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OS Roundtable: The Player Tendencies Snafu - Short Term Blunder or Long Term Mistake?

OS Staff Writers, by now you have all heard the news about the fourth NCAA title update not including a fix for player tendencies. To some this is an absolutely huge deal and to others it seems as if they are perfectly content with the game as-is. But let's go beyond that; let's discuss whether the string of bugs this year, plus the lack of any patchable resolution will be detrimental to NCAA 13, or will the blunders of NCAA Football 12 be forgotten by many next July?

Robert Kollars: I am probably more understanding when it comes to issues with game titles than most. As it stands though, I have already traded inNCAA. I play NCAA Football because I love the actual sport itself, and I want a chance to use all the great talent from so many teams. I am at an absolute loss that player tendencies are STILL broken, even with four patches. If tendencies were the only issue I might be a bit more forgiving, but this game has been riddled with bugs since the first week of release. 

While not a flagship title of Electronic Arts, NCAA is still a very popular one. It goes way beyond that of a niche product. If you trust the numbers reported,NCAA 12 has sold over 1 million copies, and NCAA 11 sold just under. The foundation was laid for this series to grow dramatically, but the amount of issues, and EA's inability to fix them, could prove very costly. They followed the same path with NCAA Basketball 10, by releasing a solid product only to abandoned the issues that were holding it back from being a great game. This is a dangerous path that EA has chosen, and in my honest opinion, I believe they will see a significant drop in week one sales of NCAA 13. I hope if this happen, that gamers aren't fed the typical "college games just don't sell" line. College games do sell, but like any other consumer purchased product, it helps if they actually work.

Phil Varckette: In professional wrestling (stay with me), there is something called the three month rule. If a storyline has been finished for three or more months then it's OK to rehash it. The same basic principle applies here. 

Every year we all have our issues with the game whether they are big or small. Yet, like clock work we jump aboard the EA hype train again come late winter only to be let down once again. Don't get me wrong, the game certainly does have its redeeming qualities, but when highly touted features are broken, it's no wonder some people feel the way they do about EA. I have not bought an EA football game since NCAA 10, and I don't plan on buying one again until I know the game has taken great strides. Sadly, I doubt this will happen in this console generation. 

Next year may be different when it comes to sales. When you hype a major feature like player tendencies and the feature doesn't work out of the box, that's one thing, but to have four patches and not fix the issue? This is just plain unacceptable. Will it drive customers away? That remains to be seen. But I do know one thing, it seems like every year more and more people are getting tired of EA's schtick.

Matthew Coe: I don't see any way that NCAA 12's myriad of problems doesn't affect both the attitude towards, and the first week sales, of NCAA 13 come July 2012. I know for me personally, I will not be buying on release day. I need to hear and see for myself that the NCAA team down at Tiburon have ironed out all of the issues present in NCAA 12. I get the feeling that many others have finally said "Enough!" and are tired of being burned by the incomplete yearly releases in the sports gaming market.


Sports gamers have gotten the short end of the stick this generation of consoles by and large, and it feels like we are collectively "waking up" to this fact. However, the proof always comes on release day. After all of the hype and PR is done, we'll see if gamers are willing to vote with their wallet. 

I think NCAA 13 has the potential to become the most eye-opening example of this generation - either when sports gamers stay away from pre-orders and first week buys, or when they go out and buy the game right away (which is almost a tradition for a lot of gamers) forgetting all about NCAA 12'sbugs/glitches. 

After NCAA 12's release woes and four patches deep with unresolved issues, we're finally going to see if gamers are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Bo McCready: I’ve purchased every NCAA Football game since NCAA Football 99. But this year was the first that I didn’t buy the game during week one; instead, I waited for the first patch. Here we are, three patches later, and I’m still frustrated by many of the same things I was when I first played the game. Psychic DBs, strange glitches and a laughable physics engine are growing increasingly hard to ignore. 

I don’t think the NCAA blunders will be the only things that hurt sales, though. The NCAA Football team's inability to fix very visible problems sure isn't helping build goodwill. But these games have had glitches every year, and dumb saps like me line up to buy them because we love the sport and we don’t have any other option. 

Rather, it’s the success of other games that, in my opinion, might pose the greatest danger to NCAA’s sales. Hardcore sports gamers have loved the NBA 2K series for years, and the NBA 2K12 Greatest Mode and upcoming Legend’s Showcase DLC look like boundary pushers. FIFA 12 added an extremely effective set of sliders that can seriously change the gameplay experience, as well as a dramatic overhaul of the game’s physics. Other big-time series are moving forward, but NCAA Football is stepping sideways.

Chris Sanner: This is what I'm now dubbing as "The Great Video Game Experiment of 2011-12."

Consumers seem to get angry with EA a bit more each year. And this year, we were treated to a pair of games from EA Tiburon which had numerous issues -- one of which seemed mostly exempt from that sort of a fate in years past. So now what? I think now is the time we're going to see how serious gamers are about wanting better products. The question is now going to become: are gamers mindless zombies who buy something because of it's name, or are they smart and buy things because they feel it's good?

We know the inability to patch player tendencies, a major feature this year, is a short term blunder. EA has already made their money off of NCAA 12, with record sales all around. Now next year, we are going to see if they can attract more mindless zombies to the cash register or if consumers will finally take a stand against perennially broken sports products from the two biggest publishers in this genre. Only time will tell.

What about you, OS members? What is your take on the future of sports gaming and the NCAA Football series?

 


NCAA Football 12 Videos
Member Comments
# 1 edaddy @ 11/03/11 04:26 PM
Excellent you guys have effectively said what disgruntled posters have been saying..Kudos
 
# 2 nccomicfan @ 11/03/11 04:46 PM
After this and the fact we are going 3 years without competition in the NBA gaming world, EA has lost all credibility with me with the exception of the FIFA franchise.
 
# 3 fistofrage @ 11/03/11 04:48 PM
The game just isn't worth the time or energy let alone $60. The non-sports games have really stepped it up this past year. ANd then you look at NCAA football. Its worse than it was 6 years ago on the PS2. What other game or product for that matter can make that claim and still expect the public to line up and buy it?
 
# 4 blLLD0 @ 11/03/11 05:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by fistofrage
The game just isn't worth the time or energy let alone $60. The non-sports games have really stepped it up this past year. ANd then you look at NCAA football. Its worse than it was 6 years ago on the PS2. What other game or product for that matter can make that claim and still expect the public to line up and buy it?
Madden lol. Any EA sports game where they have an exclusive license/monopoly.
 
# 5 Scott @ 11/03/11 05:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bolts Boy 123
I say all of the OS community come together and doesn't purchase NCAA 12 until we've received confirmation that it's glitch free.
Too bad NCAA 12 has been out since June, I'm pretty sure a lot of us have it already.
 
# 6 jkra0512 @ 11/03/11 05:04 PM
Definitely not buying any football games next year until a month or two after release. I did that with Madden and I am enjoying that decision very much. Also, Like fistofrage said, non-sports games have really stepped up this year and the upcoming year.

I sincerely hope that EA wakes up with their football games and gives its supporters a game worthy of $60...
 
# 7 Jadakiss88 @ 11/03/11 05:25 PM
At this point it doesn't matter...only next year will be the true test to see if anything will change. EA already has their money and gamers are left with a half done game.

It isn't that horrible to play but the fact EA has either just given up on fixing some issues or just don't know what to do to fix it shows that EA Sports needs to look for another staff as well as a better Q&A team. Maybe some people that aren't tied to a video game site (sorry OS) but that's the only way they can get a real response a genuine response. This needs to happen 8 months before projected release date and all the way up til 3 months before. That way the testers have enough to play through at least 2 or 3 dynasty seasons and play some online games as well.
 
# 8 Herky @ 11/03/11 05:53 PM
Fantastic write-up and I agree with 100% of what is written here.

I'll be waiting at least a month in the future before I purchase NCAA so I can find out exactly what the patches have done.
 
# 9 fistofrage @ 11/03/11 06:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Herky
Fantastic write-up and I agree with 100% of what is written here.

I'll be waiting at least a month in the future before I purchase NCAA so I can find out exactly what the patches have done.
You can't just wait a month, better wait until December after all the patches have dropped. There hasn't ever been an EA patch that I can recall that didn't break something that was working before.

I point everyone to Fight Night Champion. The game was decent at launch with some freezing glitches that needed to be addressed. Fast forward 3 patches later. TKO's and damage were removed from the game, the boxers became very stiff and it became impossible to lose to the AI because the stamina was destroyed and the AI became a zombie by the 4th round. I repeat, the game played 100 times better at launch and people are begging for them just to give us the launch day game back.

Oh, and the freezing issue in Legacy that I mentioned. Never addressed.

I think some members of the FNC team now work on the NCAA franchise.
 
# 10 DJ @ 11/03/11 06:22 PM
I think this will definitely have long-term ramifications for people like us that play mostly sports games and visits sites dedicated to sports gaming. I'm not sure how that translates to overall sales numbers; I bet if you asked most casual players of NCAA, they'd have no clue about the tendency bug.

I've fought with this game tooth-and-nail to get it playable and I think I've done an OK job at doing so. That being said, there's no way I'm buying this game next year until all the patches have been released. NCAA 12 made me jump through way too many hoops and I just don't have the time or patience to deal with this again next year.
 
# 11 Gotmadskillzson @ 11/03/11 06:22 PM
All EA Game Changers have lost credibility in my eyes. They went down there how many times for NCAA 12 ? Like around 8 or 10 times ? I know it was a lot and the last time was in June. But yet this is the buggiest game in the series. Kind of makes one wonder what the hell they were doing down there all the times they were down there.

Not only did they go down there that many times, but a good number of them have direct access email and phone wise with the producers and other lead programmers. So to me it is like how can you have direct access and don't speak up ? That whole program needs to be scrapped because out of the 2 or 3 years that program been in place, they haven't changed a damn thing or improved anything either. I am still seeing the same problems that was in 08, 09, 10 still in NCAA 12. So to me, they serve no purpose other then to hype the game.

EA needs to go back to the way they use to be before patches. IMO they are so dependent and reliant on patches, they putting out half baked games. Idea be good, but the execution be terrible. I honestly don't believe they even play their own game against the CPU. I think they only play head to head against other humans and that is the problem.

You can just play ONE game against the CPU and come away with a notebook full of problems with the CPU AI. So how in the world did the EA Game Changers, QA department, producers and everybody else that was involved in the game NOT see that many obvious issues with the game ?

All these sports games developers are taking consumers for granted and it is SAD. Man if they ever put Madden and NCAA back on the PC, we wouldn't have these problems because gamers themselves would have fixed the problems with mods.

Honestly this has been a very disappointing summer for me. College football is my favorite sport. But it has been full of misinformation and question dodging. It is like they just there to collect a pay check and don't care or have pride in what they put out in the market.
 
# 12 KingV2k3 @ 11/03/11 08:31 PM
I'm not very tech savvy at all, so I rely on the guys around here to let us know what are fixable issues and EXACTLY how to go about it...

Therefore it seems to me that all the rationalizations and excuses offered up by the developers are pretty weak, at best...

'Skillz mentioned "pride" in his post re: workmanship, etc...

What ever happened to "fear of getting fired"?

I've never had this much latitude to fail in my professional endeavors...
 
# 13 canes21 @ 11/03/11 08:49 PM
Well, I'll just put my .02 out there. After the mess that is NCAA 12, I did not buy Madden 12 this year and will not be purchasing NCAA 13 or Madden 13 next year unless it is very late into the year or early 2013 when they are dirt cheap.
 
# 14 andygilbert @ 11/03/11 10:11 PM
I have bought every NCAA football game dating back to Bill Walsh College Football and this is the first time I have seriously considered boycotting EA with any game. Case in point I sent a message to customer service at EA in which it tells you that they will reply within 24hrs. or less that was October 14th. I got a response today November 3rd. I mentioned this to show everyone how Jonny on the spot they are over there. I have worked in sales and customer service for more that 10yrs. and if this were the way I handled things when one of my customers have a concern and I let it linger this long they would purchase from another company or would not purchase a product of want not of need.
 
# 15 andygilbert @ 11/03/11 10:13 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by andygilbert
I have bought every NCAA football game dating back to Bill Walsh College Football and this is the first time I have seriously considered boycotting EA with any game. Case in point I sent a message to customer service at EA in which it tells you that they will reply within 24hrs. or less that was October 14th. I got a response today November 3rd. I mentioned this to show everyone how Jonny on the spot they are over there. I have worked in sales and customer service for more that 10yrs. and if this were the way I handled things when one of my customers have a concern and I let it linger this long they would purchase from another company or would not purchase a product of want not of need.
Sorry left that kind of hanging but I guess that lets you know where I stand in my future purchases of ea games
 
# 16 fistofrage @ 11/03/11 10:19 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingV2k3
I'm not very tech savvy at all, so I rely on the guys around here to let us know what are fixable issues and EXACTLY how to go about it...

Therefore it seems to me that all the rationalizations and excuses offered up by the developers are pretty weak, at best...

'Skillz mentioned "pride" in his post re: workmanship, etc...

What ever happened to "fear of getting fired"?

I've never had this much latitude to fail in my professional endeavors...
But they didn't fail because We The Sheeple lined up and bought over 1 million copies. Given the limited resources they apparantly put towards this title, I am sure the board of directors gave them a big pat on the back and probably a nice Christmas Bonus. I mean the reviewers all gave it 8+. You don't have to produce a quality product when you have a monopoly, a good hype machine and the reviewers in your back pocket to boot.
 
# 17 khaliib @ 11/03/11 11:23 PM
I believe this issue will have an imact on gaming forums also.

Come next year, gamers will want to press Ben & Co on real issues, instead of dumb questions about what's their favorite part of the game.

Forums such as OS have to walk that fine line, because you "Want" a relationship with developers, but you "Need" gamers to read/utilize your site.

How this will impact OS is will they allow gamers to voice/press the developers when given the chance, or will the hammer be laid down against members to preserve that developers relationship?

We will see!!!
 
# 18 $NevaBroke$ @ 11/03/11 11:39 PM
I'm one who has bought this game every year since '99 of ps1. I've seen ncaa football evolve over the years, but has hit a wall in recent years with glitches, bugs, and that god awful mascot mash-up feature. True ncaa heads on here have put in hours of OS blog time, slider tweaking, stadium sound dl's, patch wait time, and life loss that can't be returned to us. This will be my last year buying ncaa as the problems with the game have gone from bad to wtf. Too many "Why" questions for me to pay $60 for a known unfinished game another year: Why are there soo many launch day game issues? Why do the same problems with this game persist every year? Why is it that we the customer have grown accustomed to knowing there will be patch updates before we even buy this game? Why does ea not release a beta for this game and make an effort to show its faithful yearly customers that it wants to get better? Many on these posts will claim they will wait next year to buy the game until after patch updates. Others will say they won't buy this game ever again, but will be on here next year posting their same gripes for ncaa 13. Then u have the 5%ers who are truly tired of being "wife beated" over the years by this game and will really move on with their gaming life, not buying ncaa 13. I have made my choice brothers, which will you choose?...

(now stepping off my soapbox)
 
# 19 fistofrage @ 11/03/11 11:55 PM
It all comes down to a numbers game for EA. TYhey know they are going to lose X% of their customers every year for various reason. As long as they can recoup those numbers with the hype machine and having the exclusivity, things probably won't change.

They already said they can't patch the game because they don't know their code well enough to not break things in the process. They aren't revamping the engine. Do you honestly think the development team is going to spend money and resources learning the entire engine and fixing what's broken? No, because the formula they have is put in a few new fancy features to put on the back of the box to attract new customers. Years and Years of current gen games have proven their MO. Year after year, even the hardcore sim guys still shell out money in hopes of things changing and it never does. They are banking on that trend continuing.
 
# 20 kingg d @ 11/04/11 12:06 AM
Nice way to bash an EA product, but for some reason I don't see anything like this about nba2k12 (a game way more broken than NCAA) And mods even delete or block every thread complaining about the game.

Now you can delete this comment if you want.
 

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