News Post

NCAA Designers Step Up to the Plate

01:14 PM - July 21, 2008 by RaychelSnr

For what seems like an eternity, EA football gamers have been clamoring for more interaction with the developers of NCAA Football and Madden. This year, those gamers got their wish. Check out how the developers handled the pressure in Erik Westfall's article, NCAA Designers Step Up to the Plate.

Quote:


	"In a growing trend around the internet, a number of video game developers and designers are making their presences known on various community forums. EA Sports has done this for a number of years, most notably through Ian Cummings and more recently Phil Frazier. Well we have a newcomer to the arena - Adam Thompson (OMT on the OS forums)."

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Member Comments

# 81 mudtiger @ 07/24/08 02:45 PM

Speaking of designers stepping up to the plate, what would go a long way in keeping me a NCAA buyer in years to come would be an apology.

I think the NCAA team needs to issue an apology to the community for releasing a game with sliders that don't work for the cpu, roster editing that crashes the game, and online dynasties that crash. This apology should say how embarrassed the whole team is over releasing a game with issues found within 7 days of release and how we are working not only to correct these issues for owners of the game as fast as possible through a patch, but those in charge are moving to ensure this never happens again in ensuing NCAA releases.

It doesn't even have to mention gameplay.

# 82 Kayotick @ 07/24/08 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kohlrums


	can they make a patch for the ball not rotating when you pass?

I second that. Damn it would be nice to see a tight spiral most of the time. Those wobbly throws are a sight for sore eyes.

# 83 fistofrage @ 07/24/08 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	That is bad but you know what - I don't call punt block anymore because of that. Rather than get annoyed and start getting angry, I just use a simple house rule that allows me to enjoy the game. I realize some gamers won't be able to accept the game for some of its flaws but simple solutions do exist (even if they shouldn't be necessary in the first place). The punt return game is bad but I just use some house rules to allow me to see past it.

The thing is though Rudy, this wasn't a problem before. The AI as Notre Dame blocked one of my punts. Very cool. But I can't block theirs because calling a punt block would be cheezy.

If you like to play the game with house rules thats fine, but they don't work real well in online dynasties. House rules can make a game playable, but it takes out the fun of the game. I would love to block a punt and change the momentum of the game, but I can't.
Tell Frank Beamer that he needs to make a house rule at VTech that he can't play Beamer Ball any more and block punts. Some teams live and die with their special teams and EA has destroyed that phase of the game. Making house rules just seems to give EA a free pass when they honestly need to be held to task.

# 84 fistofrage @ 07/24/08 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mudtiger


	Speaking of designers stepping up to the plate, what would go a long way in keeping me a NCAA buyer in years to come would be an apology. I think the NCAA team needs to issue an apology to the community for releasing a game with sliders that don't work for the cpu, roster editing that crashes the game, and online dynasties that crash. This apology should say how embarrassed the whole team is over releasing a game with issues found within 7 days of release and how we are working not only to correct these issues for owners of the game as fast as possible through a patch, but those in charge are moving to ensure this never happens again in ensuing NCAA releases. It doesn't even have to mention gameplay.

Thats an excellent idea, but instead we are supposed to bow down and grovel at their feet for taking their precious time to come speak to us. The time will come when all the hardcore players are just going to say F it. I haven't bought Madden in years. I love college football (the real game not the video game), but I've hit my breaking point. Its a waste of time, I'd honestly rather play Call of Duty than these garbage sports games. The non-sports games are only getting better and soon enough I'll be weened off of sports games except for college hoops.

# 85 bucksfan07 @ 07/24/08 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fistofrage


	Thats an excellent idea, but instead we are supposed to bow down and grovel at their feet for taking their precious time to come speak to us. The time will come when all the hardcore players are just going to say F it. I haven't bought Madden in years. I love college football (the real game not the video game), but I've hit my breaking point. Its a waste of time, I'd honestly rather play Call of Duty than these garbage sports games. The non-sports games are only getting better and soon enough I'll be weened off of sports games except for college hoops.

totally agree; the only sports game I play now and will continue to play is The Show, otherwise it's all action/shooter games

# 86 rudyjuly2 @ 07/24/08 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fistofrage


	The thing is though Rudy, this wasn't a problem before. The AI as Notre Dame blocked one of my punts. Very cool. But I can't block theirs because calling a punt block would be cheezy. If you like to play the game with house rules thats fine, but they don't work real well in online dynasties. House rules can make a game playable, but it takes out the fun of the game. I would love to block a punt and change the momentum of the game, but I can't. Tell Frank Beamer that he needs to make a house rule at VTech that he can't play Beamer Ball any more and block punts. Some teams live and die with their special teams and EA has destroyed that phase of the game. Making house rules just seems to give EA a free pass when they honestly need to be held to task.

I'm not giving EA a free pass. House rules suck and I've never liked using them in the past. EA does deserve to be criticised for releasing a game with broken sliders, broken rosters, broken punt returns, overdone pass blocking, a lack of a cpu deep ball, overly high completion percentages, etc. There have been more bugs in this game than any other game I've ever seen from EA.

But what can I really do about it? I bitch once and move on. Harping on it and getting upset about it won't do me any good until a patch comes out that may or may not fix it. So I play the game in a way that minimizes these problems and I still enjoy myself which is the #1 goal when playing video games. In a perfect world that stinks but in this imperfect world I choose to make the best of the situation and still enjoy the game. I'm one of the quiet majority that is having fun with NCAA '09.

# 87 fistofrage @ 07/24/08 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	I'm not giving EA a free pass. House rules suck and I've never liked using them in the past. EA does deserve to be criticised for releasing a game with broken sliders, broken rosters, broken punt returns, overdone pass blocking, a lack of a cpu deep ball, overly high completion percentages, etc. There have been more bugs in this game than any other game I've ever seen from EA. But what can I really do about it? I bitch once and move on. Harping on it and getting upset about it won't do me any good until a patch comes out that may or may not fix it. So I play the game in a way that minimizes these problems and I still enjoy myself which is the #1 goal when playing video games. In a perfect world that stinks but in this imperfect world I choose to make the best of the situation and still enjoy the game. I'm one of the quiet majority that is having fun with NCAA '09.

And when EA reads a post like this, they throw Rudy July into the "unanimously" happy category.

I agree that myself and others complain to excess on these boards. But I have a feeling if there weren't people holding EA to task and instead were making posts like yours, we would never get anything fixed. Because you are obviously happy enough with this game that you'll buy 2010 at launch and just deal with whatever issues there are. EA's CEO would like to thank you for your continued patrionage.

# 88 Security Device @ 07/24/08 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fistofrage


	One other thing that is broken is the fact that if you call a punt block formation, They stay in and block, noone gets down field. You literally have 30 yards of open space. Try that. Sometimes on the punt coverage has been OK, but I have never ever seen gunners get down quick enough that I would be forced to call for a fair catch. The Linemen never get down field so 1 juke and you are in the clear even if the gunners get to you. It just feels broken to me, but Adam said they are looking into it, so I look forward to that.

I have called a bunch of Punt Blocks before and sometimes the CPU won't move their guys in and block. This gives them a clean shot at my return man. Granted, if they do get the Punt off, it's a booming one and I have plenty of room to juke the gunners.

I see what you're saying, but instead of "broken" I say needs a little more tuning.

# 89 callmetaternuts @ 07/24/08 04:11 PM

House rules are out there, but you're right, we shouldnt have to invent them. mudtiger, to point to your post, we wont get an apology, but we do have an admission that it was broken, for what its worth. It would be nice to hear something out of the camp that says "We messed up with sliders, the roster, or online dynasty, our bad" I wont comment any more than that.

It has been nice to have the interaction, its just too bad that Adam has to field it all when he is one man out of dozens taht worked on this.

# 90 happypg @ 07/24/08 05:54 PM

Just an idea, but with the problems with the '09 version, maybe EA can do something where you can trade in your '09 version for next year's NCAA version at a discount? I too am looking at the $40 trade in toward Madden, but might hang onto NCAA a little longer if EA would say, give me 50% off next years version if I hold onto it and hope that the patches are released and fix the problems.

Again, just throwing out an idea...

# 91 Security Device @ 07/24/08 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happypg


	Just an idea, but with the problems with the '09 version, maybe EA can do something where you can trade in your '09 version for next year's NCAA version at a discount? I too am looking at the $40 trade in toward Madden, but might hang onto NCAA a little longer if EA would say, give me 50% off next years version if I hold onto it and hope that the patches are released and fix the problems. Again, just throwing out an idea...

HAHA !!!!!!! Not in a million years

# 92 duke776 @ 07/24/08 07:17 PM

Just think if they never came to any forum, they wouldn't know about a lot of stuff...meaning a bunch of stuff would go unfixed until they experience it.

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