Some more online play reviews
by 
A couple days ago I wrote an article regarding the lack of attention that online play gets in reviews. I included four of the main sites and what they wrote about the online play in NCAA Football 08 compared to the real situation which has been dreadful. The positive reaction to that article was overwhelming. There certainly is a faction out there that cares about online play and are disappointed with the current situation.
Here is a new review for NCAA Football and a couple for the recently released Nascar 08 which has been getting widespread reports of lag-plagued games. When EA can't even get games to run smoothly in one vs one matchups how could anyone expect anything else for 16 player races in Nascar?
Sports Illustrated (NCAA Football): Online play is near-flawless, with very little lag. The game feels a little different because of the latency inherent in online play, but once you adjust your timing, it works very well. There's no co-op play online, which is somewhat of a disappointment.
I really have run though every response I have to these. To call it "near-flawless" is an absolute travesty.
IGN (Nascar 08): spotty online play
Brilliant. Another thorough analysis by IGN.
1UP (Nascar 08): INSERT TEXT HERE
Above is where I would insert the text from the review if they had written anything about online play.
So far the Nascar 08 reviews haven't even mentioned that it offers the ability to have 16 players. Of course I'm not sure if it matters when the experience is so poor that no one would want to play it. It is just terribly frustrating to see online play ignored or passed off with generic statements from these media outlets.
Unfortunately the same problems may well be faced with Madden 08. As of right now it would be safe to assume it will have many of the same issues as NCAA Football. Expecting otherwise would only set up for disappointment. Madden 07 ran great after the lag patch on the 360 last year. However that patch was supposed to be implemented in all the EA titles and clearly something hasn't gone according to plan.
July 30, 2007 at 5:49 pm
you’re right pp. online play is one of my favorite modes but sometimes it’s just so different from offline play that it’s absolutely impossible to play both offline AND online well without a big adjustment period. the posterboy for this is mlb 2k7. the lag on your swing in online play is ridiculous that to get around on any fastball 93+ mph you have to be guessing fastball 100% before the pitch is even thrown. and then if you try playing offline afterwards, the timing is completely thrown off. that is why, unfortunately, the only game mode i’ve played in mlb 2k7 is online mode. truthfully, i’m dying to play an offline franchise mode. the problem is, though, that if i do, i will become a bad online player due to my timing being thrown off completely and this will ruin me for my online league.
what a shame all of that is
online play needs to stop being ignored!
July 30, 2007 at 5:54 pm
The BIGS has great online play. I’ve been having fun with that, virtually no adjustment at all.
Definitely agree about baseball games having been tough in the past because of it. One thing I liked about MVP 2005 was the hitter’s eye. The color that flashed as the ball left the pitcher’s hand. That helped out greatly when playing online.
July 30, 2007 at 6:08 pm
^ lol, me and my friend always talk about how mvp 05 was great because of the color-coded hitters eye
oh, and sorry to be somewhat off-topic here, but do you have any idea why the batter’s eye in mlb 2k7 doesn’t work about 60% of the time (at least online), and then it’ll randomly show the location when the batter’s eye is nowhere near the actual pitch? that annoys me and my friend like crazy
July 30, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Ha no idea. I couldn’t stand playing that game online I think I was done with it after a couple of days.
July 30, 2007 at 6:44 pm
if madden has that same problem of having a huge adjustment period when transitioning from online to offline play, i will be so incredibly disapointed because what i’m really looking forward to in madden is the whole re-play ability, meaning all the game modes will keep me occupied for a good 4-5 months until nba live/2k8
July 30, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I really doubt Madden has any trouble since last year it was great after they put out the patch. If it does, needless to say I will be very pissed because Madden is far and away the game I spend the most time on and the majority of that comes in the form of online play.
July 31, 2007 at 9:20 am
No way EA can let this happen to their main money-maker. Maybe they should start beta testing with a large number of online users like for halo 3 so they can get the server issues worked out..BEFOREHAND!
July 31, 2007 at 9:50 am
I still haven’t even gotten Xbox Live and I’ve had 360 for close to a year now. I just haven’t had a real reason to buy it and play the sports games I own and play online, either because of lack of interest or lack of good experience online. I was going to get it with NCAA, Madden, Tiger, NHL and NBA coming out soon but now with all the problems, I am unsure. Hopefully they can get this sorted, as football online was really fun back in the days of PS2.
July 31, 2007 at 9:54 pm
online only is 12 maximum not 16