MLB 09 has a good crowd as far as walking in the standing room, dynamic attendance (not 1:1 with the announced attendance, I'm sure), and cheers/jeers. NBA 2K9 has good vendors. Backbreaker looks to have good differentiation in crowd appearance as well as event-specific cheering.

The reason why it hasn't been better graphically is because of the lag that more detailed crowds force to the action on the floor. Not sure about audio, but developers take a lot of heat by making the crowds look top-notch and letting the FPS on the floor slide.

Again, audio is something else, and it should definitely be better. Dynamic attendance should not be constricted by the leagues, as is often said about NBA 2K-series. Also, we need more fan closeups circa NFL 2K5.

I would bet that the crowd looks so bad because they had to cut corners somewhere so that it would run @ 60fps.

Exactly right boritter. There is no excuse for poor crowd noise, but the lack of graphical crowd elements comes down purely to memory management.

Crowd noise is the main problem. Too detailed looking crowds would slow down the game too much. The proble with NBA 2k9 is that while they have some good fan models, they are too rowdy for an NBA game. The motions they have are more suited for NCAA games. Dynamic attendance is a must though now a days. And crowd noise definently needs to be amplified at the right situations.
MLB 09 has the best crowds from what I've seen.

I would just like to see in NCAA 2010, the crowd go crazy in the middle of a play, like a long run or big play. Instead as a player is returning a pick for a TD it's sound as usual until he crosses the endzone. Even then its like a 1/2 mississippi before the crowd goes wild. They should get loud right when the pick happens, 15 mississippi's earlier.

Who cares about the crowd? About 90% percent of the game I don't even notice they are there. The only time I've cared how the crowd looked was in a baseball game when I hit I foul ball other than that it doesn't matter. Bad crowd animations is not going to stop you from buying a game.

To me, what is more important than how the crowd looks is how they sound. It should feel like I'm at a game. As long as they get that part right (I love how the crowd sounds in NCAA games) I don't care how they look.

I prefer crowd sound rather than the visual representation of them. Sure, it looks cool to see someone get up and go to a seat or bathroom or what ever, cutscenes are a nice touch as well - But when my team has the final possession or makes a big basket - I want to hear that and feel that buzz from the crowd.

At this point, MLB 09 the Show has the best crowds to date for any game.

Its not "flat out poor" game development, you're simply poorly informed. I bet you dynamic attendance wont happen in a licensed game in a blue moon because the licensee wont agree to show empty stadiums. That would reflect bad on their products, you see. Exactly like how most car makers dont want car damage in racing game, that would make their product look "unsafe" or "unreliable". Seems like Forza managed to convince them to show limited damage, tho. You want dynamic attendance get an unlicensed game. You want car damage you get Burnout...

As for the look and sound of the crowd, its a resource tradeoff issue. Those consoles have less memory than a 5$ USB stick. What are you willing to downsize to free ressources for a better crowd? Benches? Commentary? Less player animations? There is no other game genre that shows thousands of people at the same time.

Not to say crowds can't be improved, but you gotta understand the restrictions and complexities the devs work under before starting to call their work "poor, inexcusable, a shame"...

This is something that should have been done!!! Especially with PS3 and Blu-Ray...I get tired of hearing about space and room on discs....that should not be an excuse especially for next-gen.

College Hoops 2K8 definitely has the best crowds i've seen in a sports game to date.

It's got dynamic attendance, lots of awesome chants and band music, plus great dynamic volume from the crowd so they cheer when things are going well and boo or sit quietly when things are going bad.

NBA 2K9 has good crowd character models and movement, the Show has good sound and models, and FIFA has good dynamic attendance. Too bad they aren't all together.

Some great points here, all around. I think everyone has touched on everything involving what we all would like to see and hear in a sports game crowd, pretty much, but, actually, I don't really mind what I see. I think NBA2K9 is the best looking, even with the White Tee Brothers going back and forth all game long, and Live 09 isn't bad. MLB09 isn't bad but too many repeated characters.

Dynamic attendance and sounds appropriate sound to match would be great but I think Steadler has a point about licenses not wanting empty seats with the dynamic seating. That would be too realistic for them and yes it could hurt revenue because of the perception that a team is a loser.


I think it's still a matter of now that there is this advanced tech of current gen, games are still getting everything together. With the less than 1yr of time to work on the next iteration, it has to come in waves. They don't have 2 yrs to work on their annual sports games because of their financial projections needing the money form whatever sports franchise.

If these current gen systems are what they are cracked up to be, which I believe they are, they will get there. I'm not worried but I think more than anything, like some have said, already, they should get those sounds together so I feel more like I'm in the game...since it's in the game, feel me?

I think nba 2k9 has the best out right now, but it is certainly not perfect

I know this sounds like a broken record but the 2k football series had the right idea with the crowd. Even with APF2k8, they seemed to increase the detail and reaction of the audience. I think they went from 8 different sprites to over 20+. Yes, they weren't hi-res and were very pixelated but they each had different mannerisms and didn't only jump up at every single little play. They'd have the gradual clap action, get up half way and then finally get up completely and cheer animation. Granted, it's not perfect. I mean, they still needed to work on (and this is for ALL sports game) the instant-insane-crowd madness-burst-cheer you find with buzzer beaters and game winning field goals but little by little 2k seems to be getting it right. The crowd in Madden just seems to be zombie-ish, moving at whatever, whenever. THere have to be moments of calmness, cheers and complete madness. I think we've come far enough to were we wont sacrifice framerate for a great crowd. Or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about since I've never made a videogame in my life. Needless to say, some games have come close, some games can't seem to get it right, but like other features....one day, and I'm sure of it, they will.

Waiting.....

yes, lets waste space and the developers time on something that really doesn't matter. i would rather have no crowds and amazing gameplay. when they fix the gameplay on these games then maybe go into the crowds and do pointless things.