NHL 14 - Be a GM and GM Connected Improvements

[emericaridr11]

Quote: Originally Posted by canucksss

LOL....in the past... I always say that Im not going to buy but ended up buying...for the love of the sports. But this time, with the new console (cant wait to have PS4)... I can afford to stay off from EA NHL if these are the only things they are offering. I can play NBA 2k14 (enjoying the 2k13 mycareer....and im not even an NBA fan!!!) or other games like assasin iv or the games that I missed in PS.

haha understood, glad you didnt take it the "wrong" way

man as much as i hate to admit it ill enjoy this game, Ea is just wild...

[Simple Mathematics]

I wish the EA devs would take a look at the BaGM community wishlist on this site. It just really feels like NHL 13.5.

[artemusclyde9]

Pre-ordered today. Not because of any of this, but just because I want to support a sport that I love. I have faith in them making improvements next generations, as Madden and NCAA have both taken big strides this year. I think NHL is next up for EA Sports. As somebody else already mentioned, I feel like they could easily cancel the series if sales are really bad.

fwiw... I think in-season player progression could be huge if implemented correctly.

[bwiggy33]

Honestly I give EA two next gen versions of NHL and that will pretty much show what they're going to do with the game. With these new consoles there are no excuses IMO. I am not buying NHL 14 this year, but obviously I will be looking at next gen. I am just clinging on hope that they can figure their crap out. If not I won't be buying a hockey game for a long time.

I agree with Fiddy and Savoie though. If people don't buy NHL, the money and resources put into it will go way down and the game will be worse. I'm in no way saying to buy the game just so EA can keep the game alive, but I'm saying that if people don't buy it the game will fold at some point. Maybe one year of bad sales would kick them in the a$$, but anymore and they would take a hard look at whether the series is worth having. Hell, if EA could stop making NBA and NCAA Basketball, they definitely wouldn't be afraid to do the same with NHL.

[canucksss]

EA stopped their NBA because they were being outplayed by 2k.

Im not marketing expert...but NHL is EA's milking cash for them and there's no competition. It would be a bad marketing to pull out NHL in the market. With the improvements they are implementing, for sure their budget is not that high...so low sales doesn't mean that they'll be in red. Probably, not much "milk money".

If EA is smart, since there is no competition, improve their series to generate income...garner their customers again who were turned off because of poor development of this game. JMHO.


remember, when they were out-sale by 2K..... EA went back fighting. Thats what i want to see in this series. I'll be watching 15 from the distance though

[CaptainSuperman]

Let's be honest here with ourselves.

Go back to NHL...09. I didn't get SUPER into hockey until around 3-4 years ago, and I remember playing this game and it being a pretty big deal.

Now. This was an epic game at the time. It was regarded as one of the very top sports games. And here we are coming to NHL 14 and the formula hasn't changed, but instead added to, year by year, and improved, year by year.

If it ain't broke, don't break it.

Are these games still good hockey games? Absolutely. Have they moved in directions that may not please the most hardcore simulator fan? Maybe. But the formula is still the same.

How can so many people complain and say they won't buy a game that is not broke? If the game seems stale to you, then congratulations, you're a true hockey fan and/or gamer. You've played the crap outta it and that's what happens when you do, things become stale. Just look at COD for a non-sports reference.

But that's not to excuse the obvious flaws, and glitches/bugs. Those will be there in any game that is trying to implement something new, move forward. If you do only what you feel safe doing, you will never do anything new and never give yourself the chance to move on to bigger and better things.

Lastly you must understand, if you create something that is not easily accessible to anyone and the casual people, then you are better off not creating a game at all. I don't think there are too many products or companies out there that are hugely successful that only appeal to their most hardcore audience.

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by CaptainSuperman

Let's be honest here with ourselves. Go back to NHL...09. I didn't get SUPER into hockey until around 3-4 years ago, and I remember playing this game and it being a pretty big deal. Now. This was an epic game at the time. It was regarded as one of the very top sports games. And here we are coming to NHL 14 and the formula hasn't changed, but instead added to, year by year, and improved, year by year. If it ain't broke, don't break it. Are these games still good hockey games? Absolutely. Have they moved in directions that may not please the most hardcore simulator fan? Maybe. But the formula is still the same. How can so many people complain and say they won't buy a game that is not broke? If the game seems stale to you, then congratulations, you're a true hockey fan and/or gamer. You've played the crap outta it and that's what happens when you do, things become stale. Just look at COD for a non-sports reference. But that's not to excuse the obvious flaws, and glitches/bugs. Those will be there in any game that is trying to implement something new, move forward. If you do only what you feel safe doing, you will never do anything new and never give yourself the chance to move on to bigger and better things. Lastly you must understand, if you create something that is not easily accessible to anyone and the casual people, then you are better off not creating a game at all. I don't think there are too many products or companies out there that are hugely successful that only appeal to their most hardcore audience.

By that reasoning though, we should all be driving Ford Model-T's.
They were the best at the time, and still function as a car, but compared to the progress of time, they're a bit lacking in features.
I understand people's frustrations. I'm one of them. I used to defend EA's NHL just because i know it's got to be tough working with a year's development cycle, but that excuse is losing ground.
Be a GM has been constantly ignored year after year. The biggest change i can think of them adding has been adding draft picks into trades.
Other than that, everything is still incredibly frustrating. There's so many small details that get constantly ignored, and it's just gotten to the point where Be a GM mode feels pretty much ignored, and they just throw a bone our way every now and again.
I play only Be a GM. Online doesn't do it for me, and I have no desire to do Be a Pro. So i hope that they do at least something to keep Be a GM interesting, and year after year it's the same thing. A minuscule update (This one is just sad. They didn't even add enough features to warrant a video, but made a decent length one on something as brief as the new fighting engine...)
It just gets frustrating trying to enjoy the game, and year after year finding it harder and harder to do.
Last year with NHL13, i couldn't even make it 6 months with the game, because it just got stale. I've wanted to play it again, and anytime i go back, i get 1, maybe 3 games in, before i just feel incredibly bored with the gameplay, the lack of any real feeling of involvement in Be A GM, and the lack of simple fixes to old problems.
I'm holding up hope for the Next-Gen, thinking maybe they're just stuck working with an old engine, and maybe the move to a Next-gen console will give them more abilities to have better physics, and graphics, but for the time being, i'll just sit this year out and see what comes down the pipe.

[CaptainSuperman]

1st off, comparing a Model T to todays car is insane. Top speed is much different (which is a main necessity of a car), and so are safety features. You'd be right about luxury features such as power doors, windows, seats, etc. But their formula needed change as the times got faster, and with faster times comes a need for better safety.

But at the same time, that was kinda my point. You think each and every car that came out after the T didn't have it's flaws? We still hear about recalls today for cars of all models. Going forward is a risk, and nothing will ever come out perfect your first attempt. 360's had red rings, PS3's had...something, right?

I've made this point plenty before outside of this thread. But they have built an amazing game that has received plenty of praise, and they almost spoiled us. We've expected the best each and every year, and maybe that's a huge task to tackle on their part. Change for the sake of change does not equal improvement.

Although here, you are pretty much solely talking about GM mode and how it's been ignored. Does that make the game bad? Like I said, you feel bored after a few games, that means you played the crap outta it. You're lack of interest comes from that, rather than a lack of features and bug fixes. Even if they added accurate things and fixed bugs, it's still the same game that will play the same great hockey from 09 once you hit the ice. With the same players year after year, come new draftees and gone are retirees. Same 30 NHL teams. Same game.