Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

Because it's not like Madden attempted to implement a halftime show... right? Save yourself the post. There's no need to rehash any of this. We've been there and done that. It's also just as easy to gloss over the things that were attempted to make your point more valid than it really is. Saying they "passed and neglected the wishlist thread" can be said about many sports game developers. In fact it has - many times - despite what they do year in and year out. The same non-sense is said about MLB:The Show's dev. team at times (and that's quite the disgusting injustice, IMO).

This is just it. I've never criticized EA's work ethic. I also have never criticized their ability to listen to the community. I criticize the product, certain decisions, the limitations of whatever code they already had, etc...

It's not fair to say the team isn't trying

[LiquorLogic]

is. It was a group hug. Exactly what, in your opinion, did Pro-Tak add to the game ? IMO, it should have allowed for double hit tackling. It was an extremely shallow feature that allowed EA to say "hey, we've got nine man gang-tackles. The feature never improved, in Madden, and seemed to regress a bit. It should have, in Madden 10 or at least Madden 11, made consecutive hit tackling possible. It should have allowed players to effect plays were two other players were involved in a tackling animation, but it didn't.

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

Wasn't game speed adjustable if one played any mode but ranked online? I enjoy the slower game speed.

Yes it was adjustable, but online play is big, and putting the default speed at slow basically made you play at slow unless you want to play the CPU or you same circle of friends.

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

I remember seeing a really intelligent post on here about that whole ratings assertion in that the apparent uselessness of the ratings is moreso a function of the game sliders than ratings. I personally have never had problems differentiating between good and bad linemen in my time with M10 and M11, though admittedly I've never tried to put kickers and quarterbacks on the line because that thought always struck me as kind of silly and pointless.

So if I want to play franchise mode on All-Madden, ratings, other that speed, mean nothing, and there's no reason to pay for highly rated olineman because any run of the mill lineman will do. The punters and kickers on the olineman made the point that, in the trenches, ratings are meaningless.

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

If he indeed left for a startup, presumably the risk he's taking is trading relative financial stability at EA for the chance to be one of the top people on the ground floor of this new company, should it succeed and take off. This could be worth more money than anything Tiburon could offer, and obviously he'd have more creative freedom as he will no longer be limited to making only football games.

And if the company doesn't succeed and take off ? In this economy, trading financial stability at EA to be one of the top people in a start up company doesn't seem worth the risk to me. What about you ? I could see if he was accepting a better position at another company that was also established, like Mike Wang, but he isn't.

[RGiles36]

Quote: Originally Posted by LiquorLogic

So if I want to play franchise mode on All-Madden, ratings, other that speed, mean nothing, and there's no reason to pay for highly rated olineman because any run of the mill lineman will do. The punters and kickers on the olineman made the point that, in the trenches, ratings are meaningless.

You and I had a ratings discussion a couple weeks ago, and you conceded that they did mean something. Now they're are back to being meaningless? Suh doesn't dominate in M11? . 90+ OL don't stonewall defenders?

I guess my point is that there are SO many variables to ratings that it's really inconclusive (and inaccurate) to continue to blindly say they don't work.

Edit: and please give me something other than Tom Brady playing safety. If I was video-savvy, I could show video of WRs getting burned when playing corner.

[LiquorLogic]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

You and I had a ratings discussion a couple weeks ago, and you conceded that they did mean something. Now they're are back to being meaningless? Suh doesn't dominate in M11? . 90+ OL don't stonewall defenders? I guess my point is that there are SO many variables to ratings that it's really inconclusive (and inaccurate) to continue to blindly say they don't work.

They're meaningless in the trenches, are they not ? Can you stone wall Suh with a player that weight 160 lbs. ? Are you telling me that you haven't seen all of the video footage proving this fact. Meaning a little bit, AKA something, is basically the same as meaning nothing. If you want to get hung up on words, enjoy yourself.

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by LiquorLogic

They're meaningless in the trenches, are they not ? Can you stone wall Suh with a player that weight 160 lbs. ? Are you telling me that you haven't seen all of the video footage proving this fact. Meaning a little bit, AKA something, is basically the same as meaning nothing. If you want to get hung up on words, enjoy yourself.

Calm down, man. We all know you're right and rgiles36 is wrong, it's plain to see. There is no way someone could have a different opinion about what they see, and have be as legitimate as yours, we know, we know, we know...

[da ThRONe]

1st I would like to wish Ian the very best in his new endeavor.

I'm one of the people that believe that the main lead isn't as important to the direction of Madden as much as the suits. Until the theme is sim equal sells I don't think it matters who the lead is, but hopefully the new lead will interact with the public as much if not more than Ian and company.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

Another good post.Idk if it's the implementation or the direction at Tiburon, but somewhere things get crossed up.

Don't get it myself. They built a studio dedicated to making football games. They likely have the largest development team for a sports game (or one of), and yet they infer they don't have the resources to do [what they want to do] when other companies working with FAR more restrictions and lesser resources can say they've made more substantial accomplishments. Like someone else said even when they introduce a good feature, they never seem to build on it.

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

Don't get it myself. They built a studio dedicated to making football games. They likely have the largest development team for a sports game (or one of), and yet they infer they don't have the resources to do [what they want to do] when other companies working with FAR more restrictions and lesser resources can say they've made more substantial accomplishments. Like someone else said even when they introduce a good feature, they never seem to build on it.

Well IF this statement is true, (which I can't speak to because I'm not there)... there are a lot of companies which are smaller more mobile and innovative and more willing to take risks... its' fairly common across business.