Peter Moore Blog - All Comments

re: The Champ is Back

raczilla — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:20:24 GMT

Well thought out post. When you do pick up your copy, you'll have to let us know what you think. The fun vs. realism topic is an interesting one that I can remember discussing even years ago on some of the old Madden and NCAA Football forums I've frequented.

I've always though that was one of the toughest challenges of the sports genre...finding that right balance between simulation and fun. I think a lot of the best sports titles have managed to hit that sweet spot.

I'll link up with Ben Haumiller as and see that he gives your list a look.

Have a good weekend!

-raczilla

re: The Champ is Back

aggiefan4life2 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:53:27 GMT

Raczilla,

Actually, we are 12 days away from launch. Do not get me wrong. I will get this game on launch day. There has never been any doubt about whether I will get it or not.

I have not tried the teambuilder or the demo. I do not have wireless online access for my 360. I could stretch a cord to another part of the house to get wired connectivity or I could spend 90 dollars to go wireless. Eventually it will happen but not any time soon.

I have been to the NCAA forums and I explored the posting by Ben H. I don't remember how to spell the last but I doubt that there too many Bens with last names starting with H so you should be albe to figure it out. I saw some of my concerns asked by other people but I didn't see those questions ever answered. I saw selected questions answered.

Let me just spell out my ideas so that you and EA Sports know what I am looking for in the NCAA series. I am also going to touch on the NCAA Basketball series since after reading the reviews of NCAA Basketball 09, I decided not to purchase this game. Any truth to the rumor that EA Sports hired the producer for College Hoops? This could be big news and would definitely make fans of that series take notice of what EA Sports is doing.

NCAA Football Ideas

Division 2 teams in the game available to use as opponents. I have very little interest in playing as these schools in Dynasty unless a Career Mode is implemented. See below.

Career Mode - The ability to start as a small coach and/or work as a coordinator before taking over higher profile job.

Career Mode - The ability to hire/fire coordinators.

Recruiting - The ability to scout games. I would like to see additional prospects discovered by scouting games. You go to scout Thad Smith the 5 star QB and you watch Luke Jones LB make 15 tackles with 4 sacks.

Recruiting - Scouting part 2 - How about the ability to pitch your school to prospects that you go to visit and the ability to speak to newly discovered prospects about your school? I am talking about on-site recruiting in post-game environment.

Recruiting - How about the ability to instruct assistant coaches to recruit only recruits of a certain caliber? Quanity? Instruct coaches to recruit 20 players for a position regardless of ability.

Recruiting - I would like the ability to look back at previous recruiting classes. Does recruiting a #1 recruiting class translate into championships? Could a 5 star recruit be overrated? Could a three star win a Heisman Trophy?

Recruiting - Pipelines that will follow coach when coaches changes jobs. It seems to me that a coach who has a connection in Colorado would use that to his advantage in a new job. In the real world he doesn't lose that connection.

Campus Legend/Road to Glory - I would like the ability to start a pro career and/or the ability to start coaching career at the end of Legend experience. This was in previous versions of this mode so it is baffling why it is so difficult to program this into the current game.

Campus Legend/Road to Glory - I hope that the playbook has expanded because it gets old running the same plays over and over again. Screenshots/videos that I have seen for the new mode show players running the same plays that were running in last years mode.

I understand that bands will make the new game but the Fighting Texas Aggie Band will not be among them. I am not sure I want them digitized unless the game can present them the way they deserve to be presented.

Has EA Sports ever figured out that we do not have cheerleaders? I am curious as to why our cannon can't replicated in the game. Developers program guns and gun sounds for first person shooters but it suddenly becomes difficult to accurately program different guns in the football games. This might involve EA Sports researching individual schools but it was done to replicate the stadiums.

The school spirit headline for 09 comes back here. The game didn't do our atmosphere justice. The development team needs to attend a game at Kyle Field to fully appreciate our environment. Don't sit in pressbox. Sit among the people during a conference game and you will come back and tell me that your game doesn't do us justice. We have an edge in home football games and it is because of the football environment.

NCAA Basketball suggestions - Pick up a copy of College Hoops 2008.

Coach mode.

Hire Fire coaches. Ability to start at small school.

As much as I have criticized the game I am still looking forward to picking up NCAA Football 10 in 12 days. I discovered new little things in the game last year after thinking that it was more of the same last year. I find it interesting that the sales decreased when online dynasty was introduced.

EA Sports needs to find a way to make games fun to play once again. There is too much emphasis on realism.

A couple of final thoughts here. Does anyone other than Peter Moore realize that EA has two golf games in its library? Notice that I didn't say EA Sports. There was Sid Meirs SimGolf. It wasn't realistic but it was a blast to play. Pulled it out earlier this week as a matter of fact. I would love to see EA try to make a Sim Golf 2 with modern graphics.

Final thought for the evening - Would EA Sports have ever made Quake or Quake 2? These were 2 monster hits and defined Id Software as we know it today. They weren't realistic but they sold lots of copies. Is EA Sports too focused on realism? Would they have passed on a sure fire hit just because it wasn't realistic? I am sad to say that I think that the answer would yes at this point in time. Games need to be fun again.

re: The Champ is Back

raczilla — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:47:46 GMT

Thanks for the quick reply Aggie. Whether via the phone or here on the blog, your input is just as valuable to us. I am curious though about why it sounds that you've written NCAA Football 10 off already? We're still a couple of weeks from release. Have you tried the demo or visited teambuilder.easports.com yet? One of our gameplay producers, Russ Kiniry, has spent a lot of time in the community talking about the improvements to that area of the game as well.

The phone call offer from Peter still stands in the event you have a change of heart over the weekend. He'd loves to talk about our games so I think you'd have a great conversation. :)

Either way I'd like to keep the dialogue going. Hope to continue to see you here and also in the NCAA Football forums.

-raczilla

re: The Champ is Back

aggiefan4life2 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:53:19 GMT

Raczilla and Peter Moore,

Thanks but No thanks. It is not necessary for me to communicate with Peter. I prefer to communicate here on the blog as the computer that I am using does not have email. My opinions are here on the website and that's where I prefer for them to be. I hold out hope that next year's game will be a step forward instead of what appears to step sideways. I base my opinions upon previews that I have read on other sites.

I am sure that Peter Moore and Raczilla will direct my opinions to the appropriate person. I am not suggesting that NCAA 10 will be a bad game but I was expecting so much more. I now know where to go to help make NCAA 11 a great game.

re: The Champ is Back

raczilla — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:28:13 GMT

Hi Aggie,

I can certainly appreciate your passion for the game and for the sport and have been following your recent posts here on the blog. Our NCAA Football dev team has been active via the forums for some time so while we did have a period where our group pages were the best destination for that interaction, we've been using our new forums for that sort of thing for a couple of months now.

Peter has also been reading your posts and it's very important to him that you and other fans do have a voice here and via the other touch points on our various websites. With that in mind, Peter would like to give you a call next week so you can exchange thoughts about NCAA Football 10, the dev team interaction, and anything else that's on your mind.

If you could shoot me an email at footballcommunity@ea.com, I'll make sure we get you in touch with Peter next week.

Thanks!

-raczilla

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re: The Champ is Back

aggiefan4life2 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:39:02 GMT

I am very passionate about College Football and College Basketball. I used to play NHL in the PS days but I think I stopped when the Playstation 2 generation came out. The game simply didn't change much from year to year. Hockey isn't my first love either.

I am hoping that 2K Sports will be competition for them in the College Basketball genre so I have an alternative. College Hoops did everything that I wanted a game to do. You could coach a game. You had a career mode where you could start out small and move up. You had the ability to hire two coaches. I never had any gripes about the game. EA Sports had good visuals on their game last year. I wish they would get the game modes to go with it. I am hoping for a decent college basketball game but EA Sports has proven with NCAA Football 10 that they are committed to not listening to the fans. And Peter Moore probably can't figure out why the sales have been declining for the past 3 years. He isn't listening and his staff is following his lead.

re: The Champ is Back

LandoKiwi5 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:55:41 GMT

Nice rant Aggiefan! Well said.

I think that you need to get a new cover for NCAA 10 that reflects the true product. NCAA 08 part 3 sounds appropriate to me

That bit right there is what NHL fans have been given since 2005. Especially the ones that are on PC or PS2.

I really don't think EA cares. They know their only compitition is 2K, and that's not even for every sport. It's easy to re-paint a piece of junk and expect people to buy it when they are the only ones selling anything like it.

Lack of competition has made EA complacent and lazy. The whole "lack of funds" and "bad economy" excuse can only last so long.

re: The Champ is Back

aggiefan4life2 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:14:52 GMT

The following post will probably fall upon deaf ears but I will try to convey my point.

Raczilla, thank you for addressing my questions regarding the use of staff forums. You are supposed to be the EA Sports Communications Manager so I am wondering why it took 20 to 30 questions about this subject to actually get a response. This question has been asked for 4 to 5 months. I realize that Peter Moore is busy but he can't figure out which forums are being used? It takes him 6 months to tell the users which forum is being used? But he still has time to post 10 plus updates about how Liverpool is doing. Liverpool is such a great team and we love our chances for the upcoming season. If the team truly needs to hear that then I recommend trading the entire roster because they are mentally weak.

I don't understand why answering questions is a one-man operation. Nobody inside of EA Sports knew what forum that the developers were using for their second most popular game in their lineup? I find this very hard to believe. Where do we go from here? Do we get promises that the producers will listen on the new forums? Will they stop updating this new site in three months? Will it take another 6 months to figure out where the new forums? Oh, that's right the game willl almost be released by then? Try again next year. I hope that nobody inside of EA Sports has any question about wonders why the sales of this game are declining. It is obvious that the development is not listening and most of the EA Sports hierarchy are making up execuses for why they don't listen to the gamers.

Raczilla - The whole point here is that the communication here is beyond horrible. I can go to the new forums so that the producers can ignore me or tell me that the game is already in production. How nice.

I think that you need to get a new cover for NCAA 10 that reflects the true product. NCAA 08 part 3 sounds appropriate to me. We do have the Campus Legend that has been repackaged as Road to Glory. Slap some paint on a pile of junk as pass it off as new. Maybe the gamers will think that we have changed something. I guess actually listening to the gamers would be too difficult. It would take away from the usual hobby of moving forums and ignoring repeated requests for information.

EA Sports made the Campus Legend look prettier for this year. The TeamBuilder is also new. This is EA Sports execuse for not including the Division 2 schools. I can create the team of my choice and I can replace a Division 1 school with them. Yeah. People don't want the Division 2 schools to play as. They want the Division Schools so that if your team is playing South Alabama State that it will reflect that in the game. I don't even care if the uniforms are accurate. I will make a bold prediction about the TeamBuilder. You probably can't sub one of the created teams in place of the FCS schools. With EA Sports communications it will probably take 6 months for someone to answer that question and I would have to ask it 20 more times to get a response. Yes, communication is at an all-time low here at EA Sports.

Fans of College Basketball should be thrilled to know that the makers of College Hoops haven't announced whether they are going to make their game this year so we still have a hope of a decent college basketball game. Or you can wait for EA Sports to announce their title and you can listen to their hierarchy read Press Releases that state how great and how different the game is. There won't be anything groundbreaking in that title because EA Sports has proven that they truly aren't listening to their consumers and this won't change anytime soon.

I realize that Peter Moore is busy and can't respond to all individual questions. I would like to an answer person hired. The executive brass are too busy to respond so this sounds like a good idea to me. I realize that this comment will come across as negative but the communications process here at EA Sports has been very negative. I have tried not to point fingers at individuals but someone needs to step up and fix the problem.

re: The Champ is Back

fabgh — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:32:03 GMT

Oui, à quand un jeu de rugby ?

ça commence à être exaspérant, voir énervant de guetter tous les jours une annonce.

re: Mr. President: We Have a Challenge For You

aggiefan4life2 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:39:11 GMT

raczilla

Thank you for the response.

I almost didn't notice your response. Normally, I check the current topic and that's it.

I just have this feeling that NCAA 10 will be very similar to 09 with a handful of improvements and I have been hoping for more. I keep hoping for a game that is designed for coaches and players alike. I would like the ability to hire/fire coordinators as a coach. I would like the ability to work as an assistant at a small school and get an opportunity to become a head coach. Gamebreaker did this many years ago so I can't figure out why EA Sports is having so much trouble catching up to a game that has been dead for at least 6 years now. I am sure that it has been longer but I don't know the actual date. The NCAA Basketball game got the visuals right last year but the gameplay is still the same.

I want the recruiting process to go much more in-depth. I would like to see a campus legend mode where you feel what it is like to be a highly recruited player. How about the ability to really control the recruiting process just as coaches do in real life? As of 09's game, you didn't have the option to start a coaching dynasty after completing campus legend. This was in PS2 versions of this game. Is it really that difficult to program into the next generation consoles? I think it has more to do with bad staff. We get to pay 10 dollars more for a game that does less than its predecessors? If you are going to put less into the game then why not charge 10 dollars less?

The NCAA Basketball game got the visuals right last year but the gameplay is still the same. College Hoops did things better and I will buy their game if it ever returns to the market over March Madness or whatever name it will go by this year. EA Sports is committed to slapping a new number on an old game and then announcing that is done.

The NCAA Football sales are declining and have been for at least 3 years now. Maybe it is time for EA Sports to shake up the game and make it in a different way. I could argue for the College Basketball game but I still hold out hope that EA Sports will actually listen to their fans with that game.

I realize that the game is probably finished and very few changes will be made be to it but please realize that I had been following the development forums and very few of the ideas posted are actually being implemented in the game. There was communicating to the users of those forums that the forums had been moved so users kept posting there with ideas. I guess EA Sports really wasn't listening this year. The fact that the development forums moved is just a conveinent excuse to use when users compain about buying another recylced product from EA Sports. Right Peter Moore? Right Raczilla?

re: Mr. President: We Have a Challenge For You

raczilla — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:44:10 GMT

Aggiefan,

Staff groups are no longer being updated. They were created as an intermediate step before we got to our new forum set up. You can find the NCAA Football dev team right on our NCAA forum page. Let me know if you have any questions.

forum.ea.com/.../488.page

-raczilla

re: The Champ is Back

011235 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:44:37 GMT

Peter,

You had better support the US since England will never make it to a conf cup...

Anyway have you been watching the Lions' tour in SouthAfrica?? Two beautiful games of rugby...speaking of which, you have any news about the next rugby game??????

Second: Have you ever given a though about that idea of mine, a "history of" sport games?? I'd love to play some proper football from the 80es...

CHARLIEVOLANO

re: Mr. President: We Have a Challenge For You

Sportinglove_com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:05:20 GMT

Thanks for sharing

re: Mr. President: We Have a Challenge For You

ronnymund — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:58:58 GMT

Hey peter can you pass these videos along to Ian, Phil and the boys...Its 2 videos of how d-backs like Asante Samuel hold the football when they intercept a pass. I think adding an animation like the two handed ball carry could really add to Madden 10..