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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
EA Repeating Same Mistakes with Madden Arcade
Posted on October 14, 2009 at 04:16 PM.
Many of you may remember my review of 3 on 3 NHL Arcade.

In that review, I basically said the game was fun to an extent, but there was little reason to come back to play the game. For $10, NHL 3 on 3 Arcade was simply not a good deal considering you can buy some classic games from the XBox or the PS2/PSOne. Let's not even mention the $20 bargain bin pricetag of great games such as The Orange Box and Bioshock.

Enter the $15 pricetag for Madden Arcade. Other than being ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Monday, October 12, 2009
Frustrations of a Gaming Editor - Part I
Posted on October 12, 2009 at 11:35 PM.
I was going to write this series last week, but after being ambushed by a series of papers and exams, I was in no mental condition to write anything nearly coherent -- much less enlightening. But this week, we are going for merely coherent as I discuss a topic near and dear to my heart: the frustrating aspects of being an editor for a place like Operation Sports.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing about sports video games here at OS, if there are better readers for a site our size, ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Unfortunate Tale of the Magic Madden Movie
Posted on September 30, 2009 at 12:19 PM.
The year was 2005 and expectations were at an all time high after EA released their next gen Madden video.

Those expectations quickly soured.

Looking back, it is little surprise why there has been such a blowback towards Madden the past several seasons. First EA set expectations at an all-time high and then they forcefully annexed the competition all before the debut of the next-gen Madden. Not only was the competition gone, but fans were expecting great things out ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Friday, September 25, 2009
WCDFTO: Tying it all together
Posted on September 25, 2009 at 02:33 PM.
We have discussed some rather abstract concepts thus far this week. I'm going to try to tie the four graphs I put together and make it seem relevant. For those of you looking to figure out some background on what I mean by each term, simply hop on to my supplemental post I posted alongside this one.

So why does it all matter? Remember, the purpose of this week long survey is to ask the question, "Why aren't sports games meeting our expectations in this generation?"

... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
WCDFTO: Supplemental Definitions Post
Posted on September 25, 2009 at 02:32 PM.
I have thrown around several terms this week and I'm going to use a post to define them each so you know exactly what I mean.

Total Possible Realism (TPR) - 100% of Total Possible Realism is a perfect representation of a sports TV broadcast. I say that because you cannot get 100% of total realism from experiencing anything from any type of a medium whatsoever. So we are going with the TPR in our studies.

Development Resources and Development Costs - The resources ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why a Microsoft bid for EA doesn't make sense.
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 04:40 PM.
In a not so surprising event, Microsoft denied they had any interest in buying Electronic Arts. Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Game Studios said, "We have no plans to acquire EA."

Doug Creutz, a market guru, did not see a deal as highly likely, "There is simply no way the math works due to the massive hit to EA's revenue and earnings post acquisition. This is even assuming such a deal would pass regulatory muster, which we find highly doubtful."

The only reasoning ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
WCDFTO: Possible Realism vs. Development Costs (Part II)
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 12:15 PM.
Yesterday, we looked at how development costs and possible realism were related in terms of how the cost of developing a more realistic game increases, perhaps exponentially, as you go up the scale. Tomorrow we are tying all four graphs together and I'll get a lot more concrete with what I'm talking about, but we're going to stay in the land of theory for one more day.


In this graph there is quite a bit of information ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
WCDFTO: Possible Realism vs. Development Costs
Posted on September 23, 2009 at 03:22 PM.
Yesterday, I discussed a rather straightforward chart which displayed some fairly basic economics. Today's chart is more interesting and might start helping us figure out why sports games simply aren't meeting our expectations this generation.


This chart compares the relationship between development costs and possible realism. As the realism goes farther up the scale, the cost to produce that realism rises exponentially ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
With all the chatter out there on video game takeover rumors, all involving EA as a buyer or seller, I think something is going on in the background.

Consider the rumor going around Wall Street which bumped EA's stock up 8% on the 'news' Microsoft is interested in EA. There is also the rumor that EA is interested in buying THQ. As of this writing THQ is up 1% and Microsoft is up 1.3%.

And you thought the buyout rumors were so 2008.

There are several things ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
WCDFTO: Fun Factor vs. Development Resources
Posted on September 22, 2009 at 03:59 PM.
Several of you commented on my post yesterday, most surprisingly were in agreeance that fun is maximized for everyone at around 80%. Today we're going to look at Fun Factor vs. Development Resources in an ideal setting:


As you can see, in an ideal situation, the more development resources you commit to a game, the more fun it should be since you are able to pack more stuff into it and refine the experience. ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Monday, September 21, 2009
WCDFTO: Fun Factor vs. Realism
Posted on September 21, 2009 at 01:31 PM.
In my new series this week, Why Can't Developers Figure This Out (WCDFTO for short), I'm going to look at why sports games seem to be lagging behind other genres in terms of overall advancement. Here is today's graph, which I showed last Friday in my preview...and now I get to explain it:


I covered this with a similar chart at one point earlier this year, but it's worth taking a look at again. I believe one of ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Friday, September 18, 2009
Laying the groundwork for next week....
Posted on September 18, 2009 at 03:08 PM.
There have been a lot of people wondering why next-gen games simply aren't all that we thought they could be. In an attempt to try to explain why games simply aren't as good as we thought they were supposed to be, I'm going to use three factors to try to explain why sports games seem to have plateaued:

1)Possible Realism
2)Fun Factor
3)Development Resources

I'm not sure where we'll ultimately be led...but I've got four graphs for you to digest right now. ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
My writing vacation is over...and I'm still playing The Show
Posted on September 15, 2009 at 11:03 AM.
I had a nice one month or so vacation from writing so I could get the first draft of a book written. Now that the first draft is done and I'll largely be editing from here on out, it's time to start writing about sports video games again.

This blog has no real point except to touch on a few brief points and hopefully raise some questions.

-I'm STILL playing MLB 09: The Show. That is a full six months after release, and I'm still playing the game. Something tells me ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Reviews Are Coming in: Madden is for Real
Posted on August 10, 2009 at 06:18 PM.
I want to preface this by saying I have only played the demo, as I am one of the unlucky ones who hasn't found a place selling the game early.

However, I am very impressed at the (so far) critical acclaim Madden NFL 10 is getting. Not only that, but OSers who own the game are overwhelmingly giving the game positive marks so far. There are dissenters in the bunch, but I honestly think that only the most die-hard and bitter 2K football fans will find reason to hate Madden NFL 10. ... Read More
Category: Industry Commentary
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Gaming in the Recession Part 2: Trimming the Fat
Posted on July 30, 2009 at 12:36 PM.
In my second and final portion of my gaming in the recession series, we are going to look at what the effect of the 30% drop in video game sales is going to have on development of current games.

The first and most obvious thing that happens when revenues drop in business is that expenditures also tend to drop to compensate so you can maintain a profit. If the declining sales become the new normal, studios will begin cutting back on positions which aren't necessary to see games completed. ... Read More

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