Q&A with Brian Ulrich

[617KiD]

Ulrich answers a couple questions that have been on fans minds, take a look

http://www.easports.com/nbalive08/pblog.jsp?id=cq

[[S]Reaver]

Nice

[06woz]

i dont understand why player ratings dont go up when a player gets good stats. Doesn't it make sense?

[ND_Raiden]

he didnt answer the first question.. lmfao nothin bout pump fist, jus the shots

[deliric]

i'm sick of this crap,i can understand that the current gen doesn't have a big market...but still,COME ON???
not even one word???

[bigh0rt]

i'm sick of this crap,i can understand that the current gen doesn't have a big market...but still,COME ON???
not even one word???

Get over it. Nobody cares about PS2 or Xbox anymore. It's always this way. Until they are fully phased out, bitching and moaning about it isn't going to get you anywhere.

I like the sort of Create-A-Team idea. Not as cool as the old CATs of Lives past, but at least you can play your buddy with 2 custom teams in Play Now. Works for me.

Also great to hear that things are being recognized and fine tuned (such as "being too easy to get out on the break").

I'd really love to see them implement ratings boosts in Dynasty play the way Madden does. At least he said they've considered it. Anyway, I can live with the current system.

Pretty encouraging read.

[[S]Reaver]

Yep, good answers from the producer...although I'm wondering who wrote/asked the questions...with all the spelling and grammar mistakes, I'm surprised it made it to the official Live 08 site with no editing.

[deliric]

yes i understand it was a good read,i was not really bitchin it was just my imediate reaction after i read the text,but all the features you talked about are on the next gen so don't make a lot of hopes:|

[Hot_Spitta]

i dont understand why player ratings dont go up when a player gets good stats. Doesn't it make sense?

I kind of understand this because most player progression in real life is behind the scenes in training and practices but it just ends up showing in the game.

Other than that pretty excited about what he was saying.

[bigh0rt]

yes i understand it was a good read,i was not really bitchin it was just my imediate reaction after i read the text,but all the features you talked about are on the next gen so don't make a lot of hopes:|

I think that you, among countless others, are failing to realize that the newest generation of video games are where all the resources are going, and ought to be. Until the previous generation of consoles are phased out totally, and they decide to port a 360 or PS3 version onto PC, you shouldn't be getting your hopes up, and thusly, disappointed when the PC version of the game is nothing like the X360 version. You shouldn't expect it to be...

[617KiD]

he didnt answer the first question.. lmfao nothin bout pump fist, jus the shots

he actually did answer the question

Brian Ullrich: "Finally, we have added in about 15 to 20 signature celebrations this year as well as some more generic ones that can be used by a variety of players. We wanted to make sure that these don't get overused, so we tuned them so that they will only play in big game situations. We didn't want people to see these all the time and get sick of them, so it may take you a while to spot them all."

its not alot but at least it some, and their signature to,adds more realism

[el badman]

I think that you, among countless others, are failing to realize that the newest generation of video games are where all the resources are going, and ought to be. Until the previous generation of consoles are phased out totally, and they decide to port a 360 or PS3 version onto PC, you shouldn't be getting your hopes up, and thusly, disappointed when the PC version of the game is nothing like the X360 version. You shouldn't expect it to be...

Hmm, I don't have high expectations at all for PC this year, I'm actually very pessimistic about it, but what's left for us? I mean, I'm exclusively interested in the PC version, and while it's true that it'd be pretty useless to just bitch in every thread about how left out we are, I don't think it's a crime to wonder where in hell are the news regarding the PC release. Obviously it shouldn't occupy much of EA's updates, blogs and shit, but at least a line or two about it would just be nice...

[Anthony15]

I think that you, among countless others, are failing to realize that the newest generation of video games are where all the resources are going, and ought to be. Until the previous generation of consoles are phased out totally, and they decide to port a 360 or PS3 version onto PC, you shouldn't be getting your hopes up, and thusly, disappointed when the PC version of the game is nothing like the X360 version. You shouldn't expect it to be...

Hmm, I don't have high expectations at all for PC this year, I'm actually very pessimistic about it, but what's left for us? I mean, I'm exclusively interested in the PC version, and while it's true that it'd be pretty useless to just bitch in every thread about how left out we are, I don't think it's a crime to wonder where in hell are the news regarding the PC release. Obviously it shouldn't occupy much of EA's updates, blogs and shit, but at least a line or two about it would just be nice...

The downs at EA only care about big markets, like 360 and ps3. They don't care about PC whatsoever, they'll make a standard game for ps2 and pc with a bunch of bugs like in 07, and won't make any updates.

[Voxel]

last time i checked the next gen console (xbox360+ps3) releases don't sell half as well as the ps2 ones. in fact madden nfl 07 sold 1.67 million on the xbox360 and 3.43 million on the ps2, just to name an example.

this big market / small market BS shold be replaced by "microsoft pays us to put more effort on the next gen version so they can sell their new hardware".

the sad thing about this, is that M$ puts faulty consoles in the market to make their customers buy their hardware once a year / every two years. the video gaming industry is getting damn close to drug traffic.

[JaoSming]

3.) Are you working on ANYTHING similar to the NCAA-Madden relationship of draft classes?

This is something that we have talked about quit a bit the last couple of years, but so far we have not implemented. One of the problems is that unlike the NCAA Football-Madden situation, March Madness ships several months after NBA LIVE. That means that we would have to make NBA LIVE 08 work with NCAA March Madness 07 rosters. By the time that NBA LIVE 08 ships, March Madness 07 has been out for 9 months already. The Madness audience is already gearing up for their 08 game by then which is one of the reasons we haven't done it yet. It is something that we talk about every year on LIVE so I'll put it to you guys. What do you think? Would you want it in NBA LIVE 08 if it meant it would only work with March Madness 07?

I do believe some of the older NBA Live's had that feature....

And what im confused about that Q&A, not all the questions are there, they skip "over" different numbers.

[benji]

last time i checked the next gen console (xbox360+ps3) releases don't sell half as well as the ps2 ones. in fact madden nfl 07 sold 1.67 million on the xbox360 and 3.43 million on the ps2, just to name an example.

this big market / small market BS shold be replaced by "microsoft pays us to put more effort on the next gen version so they can sell their new hardware".

the sad thing about this, is that M$ puts faulty consoles in the market to make their customers buy their hardware once a year / every two years. the video gaming industry is getting damn close to drug traffic.

Wow, talk about hyperbole and conspiracy theorizing.

The PS2 is the greatest selling console of all time, and continues to sell, so EA continues to do token updates to their three year old games. The Xbox and GameCube are dead and officially written off by their manufacturers. Microsoft doesn't have to pay anyone to not make games for dead consoles. And why wouldn't they want to make games for more powerful hardware? Was Sony paying them secretly back when they started focusing on the PS2 over the original Playstation?

The reason focus is going to the new consoles is because that's where the retail space is. There is shrinking retail space for the last generation, that would disappear altogether if it was not for backwards compatibility and the continued PS2 dominance. (Watch your local Wal-Mart/Target type store and how much space is devoted to the last gen consoles and how it's slowly shrinking from month to month.)

It makes ZERO sense to focus your company on the PS2 still. If EA kept doing token updates to the PS2 version, and porting that version to the X360 and PS3 with slightly better graphics, they would savaged by consumers, the media and business partners. Focusing on the last gen of consoles is like focusing your company on VHS, three years after DVD took off.

Microsoft rushed a console to release, that's why it's faulty. Not to force anyone to buy "new" hardware. Which is pretty illegal.

I don't think it's a crime to wonder where in hell are the news regarding the PC release

They've never, EVER, done news on the PC release ever since it became a pure PS2 port. PC-primary people are lucky just to get it confirmed that it's coming out after Live 2002.

[Patr1ck]

And what im confused about that Q&A, not all the questions are there, they skip "over" different numbers.

I think the EA forum community manager narrowed down a bunch of questions and then Ulrich just selected 10 of them without renumbering them. There was a thread where you could post your questions and it was around for a while.

[Voxel]

Microsoft rushed a console to release, that's why it's faulty. Not to force anyone to buy "new" hardware. Which is pretty illegal.

my post may seem hyperbolic, but if you don't think its an act of purpose that 2 years after it's release the xbox360 still has a 40% chance of failure within the first year, you might be a little naive.

i'm not saying that they should focus their development entirely on the current gen consoles. i just pointed out the fact that current gen STILL sells better than the next gen. it might change as soon as by christmas this year, but it shows no sense of business to blatantly take a dump on / disrespect the market that's STILL BIGGER right now.

the analogy with VHS / DVD doesn't apply to this case YET, cause the ps2 sales surpass as of now the xbox360 / ps3 ones. besides that, unlike the next gen consoles, the DVD player is the fastest selling consumer electronics product ever, having reached sales of 30 million units within it's first five years. and still it wasn't till 5 years after the release of the dvd player that DVD's outsold VHS movies.

[benji]

my post may seem hyperbolic, but if you don't think its an act of purpose that 2 years after it's release the xbox360 still has a 40% chance of failure within the first year, you might be a little naive.

You can't say: Xbox 360s are failing at a disputed rate between 5-35%. Therefore, Microsoft is evil and planned them to fail so you have to buy more. You're collecting the underwear and planning for profit without figuring out step two.

it might change as soon as by christmas this year, but it shows no sense of business to blatantly take a dump on / disrespect the market that's STILL BIGGER right now.

Both Microsoft and Nintendo abandoned the last gen, and Sony is supporting the last gen at the partial detrement to their current gen. Maybe it's not smart to abandon the last gen, but Nintendo and Microsoft are already to half the installed base of their last gen machines.

the analogy with VHS / DVD doesn't apply to this case YET, cause the ps2 sales surpass as of now the xbox360 / ps3 ones. besides that, unlike the next gen consoles, the DVD player is the fastest selling consumer electronics product ever, having reached sales of 30 million units within it's first five years. and still it wasn't till 5 years after the release of the dvd player that DVD's outsold VHS movies.

So you just supported the analogy. The Nintendo Wii is the fastest selling video game console ever. PS2 sales (of consoles) is not surpassing the Xbox360 and Wii, and the reason the games are outselling the current gen consoles is the same reason VHS outsold DVDs. There's likely some 80-100 million still out there, just like there were millions of VCRs.

[Voxel]

PS2 sales (of consoles) is not surpassing the Xbox360 and Wii, and the reason the games are outselling the current gen consoles is the same reason VHS outsold DVDs. There's likely some 80-100 million still out there, just like there were millions of VCRs.

see, that's right there where we don't agree on. ps2 sales (of consoles) is not suprassing the Wii (that gets "last gen" treatment by EA anyway) but still is surpassing the xbox360 sales (of consoles) as of now (worldwide).

my whole point was that there must be a reason for EA to be shooting themselves in the foot with this "token upgrades" for "last gen". cause if i'm ever going to buy a next gen system that's not my PC (when the ps3 is cheaper or the failure rate of the xbox360 stops beeing "a disputed rate between 5-35%"), i'm pretty sure it's not going to be their basketball game i'm going to buy.

[[Q]]

the ps3 sales have skyrocketed with their recent price drop to $499

xbox360's console sales are still higher than ps2 imo. ps2s are still surprisingly selling a lot. i think i sold like 2 or 3 in the last week. but pretty much everyone who's a gamer has a wii, 360 or ps3 by now.

[benji]

see, that's right there where we don't agree on. ps2 sales (of consoles) is not suprassing the Wii (that gets "last gen" treatment by EA anyway) but still is surpassing the xbox360 sales (of consoles) as of now (worldwide).

See, I wasn't counting worldwide because EA Sports games outside of FIFA don't sell (comparatively) outside of North America. The PS2 is still selling like mad in Japan and the PS3/Xbox 360 are dead in the water there. But here in NA, it's a different story, Xbox 360 most months has been outselling the PS2.

my whole point was that there must be a reason for EA to be shooting themselves in the foot with this "token upgrades" for "last gen". cause if i'm ever going to buy a next gen system that's not my PC (when the ps3 is cheaper or the failure rate of the xbox360 stops beeing "a disputed rate between 5-35%"), i'm pretty sure it's not going to be their basketball game i'm going to buy.

Are they shooting themselves in the foot though? They're doing what they've always done. Both on the PS1 and PS2, they took the games after the new console gen release (2001) and (07) and made them "token upgrades" of the previous game (2000 or 06) and that continued the next year (2003 and 08) which was the last year for the previous gen. (PS2 likely wil get an 09 because of the massive install base, and Sony supporting it through 2008.)

They have a set number of sales no matter what they do. Just look at how Madden sells no matter what.

Last year they sold 2.8 million copies of Madden on PS2, that's sell rate of about 6% of consoles. (The best selling Madden only sold 3.5 million copies and that was 2004, and about 12%) The Xbox 360 version sold 1.1 million copies, for about 20% of consoles. I highly doubt if they put more time into the PS2 version than the X360 version (and made X360 just a simple port) they would sell anymore copies on the PS2.

You have to take into account that they want to move to the new consoles, because three of the four old ones are dead, and the last gen is a shrinking market. If companies didn't move up with each generation because it's market started out smaller, we'd still be playing on the NES.

There's no reason for them to keep putting resources into the PS2 game they're going to abandon in a year or two, over the version of the game they have to support for the next five years. If they split the resources evenly their current gen game would be even farther behind and they might never catch up.

ause if i'm ever going to buy a next gen system that's not my PC (when the ps3 is cheaper or the failure rate of the xbox360 stops beeing "a disputed rate between 5-35%"), i'm pretty sure it's not going to be their basketball game i'm going to buy.

Well, I won't either. And I don't on the last gen, I get 2K Sports superior product. But there's still millions of people who buy NBA Live because it's EA's game. And since 2K will abandon last gen before EA, they'll rake in the sales by having the only game no matter what it's quality. It's the Madden method.

[OldFoolStyle]

Allow me to, as usual, over simplify this debate.

The reson all companies are ditching the PS2 for the 360 and PS3, is because the PS2 has hit the wall. There is just nowhere else to take the PS2, anything that it's capable of doing has been done. The 360 and PS3, on the other hand, both have room for growth. This is not an "EA hates us" issue, as pretty much every game company is taking the same strategy.

This is a debate that was argued back when the PS2 and XBox replaced the PS1, and before that when PS1 replaced Genesis and Super Nintendo. In another 3-4 years when the next XBox comes out, we will see this argument return with the same results, and the same reson. One only needs to take a few seconds to look at what has happened in the past to see that consoles are on a steady 4-5 year cycle. Not because of some marketing plan, but because that is the rate that hardware replaces it's self.

[Andrew]

i dont understand why player ratings dont go up when a player gets good stats. Doesn't it make sense?

I reckon it's easier said than done, at least in terms of implementing it in a way that's fair and realistic. Otherwise it would too easy to simply pad player stats and boost a player to 99 overall, or ratings would diminish too quickly if a player has a bit of a cold streak or, for example, if the user isn't good at shooting three pointers. It would be awesome if stats could factor into player progression but it should be over the course of the season and player's abilities (not to mention the difficulty level) would have to be taken into account. Otherwise it wouldn't really work to our satisfaction.