News Post

Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story

06:15 PM - July 24, 2008 by RaychelSnr

It has now been well over a week since NCAA Football 09 was released and we have seen just about every reaction possible about EA Sports newest game. Our very own Patrick Williams was in the middle of the release frenzy and checks in today with an article discussing his thoughts on how the releases reaction was received among the community in his latest article, Summer Storms: The NCAA Release Story.

Quote:


	"Summer is usually a time for relaxation in the sports world. Summer lacks any real dramatic sports news. At most, all you can hope for is some kind of off-the-field NFL scandal or hot topic -- and this year has not let us down, thank you Brett Favre and the Packers organization. Still if you love sports -- and since you are here you most likely do -- and play sports video games, you know that summer means a new beginning for the next season�s titles."

Game: NCAA Football 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 95 - View All

NCAA Football 09 Videos

Member Comments

# 121 aholbert32 @ 07/25/08 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASB37


	Would this be considered that thread? Sorry if i'm missing something but if you check the first post of this thread isn't it set up like other front page article threads?

Nope, this is a comments thread only seen on the front page. For some strange reason, there is a thread for most front page articles in the OS Content thread in the forums. Those threads are for people who rarely visit the front page but may be interested in reading a specific article.

Its also a place where a lot of discussion is made about articles.

# 122 ASB37 @ 07/25/08 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	Nope, this is a comments thread only seen on the front page. For some strange reason, there is a thread for most front page articles in the OS Content thread in the forums. Those threads are for people who rarely visit the front page but may be interested in reading a specific article. Its also a place where a lot of discussion is made about articles.

Oh ok I didn't realize there were two threads for front page articles.

# 123 realtalktruth @ 07/25/08 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	Quick question: Why doesnt this article have a thread in the forums like every other article?

the thread is in the ncaa football section.

# 124 kiddlex @ 07/25/08 02:36 PM

and devs......

# 125 Darkleaf @ 07/25/08 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiddlex


	Please remember without the community, even the ones who recycle "absolute ignorance", there is no Operation Sports. If you don't know who Adam or OMT is you have not spent enough times on the NCAA boards to have such an angry response to criticisms logged regarding the increased restrictions of certain moderators as of late. One need not look far to find devs requesting threads locked and such. OS is a top notch website for unbiased sports gaming news and conversations, lets keep it that way with limited censorship.

Great points.
To say you dont know who Adam and OMT are, how in touch are you with OS in general? Hard to find a thread where they are not saying something not to mention the pair of stickys.

# 126 JRod @ 07/25/08 02:41 PM

I think the solution is simple. Columnists/Writers shouldn't have mod abilities. And mod shouldn't write articles.

The reason is simple, when I did a few reviews for OS back in the day, I would get ripped apart for a few. I also had mod powers. Like anything, sometimes it gets personal, when someone writes a post saying you didn't play the game, you don't understand a sport, or you a fanboy. How can you not get defensive?

# 127 JRod @ 07/25/08 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkleafGoJays


	Great points. To say you dont know who Adam and OMT are, how in touch are you with OS in general? Hard to find a thread where they are not saying something not to mention the pair of stickys.

He said he doesn't know them personally.

# 128 Darkleaf @ 07/25/08 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRod


	He said he doesn't know them personally.

My mistake, Sorry! did seem odd everyone knows of EA being here...

# 129 vegaas @ 07/25/08 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseB


	OK, I'm back and these are well written responses so obviously I'll comment. PS Pixel Junk Eden is good stuff, DL it if you're into new experiences. OK so the first thing is what EA does as its site, we don't control obviously. As for the part about being neutral and fair, obviously we still strive for that at every turn. As the content and the site has evolved over the past few months there's been some growing pains, and this is one right here. We're definitely still learning how to handle the extra content and relationships as we continue to grow and become more involved in terms of covering various games and pursuing more content. Seldom are things perfect and that's never truer. Perhaps in the future we'll start to put op-ed in somewhere so people know what they're getting in for. I definitely see this more as the tipping point like you said as well. This is the first time I've noticed the unrest because of what I was doing previously, but I'm aware now and I think we'll straighten this stuff out moving forward. If we talk about you guys in a general sense within an article we'll try to make sure it doesn't misrepresent you all. So I think while people are reading way too far into the article still, it's still a valid complaint in the overall sense. Also the moderation thing is not something I deal with, but I assume the mods are noticing all this as well and can only assume they might pow-wow and decide if they're handling this correctly or not -- I'm not going to say if they are or aren't doing this the right way because it's not my job to do that, that's their job. I don't like to compare reviews because it's apples and oranges to me. Like I said before it's not the job of a reviewer to make sure the masses are happy: he has an opinion and he'll try to back it up etc. I didn't really like College Hoops 2K8 (so I guess I don't represent the general consensus on OS) all that much, but I loved NBA 2K8 -- the point is it's still opinions and I hate to say one opinion is wrong but another is right. The article itself is an opinion piece once again, but he even says in the article that the outrage was even greater than usual. Patrick states he's been through many releases, and once again I think it's important to mention that he factors MM into his thoughts because it's the same network after all. Sales and all that I won't get into because it doesn't have much to do with what we're doing here, plus you're not really analyzing them to a deep extent (for example your 48% number wasn't a final total and only accounts for PS2 sales). I know Madden had huge sales figures for the 2007 version. Then for the 2008 version Riccitiello came out and said the game shouldn't have launched at $50 on last gen, which hurt overall sales. But again I don't have the exact final overall numbers since I'm not looking at NPD numbers (and VGChartz doesn't count for obvious reasons). But bottom line is there's nothing fishy going on between us and EA -- this just seems to be bad timing and us not realizing there was an issue quickly enough. And I know some like to say, "well you're partially owned by someone who works for EA!" While I'm not going to throw anyone's business completely out there -- Matt (bronco92) can talk about it when he wants to -- I know I can say that Matt doesn't work for EA anymore and therefore we have no direct ties at all, though even when he was working for them we didn't have ties either. Matt can talk about his business when he wants to though, so that's all I'll say on that subject. And I think the people who write football content realize this now and will be more focused on how they handle things. If they genuinely like the game though I can't make them hate it, you know. If in their op-ed pieces they talk about why they like the game despite flaws, that's their doing -- but maybe it just needs to be more spaced out etc. in terms of the flow of content. I don't think this article tried to say people just can't be satisfied with '09 though, so I don't think the insinuation point has much merit.

The problem is Chase that OS has not posted one article that has been critical of NCAA, Madden or EA.

# 130 Pared @ 07/25/08 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRod


	I think the solution is simple. Columnists/Writers shouldn't have mod abilities. And mod shouldn't write articles. The reason is simple, when I did a few reviews for OS back in the day, I would get ripped apart for a few. I also had mod powers. Like anything, sometimes it gets personal, when someone writes a post saying you didn't play the game, you don't understand a sport, or you a fanboy. How can you not get defensive?

As far as I know they are separate "entities" right now as well. I don't believe any coincide with the other.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegaas


	The problem is Chase that OS has not posted one article that has been critical of NCAA, Madden or EA.

Which brings up a good point. Perhaps no one has taken the time to write one? If that's the case, I still think it's up to the site to decide to hold off on positive or light-hearted articles until you find a sense of balance. I agree with you... but if no one wants to write a negative article but simply post in the forums... what can you do?

# 131 aholbert32 @ 07/25/08 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vickhalloffame


	the thread is in the ncaa football section.

Just saw that. My bad.

# 132 ChaseB @ 07/25/08 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColumbusKilled


	I'll write 5 articles right now if they will publish them. I've been to graduate school, I'd like to think I can produce a pretty swell article.

I worked with Pared on an article before, so there's nothing saying you can't. At this time we just don't have a proper outlet to push all user generated stuff, but I think we'll be able to do it in the coming months.

But if you have ideas, much like with any writing, go to the editors (aka PM me) and discuss your idea for an article, lay it out there, then write it up for editing etc. -- assuming the editor thinks the idea is solid and all that. That's what I did with Pared.

# 133 janglar @ 07/25/08 05:06 PM

If anyone here is done having their grudge-fu*k with EA on par with Marsha getting smashed in the nose by a football, could they provide the latest up to the minute expert scoop on the release date of the roster patch?
Thanks everyone!
"My Nooosssse!!!!!!!"

# 134 Spanky @ 07/25/08 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janglar


	If anyone here is done having their grudge-fu*k with EA on par with Marsha getting smashed in the nose by a football, could they provide the latest up to the minute expert scoop on the release date of the roster patch? Thanks everyone! "My Nooosssse!!!!!!!"

Yes, we all know the details and all the information of not only the first patch, which fixes rosters, but also the second patch, which addresses gameplay and other issues. EA has secretly sent each of us this information and we have decided not to share it with anybody else.

# 135 kiddlex @ 07/25/08 05:26 PM

"I don't know who Adam is...I don't know who OMT is. I've never had a conversation nor have most of the other mods had a conversation with him as far as I know. And he nor anyone else has never told me to lock or close a negative thread."

We know you don't know them personally. No one implied you do. However it is obvious some mods cater to the devs which is ok to a certain extent as long as it doesn't change the way you treat the community. The part about them never asking for threads to be locked is blatantly untrue. They may not have asked him personally to do it but he is a moderator and the call was for any mods to lock them. This has happened on multiple occasions. Ive even seen where the mods were engaging in conversation with people who were complaining and then the mods abruptly (without any visual to the public messages from devs) shut the thread down. Pm anyone?? However that last part is complete speculation on my part.

In the end it is just a sports game, and this is just a sports gaming website. We all need to relax, myself included. Its not like this is Call of Duty 5 were talking about people!!

# 136 janglar @ 07/25/08 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColumbusKilled


	Sir, if everyone one of your 46 posts is this ingenious and well thought out, please point me to them. There are 45 pieces of sheer gold out there that I've missed out on reading.

What graduate school did you go to, the Opie Taylor Mannorisms Prep Society? The last time someone said "swell" in a serious sentence was back before Elvis knew how much fun pills were. As for sheer gold, you should pull the cord on a See-N-Say to provide yourself with valuable phrases like "This is a pig...Oink, Oink, Oink" then you can raise up a level on the human interaction scale from the "Uses big, articulate words to show intelligence that will hide social shortcommings" level where you preside now. As far as missing out on things, you should cut out a hole in the bottom of your popcorn box next time your at the movies so you can recreate Pee Wee's "Big Adventure" with the "extra salty butter", then maybe you could relieve the stress that causes you to reply to my simple comments with the pent up anger of a priest in exile

# 137 McLite @ 07/25/08 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiddlex


	Please remember without the community, even the ones who recycle "absolute ignorance", there is no Operation Sports. If you don't know who Adam or OMT is you have not spent enough times on the NCAA boards to have such an angry response to criticisms logged regarding the increased restrictions of certain moderators as of late. One need not look far to find devs requesting threads locked and such. OS is a top notch website for unbiased sports gaming news and conversations, lets keep it that way with limited censorship.

Ignorance was about the poster saying dev's get mod's to lock threads...and I suppose towards you as well now. Please show me since I "need not look far to find devs requesting threads locked and such."

I don't know Adam or OMT means I've never spoken with them and they have never instructed me on mod duties.

Angry response...where was there any anger in my post? I'm as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Edit...and everyone please take a look at the previous few messages and now the one below. Once again this is why threads get locked on NCAA and this one will be too if it continues.

# 138 janglar @ 07/25/08 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spanky


	Yes, we all know the details and all the information of not only the first patch, which fixes rosters, but also the second patch, which addresses gameplay and other issues. EA has secretly sent each of us this information and we have decided not to share it with anybody else.

You and ColumbusKilled shop at the same store? Well since you too have been defeated by a electronic disc to the point of blowing up in rage after a simple request, your on my sh*t list to. I'm just asking for a possible release date, and judging by your screaming, you could use a date for a "release" too. I'd rather trust your lavender colleague Grimace from McDonald's to educate me on nutrition and keeping in shape than trust you with any relevant information. You need to stop, take a deep breath, count to 5, and remember what Bill Cosby said at the beginning of Fat Albert when you read my posts: "If your not careful, you just might learn something...HEYHEYHEY!!" (the flying paint brush sliding down the fence to paint the exclaimation point, AND jumping up to paint the dot!)

# 139 kiddlex @ 07/25/08 06:20 PM

Matt misread your tone. My bad. BTW their really are places where mods requested threads get locked. Im very untalented in finding them and then quoting them in this thread but I'll try. You owe Sir Stuart Scott for stealing his line about the pillow. Would that be down or hypo allergenic? i prefer down.

# 140 kiddlex @ 07/25/08 07:43 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9QeUoPOi4

Thanks for finding that PlyrzNumber1. Still just one example of many.

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