Developers Were Lost, and Now Are Found?

[ChicagoSparty]

Couldn't be more spot on. Please forward this article and the comments to all producers.

I've recently begun playing games from years past, because they offer better gameplay that seems more realistic (such as NCAA 08, despite all its other issues, offering better defense than 09).

I'm not sure what the developers are trying to do with these games, frankly.

[mgkibbles]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

The whole reason features get cut and re-added when going to next-gen is because they have to re-write all the damn code. Since everything needs a re-write, they don't have time to re-do everything for the first year. That's why now people think they're "found" now, we finally got back to the base point and anything new is actually new.

Yes your right that all the code has to be redone, but I think the point Jack is trying to make is that if they wouldn't focus on things like the Madden Virtual Trainer or The Zamboni mini game in NHL 2k9 the gameplay issues would be ironed out by now. Like the article stated MLB The Show made sure they got the gameplay perfected before the visuals, the gameplay from MLB 06 to 07 stayed virtually unchanged even after the system leap.

[Boucher]

that was an amazing article and like the people ahead of me you nailed it on the head

[ChicagoSparty]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgkibbles

Yes your right that all the code has to be redone, but I think the point Jack is trying to make is that if they wouldn't focus on things like the Madden Virtual Trainer or The Zamboni mini game in NHL 2k9 the gameplay issues would be ironed out by now. Like the article stated MLB The Show made sure they got the gameplay perfected before the visuals, the gameplay from MLB 06 to 07 stayed virtually unchanged even after the system leap.

And I'll take that a step further. I could have gone, for example, without the admittedly beautiful stadiums they created in NCAA Football. That stuff adds value, no doubt about it. But it should always be secondary to the on-the-field experience.

[Chessboxer1]

Great article, couldn't agree more. I like nice stadiums and such but ncaa 07 for xbox was 10 times the game 09 was for 360

[Cardot]

I agree with the article. Sports developers in general have not done a great job with this generation. It seems they are finally coming around here in year 4......I think last gen they pretty much hit their stride in year 2????

I do however think that "unnecessary features and gimmicks" really is in the eye of the beholder. I don't have any interest in "RPG" modes like Campus Legend and "Be a Pro"....so they are a waste to me. And I am sure there are some modes/features that I really enjoy that others find unnecessary and gimmicky.

I also think that the difficulty to build a feature comes into play as well. People in the NCAA Football forum love to get their panties in a bunch over the mascot games. When in fact developers have said that it is a very minimal effort to map the Mascots over the players.

[twiztiddarkangelman]

loved the article you pretty much summed up the gaming industry.

[asu666]

Great blog post

I hate the idea of developers trying to reinvent the wheel at this point when there has already been a lot of effort put into figuring out what works. It still amazes me that not all of the stadiums are in NCAA Football and the presentation in Madden falls significantly short of what we saw in ESPN NFL 2K5 almost five years ago. I believe the first few rounds of games from a lot of developers have been glorified demos and we are just now starting to see the products and features that we should expect from day one.