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EA Sports: The Genre Needs A "Real-Time Physics Engine"

Sports fans ask the same question every year: "Okay, but is the new version anything but a roster upgrade?"

It's a little unfair because those in the know understand that many times, there are indeed significant gameplay enhancements that - for better or worse - change the inherent structure. But we can always improve and as NHL 11 gameplay producer Sean Ramjagsingh told GamerZines, a real-time physics engine is the "next big thing" for sports games and at some point, all sports titles will boast such technology. EA's latest NHL offering will indeed include real-time physics and although it's exciting, Ramjagsingh admitted that it's "a huge risk."

"We're trying to really push the boundaries of the system and the consoles and just raise the bar. There's been a lot of work in the background on the non-flashy stuff, optimisation and things like that, just to allow physics to run at real-time in our game.

This is really pushing the boundaries and really what we think is going to be the next big innovation in sports games. It's something we'll see all sports games go into eventually but we want to be the first ones to get there."

And despite the fact that it's a giant step in the right direction, it's not something we've never seen before; evidently, this is similar to what we saw in Fight Night Round 4, where canned animations are replaced with fluid movements, allowing for more realism and authenticity. This advanced system "takes into account a player's strength, speed and angle of impact to determine actions in the game in real-time." So in NHL 11, if the force and angle of impact are just right, you could snap your stick. Sounds cool, and we'll be interested to check it out in September when the title launches for the PlayStation and Xbox 360.

6/11/2010 12:11:21 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (26 posts)

Sithis
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 12:32:57 PM
Reply

"takes into account a player's strength, speed and angle of impact to determine actions in the game in real-time."

It would be great if EA had the same thing in their FIFA games.
Last edited by Sithis on 6/11/2010 12:33:12 PM

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laxpro2001
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 6:48:07 PM

Apparently they are going to implement it in all their games... lets hope this works out well

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CharlesD
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 12:39:42 PM
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Not interested in sports RTS, but a really good RTS on the PS3 would be something worth looking into. A Rise of Nations Platinum? sounds good to me. Either that or age of empires.. something along those lines

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Oyashiro
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 3:07:00 PM

He is talking about Real-Time Physics, not Real-Time Strategy.

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B-RadGfromOV
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 3:32:41 PM

lol

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Hitch
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 8:32:27 PM

Ben get your brother

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 8:34:47 PM

Ha! It's because he had RTS on the brain; we were talking about it before.

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jaybiv
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 12:53:29 PM
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Duh!! The days of canned animations should have ended two years ago. EA's laziness, greed and lack of true competition has kept us in the dark. Backbreaker may not be the greatest game ever, but it will change how sports video games are made.

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B-RadGfromOV
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 3:34:39 PM

Sadly, they haven't ended yet.
Ever played inFamous?
My biggest gripe with that game is the "canned animations".

If the enemies in inFamous 2 actually TAKE the hits instead of reacting with an animation, I'll be happy.
Last edited by B-RadGfromOV on 6/11/2010 3:35:09 PM

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Underdog15
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 1:20:15 PM
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I love sports games, and I often plan on getting them, but I never do. I'm not sure why, either. Typically, I pick up MLB The Show every 2 years it seems (I have '07, '09, and I will likely get '11). A real time physics engine for baseball would be cool with the different velocities of bat and ball, spin on the ball, how the bat is swung, and the direction and arc of a pitch at the point when it makes contact with the bat (imagine the knuckleball!).

With enough real time physics games, I'd probably purchase far more sports games than I do now.

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JDC80
Saturday, June 12, 2010 @ 1:07:07 AM

It seems they're listening to the guys on the message boards, I saw the preview for NHL 11 on game trailers tv they got a new faceoff system, adding on to the broken sticks, the blades can effect the puck if it hits the stick blade. Teammates would give you their sticks or the player rushes to the bench to get a new stick.

Hopefully they kept the first person fight and bring back the actually graphic designs on the goalies mask..
Last edited by JDC80 on 6/12/2010 2:00:15 AM

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dveisalive
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 1:22:52 PM
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I want full AI player models oh wait espn 2k5 had real time physics 6 years ago WTF EA and they rip people off with the same engine that they've been using for the last 9 years xD

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Underdog15
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 1:48:21 PM

Wait, that's real time physics? What's so great about that? It's still pretty gimmicky.

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jaybiv
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 2:15:19 PM

2K5 was not using real time physics with regards to player movements and tackles. It was all still canned animations. It was a good game but the it was not all that game changing to me.

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kraygen
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 1:54:39 PM
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Thats why I've never understood why ppl buy madden every year, you're essentially getting the same game with some of the players having different names. whoopty doo.

If it's the same gameplay, I'd just keep the same one year after year, but I'm not a fan of sports games in general so maybe there's something else to it that I just don't get.

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maxpontiac
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 2:27:08 PM
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I think Ben nailed it perfectly with his opening statements.

Ben said - Sports fans ask the same question every year: "Okay, but is the new version anything but a roster upgrade?"

EA Sports and all the rest of the developers who make yearly editions of sports titles have the answer right in front of their face.

Quit making Madden 10, 11, 12, etc., and instead make a new Madden every other year. In the off year, keep the rosters up to date. I believe it would keep things from getting stale.
Last edited by maxpontiac on 6/11/2010 2:28:51 PM

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Killa Tequilla
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 6:25:56 PM

You mean have FiFa10 till 2012? Were all dead 2012 :(

Anyway I'd prefer to have a new FiFa every year, theres always new players entering & quitting teams, players getting kicked, players getting bought ( or as I like to say " You got OWNED!" ) players getting switched etc etc, in real life. So a new FiFa every year takes care of that for you. For example El Chicharito, from Chivas De Guadalajara, is going to Manchester United & he's not in Manchester United in FiFa10. But he sure will in FiFa11. All I want tosee in FiFa11 is the engine used in GTA IV & Red Dead Redemption witch is Euphoria. I'll be so happy if this happens! Imagine, never falling the same ever! Everytime you get tackled you fall different! That'll be sweet!

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LegendaryWolfeh
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 6:51:28 PM

I'm pretty sure he meant just make a new game every two years, but in the year they don't make one, release dlc or something FOR FREE, to update the roster

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Fane1024
Saturday, June 12, 2010 @ 2:55:55 PM

The Show updates rosters for free EVERY WEEK. I don't see why FIFA couldn't do the same.

On topic: For me, that's the greatest failing of sports games at the moment; they look almost like a real game, right up until one player passes right through another one.

They all need to utilize Natural Motion's Euphoria engine (or the equivalent), starting yesterday.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 6/12/2010 2:59:12 PM

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maxpontiac
Saturday, June 12, 2010 @ 8:42:53 PM

That's exactly what I meant LegendaryWolf.

I mean seriously...

Everybody knows what the NFL does and doesn't do. Yet, EA still can't get it right.

For example, last year's Madden finally got the field goal nets in. Please..

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cowboynwo4life
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 4:03:17 PM
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thats is how good games appear when you push the limit. or try something new

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laxpro2001
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 6:49:08 PM

Its also risky trying something thats pretty uncharted. Pun intended

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laxpro2001
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 6:52:17 PM
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I would be interested to see how this works out well. If it does I might actually buy it but I've never been a big sports guy aside from NCAA football 2006 and tiger wood 2007 lol.

I just don't like how sports games tend to get higher ratings than Dynasty Warriors when in actuality they do the same thing. Nothing completely novel, just update the engine or something yet Dynasty Warriors is considered to be crap by so many reviewers.

Also they need a lacrosse video game!

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dlte
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 8:15:36 PM
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Not like anyone else has done this. *cough*Backbreaker*cough* Very fresh thinking EA........

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CharlesD
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 11:34:47 PM
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my bad on that, I meant to say that I wasn't interested in sports. But, I would like to see a good RTS on the PS3

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___________
Saturday, June 12, 2010 @ 1:06:28 AM
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mmmmm interesting.
one thing they really need to work on in fifa 2010 is the power of the shots.
i dont get it, i run upto the goal and tap circle ever so softly and he boots the ball so freaking hard it would give the moon a shiner!
than i do the exact same thing with the exact same player but instead of tapping circle i hold it for a little and he boots it along the ground.
WTF?
its so random, sometimes tapping is a soft kick and sometimes its a boot to the moon!
can we have a little consistency here please?

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