Full game w/ EA Designers (Colts vs. Vikings)

[Eddie1967]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush

When you see posts like these from someone who "just signed up", it's just a troll. Someone who signed up just to ruffle feathers. Ignore it. 95% of the feedback given here has been high quality. And the hate that EA is getting now is NOTHING like it had been before. It's much toned down. Don't let some loser with a keyboard stop you from communicating with the people that genuinely want to see a top notch next gen football game on the market.

Loser? and Troll? I think your being harsh. He may have come on a little strong but calling him names is really not helping IMO. I'm just saying.............

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gridiron

As as far as what you do for EA, I know you deal with gameplay. That's at least better than zero. And believe me, the scrutiny you get on a message board about Madden is nothing compared to what I have to get daily on my job, and I have to deal with it face-to-face from corporate managers who have never touched a piece of software in their lives. I wish you well.

First, that was a little unnecessary don't ya think?

Second, how is you getting critcized by corporate managers who never touched a piece of software any different then Ian getting criticized by people who have never developed a video game?

And finally, I am sure that Ian has to deal with corporate bosses.

[Ian_Cummings_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flamehead

Ian, please bear with me and I ask for your patience, but I'm confused by your answer. Does this mean that penalties appear to be non-existent this year? I've not seen any but the "delay of game" in your video and your response above confuses me given your response here in the Q&A thread: "Will the sliders work!!!! Years past there has been little or no difference where you moved the slider. Take penalties for example. You could turn them all the way up and you would still be lucky to get one or two per game. Why even have them if they don't do anything. (dbrandon) In the example of penalty sliders, they didn't do much because our penalty chances were extremely low (a design call since we didn't have penalty specific animations). Now that we have real-time penalties with animations those sliders should be much more effective. However if there are other sliders that you don't think are working then please post and let me know." Are non-penalites an issue this year?

Sorry man, I rushed through that answer.

I can't say off hand if sliders work but I can test them out on Monday. As for "waiting for numbers", that's me not elaborating on the fact that we can actually collect data from total amounts of penalties per games played once the game hits the shelves and scale it from there. I have had games with 7-10 penalties before, but this one just happened to have zero. I'm not totally positive on it though (as you guys know I was off the team for the last 3 months of finaling).

So in summary, I can't say for sure if the numbers are perfect. Will it be 15 a game? Probably less than that for the general fun-factor (again something we could mess with next year for All-Madden/hardcore mode). But I hope there is definitely an improvement. I don't want to commit yet without testing though...so this one might be a wait and see approach.

[pjv31]

Ok gentlemen lets relax and get back on topic. The mods will handle what needs to be handled.

[Nza]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush

When you see posts like these from someone who "just signed up", it's just a troll. Someone who signed up just to ruffle feathers. Ignore it. 95% of the feedback given here has been high quality. And the hate that EA is getting now is NOTHING like it had been before. It's much toned down. Don't let some loser with a keyboard stop you from communicating with the people that genuinely want to see a top notch next gen football game on the market.

I don't get it, was he wrong? Isn't it true EA with Madden don't seem very interested in the smaller, more subtle features that add up to a special game? I for one think you can largely point to the lacking of smaller details as a reason why Madden had/has been going down hill. In another thread Ian mentioned camera men on sidelines actually pointing their lenses at the action was basically a feature too small to concern them. By itself it's a very small feature that shouldn't get a high priority, but these things add up in the big picture and it just doesn't seem to me either like EA really embrace that.

It's unfortunate post count comes into it, when the poster clearly put some time and energy into the post. It wasn't the best way to get his point across but the point remains - Madden has lacked the finer details. I mean when you see a field with no refs - no refs to run over to the goalline pile to see where the ball is and then throw their arms up into the TD symbol as the crowd roars at the decision, or when you see players on the sidelines just standing there oblivious to the action, particularly the action that spills over into the sideline, it all just takes you out of the moment. It's smaller stuff like this that, if you get it right, can add up to a special experience. We're talking next gen here, the 4th edition approaching, and it seems the series has gone substantially backwards with smaller features that don't show up on every play compared to the last gen game, which was lacking in this department itself. It's really not that hard to see why many believe the new game just doesn't have a soul - things that feel robotic and without personality usually don't.

[ba11innnnn]

Quote: Originally Posted by pjv31

Ok gentlemen lets relax and get back on topic. The mods will handle what needs to be handled.

Agreed.

Ian,

if you could give 08 a grade out of 10 and 09 a grade what would it be.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

Sorry man, I rushed through that answer. I can't say off hand if sliders work but I can test them out on Monday. As for "waiting for numbers", that's me not elaborating on the fact that we can actually collect data from total amounts of penalties per games played once the game hits the shelves and scale it from there. I have had games with 7-10 penalties before, but this one just happened to have zero. I'm not totally positive on it though (as you guys know I was off the team for the last 3 months of finaling). So in summary, I can't say for sure if the numbers are perfect. Will it be 15 a game? Probably less than that for the general fun-factor (again something we could mess with next year for All-Madden/hardcore mode). But I hope there is definitely an improvement. I don't want to commit yet without testing though...so this one might be a wait and see approach.

thanks for the clarification...

[Psyblast]

Quote: Originally Posted by pjv31

Ok gentlemen lets relax and get back on topic. The mods will handle what needs to be handled.

You put it nicely.

I'll put it another way.

Some people in this thread should be absolutely ashamed of their behavior. Some of the conduct in here is disgraceful, and if it continues, I'm going to deal out more red cards than a soccer referee on steroids.

Okay?

Okay.

[Ian_Cummings_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by ba11innnnn

Agreed. Ian, if you could give 08 a grade out of 10 and 09 a grade what would it be.

Awesome question!

Here's my grades on NextGen:

06 = 6.0
07 = 6.5
08 = 7.5 (7.9 after the patch)
09 = 8.8

Will be curious how the reviews rank us here too...I wonder how close I'll be.

Those remaining 1.2 points will be tough to come by (i.e. I don't think anything is going to be easy to add anymore since we're strapped on resources, RAM, etc), but that's why I'm in this industry...I f'ing love a challenge!

[pjv31]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

Awesome question! Here's my grades on NextGen: 06 = 6.0 07 = 6.5 08 = 7.5 (7.9 after the patch) 09 = 8.8 Will be curious how the reviews rank us here too...I wonder how close I'll be. Those remaining 1.2 points will be tough to come by (i.e. I don't think anything is going to be easy to add anymore since we're strapped on resources, RAM, etc), but that's why I'm in this industry...I f'ing love a challenge!

I pretty much agree with those scores, I was kinda hoping you would say at least a 9.0 for 09 though, But hey its still over a whole point better than 08. Thats encouraging.