Maddens Lack of Presentation, Sends a non Basketball fan to 2K - Aggies7's Blog

Aggies7's Blog

Maddens Lack of Presentation, Sends a non Basketball fan to 2K

Posted on February 25, 2014 at 02:24 AM.

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Typically I do not write any blogs, but I have recently seen my love for video game football dramastically decrease and maybe someone with EA will see this and take into account a hardcore football fans opinion.

I will start by saying I am 100% appreciative of EA for the years of football greatness, but it seems with the loss of competition, they have just put the creation side into neutral and just live off of gimmicks.

I have never been a basketball fan. I watch the March Madness for the simple reason, we do a bracket pool at work and its fun. Recently, I took the leap to NBA 2K14 on the PS4 and just see what all the presentation hype was all about.

When I first picked up the game, I really did not know where to start considering I do not follow basketball. So I figured the easiest way to learn would be the "My Player" mode. Immediately I was blown away with the depth of the mode, from off the court decisions to be made, to the press conferences. It was so good I completed a whole season in no time and then moved onto a second season. I have continued to play this game daily.

This brings me back to Madden and EA Sports. We now have the Next Gen consoles, so there should be no excuses from here on out.

Lets start with the CCM Owners mode. Fans have asked for years and years, about a Halftime Show with highlights and updates from other games. Even the guys from NCAA added the Studio Updates, which should be easy for Madden to slide over to their franchise as "Game Breaks," with James Brown if they want to stick with the CBS guys. And how about going above and beyond, what your "little brother" brought to the table for two years and adding highlights to those "Game Breaks" Then add an adequete Halftime Show with highlights. And if I am playing a Thursday Night Game why not discuss the big games coming up on Sunday during Halftime. And finally add a weekly recap show with highlights from around the league, which 2k had in their football franchise years ago.

Now lets move onto the off season. We need to see free agency with restricted free agents. Also a senior bowl to let you play with the college player before you draft them. Then move on to the Scouting Combine and I do not need to watch the combine, but set it up where each day I attend for the certain positions it cost me Scouting Points. So lets say I have 10000 Scouting Points saved up and it cost 3000 for each day. I could only pick 3 days to attend the Scouting Combine. So I could elect to go to the combine on Sunday for
the QB/RB/WR day and then two other days, unless I saved up all year to go to each day. At the end of each day the results should be given to me. Also allow me to have an interview with a select few of the players I am interested in. And prior to the draft allow the user to set up a draft board similar to NCAAs recruiting board.

That brings us to the draft. I will say the addition of Rich Eisen was nice, but have some visuals for the first round to include Roger Goodell taking photos with each of the first round picks.

That gets us to the OTA's. Let us have our Offense scrimmage the Defense, so we can see if
we have any other needs prior to the preseason.

Then we are back to the preseason and regular season. If my teams makes the Playoffs, EA really needs to put an emphasizes on the playoff atmoshere and ramp it up even further for the Super Bowl.

Now lets move onto the CCM Player mode. This has to improve. If I start out as a college player, I should have to play in Senior Bowl first and thoughout this process have a stock tracker, so I can see where i stack up against other players.

After the Senior Bowl I should go to the Scouting Combine and do all of the drills, which in the past made for fun mini games ( I do not understand why this was ever taken out) I should also have interviews with teams that are showing interest. Once again, at the end of this process, I would like to see my draft stock.

Then comes the draft, just like 2K have us sitting in the green room waiting to be draft. (If I am projected a high enough pick to warrant me being asked to come to New York)After the draft have a press conference with out local reporters. I will add a note here that the loading screen for 2K when "My Player" is in the airplane reallly adds to the effect for me.

The comes OTA's and training camp. Throughout both there should be press conferences and options for off the field interactions with teammates (such as carrying the veterans bag, or going out with them to hang out.) each would carry their own consequences.

Then comes the regular season, which should play out with Post Game Press Conferences and once again, off the field interactions with teammates.

Then comes the playoff, if my team is lucky enough to get there. The biggest addition, would be the media week at the Super Bowl if we got there. I would also like to see before each game a cut scene in locker room, with the intensity stepping it up for the playoffs.

I will wrap this back into games like NBA 2K and MLB The Show. It seems like when fans ask for things in these games the developers deliever. I see Russell on here daily, looking for fan opinions to add to the Show and improve it for the consumer. Neither of the above games really have stiff competition, but they keep improving the game by adding quality options and presentation that the consumer wants instead of adding gimmicks that only last one year in the game. I am more and more impressed each yer with Russell coming onto forums not just Operation Sports and answering questions and taking notes on ideas and adding them in a timely fashion.

I do not know if Madden does not want to steal ideas from other companies, but they really need to swallow their pride and take a long hard look at the NBA 2K and MLB The Show games and start to take some ideas for presentation.

Once again, this is not a blog to just rip on Madden and EA, but a blog that will hopefully, be seen by the Madden Developers and have them understand the Presentation issues consumers have been requesting for years. With the loss of the NCAA Franchise, Madden Developers need to understand they are going to have to step up their game because fans are going to be more critical of the only football game on the market. I know there is still issues that need adjusting in gameplay as well, and a blog will follow for those. But as I stated above, Presentation brought me to a sport I do not even like in Basketball, so I focused on that for this blog.

Note: This was all typed up and my phone so I apoligize for any errors.

Comments

# 1 hesko @ Feb 25

great read. i feel the same about 2k to a degree. only because the greater they become from series to series, those unnecessary things that are in the game (glitches and all) kinda takes a bit away from their genius. the presentation is awesome in 2k, but i'm patiently waiting for it to really rival that of a real tv broadcast. also waiting for the game to really blur the lines with reality beyond just graphically.

# 2 inkcil @ Feb 25

For years, 2k and The Show have made video games that immerse players life-mimicking presentation. As they continue to get better and better, it makes it harder and harder every year to play games with PS ONE level presentation treatments.

# 3 DJ @ Feb 25

Great blog. 2K has set the standard for in-game commentary and presentation with NBA 2K and the now-defunct MLB 2K (superior to The Show in that department but lacking in on-field smoothness/realism).

NCAA 14 and Madden 25 aren't bad games, but they are certainly lacking in the immersion department. Recruiting helps NCAA, and CCM is a good step forward for Madden, but as you said, there is room to do more.

# 4 Aggies7 @ Feb 25

I agree DJ. 2K set the standard for basketball for presentation and sadly they also set the standard for presentation on football games as well way back two generations ago, which makes the lack of presentation in Madden so frustrating.

# 5 malky @ Feb 26

Man this is a great blog!! It's like you are reading my mind, and probably thousand of other sports gamers. Everything you said has been that way for years now, didn't just start this last year of gaming.

Now NCAA 14 did step up it's presentation skills, and was on the right path for sure but of course they are gone now, lol.... So you would hope some of the developers joined madden and their input is considered HIGHLY.

I'm holding out hope Madden finally gets the presentation right with the new system, but I'd def. taking a wait and see approach.

# 6 jaynral @ Feb 26

Man, It was good reading this blog....I soooo agree that EA has NO excuse for madden 15, no excuse...This next SHOULD be the best football ever to man kind....Overall, I love NBA 2k14...Yeah, it had its problems but with some sliders, the game is amazing, The graphics, the realism...its just so organic...I love it....Dont get me wrong, Madden 14 was good but it got somewhat boring after a while seeing the same animations over and over in the game...nothing organic....For a sports games, i think its the best game showing what next gen can do....BUT this next madden will tell all how the game will play out for this generation.....Will EA step up deliver a superior thorough product or cut corners again!!!....we will see, we will see

# 7 cusefan74 @ Feb 26

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for EA to step up to much with Madden 15. Why would they care what they do with it? They have zero competition any more. People are gonna buy it no matter what they do with it. I hope I am wrong and they go all out and make a great game, but I have seriously lost all faith in the Madden team.

# 8 Aggies7 @ Feb 27

Thanks guys. Not much of a blog guy, but enjoyed writing this one up. Minus typing it all on my iPhone. But I feel strongly about this as I love the game of football. I actually say down and watched an NBA game for the first time in probably 10 years. Then I went back to 2K and realized even more when you play 2K it is like watching a real game on TV.

Madden completely lacks this and the additions above would bring them closer to a real game on TV. Sadly I agree with Cuse I don't have much faith anymore. But I will say as of right now Russell and the SCEA folks don't have any competition, but I still see Russell and other floating around these boards looking for consumer ideas to make their game better.

That to me would be a huge starting point. Don't send game changers to do that, make an account and start floating around forums looking for what the majority of consumers are asking for. I have heard them say that is what they do but every year and it's not an exaggeration, every year multiple threads and posts ask for halftime shows with highlights and a weekly recap show, yet they are still missing. I do give credit to the NCAA guys they listened about the Studio Updates, and I don't see why Maddens Developers couldn't add Game Breaks that a very similar.

Sorry for another long winded post.

# 9 MDgolf @ Feb 28

Madden's replays were better this year but yes overall presentation lacks behind 2K and SCEA. FIFA and NHL could benefit from better presentation as well. No excuse that there is no halftime show in Madden. 2K had that 10 years ago.