Should Arcade Sports games sell at the same price as their Simulation cousins?
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With the recent releases of FIFA Street and SSX, the question regarding the price of games makes an appearance once again. Both games play more towards the non-traditional sports loving audience and yet, both launched in stores with 60 dollars price tags. Is this a smart move? With the increase of digital content, should arcade sports games be released at full price?
Looking back over the last 9 months, it has been an incredible year for the sports genre. There have been a number of great gaming options ranging from sim-focused releases such as NBA 2K12 and FIFA 12 to arcade-centric games like NBA JAM: On Fire Edition and NFL Blitz. While the choice has been vast, the one thing that has been common until now is price. Arcade games have been digital releases with 15 dollar price tags while the simulation games hit retail with 60 dollar price tags.
But why are both FIFA Street and SSX selling for 60 dollars? Both games would be classified as arcade games. In the case of SSX, it contains a lot of unrealistic aspects and over-the-top action. For FIFA Street, while the game doesn’t go with the overboard with unrealistic content, it isn’t as deep when put side to side to its bigger brother, FIFA 12.
In fact, both games released with a lot of scrutiny and uncertainty. SSX was marred early on due to the poor reception of its initial teaser and with a five year gap between games in the series, many people had lost interest or were hesitant to ride down a mountain again. Even with the glowing reviews, we won’t know how well it was received by the masses until March NPD numbers are released in April.
For FIFA, it is a dual-edged sword. While not technically bad games, the original FIFA Street series wasn’t that great, overshadowed by the more popular NBA Street. It also came out at a time when EA’s EA Sports Big branding released so many action and arcade centric sports games that it felt more like a quick cash grab than anything else. Both FIFA Street and NFL Street couldn’t keep with the success of NBA Street and neither managed to last as long. Yes, NBA Street disappeared after NBA Street Homecourt but there is still a vocal community longing for EA to bring the series back, or for someone else to resurrect Streetball in video game form. The closest thing we’ve had recently was the NBA Legends Showcase DLC last December for NBA 2K12, which was a $10 add on.
The other side of the FIFA Street coin is simple: it’s FIFA. EA’s answer to Call of Duty is clearly FIFA, and it’s fair to say that FIFA is more recognizable as a global brand. It is a huge money maker and incredibly popular. EA knows that soccer fans, especially Europeans, will eat up FIFA Street and regardless of how it is received critically, will be among the best selling games for the next few weeks, if not longer.
EA isn’t afraid to release retail sports games below the sixty dollar price point. When NBA JAM went on sale for PS3 and 360 in late 2010, it had a 40 dollars MSRP. February’s Grand Slam Tennis 2 also released at a lower price, 50 dollars. In the case of NBA JAM, that was more under pressure due to the rushed nature of the game and the voices of gamers unwilling to justify a full price purchase of a game originally intended as a downloadable bonus for owners of NBA Elite 11. For Grand Slam Tennis 2, they were releasing a game for a sport they had limited familiarity with. While it may have been even better suited at 40 dollars as well, they were still willing to sell it with a lower price tag in the hopes of enticing gamers to it.
If we strip down every aspect of FIFA Street, chances are it would have worked just as well as a downloadable game. SSX may have been a little bit more difficult to produce as a digital release with the same amount of content it currently has. Had they started development thinking of it as a digital title first, then they could have found a way to do so. Considering the size limitations for digital games have increased significantly over the year, it makes it even easier for developers to publish content digitally rather than packaging them and selling them in stores.
There is no excuse for developers and publishers to not make arcade-centric sports games and release them digitally. The audience is there and the favorable price point gives people even more reason to pick up a game at 15 dollars instead of 60. The future of arcade sports games rides on the success and failure of both FIFA Street and SSX. If both manage to rack up strong sales across all territories, then we can expect more full priced games. But if either fails, hopefully that leads to full content, arcade-sports games at favorable prices.
Showing posts with label EA Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EA Sports. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Thursday, June 5, 2008
UEFA Euro 2008 Review (PS3)
When it comes to EA Sports and their soccer (football) titles, I know them quite well. I have played every edition of the game that has been released in North America since FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup. I've seen the highs (FIFA 99 on PC and FIFA 06 on PS2) and the lows (The US version of FIFA 2000 all versions and FIFA 2004 (off the ball was a bad idea)). When I knew that the Euro 2008 version of the game was coming out, it was a no-brainer that I would pick it up and after two weeks, leading my country and helping another one win the Championship, I feel that I've accomplished my goal, but I wish I didn't spend as much as I did.
Unlike the FIFA editions of the series that contain both domestic clubs and countries from around the world, Euro 2008 focuses solely on the 50+ nations that make up Europe. Most of Europe is represented here, with a few omissions. Countries like The Netherlands and my home-country Serbia lack official kits and official players, since EA couldn't obtain their federation licences, but other than a small batch, most of the nations are represented really well. The players look like their counter-parts and their kits (jerseys) are correct. What is also nice is that all the nations have a large selection of players, so while the main 22-23 players might not be correct as they are in the real world, you can simply move players to make it correct. Also, for those of us who don't have authentic players for our countries, you can edit all the players to make them more accurate.
Considering the small selection of nations (if you consider 50 nations as small) there are plenty of options to play with in this game.
The major mode in the game is your Captain Your Country mode. Almost like an RPG, where you can either create your own player or take an established player and lead them from being just a regular squad member on your B side to leading your country in the finals and lifting that trophy in the end. This is a really well done mode since it takes both the Be A Pro option and the Qualifying and lets you try to create a perfect story. To really enjoy this, you need to create your own character.
In this mode, you’re competing against 3 other players to get that spot. What’s really nice is that if you have 3 friends with you, they can take part of it as well. The better you play, the better your rating which gives you more experience points. Then you can take your experience points and develop your player to a true superstar. The ultimate goal is to have you lifting that title at the end of the tournament and it will take some time to accomplish this. I absolutely loved this mode and hope they can continue this with FIFA 09 and the club scene (which has so many more options and can last multiple seasons).
You also have what EA is calling Battle of the Nations. When you start the game for the first time, the game asks you to pick a country to represent. Of course, you’re picking a European nation, so if you’re not from Europe or have no country to support, this already will throw you off. When you select a country to represent, you’re now playing for bragging rights. Regardless of if you’re playing offline or online, the game tracks your play. The better you play, the more points you get for your country. If your country leads at the end of the day, the game rewards you with treats. While you can represent any country, they want you to play as a lesser nation so you can get more points. For example, if you play as England or France, you’re not going to get as many points in comparison if you play as Cyprus or Iceland, since the quality of players are so much better with the former rather than the later. Since I chose Serbia, I will probably never see what you get for winning but it’s an interesting way of earning bragging rights for your country…except for the fact that this ends on June 30th. The game was only released in North America two weeks ago, and this mode only allows us to participate for only 45 days, so those in Europe already have the leg up on the rest. Also, after June 30th, there is absolutely no reason to play the game for any extra incentive. It’s a nice mode in theory, but they’ll need to work on it if they ever use this again.
I’ve gone at length about what the game has to offer, but now what do I think of it as a game. To be honest, it’s a Good game but not for the price you’ll have to pay for it. At 50 dollars, it’s overpriced considering you’ll only be playing it from now until the end of June or maybe July. FIFA 09 will be out in October, so while you might dabble in this here and there, once October comes, you’re going to forget about this one. Also, the Battle of the Nations mode also hurts since it becomes useless after the end of June. Had this been 29.99 or even 39.99 then I wouldn’t complain, but it’s 10-15 dollars over priced. Other than that, the graphics are great. The stadiums, both the real ones for the tournament, the stadiums for some of the nations and even the made up ones are done really well. I’ve already commented on the detail on the players and jerseys, so you’re getting a really nice looking game. On the field, the player animations are well done and quite fluid; the coaches/managers look good and the addition of the ability to control your goal scorer after scoring a goal is a nice touch and should be around for a while.
The sound is again top-notch. Clive and Andy do an excellent job as their regular duties in the EA series, so you’re getting the feel of an authentic experience.
The only problem I have with the game play comes from the adaptive AI. EA touted that teams are more realistic. Strong teams will play tough while weaker sides will compensate by playing more defensive. While this is nice, it does ruin the fun for some gamers who are looking for an easy victory. This doesn’t bother me except for the clear fact that while weaker nations will typically play defensive, they are rated poorly for a reason. If they wanted to make it more realistic, smaller nations like San Marino, Estonia or even Cyprus, should still be no problem for a nation like Germany, France or Italy since those smaller nations are more prone to making mistakes. Those smaller countries shouldn’t be as fast as the bigger nations, should not have high passing percentages or control of possession. They should be easy to take the ball from and more realistic. This essentially forces you to try to play against teams of equal class since that is the best way to have a great or equal match.
My problem with the AI doesn’t end there. I noticed that teams also play quite differently in Kick Off mode depending on the selection you pick. If you play a friendly, you will easily win your match, regards of the difficulty. But if you decide to play a qualifier, group stage or any of the knockout rounds, the computer AI explodes. I took my Serbia and destroyed Italy 5:0 in a friendly (which is highly unrealistic), but when I played against lowly FYR Macedonia in a group-stage match, our game went to penalties, something that should not have happened. Hopefully EA will improve this. I like the fact that teams won’t be cookie-cut, but they should still play realistically (strong sides should ultimately win, unless the player controlling them sucks).
So in the end, if you’re looking for a soccer (football) title to play before the release of FIFA 09, you can’t go wrong with UEFA Euro 2008. You might want to wait until after June 30th and buy it at a lower price, since right now the cost just doesn’t seem fair. Had they released this game back in April as they did in Europe, then the cost would have made more sense, but at the end of May, it just seems like they released it because they knew footie fans like me would be dumb enough to buy the game. While I have a problem with the price and a bit with the AI, it still has a lot of great options, excellent graphics and the feel of a true football match, you can’t complain there. While I can’t see my country win the Euro, at least I can have them win in HD and there isn’t anything wrong with that.
Unlike the FIFA editions of the series that contain both domestic clubs and countries from around the world, Euro 2008 focuses solely on the 50+ nations that make up Europe. Most of Europe is represented here, with a few omissions. Countries like The Netherlands and my home-country Serbia lack official kits and official players, since EA couldn't obtain their federation licences, but other than a small batch, most of the nations are represented really well. The players look like their counter-parts and their kits (jerseys) are correct. What is also nice is that all the nations have a large selection of players, so while the main 22-23 players might not be correct as they are in the real world, you can simply move players to make it correct. Also, for those of us who don't have authentic players for our countries, you can edit all the players to make them more accurate.
Considering the small selection of nations (if you consider 50 nations as small) there are plenty of options to play with in this game.
The major mode in the game is your Captain Your Country mode. Almost like an RPG, where you can either create your own player or take an established player and lead them from being just a regular squad member on your B side to leading your country in the finals and lifting that trophy in the end. This is a really well done mode since it takes both the Be A Pro option and the Qualifying and lets you try to create a perfect story. To really enjoy this, you need to create your own character.
In this mode, you’re competing against 3 other players to get that spot. What’s really nice is that if you have 3 friends with you, they can take part of it as well. The better you play, the better your rating which gives you more experience points. Then you can take your experience points and develop your player to a true superstar. The ultimate goal is to have you lifting that title at the end of the tournament and it will take some time to accomplish this. I absolutely loved this mode and hope they can continue this with FIFA 09 and the club scene (which has so many more options and can last multiple seasons).
You also have what EA is calling Battle of the Nations. When you start the game for the first time, the game asks you to pick a country to represent. Of course, you’re picking a European nation, so if you’re not from Europe or have no country to support, this already will throw you off. When you select a country to represent, you’re now playing for bragging rights. Regardless of if you’re playing offline or online, the game tracks your play. The better you play, the more points you get for your country. If your country leads at the end of the day, the game rewards you with treats. While you can represent any country, they want you to play as a lesser nation so you can get more points. For example, if you play as England or France, you’re not going to get as many points in comparison if you play as Cyprus or Iceland, since the quality of players are so much better with the former rather than the later. Since I chose Serbia, I will probably never see what you get for winning but it’s an interesting way of earning bragging rights for your country…except for the fact that this ends on June 30th. The game was only released in North America two weeks ago, and this mode only allows us to participate for only 45 days, so those in Europe already have the leg up on the rest. Also, after June 30th, there is absolutely no reason to play the game for any extra incentive. It’s a nice mode in theory, but they’ll need to work on it if they ever use this again.
I’ve gone at length about what the game has to offer, but now what do I think of it as a game. To be honest, it’s a Good game but not for the price you’ll have to pay for it. At 50 dollars, it’s overpriced considering you’ll only be playing it from now until the end of June or maybe July. FIFA 09 will be out in October, so while you might dabble in this here and there, once October comes, you’re going to forget about this one. Also, the Battle of the Nations mode also hurts since it becomes useless after the end of June. Had this been 29.99 or even 39.99 then I wouldn’t complain, but it’s 10-15 dollars over priced. Other than that, the graphics are great. The stadiums, both the real ones for the tournament, the stadiums for some of the nations and even the made up ones are done really well. I’ve already commented on the detail on the players and jerseys, so you’re getting a really nice looking game. On the field, the player animations are well done and quite fluid; the coaches/managers look good and the addition of the ability to control your goal scorer after scoring a goal is a nice touch and should be around for a while.
The sound is again top-notch. Clive and Andy do an excellent job as their regular duties in the EA series, so you’re getting the feel of an authentic experience.
The only problem I have with the game play comes from the adaptive AI. EA touted that teams are more realistic. Strong teams will play tough while weaker sides will compensate by playing more defensive. While this is nice, it does ruin the fun for some gamers who are looking for an easy victory. This doesn’t bother me except for the clear fact that while weaker nations will typically play defensive, they are rated poorly for a reason. If they wanted to make it more realistic, smaller nations like San Marino, Estonia or even Cyprus, should still be no problem for a nation like Germany, France or Italy since those smaller nations are more prone to making mistakes. Those smaller countries shouldn’t be as fast as the bigger nations, should not have high passing percentages or control of possession. They should be easy to take the ball from and more realistic. This essentially forces you to try to play against teams of equal class since that is the best way to have a great or equal match.
My problem with the AI doesn’t end there. I noticed that teams also play quite differently in Kick Off mode depending on the selection you pick. If you play a friendly, you will easily win your match, regards of the difficulty. But if you decide to play a qualifier, group stage or any of the knockout rounds, the computer AI explodes. I took my Serbia and destroyed Italy 5:0 in a friendly (which is highly unrealistic), but when I played against lowly FYR Macedonia in a group-stage match, our game went to penalties, something that should not have happened. Hopefully EA will improve this. I like the fact that teams won’t be cookie-cut, but they should still play realistically (strong sides should ultimately win, unless the player controlling them sucks).
So in the end, if you’re looking for a soccer (football) title to play before the release of FIFA 09, you can’t go wrong with UEFA Euro 2008. You might want to wait until after June 30th and buy it at a lower price, since right now the cost just doesn’t seem fair. Had they released this game back in April as they did in Europe, then the cost would have made more sense, but at the end of May, it just seems like they released it because they knew footie fans like me would be dumb enough to buy the game. While I have a problem with the price and a bit with the AI, it still has a lot of great options, excellent graphics and the feel of a true football match, you can’t complain there. While I can’t see my country win the Euro, at least I can have them win in HD and there isn’t anything wrong with that.
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