State of the EASHL

Taken from the official EASHL forums

It's my hope that GM's/Players of teams that are looking to compete in this year's EASHL Championships read this.

I want to be clear that the NHL development team and I are passionate about making the EASHL the premiere sports gaming league in all of sports video games. I have seen what other titles have done with their single player tournaments and I've seen both the good and the bad. The good is the competitive spirit which brings the best players together for Live and Online events culminating in annual major events to crown winners. The bad is what some of these players will do to get to the top whether it be by exploiting the game or playing in a manner that is unrealistic to the real game to win at all costs. Usually this comes by way of taking advantage of AI as users learn to master games and finding go-to plays that work more often than not.

Using exploits in games is common though that does not mean that they are welcome. Which brings me to the EASHL, currently the only sports gaming league that offers gamers the opportunity to play without AI teammates thereby eliminating opportunities for opponents to use exploits. It's been a common theme that teams that play without a full complement of players will be open to teams looking to exploit AI. It was our belief that if teams played with a full squad there would be fewer complaints about this.

We also took into account teams that would create numerous teams to win-trade against and have adjusted the points structure to allow diminishing returns for teams playing the same teams repeatedly and possibly winning games unfairly. We understand that some teams will attempt to climb the leaderboards using whatever means necessary and we do our best to deter teams from playing the same team by allowing few points for repeated wins over the same team. We still see that teams attempt to win this way, though we've also noticed that teams are catching on realizing that the points are just not tallying as much as they hoped.

The one issue that we didn't take into account and would like to address here are teams that "lie down" to other teams to help those other teams receive wins. There has been some discussion with top teams receiving wins unfairly and please know that we have looked at all the teams involved that have been accused of this. Whether it's teams that are colluding behind closed doors or players that are playing for teams they don't normally play with, there isn't much that we can do on our end to prevent that given the current system. That does not mean, however, that we will just sit by and allow this to happen.

My first question is, why would any team lie down for another team? Why would a player play for another team in order to help that team get ahead of another? My first challenge is to the community and all teams/GMs/players is to have good standing within the community. It's easy to come onto the forums and blast other players and teams for whatever reason but this behavior only lends itself for others to attack back. I would ask that teams make an effort to be more mature and to take responsibility for their behavior in game and on the forums.

For those players and teams that do give "free wins" to other teams, know that we are keeping a very close eye on you. The main reason we call our annual championship an invitational is to invite only the best and respected teams in the league. Over the past few months with our season champions we've received numerous PM's and emails about teams that have colluded, players that have jumped to other teams, and possible wins that were questionable. Please know that we do track this information and when it comes down to selecting the teams for our championship, as we did last year, we will make tough decisions to not invite teams that have been repeatedly called out. Bottom line, again, it comes down to whether or not you have the respect of your peers in the community and if you don't, you possibly leave yourself open for others to target. Though we do not condone such behavior and plan not to reward such behavior, I would say that it's much better to have the respect of the community so teams wouldn't want to prevent your team from winning.

Where I'm going with this, and I appreciate those that have taken the time to digest this, is that it's the human factor we are dealing with and not the AI as with other titles. I challenge all top teams/GMs/players to take responsibility for your behavior in OUR league. In any league, there are ways to cheat the system, but does that mean you must? The community will always speak loudest and call out those that do attempt to cheat the system as we've seen last year and this year. For those that come on the forums, play 'dumb', and think they can get away with being involved in unfair wins...you need to think again as you definitely risk an opportunity to take part in what is looking to be an incredible Championship this year.

Just remember that we didn't wipe suspected teams until late in the year last year and we do not intend to "show our hand" early this year at all. Though we do want to reward teams that have been successful in our monthly seasons and teams that have played well overall, we will not reward teams that may have gotten there unfairly or teams/players that have colluded with teams that may have moved up unfairly. A trophy or medal is one thing...an invite to the Big Dance at the end of the season is another.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments here though please refrain from calling out any team or individual here. If you must, please PM me directly. Also, please don't copy/paste post as it's fairly long and will clutter the thread.

Fly on the Wall at EAC

A Classic Returns

After all the speculation over the past month over a 102-character tweet I made in the beginning of December, EA SPORTS today announced the return of 90's arcade classic NBA JAM to put an end to the rumours and put the excitement back into 2-on-2 basketball. It was definitely pretty tough keeping the secret in the box as a huge fan of the game myself. I recall my favourite duo of Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton occupying my time back in the day on one of the limited-edition machines. I remember me and a buddy running this one machine on many nights as line-ups of challengers placed their two-bits on the glass only to get their butts handed to them in the ensuing onslaught of rainmakers and clutch treys. Some of the best games we had were against the Lakers with Vlade Divac and James Worthy or the Jazz who delivered with Karl Malone and the very reliable shot of John Stockton. Sometimes I wondered if there was code in the game where if Stockton had the ball in the last few seconds down by one, he'd always hit his shot. It drove me nuts losing last shot games!

So with the official announcement the team will be polling NBA fans on which players they want to see in the game. The first round of player voting is now open for the Sacramento Kings, LA Clippers, and Oklahoma Thunder. Make sure you check out the official NBA JAM website to and check back weekly for new teams to vote on!

FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 Champions Pack II (XBOX 360) and Title Update #4 Available Next Week

While PlayStation 3 owners have been enjoying the latest downloadable content for the past few weeks, XBOX 360 owners have been patiently waiting for the re-release of Champions Pack II which I'm being told is now scheduled to be released on XBOX Marketplace on January 18th. Along with the downloadable content for the 360, a title update to address some issues will be released on both consoles.

Following the release of the new content, on January 27th from 3PM-8PM PST we will be hosting a live XBOX LIVE Community Playdate with the developers of the game. Along with the chance to knockout one of the producers, gamers will also have the opportunity to provide the team with their feedback of the game if they happen to get paired up with a developer or through the Cover-It-Live event that I will be hosting during the session. So if you can't find your way into a match against one of the developers or fansite leaders that will also be joining the Community Playdate or are a PlayStation 3 gamer, feel free to join us in the side-discussion we have planned as well.

Last Week to Qualify for the Knockout Round in the Gillette Champions of Gaming

After weeks of qualifying, we are now down to the final opportunity for gamers to qualify for the Knockout Round and a chance to play the pros in the Gillette Champions of Gaming. Weekly qualifiers for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10, Madden NFL 10, NHL 10, NBA LIVE 10, FIGHT NIGHT Round 4, and FIFA 10 have been excitedly waiting for the next round to begin and with the last chance for entrants to battle their way in, it's going to be a dog fight right until the final minute of play on January 17th.

It's not too late for a shot to play some of the best athletes in the world in Orlando so don't miss your chance! Go to your in-game tournament menu and go FTW this week with your favourite EA SPORTS title! There's no fee to enter and today is the first day of the last round which ends Sunday night.

NHL 10 Team Fixes Exploit, Prepares to Release Tuner Set 1.03 and Updated National Team Rosters

Over the holiday break a few of the NHL 10 developers were notified of an exploit in the game that some were using to avoid getting losses when playing EASHL games. Many thanks to those in the community that assisted with re-creating the issue. However, shame on those that would take advantage of such bugs in the game! Yes, I know, these should've been found before the game is shipped though I've never been a fan of people who would exploit such issues in games instead of taking a loss like man. Anyhow, the team was able to identify the root cause of the bug and have since deployed a server-side fix to address the issue. Producer Matt Mahar made this statement on the NHL 10 forums late last week:

There have been many posts about a "pause glitch" that has been happening to teams. We tracked this down and figured it out, thanks to help from the community. Really appreciate you guys bringing it to our attention. It was not actually a "pause glitch" in that it had to do more with privacy settings and when/if a user exited the game.

The adjustment of the privacy settings was causing inconsistencies with the game reports that we produce at the end of each game and the game would be thrown out. Meaning, no loss to a team when one should have been counted. This was used by only a few teams and did not result in any major point adjustments.

We have fixed the issue and pushed the server side fix up last night. This should no longer be occurring.

Thanks again to the community members that gave us valuable insight.

Enjoy the game!

Matt

Furthermore, the team has also been working on some tweaks for the next Tuner Set scheduled for release within the next two weeks. Matt and others on the team have been lurking in the NHL 10 and other hockey gaming forums for gameplay feedback and have spent some time working on further improvements to the game.

Add the work the Rosters team has been continually providing since launch and it's no wonder they have once again received kudos throughout the industry as one of the strongest game teams around. The latest from Producers Andy Agostini and Gurn Sumal is that fans can expect to see National Teams updated before the beginning of the Olympics answering the call put out by the community to skate as their favorite countrymen.

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Champions of Gaming

Compete for a Chance to Play the Best in the Gillette Champions of Gaming
If you're ready for the challenge, you need to check out the Gillette Champions of Gaming. Earn a shot at playing the world's best athletes including none other than Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, or even Rodger Federer. The qualifying rounds are already under way though new rounds start every week and ends mid-January. So if you play Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, FIFA Soccer 10, NHL 10, FIGHT NIGHT Round 4, or Madden NFL 10 bring your game online for a chance at some ultimate glory.

Changing Times

When I first started working at EA close to about five and a half years ago I remember one day I when I was working as a QA tester on Def Jam Fight for New York and I saw a forum post about the possibility of future iterations. Now I knew at the time it was important that I didn't divulge any top secret information and even then I didn't know that we would end up making Def Jam Icon a couple of years after that. I jumped on the post and mentioned that if people really enjoyed DJFFNY, why wouldn't a third one be made? That was it. A few words. A day later, that post was deleted.

I didn't know why it was that way and I only speculated it was because back then we weren't allowed to be on the forums and, in fact, were discouraged from participating and discussing company information with the public. In my past year now as a Community Manager, I'm proud to say that things have definitely changed.

I'm not sure where and when it started in the company, but for me I noticed the change working with @stephensonmc who was the CM before me while I was working in product marketing on NHL08. A pure community guy who ran his own Madden site, he pushed the envelope bringing in gamers from all over who had strong opinions and feedback on our games, and he set up community days where influential gamers would meet with producers who were totally open to their feedback. He did that for NHL08 and I was amazed at the interaction and what the devs were able to gain from their feedback and participation. Since that time other CM's and I at EA have carried that torch with many of our titles and have changed the way we interact with our fans.

With the growth of numerous social media channels, now more than ever it has become very important to involve the community voice along with giving our game developers a platform to communicate directly with fans (and detractors) of their games. From developer blogs to podcasts to videos, our goals have been to open the doors that have been held locked for so long and allow our users to be a part of the development process. Sometimes getting producers to get out into the open can bring about small fears for some folks especially leaving themselves in the line of fire to an ever-fickle sports gaming fan. But I honestly feel that the more we provide an opportunity for our fans to be a part of the process, the better our games will become. At the end of the day, everyone wants to see the best game come out of the process.

The way things are being done are definitely changing and I've seen a lot of that this past year. Mind you, as open and as transparent as we try to be, we can't give away all the inside stuff and with more voices on the inside speaking out we still gotta be mindful of the complete organization and working together with all our teams within all our games. I say this in response to a little leak I put out earlier this week about overhearing some execs at work talking about announcing a new game next month. I had no idea that one tweet would get picked up so quickly and when I saw my name on German sites, I was like, oh man. To say it had a few people at work scrambling would be an understatement. And no, I can't confirm or deny the many guesses that people have said; I'm already being watched close enough for another slip! ;) I'm glad however that they didn't ask me to take it down and that all that was requested is that I keep things on the dl until the announcement in January.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to that and until then I enjoy reading what the community has to say about what they would love to see. I think our fans will be buzzin' a lot over the next year and I'm gonna do my best to keep pushing the envelope as your guy on the inside. I'm planning to update this personal blog a little more often with my thoughts and perspective, so I welcome your comments and questions and will do my best to let u know what I know.

Keep gamin'!

~sk88z

Chris Brogan Newsletter

Emigrate from a Nation

It's time for you to fill out a few forms, pack your bags, and hug the neighbors, because you're leaving. It's time to escape the nation of Procrasti. And I have some ways to help.

Procrastination comes from a lot of sources, some of them, not as obvious as others. For one, you might be procrastinating because you've said yes to too many things (this happens to me a lot). You might be procrastinating because you don't clearly understand the directions. These are some situational reasons for procrastination. Let's walk through a simple system to help curb procrastination.

Procrastination Eliminators:

* Limit Glass Time - This includes TVs, game platforms, laptops, cell phones, and anything with a screen. I include computers from the recreational side. A half hour of Farmville can easily be turned into a half hour of quality business activity or networking.

* Limit Switching Costs - It's hard when you multitask. For short bursts of time, cut off Twitter, your Inbox, Facebook, and everything else that will distract you.

* Stop Saying Yes - The more you can say no, the more time you have to be excellent at what you're doing. (I have to work very hard on this).

* Align Constantly - Ask yourself this question ALL the time: "Is this helpful to my goals?" This goes a long way towards killing procrastination.

Procrastination Fixers:

Note: if you take more than 30 minutes on the following, you're probably procrastinating.

Step 1: Define what needs doing. Without knowing all that's on your plate, you don't know what you're procrastinating on, do you? Write a very quick/simple list. There are a million ways to do this. Don't obsess over HOW, because that is also procrastinating. Write out the list of what needs doing by when.

If you want a way to declutter your lists, check out Leo Babauta's book, The Power of Less. (affiliate link).

Step 2: Define which are most important, which are urgent. The best system I've ever seen for this is David Allen's Getting Things Done. (affiliate link) I am absolutely the worst at using this system. It doesn't work for me, or I'm too multi-threaded to better make use of the system. Just the same, without some level of prioritizing, you won't get to the things that matter.

Step 3: Quilt your time. There are two ways we find time. One is by scheduling blocks to do work. The other is by quilting. I first wrote about this http://www.chrisbrogan.com/time-quilters/ in 2006. Essentially, stuff things you have to do into the little pockets of time where you can find them.

Step 4: Execute in small bites. It's so much more rewarding to accomplish tasks. If you can, break every task into small bites and get some done every once in a while. (This is from David Allen's "next action" ideas in GTD).

Step 5: Take breaks. I know this seems like the worst advice for a procrastinator, but if you know that you've scheduled breaks every 20 minutes or every 40 minutes, then any task becomes easier to do. How hard is it to do pretty much anything for 20 minutes?

Step 6: Reward your success. If you don't praise and reward yourself for your hard work, there's no internal value and that means you won't likely do more of that. Make sense?

This isn't the end-all of how to manage procrastination, but then again, you don't have time to read too much more. Get the nuggets, absorb them, try them out, and see what you can incorporate.

For the rest of the newsletter, go here: CB Newsletter

FIGHT NIGHT Round 4 Producer Chat