Sports Game Developers – The Good and The Bad of all Companies!!! - Behindshadows's Blog

Behindshadows's Blog

Sports Game Developers – The Good and The Bad of all Companies!!!

Posted on February 19, 2009 at 01:58 PM.

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Hello friends of OS today I'm bringing a blog about our development future of our sports games

I wanted to discuss our future in sports gaming and how the developers are making advancements and how some are releasing mediocre merchandise.

Let me begin with the largest of them all EA Sports, which is the most hated company in the industry since the signing of the NFL exclusive license!

This even made me upset considering I am a 2ksports fan. I’m not so bitter about it anymore because Madden NFL 09 showed promise considering the presentation was better than 08! No more radio announcer and the graphics are truly a step up in the Next-Generation department. With that being said, the info released on Madden NFL 10 looks even more like a good direction of the series. With new PA technology allowing the quarterbacks to have more awareness on the field during play!

NBA Live 09 with its foot-planting technology and its Dynamic DNA technology from Synergy has brought this NBA Series to new heights!
The players play more realistic! It’s great to play on full 12 minute quarters on default sliders and receive realistic stats and nice paced gameplay. Something that hasn’t been possible in years considering that most titles are all based on slider tweaking to get good games.

NCAA Basketball 09 formerly known as March Madness! This game has a few bad animations at times and average presentation has shown to be a good game and going in a great direction going into NCAA Basketball 10. Even though the competition dropped out of the race in the college basketball market! EA sports released a title with solid advancements from highly detailed player models, to incredible stadiums with great details and insane crowd interaction, along with the new tempo meter which shows your team play style again the computer or human opponent. New Tempo technology allowing the player to control the pace of the game to come out victorious during games played. A Dynasty Mode with a different style of recruiting where you completely have to persuade a player to except scholarships, and also a campus editor. Where depending on your wins and loses and what channel your game is on during playtime. The sponsors will gives you points / money to upgrade parts of your school from the gymnasiums to the weight rooms to medical facilities, which will help injuries become less of a time factor and strengthen your team in areas.

NCAA Football 09, what can I say, wow!!! It’s fun to play NCAA Football again, especially with the incredible online Dynasty Mode. And new game play tweaks. EA has smoothen out a lot of the poor running animations and those bad frame rate issues during those unstoppable cut scenes from NCAA 08. Also the commentary is better and more intact with what’s on the field, nice weather effects and great college atmosphere! Great game this season overall and an enjoyable outcome overall!

NHL 09 let’s just keep it short and sweet on the subject of this game. This is simply the best Hockey Game out on any console or PC. And with the new addition of Be a Pro Mode, it gets even better, with incredible graphics engine, great game play and lovely commentary and presentation.
With the nice puck stick controls, the fact you can create a player and take him to the pros and the overall feel of this game gets better every year.
EA’s large amount of options in the Dynasty mode and during single player Play Now games also brings a lot deserve, a great CAP (create a player) system, that you can play with all day to make the perfect skater.

Now that I’ve named all the games, that I play and that usually matters to most from EA Sports, let’s speak of the negatives of this company when it comes to their games, and what it will take to finally give us the type of games that we want as gamers and as loyal consumers that have followed these series since we were children. (Being that I’m almost 33 now)

But let’s talk about the game play of Madden football that has yet to capture the realism and animation smoothness of ESPN NFL 2k5 on regular Xbox.
Even though it’s on a Next-Generation console it’s still doesn’t feel NG. With all the amazing graphics they can’t get rid of the poor running animations, and have yet to give it a full televised presentation. Similar to what they’ve done with the NBA Live series since PS2. Madden really needs to add the presentation elements to this game, while continue to smooth out and add more animations to the player models. Get rid of the jumping crowd of men in polo’s jumping up and down for nothing the game isn’t that exciting, why not add a more dynamic crowd that jumps up and moves with the action. Mix it up with men and women and even a bubble head kid or two. Like MLB the show and other game do. More than just fat guys who look like Mike Ditka go to the NFL Games. The new PA feature shows promise along with the nice facial expression, but fix the overall player models proportion to make the Wide Receivers slimmer, and DB’s more muscular and QB’s more proportional. It’s Next-Gen – 3 man commentary in the booth and 1 or 2 on the field including a lovely lady sideline voice. Let the guys chat it up while giving stats, color and play-by-play.

Then we come too NBA Live 10 coming soon. One thing I hope this game brings other than more animations and better lit stadiums, its better facial structures, models with their own noses, and ears, correct hairstyles and all their tattoo’s. Rookies missing tattoos and other markings that make them unique in Live 09 is a real disappointment. Also all players have this hook nose and make’s them look devilish! A nose is unique part of the face just like ears and eyes. These parts of the player models should get a lot of attention for Live 10! NBA Lives’ graphics engine with skin textures and cloth physics are incredible. I just want them to get everything else right. A more in Depth Dynasty Mode, which is already deep and good but just needs more substance! It is time to boost up the commentary Marv and Steve’s vocabulary needs to be revamped and from the top, to update the speed in which they talk in, all the way up to adding a third man and a sideline reporter. It’s time to increase the presentation. Remove the whole L-Trigger to make replays happen. These should happen based off actual events in play, take a few notes for 2ksports. (PRESENTATION MUST IMPROVE)
The game is too great not to and also add a better create-a-player mode, the level of options from 07; 08 to 09 seem to decrease each season. Allow us to do some real face morphing even if we have to use the camera like Face breaker and make our CAPS.

Then we move to the NCAA Basketball series which came out shooting, but bounce out the rim, but good thing though there was a foul and you get two free-throws. Case in point you still get points but not with a swish! Due to the lack of animations and fluidity that it takes to mimic basketball! Basketball rather it be NBA or NCAA is a moving sports game and it requires many animations which just aren’t found in this series.
What is substituted for gameplay is real Next-Gen graphics and great commentary, for Live 10 that is. Seems NCAA Basketball still has a ways to go on commentary and on presentation overall. I’m so tired of hearing the announcers call players by their numbers. Time to upgrade and get them boys in the studio to record names and play-by-play in NCAA basketball. While the games are finally using the same gameplay engine, why not start using the export and import from draft. This feature has yet to be implemented into an EA basketball game. And the competition has done it every year since 2002! 7 years later and EA has yet to put it in the game. Remember the motto it’s in the game, well not really! And for the college and NBA basketball games! Give it the NCAA Store and NBA Store, where you can add alternate Jerseys and more shoes. And let the stores up with new products via Xbox Live and PSN Network!

NCAA Football which comes out great every year still needs better running animations and less choppiness on the field. Better and more fluid flowing players on the field and better crowds and interactions. Give it a more college filled crowd. With people who look like students and grow up a few kid models! Improve the online Dynasty, which is one of the greatest things I’ve seen so far, but we know you could add more. Possibly an 11 on 11 online play or maybe 8 on 8 or 6 on 6. But just something to keep the game fresh!

2ksports

Let’s begin with the company that got me back into sports games, even though I’ve bought every title Visual Concepts has every had, and that Sega Sports as ever had. I never really completed a franchise / season until the games were released on Dreamcast.

For the first time in my gaming life I’m enjoying a football game with the NFL 2k series! Also by transporting the gameplay from the Sega Saturn’s NBA Action 98 they created the NBA 2k series! I couldn’t believe how great it looked and played and I was back on the sports gaming bandwagon. NHL 2k came out and I was loving hockey again. The infamous World Series Baseball transported over and my goodness it was terrible. WSB 2k1 was the worse basketball I’ve ever played, with absolutely no control on the outfield. Which 2ksports and VC/Kush fixed with WSB 2k2, which made up for it and gave us that solid gameplay that these guys were making a name for.

Now we are in the era of PS3 and Xbox 360 and 2k seems to excel year after year. NBA 2k6 was great out the door, 2k7 got even better, 2k8 got even more amazing! And for once 2ksports was getting that acknowledgement it’s has deserved many years prior! Then this season we get NBA 2k9 which took a lot of steps forward and many more backwards. As for the first time in history disappointment roared in the game, as praises did as well. True fans stayed loyal no matter the flaws as others who have played Live and 2k every year saw the flaws and that is mainly due to the advancements of the competitions game. First the first time since Dreamcast, 2k basketball has very noticeable and overdone sliding and poor A.I. defense and the gameplay engine and graphics engine just finally felt dated.

While the competition built from scratch in the transition to Next-Gen! Take-Two – 2ksports’ new publisher has yet to really spend the funds to put such a great franchise on the map with a new Next-Generation technology of any kind, and no new engine to boost the series. Problem I have with this is that 2ksports is too talented to be held back from showing their true qualities. If you don’t believe the developers at Visual Concepts are truly angry and disappointed about 2k9, look at all the On Da Spot Videos for NBA 2k7 and NBA 2k8. Look at the energy and smiles of the developers during their interviews.

Look at all the interviews from Gamespot to G4 and X-Play for previews of 2k9. And you will see that a chip was definitely on their shoulders and for the first time they were mute on the online boards. Even they are disappointed their product and their publisher have finally put their talents at a stand still. But to add accident to injury, Take Two since it acquired the 2ksports franchise has loss the NFL License, and refused to pay the cost for the Collegiate Basketball License. They had the number 1 College Basketball game on the market! Claiming it wasn’t profitable enough for them to continue to make the game.

A lot of Take-Two’s problems with this franchise is that they don’t back it up financially! The marketing is very poor and lacking and when it comes to try to improve and innovate the games, they just let the ball roll, but doesn’t try to bring directions of travel when it comes to Technology! 2ksports has been using the same gameplay engine since Dreamcast to Xbox and now to 360. Problem is when people think next generation they are thinking better graphics and better gameplay. But now that engine has washed up and the gameplay as it is now feels repetitive and stale. And the graphics continue to improve, but not by leaps and bounds. While the competition went and found better software and a better technology, which included better foot-planting and better player awareness.

2ksports while they continue to be the best in the presentation department and animations. Can’t really thrive to that next level, until their publisher who spends a ton of money on Rockstar and the GTA series! Just don’t make the same efforts on the sports generation! GTA IV got a new graphics engine with the euphoria engine and more. Why isn’t this same effort put towards sports titles. Giving Visual Concepts a better graphics engine and newer technology would give 2ksports an edge and also allow them to get to gameplay standards they’ve always wanted!

All-Pro Football 2k8

Where do I begin with this title it had much potential only to be plagued by limitations and Restrictions? Hoping to not make the NFL angry by allow full customization similar to the Winning Eleven Seven Series! They instead gave us one controllable team with limitations to logos and names and everything else. That could have made this a NFL game, well the jokes on Take Two, because the NFL License is renewed and extended to EA, thanks for pissing off your loyal fans who were hoping you’d finally come through. Not to mention the commentary while nice to hear from Dan and Peter fell short with no side line reporter and repetitive words from the previous game. I mean if you’re going to wait 3 years to bring out another game. You had 3 years to record new and fresh dialog from scratch. Animations wise it was nice, but again compared to the competition the graphics engine again plagues this series and just looks down on the competition, even with the largely detailed and wonderful stadiums and nice highlights. I still love the game for what it is, but hate it for what it could have been.

MLB 2k Series

Again each year 2ksports is a hit and miss with the baseball games, but they do try and sometimes it’s a success and others it’s a no!

This series started out pretty well on the Next Generation consoles with MLB 2k6, which was nothing more than a regular Xbox port with a boost in graphics thanks to the 360’s power overall. But then 2k7 came out and it was a game of it’s own with great player models, incredible presentation and nice and smooth pitching and batting with the swing stick move. I can honestly say they were moving in the right direction. Then the travesty of a game 2k8 came out and my goodness could it get any more horrible than that game. New so called pitching interface is straight up garbage and the original style wasn’t broken. Not to mention they sacrifice the great visual of 2k7 for this new feature in 2k8. What a simple waste of time. Remember in the Next-Gen era, you being with graphics and animations and then gameplay that will run smooth with the visuals. If we wanted the graphics to look poorly or remain the same as old consoles, we would have been kids again and bought a Wii! MLB 2k series is seriously moving backwards, I won’t even comment on the stuff I’ve already seen for MLB 2k9, I’ll let the forums rip it apart from me. And honestly the only reason they are getting torn apart in the media and forums is because the competition’s baseball is 20x better and its 1st party! 2ksports has an exclusive license, why not push it to the limits. But then again thanks to old technology trying to squeeze out new options and visuals is sometimes not possible.

Take Two is the death of 2ksports – I’ve said this so many times and one day people will agree with me. And even the 2ksports developers who visit these forums will one day agree with me, and talk to the right person about it and get that New Engine and Technology and start innovating us again while improving their own talents.

NHL 2k Series

What happened to this series, I really liked 2k7, but 2k8 and 2k9 were not good at all. One thing I will credit too though, and that’s the presentation in 2k9 is just lovely from the intro to the on the ice battle. 2ksports continues to excel in presentation where they lack in gameplay and graphics! Player models went down hill since Kush had them especially from NHL 2k7 which looked great. NHL 2k8 new gameplay mechanics were pretty nice, and at other times real awkward. It has a learning curve, but overall the competition continues to beat them on the NHL market. Not much more I can say about the NHL 2k series, they just haven’t really been on top of the competitions since 2k5 and 2k7. But hopefully with some increased technology they can expand the plans they already have sitting around to improve on.

Sony (SCEA)

Well let’s begin with the games they do release every year, beginning with the best damn baseball game series ever made, and has been the number game to get since PS2.

MLB the Show Series

What more can we say about this series other than it’s been solid every year since the PS2. Sony continues to evolve this series to new heights from a presentation standpoint, a graphic standpoint and an overall great gameplay and innovation standpoint. Since this game launched to the next generation console PS3, it has proved to be the best there is. MLB 07: The Show came out in stores and people were amazed but not overwhelmed. Sony went back to the boards and thought what it would take to get that wow feeling back into this series. And what do you know MLB 08: The Show was released with not only stunning and unreal graphics. But an incredible broadcast team and insane presentation. MLB 08 is baseball in every aspect of the word. But they didn’t just stop on the field of play. They went further and brought us Road to the Show mode. Allowing you to create a player and get him into the majors! The overall playability of this feature is just remarkable. Giving us limitless options and hours and hours of fun, sometimes I believe people will play RTTS more than they play the actual games during season, this game mode will take more of your time outside of your already deep Franchise / Season mode. This will give you coaching options, salaries and much more, making running a franchise much more realistic! To me The Show 08 is the first baseball game I actually play all 162 games and the playoffs since World Series 95 on Genesis! Just insane on how much fun this game is, and there is never a dull moment. With previews of the upcoming Show 09 and an incredible demo on PSN! They are showing that they can even make great even greater. The demo was impressive even from a beginning standpoint.

My problem with this company is they can go the next level, by making their sports series complete, that meaning all their titles including my next game!

NBA 09: The Inside

This is the worse interpretation of basketball I’ve very played in my life! Not only is the gameplay completely past generation. But the graphics are below the standards of the PS3. You would expect from the makers of The Show, that they would have made the NBA series just as incredible. First of all the Inside mode is stupid and too short. Get rid of it and focus on key game play elements. Such as presentation, Graphics, player model detail. Like the Show 08 and 09 in which the players are just scary realistic looking. The Inside should be the same way. Online is an arcade fest, the shot icon with the glowing ball is beyond elementary school crap. Not to mention not, 1 rosters update since the release of the game! No road to the NBA mode, the menu’s look like something from the first NBA 2k and the load screens are terrible and so back then! I mean when are they going to get on the program. With the baseball game so great it just proves if they can place those same efforts into a basketball game they would be on top of the competition.

In Conclusion: Just shows that sometimes too much credit is giving too all three companies and some we praise more than others.

What does it hold and are we giving some developers too much credit?

Will Take Two finally grow some balls and get some technology for 2ksports and finally put that franchise on the top?

Will EA finally get some artist, who know how to get facial structures and uniform shorts and jersey’s the correct length on a body?

Will Sony finally kick the basketball developers in the nutts and make them grow up with the baseball series?

These are questions we give ourselves and hope that they are answered!

Will Madden NFL 10 be the real deal? And how much will it grow?

Thanks for the taking the time to read this.

- BSHADOWS