Sunday, August 1, 2010

Have to admit, I chuckled

From Kotaku's story:

Another large patch coming by mid-August for NCAA Football 11 will address some notorious balance issues with recruiting in the game's Dynasty modes, and deliver "live tuning" for necessary gameplay adjustments without waiting for a dedicated patch. Although this is also being addressed directly in the patch, a big key will be its ability to fine-tune dynasty recruiting AI, because many have noticed bot-controlled powerhouses coming in exceptionally underweight with repeated lackluster recruiting classes.
Ok, that sounds goovy. Kotaku was pointed to the EA Blog and posted its story. Of course that isn't even the real problem (Lackluster recruiting classes). But that's ok.

Of course Kotaku is apparently not one of the "many" as those pesky and 'notorious' Dynasty issues are MIA in their review. (written by the same guy, btw) Funny how that works.

OK to be fair Kotaku isn't alone. No one else said anything about it either, and really I don't know why I let this get under my skin the way it does. I'm old enough and have been around the block enough times to just let this flow under the bridge and move on.

We ALL miss things in reviews. I have written reviews in the past and then noticed a major issue a week later and it leaves a lump of pain in the pit of my stomach. I try and take this shit seriously but when I see news posts from a MAJOR game site talking about these important game issues like they were on top of the story all along -- I have to admit it's rather "irksome."

Because the "many" who noticed those issues? The gamers. The people who bought the game primarily off of reviews by websites like Kotaku. The critics absolutely failed them.

Anyway, that's my last rant on the subject, I promise.

The good news? EA is fixing the dynasty mode problems and if they work -- this will get a ridiculous amount of playtime this fall and winter. And I guess in the long run that's what matters.

Don't forget --- Madden Monday. We'll have a lot of impressions from the front line of the retail build.