Chiefsplant's annual "please revamp the sound" thread

[chiefsplanet]

RANT ABOUT THE SOUND (annual)

The game STILL sounds horrible. I like that some effort was put into this year's game by way of putting stadium specific sounds, but this could be SOOO much better, SOOO easily. I'm all the more convinced after this year that football video games will NEVER (I'll repeat that) NEVER have realistic sounding commentary. MLB The Show's commentary sounds great, but baseball is much more by the numbers and routine, and therefore much easier to make seem real in a video game. But football has too many things going on, and has too many variables that fluctuate WILDLY from play to play. And quite frankly, announcers on TV in real life aren't even any good at it. SERIOUSLY. How can we expect a video game to do it well? We can't. So stop trying. Just cut it and use that extra disc space to improve the game itself. Besides, there are so many sounds that happen at a real NFL game that give people goosebumps and really pumped up. Some effort to put "real" songs into this years' game and some of the "real" celebrations is a step in the right direction, but there is room for ample improvement. Even if you keep the silly commentators (which for whatever reason, everybody hates, but won't let go of) I want to be able to mute them and hear what I would hear as if I was IN the stadium. That's what the game is supposed to be! I'm a coach. I'm a player on the field. I'm throwing touchdown passes. I want to be cheered, booed. I want to hear the stadium announcer say "CHIEFSPLANET with the carry of 13 yards, that's good for another Kansas City Chiefs... FIRSTDOWN!" I want to hear the little trumpet hits when I break the huddle, ba, ba bada da... DAAAAAA! I want to hear the right songs played at the right times, and LOUD! Those stadium PAs are deafening. Ever been to a real game? And when someone breaks a long run, the crowd lives and dies with every cut. Right now, when I mute the commentary and crank the crowd and stadium sounds all the way up, I'm left with... whispers and a lot of dead air. Occasionally a song plays, and after a touchdown I get a very quiet, muted, passionless "Rock and Roll part II" and a shameful, distorted "you, you, you." Hell guys, if you're going to do it, do it like it really is. A big, intimidating, raucous celebration. 80 thousand people screaming their heads off. The sounds of an NFL stadium are like a carnival, and SOOOOOOOOO much more satisfying and interesting than a talking head repeating the same 18 mindless, soul crushing platitudes.

Being at an NFL game is a SHOW that a lot of people have put a ton of time and money and thought into, and it WORKS. We all love it. We love the game. We love the sights and sounds and smells. Watching a game on TV is fun, but it's nowhere CLOSE to being there. When football video games first decided to look and sound like tv broadcasts, consumers were easily impressed... Now, not so much. Madden has spent 20 years maxing out it's ability to look and sound like a TV broadcast and it hasn't really gotten any better for the last 10 years. Scrap it! The technology is there now for us to be immersed in the world of the game... Madden has this ability.

Do less,
Do it much better.

[kjjnesb]

I agree about the sound.. Funny thing is the crowd seems to get the most animated during a challenge but other wise its just static from them..

[RJTurneR]

I actually afree with this. Before I would of been argueing that the commentry dosn't have much in the way of variety (Repeating themselfs, although it has been touched on a bit this year). But the way you've explained sounds much better than having any commentry at all.

EA have been succesful before with this type of thing though. BFBC2 had amazing sound, especially when the settings were set to War tapes & Original voiceover's. The sound is ecohy & sounds overlap each other, instead of certain sounds always being louder than others. And with a surround sound, like I have, it makes you feel as if YOU are holding the gun. A bad example of EA's soiund failure is AO2: TFD. Pretty much throughout the game gun sounds, explosions, and music all drain out the voiceovers.

If EA can make Madden have a truly authentic experience via making it one of the best sounding games out there, then I think it can definatly make a difference. Maybe make it so dome stadiums e.g. New Orleans, Dallas, St. Louis, are slightly more ecohey than others, the crowd becomes louder with whatevers going down on the field, and everything is you mentioned, then it will definatly make me feel part of the game. Actually, use the new GameFlow feature so that if the crowd is really loud, the coordinator shouts louder.

[chiefsplanet]

I just want the game to invoke my sense memory of BEING there. Glad a few people here agree somewhat. I don't think it would be hard for EA to really do this, either. The excitement and pageantry of a professional football game is palpable and right in your face. Each team has a unique feel to their pregame rituals and touchdown celebrations. The Chiefs have a cheerleader with a big flag on a horse galloping up and down the sidelines, and a few yell leader type guys with the same flags. They yell "home of the Chiefs" during the national anthem. They play "welcome to the jungle" SUPER loud as they line up for the kick off and then it bleeds into "Crazy Train" before the ball is kicked. It's always this way, and to a Chiefs fan these sounds invoke more excitement than one can even describe. Certainly more excitement than footage of players warming up and Collinsworth droning on about "I talked to HIM before the game" or "THIS GUY is really, blah blah blah." This is repetitive, boring, too general, and does nothing to get me excited about the the game I'm about to play. And while "get that man a new contract" is kinda funny the first time you hear it, it doesn't enhance the feel or excitement of the thrill of scoring at all. And after the 4th time you hear it, you just resent it. Scoring becomes a nonchalant experience and you wind up mashing buttons to skip through all the cut scenes and replays... That is, until this year. I usually watch now so I can hear Rock and Roll part II and the chanting. But, I'm disappointed because it's a dull, lifeless facsimile.... Back to buttom mashing.

[PGaither84]

"Fix the sound - improve the sound." Yes, I can't think of anyone who doesn't agree. I would like to think even EA agrees, but they haven't really done it yet.

[jack1535]

Yeah they need to fix announcing. If you play MLB 2k10 it easily has the best announcing ever.During Franchise with all the Stat overlays it is incredibly.

[trufootball]

Very passionate thread!!

[bukktown]

Good read! Can't wait for next years thread!