NHL 09 Fridays: Community Questions #3

[ChaseB]

Custom soundtracks have been done on both consoles so it's not a harder to develop thing at this point. Especially since the Burnout guys have done it and that's EA now.

[rellix1]

Quote: Originally Posted by OddyOh

That's the common excuse anyway, I wouldn't accept that as an answer. But I can't blame EA for this glaring omission...I'd suspect Sony didn't get Custom Soundtracks support into the SDK until it was too late for NHL 09. I think Sony didn't enable it until the Spring, iirc.

Well, it's a fact that MS went to lengths to make sure their console was developer friendly, much more than Sony did.

Quote: Originally Posted by OddyOh

That said, there's no reason that EA can't patch it later on...this is now very common across several PS3 titles.

Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

Quote: Originally Posted by OddyOh

Also some PS3 games are starting to feature built-in uploading of video to YouTube...I hope EA makes that happen too, for NHL 2010. Dunno if the 360 has the horsepower for that. Maybe they can miss out on that feature next year. Fair is fair.

Can't you upload to EASportsworld or whatever it's called in Madden already? on 360 no less.

[rellix1]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

Custom soundtracks have been done on both consoles so it's not a harder to develop thing at this point. Especially since the Burnout guys have done it and that's EA now.

Could you elaborate a little bit on Burnout's custom soundtrack system? I haven't played any version of that game in ages, so I can't really make any fair comparisons. I will however suggest that if in Burnout, you can simply exchange the background songs with your own, then that seems quite little compared to what the NHL 09 crew is trying to attack. Also let's not forget that while EA may be one large company, EA Canada does not (correct me if I'm wrong) make Burnout, and while they may share their secrets, they, much like other companies spread into different development crews, are basically little companies just functioning under the same name (see R*).

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by rellix1

Could you elaborate a little bit on Burnout's custom soundtrack system? I haven't played any version of that game in ages, so I can't really make any fair comparisons. I will however suggest that if in Burnout, you can simply exchange the background songs with your own, then that seems quite little compared to what the NHL 09 crew is trying to attack. Also let's not forget that while EA may be one large company, EA Canada does not (correct me if I'm wrong) make Burnout, and while they may share their secrets, they, much like other companies spread into different development crews, are basically little companies just functioning under the same name (see R*).

I don't think the Burnout guys keep it hidden. And yes I'm well aware of the differences, but nonetheless -- it's not like it's impossible.

Burnout it's for the background tracks as you race -- just like it has always been.

[rellix1]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

I don't think the Burnout guys keep it hidden. And yes I'm well aware of the differences, but nonetheless -- it's not like it's impossible. Burnout it's for the background tracks as you race -- just like it has always been.

Well - replacing background music I imagine is very easy, as you literally just specifying the location of the MP3/whatever you're going to play.

Organizing this for different portions of a game, while it may be similar in specifying the file, it also has to deal with a vast number of files (assuming do you different sounds for every arena). This is not a 1 for 1 switch, but rather a 30 for 1.

I'm not going to defend their decision, I'm not part of EA and I don't know what's *really* going on back there, but what I can say is that there are numerous issues developers must deal with for the PS3 that are virtually nonexistent on the 360, and custom soundtracks were probably placed on the backburner.

[ChaseB]

This is an argument that was valid more than a year ago. It's not anymore.

[rellix1]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

This is an argument that was valid more than a year ago. It's not anymore.

Can't pass the class without showing your work.

I really don't understand what makes this year invalid vs. last year. This is the first year EA Canada has implemented this type of feature - are we forgetting that?

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by rellix1

Can't pass the class without showing your work. I really don't understand what makes this year invalid vs. last year. This is the first year EA Canada has implemented this type of feature - are we forgetting that?

I'm just saying the, "well it's hard to develop on PS3" argument is very tired, don't let developers and publishers keep using it. These major third parties know what they're in for at this point.