the title to buy. That will make people forget about NCAA's problems. Right? Wrong.

Thanks for reading Hustlin

Quote: Originally Posted by Behindshadows

Great Post Will, and I agree with what you said! I'm finishing up my long blog with 11 videos and 24 images. That is on this same stuff! As Vets and supporters of EA Basketball even when the world dogged Live into the ground. Just shows over time, no matter how much you stand by a company, it's still just business and the little people's voice are just voices. Some heard and many ignored. Love your post man, great job!

What's happenin my brotha? Thanks for the read, I know it was long and drawn out, but I could have went another few pages. Can't wait to see your blog w/ video and image support. You do what you do, always look forward to your comparisons.

Quote: Originally Posted by travis72

Great post and perspective WTF. I do plan on playing the demo but from the vids I have seen this is not to impressive. Last year they gained some ground on the competition but this year IMO they have taken several steps back. I think when it is all said and done we are going to see possibly the best game to date from 1 company and the worst from the other. I think we all no which one is going to be the best game to date with out me saying it, just a long as they got the bugs from last year fixed. If not I might be out of luck this year with true basketball game.

I encourage people to try the demo. If it's for them, then that's great. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from trying out the game for themselves. This has been on my mind since I saw that EA was heading a "different direction" from Live 10.

Thanks for the read and your input as well. GO REDS

[LingeringRegime]

GREAT post WTF. You have articulated what I couldn't put into words. I really enjoyed Live 10, I liked it more than any bball game this gen (even with the cheating AI.) I remember being so surprised when Mike Wang was forced out, because the team decided to go into "another direction."

So true, about the habitual practice of taking features out in future releases. So frustrating and confusing. It is impossible to build on a foundation, when blocks from that foundation keep getting removed.

EDIT: Just read your take on the NCAA Basketball Game, and that pretty much nails it. SMH.

[jaosming]

I've been trying to write something similar to this post about all of the 3 year plans and you couldn't have said it better. Great post man