Operation Sports - Press Row Podcast: Episode 19 with NCAA Football 14 Producer

[Steve_OS]

It’s Episode 19 of the Press Row Podcast, a special Press Row One-on-One with NCAA Football 14 producer Ben Haumiller (@benhaumiller) and host Richard Grisham (@richgrisham). We talk all about the new physics engine in the game, the newest gameplay updates coming this fall, as well as some of the cool things and challenges that come to designing football games for a staggering variety of gamer.

This is the first of a series of shows we’ll do with Ben as NCAA Football 14 information comes out, so let us know what you think and send us some questions and thoughts you’d like us to ask Ben in the future.

Do it one of these ways:

1) Follow the show on Twitter at @PressRowPodcast and send us some Tweets while you’re there
2) Email the show at [email protected]
3) Respond to this post

Also, the Press Row Podcast is now available on iTunes, so subscribe and rate it too! The link is here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/o...563624090?mt=2

Enjoy the show!

Run Time: 59 minutes

If you can't view or listen to the embedded player below, please click here.

[jpdavis82]

Nice interview, really excited for ncaa 14 and the future of ea football as we transfer into next gen. I think there will be a very smooth transition to next gen.

[Big FN Deal]

I was listening intently and planned on providing some follow up questions until at about 20 minutes in, when the host brings up the mythical "fun vs realism balance", UGH!

This reference is a talking point breed by EA, seemingly specifically for their football games. I cant find it anymore but one of EA's creators of FIFA when asked about something along those lines, stated something to the effect of, "we don't worry much about casuals because there is still so much we can add and improve for those that want the most realistic game possible". Why is it that this mantra of a fun/realism balance, isn't touted by other top sports sims? They just focus on making the most realistic representation of the sports possible, not worrying about accounting for their simulations being video games meant to have fun, because they understand that people choosing to play sim video games, find realism fun.

Also those other sports game devs don't seem to focus on and constantly mentioning the challenges of making video games realistic, they seem to understand nothing they do can change the fact that these are just video games, so they just do the best they can to create the game with as many real life aspects as possible, to make the gamer forget that, through immersion. Not Tiburon though, outside of the superficial, like attempting to create photo realistic visual STILLS, it's all about constantly reminding gamers in-game and interviews that they are just playing video games. smh

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, I will try to listen to rest of the interview later to provide some question for the next one.

[Official_Mole]

I can understand Madden NFL trying to create a Casual/Hardcore balance due to the fact that the NFL is the most popular sport in America and chances are more people "casually" buy Madden NFL than any other sports game out there. So I can see why Madden NFL would need to accommodate the casual features but also give us hardcore gamers true simulation fundamentals in game play.

NCAA Football, in my opinion, should have a slightly difference perspective on the Causal/Hardcore balance. Most NCAA Football gamers (from my experience) are a little older, like high school and up, and are hardcore NCAA Football fans. Most who continue to play NCAA Football after the release of Madden (or don't get Madden at all) are hardcore NCAA and want things to be as real as possible, in every part of the game.

Now my final thought is this.....

Make Madden NFL and NCAA Football fundamentally realistic, provides users more control. If that makes the game harder for the casual users then that means your making progress because a sport as complex as football is not easy to learn. However, this is a business, you want to attract more fans, I totally understand. That's why I'm glad Ben Haumiller said in the interview that they are providing tools and guides to help those who are new to the game learn and get better. That is how it should be. Provide the user with game tutorials to learn the game but teach the sport.

When I played Madden NFL 07/NCAA Football 08 Online for the first time my combined record was probably -130 wins to losses. I was terrible, but I learned, I got better. Now each year I get +100 wins to losses at least (not counting league games). People can learn to play the sports, do not be afraid to make the game more real even if that means more complex to the casual fan. If they really love the game they will want to learn. And when you can accomplish something like getting better and better at Madden or NCAA then its even more fun.

[Big FN Deal]

@Official_Mole, there are a lot of things in your post I agree with, most of it in fact, except for the parts about either game needing to sacrifice realism to sell. This reasoning about selling to the casuals, imo, is yet another EA talking point, that even I get caught up in, to justify the way they choose to make the game. There is no reasonable person out there against EA Tiburon creating the most realistic games possible IF they are able to get it to play the way they want. That's where factory settings come into play and why EA football games should have a separate "simulation" setting.

The fact that EA football games are video games inherently limits how realistic they can possibly be, so it's redundant to try to artificially "balance" it when creating the game.

[Official_Mole]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

@Official_Mole, there are a lot of things in your post I agree with, most of it in fact, except for the parts about either game needing to sacrifice realism to sell. This reasoning about selling to the casuals, imo, is yet another EA talking point, that even I get caught up in, to justify the way they choose to make the game. There is no reasonable person out there against EA Tiburon creating the most realistic games possible IF they are able to get it to play the way they want. That's where factory settings come into play and it's telling when EA football games are one of the few sports sims without a separate "simulation" setting. If I came on OS and just started making stuff up that was easily provably false, people would rightly call me out. So I don't understand when any company does it, why it's any different. I am not coming at you, I am just speaking up against this "Jedi mind trick" EA marketing pulls by making up stuff and getting it repeated enough so people presume it's true. There is no such thing as an objective balance between realism and fun, that's a personal preference but there is an inherent balance to making a game as realistic as possible, because there is only so much that can be done in a video game. The fact that EA football games are video games inherently limits how realistic they can possibly be, so it's redundant to try to artificially "balance" it when creating the game. Interviews about EA football games are usually so bizarre like they have played a different version of the games than others have. I am not talking about opinionated things like "I enjoyed the passing game this year" but things like "With the game already being so real to football it's must be difficult to find something new to add every year". [insert MJ on Oprah gif here]

I hear ya man for sure. Like I said, my final thought is make the game is realistic as possible for hardcore user but provide tools and tutorials to help casual gamers learn how to play NCAA Football, but teach them the sport of football.

[ghettogeeksta]

Ben is a savvy interviewee.... Anyway, with the transition from last gen to this gen, sounds like this generation of EA football games was doomed from the beginning "this generation has been a difficult one," And he mentioned how he watched the last transition and how hard it was on those teams. Sounds like they have a whole other team working on the next-gen NCAA Football because Ben stated he does not have to worry about it because he's on the PS3 and 360 titles.
Seems like they are in a better position to transition from this generation to the next, lets hope they blow us away because they owe of us big time.

And EA needs to stop it with the casual crowd and hardcore crowd balance BS! Because realism is fun, this sport is fun to watch and its fun to play, its naturally fun, which is why its so popular. Just focus on making the game as real as possible and integrate training modes and tutorials in the game like MLB The Show and NBA 2K they have a ton of training modes. This should be EA's new moto...

Realism is Fun!

[ch46647]

Quote: Originally Posted by ghettogeeksta

Ben is a savvy interviewee.... Anyway, with the transition from last gen to this gen, sounds like this generation of EA football games was doomed from the beginning "this generation has been a difficult one," And he mentioned how he watched the last transition and how hard it was on those teams. Sounds like they have a whole other team working on the next-gen NCAA Football because Ben stated he does not have to worry about it because he's on the PS3 and 360 titles. Seems like they are in a better position to transition from this generation to the next, lets hope they blow us away because they owe of us big time. And EA needs to stop it with the casual crowd and hardcore crowd balance BS! Because realism is fun, this sport is fun to watch and its fun to play, itshttp://www.operationsports.com/forums/images/smilies/graemlins/love.gif naturally fun, which is why its so popular. Just focus on making the game as real as possible and integrate training modes and tutorials in the game like MLB The Show and NBA 2K they have a ton of training modes. This should be EA's new moto... Realism is Fun!

This X1000