MLB 2K9

[Weebs]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.  I'm sure when they made MLB 2k6, which was the biggest overhaul of the games, they realized there were a lot of problems, but because there's only a year of development (not even, with bug testing and everything) in between titles, there's only so much they can do.  Either someone has to make a brand new baseball game, or one of 2k's developers needs to be creating a new version of MLB 2k that isn't working off the same engine as the previous games.

That's why I think sports games should follow this schedule:

Year 1:  Game
Year 2:  Roster update
Year 3:  Game
Year 4:  Roster update

And so on.  It'll never happen, because they know yearly installments will continue to sell.  But, hell, I'd be more willing to pay $70 for a game and $30 for a good roster update than $60 each year for a game that's really no different or better than the previous year's installment.

Or, sports developers should take a hint from the Call of Duty series and alternate development teams each year so every installment is developed for two full years.

It would be cool to do something like that, but with the way they make downloading rosters both through their company and other users, it would be pointless for them to do it, not just because of how much a full title will sell.

I could see them alternating developers, but with how little time they spend anyways, they always have people rolling off one project and onto another, so I'm sure the scheduling conflicts would be outrageous.  Plus I'd imagine it makes them more money to just have a small group of developers coming up with a few tweaks and updates each year.  And after all, it is just about them making money.  Where's the integrity?!

[Pre]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.

Boo!

The problem is that people will buy the games regardless and instead of spending money on more developers, they did
a market study and found out it was cheaper to just buy the exclusive license and create a captive audience.

Sports games, like real sports, are full of money/fan interest balances from the business side of things.

They know they just need to make a game good enough to get somewhat decent reviews and we'll buy it anyways.  So
will a million other people.

Once you graduate, get a real job, and perhaps finally know the feeling of the embrace of a woman or man, you'll realize
that pretty much all of life works that way.  Considering how you might finally manage to feel the embrace of a woman or
man, that process will probably involve the types of monetary negotiation and cost/value calculations I'm talking about.

Also, I'm pretty sure I read that they had a longer than 1 year development cycle on this year's version.

[Weebs]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.

Boo!

The problem is that people will buy the games regardless and instead of spending money on more developers, they did
a market study and found out it was cheaper to just buy the exclusive license and create a captive audience.

Sports games, like real sports, are full of money/fan interest balances from the business side of things.

They know they just need to make a game good enough to get somewhat decent reviews and we'll buy it anyways.  So
will a million other people.

Once you graduate, get a real job, and perhaps finally know the feeling of the embrace of a woman or man, you'll realize
that pretty much all of life works that way.  Considering how you might finally manage to feel the embrace of a woman or
man, that process will probably involve the types of monetary negotiation and cost/value calculations I'm talking about.

Also, I'm pretty sure I read that they had a longer than 1 year development cycle on this year's version.

My second post was THIS.

I know it's obviously more cost-effective to run out an update every year with a few tweaks, but a short development cycle doesn't help.  Obviously, even after a title ships, they've been working on the next version already and are already probably working on elements of MLB 2k12.  Regardless, when they create the engine and make the first game with that engine, they've set the template for at least the next few titles.  If they made a mistake, there's a whole lot that needs to go into fixing it, and the 10 months or so of development time just aren't enough.  So instead, they try to rework code a bit and add a few little tweaks to make the fanbase happy, but nothing major can be done until they take the time for a full overhaul to the various systems and mechanics.

[*In a Nutsack]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.

Boo!

The problem is that people will buy the games regardless and instead of spending money on more developers, they did
a market study and found out it was cheaper to just buy the exclusive license and create a captive audience.

Sports games, like real sports, are full of money/fan interest balances from the business side of things.

They know they just need to make a game good enough to get somewhat decent reviews and we'll buy it anyways.  So
will a million other people.

Once you graduate, get a real job, and perhaps finally know the feeling of the embrace of a woman or man, you'll realize
that pretty much all of life works that way.  Considering how you might finally manage to feel the embrace of a woman or
man, that process will probably involve the types of monetary negotiation and cost/value calculations I'm talking about.

Also, I'm pretty sure I read that they had a longer than 1 year development cycle on this year's version.

My second post was THIS.

I know it's obviously more cost-effective to run out an update every year with a few tweaks, but a short development cycle doesn't help.  Obviously, even after a title ships, they've been working on the next version already and are already probably working on elements of MLB 2k12.  Regardless, when they create the engine and make the first game with that engine, they've set the template for at least the next few titles.  If they made a mistake, there's a whole lot that needs to go into fixing it, and the 10 months or so of development time just aren't enough.  So instead, they try to rework code a bit and add a few little tweaks to make the fanbase happy, but nothing major can be done until they take the time for a full overhaul to the various systems and mechanics.

Which means that Kerm was 110% right when he said that they should take a page from the Call of Duty franchise's development cycle of Treyarch/Infinity Ward getting to pump out a game once every two years, with alternating yearly release dates.  One extremely good game per year gets you great succes.  CoD4 just netted 14 million copies sold.  I'm sure WaW, though a bit inferior, will get good numbers as well.  Now, Treyarch is sub-par to Infinity Ward, but the games are still great.  This should be the model for current sports game franchises.

It does seem a bit goofy that a FPS churns out a game per year and alternates development houses to ensure two-year cycles for each game, when the real users of this model should be the sporting franchises.

[Weebs]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.

Boo!

The problem is that people will buy the games regardless and instead of spending money on more developers, they did
a market study and found out it was cheaper to just buy the exclusive license and create a captive audience.

Sports games, like real sports, are full of money/fan interest balances from the business side of things.

They know they just need to make a game good enough to get somewhat decent reviews and we'll buy it anyways.  So
will a million other people.

Once you graduate, get a real job, and perhaps finally know the feeling of the embrace of a woman or man, you'll realize
that pretty much all of life works that way.  Considering how you might finally manage to feel the embrace of a woman or
man, that process will probably involve the types of monetary negotiation and cost/value calculations I'm talking about.

Also, I'm pretty sure I read that they had a longer than 1 year development cycle on this year's version.

My second post was THIS.

I know it's obviously more cost-effective to run out an update every year with a few tweaks, but a short development cycle doesn't help.  Obviously, even after a title ships, they've been working on the next version already and are already probably working on elements of MLB 2k12.  Regardless, when they create the engine and make the first game with that engine, they've set the template for at least the next few titles.  If they made a mistake, there's a whole lot that needs to go into fixing it, and the 10 months or so of development time just aren't enough.  So instead, they try to rework code a bit and add a few little tweaks to make the fanbase happy, but nothing major can be done until they take the time for a full overhaul to the various systems and mechanics.

Which means that Kerm was 110% right when he said that they should take a page from the Call of Duty franchise's development cycle of Treyarch/Infinity Ward getting to pump out a game once every two years, with alternating yearly release dates.  One extremely good game per year gets you great succes.  CoD4 just netted 14 million copies sold.  I'm sure WaW, though a bit inferior, will get good numbers as well.  Now, Treyarch is sub-par to Infinity Ward, but the games are still great.  This should be the model for current sports game franchises.

It does seem a bit goofy that a FPS churns out a game per year and alternates development houses to ensure two-year cycles for each game, when the real users of this model should be the sporting franchises.

The problem with that is you have to get two developers working on the same code simultaneously.  It works for COD because they're working on two completely different games.  A new sports game is simply an updated version of the previous title.  So the problem is you'd have say Visual Concept's MLB 2k8 with "Super Zone Hitting" and whoever the hell made the other version's MLB 2k9 with "Ultra Swing Hitting," and do you go back to "Super Zone Hitting" in 2k10?  The only way it would work correctly is if the two companies were developing with completely different engines.

[*In a Nutsack]

The problem is more that they just don't have the development time to make the changes necessary.

Boo!

The problem is that people will buy the games regardless and instead of spending money on more developers, they did
a market study and found out it was cheaper to just buy the exclusive license and create a captive audience.

Sports games, like real sports, are full of money/fan interest balances from the business side of things.

They know they just need to make a game good enough to get somewhat decent reviews and we'll buy it anyways.  So
will a million other people.

Once you graduate, get a real job, and perhaps finally know the feeling of the embrace of a woman or man, you'll realize
that pretty much all of life works that way.  Considering how you might finally manage to feel the embrace of a woman or
man, that process will probably involve the types of monetary negotiation and cost/value calculations I'm talking about.

Also, I'm pretty sure I read that they had a longer than 1 year development cycle on this year's version.

My second post was THIS.

I know it's obviously more cost-effective to run out an update every year with a few tweaks, but a short development cycle doesn't help.  Obviously, even after a title ships, they've been working on the next version already and are already probably working on elements of MLB 2k12.  Regardless, when they create the engine and make the first game with that engine, they've set the template for at least the next few titles.  If they made a mistake, there's a whole lot that needs to go into fixing it, and the 10 months or so of development time just aren't enough.  So instead, they try to rework code a bit and add a few little tweaks to make the fanbase happy, but nothing major can be done until they take the time for a full overhaul to the various systems and mechanics.

Which means that Kerm was 110% right when he said that they should take a page from the Call of Duty franchise's development cycle of Treyarch/Infinity Ward getting to pump out a game once every two years, with alternating yearly release dates.  One extremely good game per year gets you great succes.  CoD4 just netted 14 million copies sold.  I'm sure WaW, though a bit inferior, will get good numbers as well.  Now, Treyarch is sub-par to Infinity Ward, but the games are still great.  This should be the model for current sports game franchises.

It does seem a bit goofy that a FPS churns out a game per year and alternates development houses to ensure two-year cycles for each game, when the real users of this model should be the sporting franchises.

The problem with that is you have to get two developers working on the same code simultaneously.  It works for COD because they're working on two completely different games.  A new sports game is simply an updated version of the previous title.  So the problem is you'd have say Visual Concept's MLB 2k8 with "Super Zone Hitting" and whoever the hell made the other version's MLB 2k9 with "Ultra Swing Hitting," and do you go back to "Super Zone Hitting" in 2k10?  The only way it would work correctly is if the two companies were developing with completely different engines.

Weebs, I'd imagine it works in much the same way that CoD does.  Treyarch's CoD3 was, as much as it could be, different than Infinity Ward's CoD4 Modern Warfare.  Then, they found something:  Modern Warfare's iteration rocks the shit out of FPS gamers and suddenly, Treyarch sees the light and uses the CoD4 engine.

Assuming that Visual Concepts and Kush (if those are the two houses) come together to agree on the same hitting interfaces, pitching interfaces, throwing interfaces, etc., then it works.  You know a ton more of what goes into making a game than I do, but the logic makes a whole mess of sense.  Does it not?

[Tank]

[Weebs]

Weebs, I'd imagine it works in much the same way that CoD does.  Treyarch's CoD3 was, as much as it could be, different than Infinity Ward's CoD4 Modern Warfare.  Then, they found something:  Modern Warfare's iteration rocks the shit out of FPS gamers and suddenly, Treyarch sees the light and uses the CoD4 engine.

Assuming that Visual Concepts and Kush (if those are the two houses) come together to agree on the same hitting interfaces, pitching interfaces, throwing interfaces, etc., then it works.  You know a ton more of what goes into making a game than I do, but the logic makes a whole mess of sense.  Does it not?

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k.  There is almost nothing similar between WaW and COD4, content-wise.  The only thing that's the same is the engine.  Nothing that Infinity Ward does for their next game, other than updates to the engine, which Treyarch then uses will have any effect on Treyarch's next game.  If Kush and VC were swapping off games, one would have to wait until the other was finished because you have to keep all the changes from the previous year in the new one, unless of course it was planned to remove them.  So essentially they could be switching development houses, but each one would still only get the same year to work on the title.  With COD, the two developers can work on the games simultaneously because they're not related in any way other than technology.  It would be fine if Kush was doing MLB 2k9 and VC was doing MVP 2k9, but they couldn't be iterations of the same title.

[Pre]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k.  

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

[Philberto]

I like this the most out of this whole thread.

[5laky]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k.  

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

Not to mention now this thread is about Call of Duty and a bunch of other acronyms and companies I couldn't give less of a shit about.

[*In a Nutsack]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k.  

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

Not to mention now this thread is about Call of Duty and a bunch of other acronyms and companies I couldn't give less of a shit about.

It's not so much about Call of Duty, but more about how they continue to produce an elite product.

[5laky]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k.  

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

Not to mention now this thread is about Call of Duty and a bunch of other acronyms and companies I couldn't give less of a shit about.

It's not so much about Call of Duty, but more about how they continue to produce an elite product.

Which is why I'm probably done with this thread.

[Tank]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k. 

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

Not to mention now this thread is about Call of Duty and a bunch of other acronyms and companies I couldn't give less of a shit about.

It's not so much about Call of Duty, but more about how they continue to produce an elite product.

Which is why I'm probably done with this thread.

That sounds like a THREAT!!!

[5laky]

It doesn't really work for a title that gets updated every year like MLB 2k. 

Please stop pretending like you know anything about real software projects.  It makes you sound like
a douche.

Not to mention now this thread is about Call of Duty and a bunch of other acronyms and companies I couldn't give less of a shit about.

It's not so much about Call of Duty, but more about how they continue to produce an elite product.

Which is why I'm probably done with this thread.

That sounds like a THREAT!!!

It's a promise mister.