Phil Frazier is Leaving EA Sports Tiburon

[guaps]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Probably a gaming company on the West Coast. He's moving back to the West Coast for family reasons. His departure post is 3-4 pages back.

Visual Concepts?!!

Nah, just kidding. From what Phil wrote in his departure post, I think he's done with sports games for a while.

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by wheelman990

Thats the great thing about life...we can all have an opinion. I surely didn't mean to hurt you. I certainly do not believe everything I read, or hear. Bottom line though, good luck to these guys, but I think its a good move for us. Time will tell.

Lol you didnt hurt me. But when a man comes on here and tell you the reason and you still doubt him, I just don't have anything to say. Not that that is a bad thing, we just see it difference. Phil and Ian vision will be missed. I don't think some people realize that as much. They have a big hand in Madden 12. But I think different leadership is not a bad thing either.

[Cre8]

After reading a lot of the dev comments on this thread, I really feel like there was a lot of forward thinking that was being held back because of the ability to blame 'the technology'.

Personally, I think the one thing to blame any/all of this on is the annual sports game cycle. It leaves very little that can really be improved upon in the game and what does get improved looks cosmetic. This isn't because they aren't trying or don't want to change the game in a big way. It is because they really have no real amount of time to make a great game when they really just need to make what the market considers a decent enough game to buy every year.

The only way this cycle stops is if the consumer stops buying the game.

And that will never happen with Madden.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cre8

After reading a lot of the dev comments on this thread, I really feel like there was a lot of forward thinking that was being held back because of the ability to blame 'the technology'. Personally, I think the one thing to blame any/all of this on is the annual sports game cycle. It leaves very little that can really be improved upon in the game and what does get improved looks cosmetic. This isn't because they aren't trying or don't want to change the game in a big way. It is because they really have no real amount of time to make a great game when they really just need to make what the market considers a decent enough game to buy every year. The only way this cycle stops is if the consumer stops buying the game. And that will never happen with Madden.

I can't really agree here with this. There are just too many other sports games that are released yearly that have come such a long way. It's not about blaming the technology. The key is to build on what you previously had from year to year along with having competition that pushes you ahead in order to keep pushing the envelope. Madden has had neither. Every year is filled with constant re-writes of the code, removing things that were added the year before, etc. etc. EA never seemed to have a problem with this on last gen. The fact is that with exclusivity, we have the marketing department milking everything they can out of a sub par product in order to sell to the masses each year with minimal investment. One thing I will say, I do believe that many of the developers do want to do more, but their marketing department will no allow that in order to keep the game compelling the following year. This philosophy really only works when there is no competing product. Consumers have no other choice BUT to wait for the following year or they just don't buy an NFL game. There is an unlimited amount of possibilities that can be included in an NFL football game. Madden has such a long way to go still that we probably won't see that mind blowing game from EA ever. Eventually, we may see another company get a stab at it and maybe that will push EA to push the envelope. Until that happens (if it ever does) we probably won't see the larger ticket items we want implemented into the game. By this time you would think that things like player interaction and animations would be something to marvel over.

Honestly though, none of this was unexpected in 2005 when we saw the signing of the exclusive deal. Phil Frazier is a good guy and I wish him and the developers the best. However, I think having some fresh minds on the project could be a really good thing.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

I can't really agree here with this. There are just too many other sports games that are released yearly that have come such a long way. It's not about blaming the technology. The key is to build on what you previously had from year to year along with having competition that pushes you ahead in order to keep pushing the envelope. Madden has had neither. Every year is filled with constant re-writes of the code, removing things that were added the year before, etc. etc. EA never seemed to have a problem with this on last gen. The fact is that with exclusivity, we have the marketing department milking everything they can out of a sub par product in order to sell to the masses each year with minimal investment. One thing I will say, I do believe that many of the developers do want to do more, but their marketing department will no allow that in order to keep the game compelling the following year. This philosophy really only works when there is no competing product. Consumers have no other choice BUT to wait for the following year or they just don't buy an NFL game. There is an unlimited amount of possibilities that can be included in an NFL football game. Madden has such a long way to go still that we probably won't see that mind blowing game from EA ever. Eventually, we may see another company get a stab at it and maybe that will push EA to push the envelope. Until that happens (if it ever does) we probably won't see the larger ticket items we want implemented into the game. By this time you would think that things like player interaction and animations would be something to marvel over. Honestly though, none of this was unexpected in 2005 when we saw the signing of the exclusive deal. Phil Frazier is a good guy and I wish him and the developers the best. However, I think having some fresh minds on the project could be a really good thing.

Agree with the top part of your opinion. I know the marketing department has a huge pull on what goes into the game and I think that is garbage.

As far as the last sentence goes, it goes both ways. We know that Roy Harvey from NCAA is coming over and replacing Phil. Is that really a fresh mind? I've seen it where new people replacing people isn't always a good thing, either. I agree it could be a good thing, but it could also go in the other direction.

[DJ]

Yes! My wish came true; the thread is still open after returning from my vacation.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Agree with the top part of your opinion. I know the marketing department has a huge pull on what goes into the game and I think that is garbage. As far as the last sentence goes, it goes both ways. We know that Roy Harvey from NCAA is coming over and replacing Phil. Is that really a fresh mind? I've seen it where new people replacing people isn't always a good thing, either. I agree it could be a good thing, but it could also go in the other direction.

That's certainly true Road. We'll have to wait and see. I know a lot of folks like the idea that the gameplay team is doubling for M13, but a bigger team doesn't always equal better quality. It's more the type of people you have on a team than it is the number of people. I am hoping it shapes up nicely though. We will see how 12 turns out.

[adembroski]

I haven't met Roy Harvey yet, but I hear he's a big Head Coach fan, fwiw