Welcome to Peter Moore's Official Blog

Common Sense said:

P.S. Random thought – do you think we might have to do a running change on the Madden packaging this year??

---

And you thought putting the retired guy would be a way to get around the whole Madden curse thing. :-)

fk915 said:

Peter, when you will tell the fans about Cricket series??

donbincente said:

who test these games???

EA is the worst company in the biz. we play 60 backs to be beta testers. & all we get is spin.

NCAA 09 is going back to the store.

if i did this crappy of job i would be fired. how many years til you get this right.

gamer beware

Disenchanted said:

Mr. Moore,

I have never felt the need to post comments on a forum, blog or otherwise.  Nor have I ever been completely upset by an EA Sports project.  I take video games for what they are: 2 dimensional, video games that attempt to simulate real-life occurrences.  However, after purchasing NCAA Football 09, I have been moved to question the competency and consumer-concern of yourself and EA Sports.  I have no doubts that you and the executives at EA are content with the business results of the game (you will always turn a profit because most of the consumers will always buy NCAA Football 09 year after year) however I am curious about whether you are satisfied with introducing a broken product to the market.

As a company with the tag phrase "If it's in the game, it's in the game" how can you produce and sell a video game that drastically falls short of consumer expectations.  I have played NCAA Football for years and years and have never been so disappointed.  I am sure that you are more than aware of the issues that your consumers are having with the game, but I am curious as to your realistic strategies to provide recourse to those who are disappointed with the game.  Will a patch fixing the online dynasty issues, the roster issues, the sliders issues be available in a decent amount of time.  Waiting until December is completely unacceptable for a product that has a shelf-life of a year.  Will the gameplay issues (the total, incomprehensible lack of defense) be fixed?  Unfortunately, I'm convinced that the answer to this is no.

I have never in my life purchased an item and been so utterly disappointed and felt so helpless as to recourse.  I cannot get a refund and I have not seen where EA Sports has addressed these issues in a candid, honest, upfront manner.  

Your feedback to these concerns (which are shared by a large segment of your consumers) is greatly appreciated, be it through a blog, press release, or direct email.

Thanks for your time and hopefully the concerns that I share with so many will not be ignored.

Lou Garrison said:

To call NCAA Football 09 a disappointment would be an understatement. You should be ashamed and embarrassed to release such a product.

I truly believed that when it was announced that you were going to EA Sports, that we the consumers were finally going to be top priority and be rewarded with the quality finished products that we deserve. How wrong was I?

The fatal flaw with the profile save in Nascar 09, that wipes every gamers progress and save in the game, is the worst example of incompetence that I've ever heard of in the video game industry.

You do have something going for you though, you have managed to get every major gaming website and magazine to mysteriously "overlook" all of these flaws and hand out high ratings for your games.

Please explain to us why the "last generation" of games from EA Sports were of much higher quality, more reliable, more realistic, and so much more fun to play?

Joe said:

I wouldn't expect any responses to the concerns listed here.  Hopefully, the pattern won't repeat itself with Madden '09 and Tiger Woods '09, but I think we all know the answer to that question.

I would point you toward the following site where NCAA is taken apart step by step for the crap it really is:  dubiousquality.blogspot.com

Monopolies are a wonderful thing!

Kamilla said:

E3 just needs to figure out what it wants to be.  If it's supposed to be for business, then hold a business summit.  If it's supposed to be a mainstream fishnet to rope in the USA Today fluff pieces, then focus on that.

But the reality is, and has been for a long time now, that the largest and most effected group of observers for the event is the ravenous hardcore gamers who continually refresh, and eventually crash, the entire known web of internet gaming sites.

These people hardly got any tangible benefit from the million dollar surround screens at the old E3 booths outside of quick tour videos and snapshots.  That's not what they miss.  What they do miss is seeing dozens of screens, announcements, coverage, and press releases for never-before-seen games.

If the gaming industry really wants to focus in on the one aspect that "worked," it was going from hero to zero through the power of an amazing demo at E3.  These last few years, there just wasn't enough "new" to actually dazzle the crowd.  EA had some fantastic titles this year - one of your strongest pressers in years.  However, there really didn't seem to be anything done that couldn't have been handled at a private event or other arrangement.

As you said yourself, "go big or go home," but the ESA can't really accomplish that one way or the other.  It will come down to the publishers themselves deciding whether or not they want to choke up their PR machine just long enough to let that next bombshell drop in conjunction with a scheduled event like E3 or not.

Without those publisher bombshells dropping, E3 will continue to feel soulless to the hardcore gamer community one way or the other.

ramos said:

fifa09 is a best game. i like very much but i can in portugal on 3 october

ramos said:

fifa is a best game

Karim said:

I just hope that NHL 09 is not as bad as NCAA Football 09

fat dave said:

hey pal, instead of trying to save e3, why dont you do something about getting ncaa 09 fixed, speed up the patch, or get new testers, or do something. i think you owe everyone who bought ncaa 09.

George said:

We are your beta testers admit that much please.  We will be for 10 years or so like the Ps3 Model to NCAA09.  You have the base down now you can tweak the game by adding stuff like gameplanning. 10 plays to boost player ratings during play.  Or how about summer drills a hands on approach to player develpment.

We pay each years so you can give us the next installment of game that won't be done if ever and when it is ps4 will be out to tease the stupid and you will make unfuffiled promises for the first 6 years.

As for NCAA09  great game play   a lil out of control on what special move my running back will use.  But the pocket protection and throwing to open reciever dead on.  But are my sliders working I can play with the H-man hmm..

But atmosphere and game play your a joke MR . MOORE games are 10-yards first and repeat. you need to add the BIg game commentary. Louder crowds for those games. who knows but they must feel different.  Had you gave us Legend camera in dynasty you would have scored a 15 on this game the rest could be crap..

I have played this game 6-7 hours in practice and mini games just working on skill I played last year model 2 hours and was bored.. so yes you have improved just don't shove it at us like its' the end alll ,long way to go..

But  NBA DNA or MMO hockey I hope I can see some really cool stuff for future.... GIVE me game planning  not random plays. I want to pound pound the ball in the middle and wear out defensive line. (players holding hips something i was promised years ago)  I want a way to call play offense is running like guess pitch feature in baseball.. Have you never been to a game and heard sweep    sweep         or dive by  defense .      Or even  call out a special block on the defender getting ready to blitz.

I want to play with James Aldrige       Robert Hughes  Armando Allen On ND.. Please hurry up.. Thank you

cashreese said:

Sir,

Please note that I am an NCAA fan to the bone. I have played every one of them for hundreds of hours. I would like absolutely nothing more than to say that this is the best game I own.

But I cannot.

The game is broken. It should never have been released. Whatever money EA thinks it may have made here by releasing a buggy game on schedule is incredibly short-sighted.

Perhaps there is the impression that, regardless of quality, there are enough of us who will buy your EA product every year. To a certain extent, that may be true. I'm sure you have better numbers than I on this.

All I can say is that I would consider myself one of EA's most dedicated year-to-year customers.

I will no longer be one of them.

Whatever that may mean to you. I wanted you to know that for you to have botched a game badly enough for me, one of the most dedicated consumers you could possibly have, to say that is not fickle. I am not impossible to please. A squeaky wheel.

I was one of your loyalest customers.

It is a warning to EA Mr. Moore. The customer does not have endless toleration for shoddy product. I hope the lesson is learned.

Sadly,

cashreese

P.S. -- If you want to solve these problems, hire this guy:

dubiousquality.blogspot.com/.../ncaa-09-360-gameplay-discussion-2.html

Daniel said:

Peter,

I agree with you completely.  I didn't realize it at first, because I did not attend E3, but the event was a major flop.  After seeing what sites like Joystiq and Kotaku were saying about it, I was shocked to know how disorganized the convention truly was.  I know that in past years it had been hard for journalists to keep up with the frenetic activity of E3, but it seems as if the ESA spent about an hour planning the event.

Everyone knows that Nintendo flopped during their press briefing, and I thought that it was because they were catering to the mainstream "Good Morning America" crowd, but as it turns out, about a fraction of that media was even at the event.  The hardcore gamers left the conference with dismay and Nintendo didn't even get their message out to the demographic they were aiming for.  Is this Nintendo's fault for being so short sighted, or the fault of the ESA's incompetence?

I consider myself a video game journalist and I used to fantasize about attending E3 and soaking up all the gaming goodness.  I understand that the event became too big for its own good, but it's almost reverted itself to being what it used to be.  E3 forced itself back into the little corner that it was allotted at CES back in the late 80s and the early 90s.  I've seen the pictures and I felt almost a sense of dread.  Is the industry itself devolving? Are there too many conventions?

I would hope for the latter, but at this point I can't make a clear cut decision.  I almost wonder if eventually a reliving of the crash of 1983 is the next step.  I know that the industry is healthy and there is a completely new audience, but if you look at it, it's almost the next step to arriving to parity.  I don't consider myself an expert analyst by any means, but the Wii is a fad and the general public will lose interest in it if Nintendo keeps shilling out these family friendly games.  They are good games in and of themselves, but when that is your primary target audience, what happens with the other half?  It is the gamers themselves that have been loyal to Nintendo and they got totally shafted.  The term alienation cannot even come close to describing the way gamers feel at this point.

Nintendo wasn't the only company to disappoint, Sony and Microsoft didn't exactly pass with flying colors.  Their presence at E3 was average, if not mediocre.  Microsoft didn't know exactly who their audience was and they didn't bring anything relatively new to the table.  Yes, FF XIII was a huge announcement and their partnership with Square-Enix should bring hope to putting a foothold in Japan.  But I'm sure there are plenty of games out there that should be announced to generate excitement.  Nobody hardly knows anything about Alan Wake and nothing was said about Peter Jackson's Halo project?  Sony did a good job of showing off Resistance, LBP and Killzone 2, but do they have anything else that seems even remotely compelling?  Their DC MMO is a joke.  It's the Madden version of City of Heros.  People will buy it simply because of the names attached to it.  Secondly, their new online shooter with something like 256 player online battles has me skeptical.  I see that number being trimmed down at that point because that's what happened the last time Sony made lofty announcements.

Anyways, this turned out a lot longer than I intended, but I'd like to know what you think the the solution to E3's problem is.

Thanks,

Daniel

Erik said:

Mr. Moore,

I too would like voice my displeasure with NCAA Football 09.

There is not much I could possibly add to the discussion that hasn't already been said, however to say that "... in all my years in the industry I’ve never seen a game with zero bugs." is a complete cop out and a slap in the face to the thousands of buyers of your products.

I will respond to say that "in all MY years of buying and, in most cases, enjoying video games I have never seen SO MANY bugs in NCAA Football 09."

Understandably with a company as large as EA or even a division as large as EA Sports, the fault could not possibly lie with yourself, but the buck must stop somewhere.

Sir, please find those responsible for this egregious error, sometimes called a video game, ask that they apologize to your fans, the life-blood of your company, and take every possible route to fix the long list of problems. Not because it is an easy thing to do, but because it is the right thing to do.

Erik

A NCAA Football series fan from way back

ekleinunt at gmail dot com

Jonah Falcon said:

www.gamestooge.com/.../editorial-peter-moore-brings-out-the-bs

You simply can NOT do 6 month development cycles any more. Period. End of story. If you want to issue a $29.99 upgrade that patches the previous year's game, fine.

But 6 month dev time = impossible.

EF said:

Is NCAA 09 a high priority for EA Sports?

The head of EA Sports didn't write anything about the game in his blog during the month and half leading up to the game's release.  This is the 2nd biggest launch for EA Sports behind Madden and no mention of it.  Maybe this shows just what Peter Moore thinks of the game and how much support it gets from the corporate entity that is EA and EA Sports.  Pure arrogance might be the case here if EA feels that consumers will buy any game with NCAA xx on it.  They did it with Tiger Woods on the PC so why would they change their practices now?  A GameBreaker 09 would be welcome right now but I don't see that happening as long as EA has the license.

I noticed that when I first booted up NCAA 09 that the menus looked like 07.  This was a very bad sign since I was hoping that EA Sports was back on track making good games once again.  The menus were clear and easy to read last year but this year they are not.

I haven't had the problems that most have had with this game.  This is NCAA 08.5 and I feel that it almost takes a step backward instead of a step forward.  I should have bought the PS2 version again.  I bought the PS2 version the previous two years alongside the 360 version because the game was half done on the next-generation consoles.  This was understandable since EA Sports wanted to recreate all the stadiums via satellites.  The stadiums look really good.  The PS2 version still has better features.  The summer drills need to make the jump to next-generation.  How hard is this to do?  The division 2 schools need actual names.  Nobody says that you have to recreate their stadiums or recreate their teams.  There will be griping from some schools if you don't but it won't be like screwing up Ohio State's stadium and hearing from lots of Buckeye fans.  Calm down Buckeye fans.  I am not saying that this has ever happened.  Just a fictious example.  Do away with FCS South/North business for good.

I would like to see better options in Campus Legend.  If I am a 5 star HB, then let me have the option of going to a school that runs the ball more.  I am playing Campus Legend as a HB and my team gives me very few carries despite being the starter.  I catch the ball more a receiver and actually have more yards in this category.  Is there an option to transfer?  This would be realistic if a player felt that his talents were being neglected.  The evening activities has been a pleasant surprise but again the PS2 version was better.  I can't judge PS2 version of NCAA 09 but I hope that EA Sports hasn't made too many changes to the old platform.  The PS2 versions made the academics fun.  You could major in Conferences, Stadiums, etc.  The activites in the next-generation are just pushing buttons in a certain order.  Spend time in gym.  GPA drops so spend next day in library to keep GPA from dropping.  This is silly and gets very repetive very fast.  The goals have been vastly expanded which is a pleasant surprise once again.   Good idea but maybe we should break these down by classification.  A bonus of some kind if you beat a senior goal as a freshman.  This could add a challenge.

Dynasty mode is still good but not much changed either.  The quickcall in recruiting is great but can we work it to where I can schedule a visit in the same stroke as a quickcall.  The automated recruiting option is still a joke.  If you let the computer/assistant coaches recruit for you then you will end up with all the 1-stars that you can handle.  Not exactly the caliber of player to build a program with.  Only recruit 4 star and higher would be a better help and if I can tie this to specific positions it will be even better.

The campus atmosphere was advertised heavily.  I only know about Texas A&M and the atmosphere stinks in the NCAA 09 game for A&M.  We don't have cheerleaders.  We have yell leaders in white uniforms.  Get this in the game.  The Aggie War Hymn plays after a score.  This doesn't happen in NCAA 09.  WTF.  Never thought I would type that but how can you screw this up about Texas A&M?  Reveille probably knows that we play this song and she is the dog that serves as our mascot.  I keep thinking that maybe this is played quietly.  Attend an A&M game and you will find that our band is not quiet and we love it that way.  No cannon shooting after scores.  Find a Howitzer and use the sound for it in the game.  Use a picture.  We can do this for the first person shooters but we can't it for the football games.

Enough ranting.  I have listed what you did right and what you did wrong.  Please fix for NCAA 10.  I have been buying this game since it started twenty or so years ago and I don't want to stop buying now.

Darkraven said:

I agree with you about E3.  It was boring, I think I fell asleep watching it on television.  I already knew about most of the games before it took place.  They definitely need to let the actual gamers in there to test the games themselves.  That would be awesome.  But as we all know that will happen when pigs fly.

SameoleSameole said:

Well, you can thank your NCAA 09 team for one thing, they took the attention away from the moaning PC fans.

Your excuse for shoddy products on the PC has always been the variety of hardware configurations to allow for.  So, how do you explain the equally shoddy products with the console versions?  Just another underachieving EA Sports title, regardless of the platform.

Andrew Hoyal said:

I for one agree. I live in England but have always dreamed of attending E3 only to find that it became a industry only event, thus robbing me of an opportunity to attend, and the event of any life it once so obviously had. Open it up again!

Rush21479 said:

Mr. Moore,

E3 is a marketing conference to pump up the video game industry.  A changing thing in society these days is people know when they being marketed to rather just being sold a bill of goods. on fact.  Exciting (or changing) an industry requires a better technology and better products which video games have done very well in the past few years.  Opening up to the general audience is a good thing but people know when they're being sold to.   I own an Xbox and Wii and most consumers think the Wii was the way to go but I play my Xbox worlds more because of the technology and games available.  But it's the PRODUCT that is created what people want. Currently, EA is too busy about acquisition over Take Two than building quality products right now which is your bottom line.

One note I do want to chime in on...EA's product over the past few years has declined in testing, deployment and supports.  It seems like people are upset over NCAA 09 right now.  What about the Franchise crashing in Madden 08 or the Tiger Woods 08 game crashing?  This has become a recurring problem with EA and I think the gamers (if not the industry) are starting to take notice.

TreyTable said:

Sounds like a Tokyo Game Show setting. Good idea. Also bring back the attractive women that hand out merchandise that they really don't know much about. (also the handsome men)

Scott said:

I agree with the philosophy "go big or go home" and someone should have discussed this adage with the companies that attended E3.  As a gamer of 30 years I can tell you that E3 was indeed horrid this year.  Sure there where some nice games shown but 99% of those the majority of games already knew about.  This year was one of the weakest simply because there where no bombshells from anyone.  I believe Microsoft had the best showing but even thier showing was mediocre at best.

I have always looked forward to E3's for the bombshells, flooding of screenshots and videos, release dates, and surprises.   Many of these where either absent or in short supply this year which helped to dampen the mood and give rise to disappointment.  

E3's are great because of the big surprises and bombshells.  You can keep the booth babes, huge speakers, and screens, I just want to know what's coming down the pipe.

Paul said:

Peter,

When your console customers get fed up and sales decline, are you going to make a list of lame excuses or are you going to point the finger at yourselves and make serious changes as a company and turn things around? What’s it going to be?

JimmyB said:

big words from someone that works for EA that just released the buggiest game in history. then again you dont realy care much about quality or customer care do you mister Moore? you didnt care about it at Microsoft, and you dont care about it at EA games. i myself think you're just a con artist with a slimey accent, but hey, thats just me, a simple accountant that enjoys a game at night after work.

EF said:

I think that the title of this blog is very appropriate.  Go big or go home.  EA Sports has certainly not gone big under Peter Moore.  Mr. Moore is p!$$ing too many people off and EA willeventually tell him to go home.  PC gamers are mad at him so he decides to make the NCAA and Nascar gamers mad at him.  What's next for an encore?  A screwed up Madden game?  We all know it is coming.  

I don't blame Moore too much over PC gaming.  I imagine that a EA higher-up said to Moore "Cancel Madden and Tiger Woods."  Moore is very new to this position so he said "I will make it happen."  I suspect that he fought for the PC games but nobody knows for sure and it probably won't be revealed on this blog.  New person in a new job probably did exactly as a bos asked and didn't fight too hard for his product.  

This will all come back to haunt Peter Moore in the future.  Just a prediction.

Diharduncfan said:

Peter,

 Typing on a forum or here is a waste of time.  Until your company learns how to communicate(phone) with the gamers or change the way you beta test your games, YOUR COMPANY WILL KEEP HAVING PROBLEMS WITH YOUR ONLINE GAMES.  I have tried to get you to understand this but you probably look at this and just laugh......

SamiSam said:

so whats a big deal if the game has some gliches ... no game is perfect game ... I dont buy EA Sports every year. they are all same anyway ... wait for NFL 09 and if you dont like then wait till next year for 2010 release. No big deal. You guys should be thankful that there is a game company who release two football games in a year. so play and enjoy ... Even a real football game is not perfect this is just a video game.

Diharduncfan said:

responding back to SamiSam

 You must work for EA with a dumb comment like that.  That's like going to the store and buying something broken.  

 EA sports puts out the worst online games out of all company's out there.  When someone has a better sports game than EA they buy them out.  They will never buy Sony out because if they tried than they would have a MONOPOLY in the sports games.  The one reason there online games have so many glitches and bugs are because they RUSH to put the games out each year.  

Mike Crowell said:

E3 and gaming companies both need to get it in gear.   SO many companies release broken and half finished products it is mind boggling.

NCAA for the 360 and PS3 has problems bad enough but I would downright be embarressed if my company released NCAA for the Wii,  why bother putingt out a piece of trash like that?

Man up and offer everyone a full refund for the Wii version.

Juice lee said:

e3 is sooo boring not just from EA its boring becasue of all the parties involved these presentations suck my advice to EVERYONE  who steps onto that stage do one of 2 things

1 make your charts and graphs something exciting to look at or try not to spend more than 5 minutes discussing them

***2. GET CELEBRITIES TO PRESENT YOUR GAMES

***now I'm not saying I want to see 50 cent presenting madden or the new wii gun periphal for the next resident evil but I know there are celebrities out there who are gamers and can exude a flare into the presentation that would make a boring game like animal crossing a bit more exciting (can you imagine jack black doing the presentation for animal crossing? lol hillairious)

because if reggie (fils-ame) cracks one more lame *** joke hes getting sniped @ the next e3

Samisam said:

"Diharduncfan", I dont work for EA ... I am just saying if you dont like the game dont buy it. Play last years game .. there is always next year, buy the game next year... Why making bug fuss ... is it that hard to understand??

EF said:

We don't expect a perfect game but the next-generation games are severely lacking in the features department.  I expect that the game will be fundamentally sound when it is delivered to me.  A perfect NCAA game will never be delivered and it would take all the fun out of waiting for next.  The improvements are gradual.  Pick up NCAA 99 and where the series has gone.  I wait every and I plan my trip to the store to pick up this game so I don't expect EA Sports to put out a product that is not worth the wait.  

The current game should have been titled NCAA 08: Part 2.  There are improvements and things to look forward to in the future.  The FCS South, North, East, West, Etc. is something that HAS to be addressed next year.  The reason given for the lack of features on the Next-Generation games is that EA Sports had to recreate the stadiums.  They all look gorgeous but how long is EA Sports going to sit on this excuse?  The Summer Drills from the PS2 version could really make the game fun.  The Campus Legend Academics section from the PS2 version could help as well.  I think that Campus Visits would help in Legend mode.  I am not suggesting that all Division 1 college campuses be recreated although that would be super-cool.  Have the recruit tour the offering schools stadiums.  This would be where you could walk around the stadium and picture yourself playing there.  This shouldn't be too hard to do since we have spent the last 2 years recreating stadiums.  Or has it been 3 years?  

Recruiting seems to have a bug in it this year.  I cannot schedule recruits for visits in week 15 although I have games that week and the compuer schools always sign players that week.  I saw someplace that week 15 is labeled Championship Week but the Conference Championship happen the week after week 15.  This is glaring mistake.  The stadium atmosphere was heavily promoted as being the BIG improvemnt this year although for my school it went backwards.  I detailed what was wrong in a earlier post.  I have season tickets to Texas A&M University Football games and this years version of NCAA 09 is an insult to anyone who has ever attended a Texas A&M football game.  This is the only other thing that I wait for every year other than NCAA 09 and I demand that EA apologize for this years version and get it right for NCAA 10/2010 or whatever the he!! it will be called.  

Maybe I do expect perfection from my college football game but that it was keeping me counting down to July, 2010.  I will have this dated marked on my calender as soon as the date is announced and I expect the development team is working towards that date as we speak.  The current EA Sports leader is a joke and he doesn't have the guts to address any controversial issue that might arise on the forums.  He will update in 7 to 10 days as usual so you can tell how high our comments are on his list.  That is OK too since I am also counting down the days until EA Sports gets a real president who is committed to listening to comments left here and responds accordingly.  I have informed the NCAA 09 team of the issues that been presented here and they are working on the problems would be a great response from the president of EA Sports.  No response from Mr. Moore is completely unacceptable and would not be tolerated in normal every day jobs.

CB said:

Never been so disappointed in my life after picking up NCAA 09.  Actually, this only the second time ever that I did not buy on release date.  I had some gift cards, so I only wasted $25 on it, but I wish I had that money back.  There is absolutely no chance I will be buying Madden this year.  After 08, and now looking at NCAA 09, I'll probably never buy another EA product, period.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE 2K, bring back NCAA football!!!!  Oh yeah, I forgot EA has the monopoly on that.  Well, the consumers are taking note.

Lida Tang said:

Hi Peter,

I pretty much wrote the same thing in my blog right after E3. E3 should be about the gamer's relationship with the games. It was an important part of the gamer culture.  Losing that was a big blow to the industry as a whole.

Maybe not to the immediate bottom line, but for image of the sector. What other industry cancels the biggest show it has?

LA said:

I couldn't care less about E3, I came here because I have no other way to voice an opinion on NCAA 09...EA has failed to answer phones or return phone calls which I find interesting.

Anyway, I have bought every NCAA Football game on Playstation2.  I was deployed in Iraq and it was one of the things that all the soldiers did to keep up spirits.  I have bought every Madden also.  Never have I been disappointed in one of their games...although none of them were perfect, they were at least fully functional.  

I am not unrealistic...all games will have glitches, but this version of NCAA Football is BROKEN!!!.  I am not talking about features (names of teams, summer drills, uniform patches, or stadiums).  I am referring to the basic underlying functioning of the game.  The defense is broken.  The rosters are broken.  The sliders are broken.  The gameplay is essentially broken.  In a time when the economy is screwed up, I spent $60 hard-earned dollars on a game that is broken.  This was my first next-generation sports game and it pales in comparison to the functioning of PS2 and XBox games.

It is a shame and hopefully Peter Moore has the guts, nuts, or heart to reply to some of these concerns prior to making a superficial blog about E3, or movies, or whatever the next topic will be.

Diharduncfan said:

Play last years game .. there is always next year, buy the game next year... Why making bug fuss ... is it that hard to understand??(Samisam quote)

 I have been playing online since Tiger Woods pga tour 04.  Through the years I have watched Tiger Woods online play get more and more glitches and bugs each year.  Maybe if you have been playing games online as long as I have, you would understand.  Most gamers who played in Tiger Woods pga tour 05 or Tiger Woods pga tour 06 will not ever buy a EA product ever again.  You will never understand but most gamers do.  

Ogameone said:

the upper forum link was blind so i´m may be offtopic here but right know i need  a place for my big dissaponintment with the tiger woods series.

don´t understand me wrong, i was a big fan of the franchise for many years. but your gamedevelopment forces me every year to rely on tiger woods 05 wich is in my opinion the best of the series. well there are a few concerns i got with the "newer" ones but one is truly massive. while all your online-net-modernising-gameplay pumping up -

why can i not share the core features with my coutch buddies? yes, i want to play tournaments with my friends / family, not only one round. each of them with their own created charakters and upleveling stats and also purchasing equiment and clothes and so on. thats gamedesign, maybe for you way too traditional but i tell you this is the good stuff. instead i have to read now that "proud" statement: "..you don´t have to wait anymore until your friend makes his shot" - but i tell you i do want to wait for him to make his shot. feeling his pressure or my own, anticipating his aim and also talk to each other maybe succeeding to disturb his concentration or so on.

ohja, i forgot we could do this online. tell you what, we are sitting in one room in front of one tv - there is no need for online. and it´s realy a nobrainer, it doesnt need splitscreen.

but you seem sooo onlineyalized. with my tw 07 charakter (full developed) i was trying about eight times to play a round online. seven times my opponents left the game after 3 to 6 holes because they clearly tended to loose. only one round i could complete playing with a beginner and his fresh created charakter - what a fun.

so i wish you would realy one day make a game again that is enjoyable for me and my couch buddies and not always an career/tournament egotrip. bytheway, in tw 05 sometimes some birds cross the skies. only a little piece of detail that added life to the  game - where did they fly? slightly with the wind moving clouds, would be nice as well? if it´s to hard for you to make a livefilled crowd - get rid of it, not so important. and this wellworking putting system of tw 05, what a pleasure against this gridshit. not to forget the partly horrible ballphysics in tw 07 -hooking like a drunken rabbit with 6 inch spikes. in tw 05 the ball rolls smooth all the time, especialy on the greens. sometimes it´s like a ball rolling against a cube. so get on your butts and give me back the real fun of the game!

Rich said:

I guess that I am another dissatisfied customer.  I post on Operation Sports and we have had some great interaction with Adam and Ian as well as the guys who produce Head Coach 09.  They have been great and very patient with the guys over there answering questions and giving out information.  

What bothers me is the fact that so many things are wrong in NCAA 09 that I really have to wonder what it is that your testers do.  NCAA is so flawed.  Things that have worked in years past no longer work in 09.  Yellow Zones are broken, there is a lack of DL pass rush, corners give up inside position far to often and way to easily, CPU sliders don't work at all and Adam has admited as much, and the speed disadvantage for LB's trying to cover the flats against Running backs.  Not to mention the laughable kick and punt coverages.  Just about everyone of these issues was brought to the attention of your developers at the community day events for NCAA and Madden.  Some of them are present in the Demo, yet it seem like none of them were fixed prior to release.  

The fact that Online Dynasties were giving people trouble out of the box is in my opinion totally unacceptable.  That is a brand new feature and for me the ONLY reason that I  bought 09 and it was broken how can you release a game with your newest feature broken?

I know that patches are coming I guess I should be happy about that, but what that statement basically means is that in order to play NCAA 09 the way that the game should play out of the box I have to wait for 2-3 months after the release of the game.  That Mr. Moore is laughable and I personally feel like EA took my $60 and ran away laughing straight to the bank.  

phall10 said:

I was wondering if there was any reason behind not making a pc version of Madden 09.  Its bad enough that ea bought out the rights so theirs is the only nfl game on the market, but then to drop the pc version of Madden.......its insane!!!  by not making the pc version, ea made a big mistake.  why does it feel like ea hates pc gamers?

EF said:

Addressing the core issues is where one needs to go to revisit the corporate response that Peter Moore provided us regarding PC gaming.  I am personally still upset that Tiger Woods won't be produced for the PC.  I think that this game started on the PC.  Feel free to correct me if I am wrong about this.  It started back in an era where Links and Jack Nicklaus golf games were dominant and produced sequels on a regular basis.  

The reasons given in a nutshell include piracy and change in business (download vs. boxes).  Read the full blog entry entitled "addressing the core issues" for more info.  Notice that I am saying that I agree or disagree with the corporate B.S. but that's the way EA is going to play this year.  I don't necasarily blame Moore for cancelling Madden or Tiger for the PC but I don't feel like he "fought" hard enough to keep these games either.  I feel like someone above Moore said to cancel them and he said "Yes sir".  He hasn't been in his current position more than a year and simply did as a boss instructed.  I have no way of knowing that this is true but this is what I suspect happened.

diss-a-pointment said:

Hello Peter and company, I, like most people, have used this forum to express my negative views regarding the current direction of EA's games.  Although I feel that your response to the "heat" as you put it and subsequent response (listing EA's awards), was a cop out I'm not going to bash you for it.  I just hope that you are truly taking into account the requests and opinions of the people who take the time to respond to your blogs.  I personally like to focus my attention on Madden.  I feel your Madden title was the game that put EA's sport on the gaming map.  From my standpoint Madden has taken a turn for the worse since the Next Gen gaming systems were introduced.  Madden 04 marked the peak of EA's gaming potential because the game play was so fluid and the detail put into the players and game as a whole were right on the money.  In my humble estimation, the last three Madden release have been lackluster to say the least despite what the gaming awards might indicate.  In essence Peter, you really need to blow us away with your Madden 2010 release because it seems that Madden 09 is simply a mirror image of your previous Next Gen installments with a few minimal tweaks here and there.  Although I'm simply just a peon and hold zero clout in the gaming community here is what I believe producers like Matt Reid need to do in order to make Madden 2010 the greatest Madden instatement to date and put EA back on top of the gaming industry..  First and foremost, I believe that the makers of Madden must offer some new uniform/character options for the current player models that exist.  Looking around the league it is obvious that not every player wears Reebok cleats.  I feel it would be instrumental for the developers of Madden to offer a wider variety of cleats styles.  I realize that shoe and licensing contracts play a major role in EA's decision to stick with a single brand and design of cleat but I believe that offering the gamer a greater cleat selection, ala NBA Live and FIFA soccer, would add to the graphical superiority that Madden aspires to achieve year in and year out.  I also feel that the gamer should be able to adorn their players with towels (preferably with QB towels being worn flat and in the front of the uniform like Tom Brady and position players given the option of wearing their towel on either hip) and also be able to individualize to some degree the signature style that each player in the NFL brings to the standard NFL uniform and the game as a whole.  Examples of the way  players express their individuality on the field include their differing sock styles (Ex; Terrence Newman high socks, Deangelo Hall's 3/4 crinkled sock look, Peyton Manning's old school style, Jeremy Shockey's short sock look) skull caps worn under the helmet like Ray Lewis, running styles (for instance Reggie Bush has a sprinters running style while Marvin Harrison runs with a stiff upper torso and almost pitter patters with his feet), and the various ways players tend to carry the ball (example; Dre' Bly/Charles Woodson's respective one handed ball grip and the maneuvering of the ball from side to side while holding the ball with both hands similar to the flare that Deion Sanders brought to the game).  Also, the tape jobs currently seen in Madden also need to be upgraded.  The player models currently in Madden 09 look like they have uggs on their feet rather then tape.  Please resort back to the more realistic tape jobs that were seen in Madden 03 & 04.  Another aspect that can be improved upon is the stances that player around the league have come to be recognized by.  A prime example of this would be Simeon Rice's pre-snap sprinter stance, Champ Bailey's widespread 5 yard cushion coverage stance, D'Angelo Hall's in your face bump and run stance, or Lawrence Taylor's vertical stance.  Another aspect I would hope the makers of Madden improve upon is the ability to control a players actions during the week leading up to a game.  Being able to control a player's film study sessions as well as their eating habits and weight lifting/workout routines and their overall dedication to the game as a whole would offer a realistic touch to an already good game.  Hopefully this particular response doesn't fall upon deaf ears because I feel that some of these changes would make Madden more appealing to the general masses.  Let's face it, Madden is going to sell no matter what but making a few minor adjustments here and there could always help..Thank You for your time and please take my advice into consideration.

P.S.: I have provided a variety of pictures of NFL superstars in an effort to give the producers of Madden 2010 concrete examples of how the player models the Madden 2010 installment should look.  When viewing these pictures please take special note of the various sock styles, cleat brands, tape jobs, towels, unbuckled chin straps, and signature fashion style of each player and also take note of flare certain players display when carrying the football.

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dark nite said:

I hope that with the release of NCAA football 09 that it is finally obvious just how EA Sports and Peter Moore take advantage of us year in and year out.  NCAA FootbalI is terrible to say the least.  Yes its true that the running game is a bit more realistic in NCAA 09 but as a whole the game stanks.  The minimal improvements that have been made to NCAA Football and Madden over the last four years have done little to warrant the publicity and overall acclaim these games receive each year. Let's face it, Pete removed Madden from the PC platform because he feared that piracy of the game would take away from EA's bottom line.  Money is all that Peter cares about so with this being said I say we all band together and make a pact to not purchase Madden 09.  This way Peter and company will finally see just how diappointed we are with the EA's less then stellar games and false promises..Ea's battle cry used to be IT's In The Game, well for the last four years "It" has not been in the "Game"  Get your act together Pete, before you start losing consumers at alarming rates.  

Timmy2121 said:

I am with you dark nite, i will most likely buy madden but if i hear it is good i may consider renting it before i even think about buying another EA game.

Timmy2121 said:

I meant i will most likely NOT buy it, and NCAA 09 is a complete disappointment.

John said:

It appears from your conference call that you will be returning Madden (and others) to the PC platform next year. I do hope you take advantage of the strong user community going forward. Considering some of us have online franchises still running for over 5 years, I think we would be a good source of information on the needs, success points, and fail  points of making this a reality. This is especially true when it comes to database issues. Kudos for taking a step back, and I hope the next one is a step forward.

Mags

commish@mega-football.com

http://mega.leaguepulse.com

http://www.football-freaks.com

Pfellah said:

Given the theme of un-retirement, maybe Favre should be the cover athlete for Madden '10 on the PC. :)

I'm not going to re-hash the debate or go overboard with "told ya so", but it's nice to hear EA has changed course on the PC titles.

Former EA Supporter said:

Here is link talking about the conference call that John posted about, in regards to Madden returning to the PC platform, in case anyone is interested:

pc.ign.com/.../895012p1.html

I'll be interested to see what "retooling" they do. Looking forward to more on this.

Peter, I would be interested in hearing your comment on why you felt the need to deny the pc'ers a Madden for the 20th anniversary. Yes, I know your "business reasons" behind the retooling and dropping of the pc games, but this being the 20th why couldn't we have been given at least something? Couldn't you have waited until after this Madden to retool the game?

Thanks.

EF said:

Peter Moore thinks so highly of this blog that he has yet to post this information to this blog.  I would think that he would want to tell us first since this is the home of 200+ comments regarding PC gaming.  Glad to see the games returning.  Let's just hope that the extra time working will improve the games which they didn't do on NCAA 09.

I discovered one new glitch for NCAA 09 on the 360.  I cannot view statistics of the away team in a game that his been simulated or played.  This is from the standard dynasty mode.  The analog sticks (left I think) have done this since the game was initially released for the 360.  New glitch for NCAA 09 probably doesn't mean a thing to Mr. Moore and we will probably get the standard "no response" message from Moore.  I guess that fixing a game that is pi$$ing off gamers isn't too high on Moore's list right now.

Bustos_86, madgamer: said:

WTF? who is taking my post's down? mr. moore, go 55uucckk a smore.

RR said:

If you see this guy at Fenway or in FB take em out. He needs to be taken out.

Antonio said:

Please Mr. Moore

RUGBY 09

I don't really care about NCAA....

Former EA Supporter said:

Here is another link about the pc platform games returning.

www.shacknews.com/.../53921

Why do we seem to get more information about YOUR products from outside sites than your own?  

Looking forward to hearing more.

fk915 said:

Mr. Moore

I read an article about your interview regarding EA Cricket.

www.vooks.net/modules.php

Could you please tell us more details about next Cricket game.

Thx

EF said:

Is the "news" posted on this blog really news?

What are we reading here is news that gone through 5 to 10 layers of EA corporate approval.  Corporate red tape at its finest delaying news and pi$$ing everyone off.  

How many people would like to hear Peter Moore's opinions on subjects?  I don't come here to hear EA's spin on subjects but that is all I seem to get.  I would like to leave this blog fired up about upcoming products.  Get the Madden head designer on here and tell us what is new.  This might make some new sales and get some new ideas for the future.  Do this for whatever sport has game coming up.  

I think EA needs to rethink some of its corporate policies.  Why is there a policy stating that this blog cannot be updated until at least 7 days have passed?  

Just a few random thoughts.  

I hope that we hear from Peter Moore before launch of Madden but updates or mentions of the game on this site would be a complete shock.  

Hey_Rebby said:

Does Peter Moore read the comments of his blog?  The negative reactions to the release of NCAA FB 09 should be loud and clear, WE'RE FED UP with EA releasing garbage games that are broken and require patches immediately after release.

I've been playing the college football game since Bill Walsh, but I've just about had it.  I'm tired of paying $60 a game to have it sit on the shelf while I'll wish for the old days of sports gaming.

bob said:

madden 06- has sucked graphics wise because they all look cartoonish it seems ea gave up trying to mimprove graphics after 05 but i would rather 05 graphics because they at least look real

Loather said:

@Former, the article really doesn't state anything that we really couldn't have figured out from this blog.  

As much as I despise Mr. Moore and the Fanboy Mafia that feel the need to take a few alone minutes in the bathroom everytime he posts something here, Moore has eluded that PC Sports will be back after they figured out how to get their heads out of their 3rd point of contact.  Moore has said they aren't going to abandon us all together.  Not that I trust anything from him.

As far as the NCAA stuff goes,  it looks like Mr Moore and his EA SPorts staff are infact starting to even give the console guys the middle finger salute for their dedication and money.  I see the NCAA fans posting here one after the other with their thoughts on the game's quality.  I won't buy it but then aging EA Sports will never grace my rotation with anything ever again anyways.

Moore really needs to wake up in the un-employment line ASAP.  It just seems to be one angry group after another responding to his blog.  It has been a while since I replied to one of his blogs but the replies here are priceless.  I must admit, I almost find a bit of guilty pleasure from reading that EA is ticking off the customer base they chose over me.

Actually now that I think about it, I have a deal for EA Sports.  I will buy everygame that releases from EA Sports, for PS3, XBOX 360 amd PC on the day I read Moore has been canned.

Former EA Supporter said:

Loather said:

@Former, the article really doesn't state anything that we really couldn't have figured out from this blog.  

True, but not everyone comes to this blog. There are people who come to the ea sports site to find information on their favorite game and sometimes they get more information on that game from outside sites then from the ea sports site. I was just wondering why in some cases that happens.  Maybe under Peter this will be something that changes in the future?

EF,

I agree about having developers and designers posting comments on here. Peter used to field questions for developers and designers about their games and post their responses here but he stopped doing that. I don't know why, only he can answer that, but I thought it was a good idea and maybe he will start trying to do it again.

Any comments you would like to add Peter?

Benjamin Walker said:

I'd like to see a Lacrosse game in at next years E3.  Preferably NCAA.

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Jordan said:

Given the theme of un-retirement, maybe Favre should be the cover athlete for Madden '10 on the PC. :)

I'm not going to re-hash the debate or go overboard with "told ya so", but it's nice to hear EA has changed course on the PC titles.

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