At the end of the last generation of consoles, there was a lot of excitement about what developers would be able to achieve on next-gen consoles. Developers had gotten a lot of mileage out of the Xbox and Playstation 2, and consumers were eagerly awaiting to hear about what developers were planning for the next generation of game consoles.

Until very recently, though, developers have been focusing their attention on the wrong aspects of their games. At the beginning of the current generation of consoles, developers appeared to be more focused on adding unnecessary features and updating graphics, rather than attempting to make the best gameplay experiences on the market.

There were a few mistakes that developers made when creating games for the current generation of consoles. These mistakes included removing features from the Xbox 360/PS3 versions of various games -- features that were still implemented on the last-gen versions -- and added unnecessary features and gimmicks, hoping to appeal to a broader audience. They did all this while still leaving the core gameplay virtually unchanged.

Case in point for this whole article: Madden NFL 06.

Lesson One: Do Not Cut Game Features That Are Available on the Last-Generation Consoles

While both Madden 06 and NCAA Football 07 had fairly successful debuts on the current-generation consoles, both were held back by a lack of polish and missing features that had become accepted norms during the PS2/Xbox years. Consumers were unhappy because, while they were able to play a game with better graphics now, the features they expected to find on the current-generation versions were nowhere to be found. In the case of Madden 06 and NCAA 07, Mini-Camp and Campus Legends modes were absent. Consumers were left to wonder why they should bother buying a new console if it was going to include fewer features than the older versions of the same game.

FIFA 06: Road To FIFA World Cup also fell into this category. The Xbox 360 version lacked a Career mode, Manager mode and the FIFA Lounge, which had to make some people wonder if the developers were completely backing the current-generation consoles.

NBA Live 06 suffered the most from dropped features on the next-gen consoles. In the game, Superstar moves, Dynasty mode and the slam dunk contest were all cut. Though the game had excellent graphics for its time, the action on the court was not good enough to keep consumers interested, and the lack of game modes hurt the title even more.

MLB 2K9, will it change the course of the franchise?

Lesson Two: More Does Not Always Mean Better

A common problem developers appear to have run into during this generation of video games is the thought that "more means better." In general, a game that offers more than one way to play, will have more longevity than a game with just one way to play. However, when the core gameplay is not fun, or has glaring omissions and lacks polish, no amount of game modes will add to the game’s longevity.

One series that has been plagued by the idea of "more means better" is the MLB 2K series. MLB 2K8 is the most recent example of developers focusing on implementing more features instead of ensuring that the gameplay is as smooth and realistic as possible. The addition of a Topps Trading Card feature in the game was an interesting and fun part of the game, but the developers’ main focus should have been to achieve a realistic baseball simulation on the field. After they had nailed the core gameplay, then they could have more easily added other features to the game over the next few years.

Also, to a lesser extent, NBA Live 08 introduced a new Hot Spots feature, which was a way for the user to tell where certain players liked to shoot from on the court. While it was an interesting idea, it was not implemented well during its first year, and more time likely could have been spent improving the gameplay and leaving that feature for this year -- the feature is now more refined in '09.

The Show nailed the gameplay first before branching out.

Lesson Three: Fix the Core Gameplay, Then Focus on Extras

Building on my aforementioned point, the main attraction of the current generation of consoles should not be the ability to add as many features as possible to the games. No, instead it should be the realization that developers have the potential to ensure that a game is as realistic as possible. Once that has been accomplished, the focus should then shift towards adding more features in order to keep consumers interested in the game for a long time. However, the idea that developers were overlooking was that, no matter what kind of extra feature are added to a game, they will go virtually unnoticed if the consumer does not find the gameplay enjoyable.

The developers at SCE Studios San Diego work on the MLB: The Show series. They have done a great job focusing on gameplay first, and then concerning themselves with extra features second. The company’s first effort on the Playstation 3, MLB 07: The Show, was met with success, but consumers were also unhappy that not much had been changed or enhanced from the previous version of the game -- especially when they took into consideration the generational jump and $600 PS3 price tag. The graphics were better, but they were not amazing. The gameplay was very solid, however, so the game was still considered a success.

For MLB 08: The Show, the developers decided to enhance a few modes in the game, such as Road To the Show, but otherwise kept most of the game the same, focusing instead on making sure the gameplay was as accurate and realistic as possible. At the same time, the developers also increased the visuals to a point where they approached true-to-life realism. For this year’s game, MLB 09: The Show, the developers have not needed to spend a majority of the time focusing on the core gameplay because they had already made it incredibly realistic and fun in the previous versions. Because of this, they have been able to devote more time to creating more options for the consumer, including different batting and base-stealing training modes, and have also been able to include 40-man rosters, which adds more depth to the Franchise mode.

Another game that has improved drastically during the past few years is the EA NHL series. NHL 07 was a stellar game in its current-generation debut, largely because of the added right-analog stick controls for handling the puck. Since then, the series has continued to build on the success of previous versions, recently culminating in the outstanding online mode of NHL 09, EA Sports Hockey League, which allows users to team up with other players all over the world and play against each other, with each user playing as one member of a team.


Developers now seem to be realizing that the key to a successful sports game begins and ends with the core gameplay. No matter how many bells and whistles a developer adds to entice consumers to buy a game, it will not sell well if the gameplay is not engaging and fun to play.