Extremely Disappointed

[purduerowdie]

Since Wolverine will be doing both titles eventually, no matter which comes first, here's some ideas I have on how to make a wrestling sports-management text sim that doesn't suck (LOL):

that may well be true. but once a wrestling sim is announced, my daily visits to this site will cease until something else is in production..

yeah, i'm voting for college basketball on this one, no contest. this poll pretty much pits my second favorite sport (and favorite for sports sims) against something tha not only isnt on my radar, i despise it. oh, and its not a sport. poker is more of a sport.. at least there's competition in that.

[CraigInTwinCities]

Wow, I'm surprised to see that college basketball fans have already sunk to the level of saying "unless we get OUR way, we're taking our balls and going home," in essence, which is how I interpret comments like "my site visits will go down to zero until something else is in production."

Grow up. It's a business. I'm voting for college basketball to be next, too, but not every title Wolverine produces as it grows is gonna be your next-favorite sport.

Heck, when Wolverine announced the next sport (after hoops) they were expanding into was golf, I was skeptical because other than Tiger Woods (the player, not the EA game series) and Hot Shots Golf, I don't personally care much for golf video games. But Wolverine did an awesome job with it and I play it more than I ever expected.

Basically, I'm a fan of Gary's games and anything he makes, I'll give the time of day to and at least TRY.

So it seems a bit petty to suddenly say that unless Gary does the game you vote for next, you're leaving. I'd prefer to see college basketball done next... but if wrestling is next, I'll be interested to see what he does with it and, heck, it's not like TCB is broken or anything. And I trust it's a game he'll get to after wrestling if it's not before.

But as for "how do I know," I don't really, but I highly doubt Wolverine would be doing a "which game should we make next" poll if they were never intending to make the one that loses.

So I see this as a matter of priority-setting, not "make the other game go away." And from a marketing standpoint, DDS:CB is the next logical game because if the launch window is November-March, it SHOULD be the next game, unless college basketball isn't coming out until the 08-09 season... Whereas wrestling is a game concept that can be delivered ANY time of year, so it doesn't HAVE to be next. But to make a release that hits during the 2007-08 college hoops season, DDS:CB basically HAS to be next, or be REALLY delayed.

Now personally, I also can kinda understand the wrestling option as being the second of two games Wolverine is going to make next... after all, think about it:

1) Solecismic has a pretty good corner on the football market, even though I think Gary could top it. Plus, that's really committing to TWO titles, because just like basketball, what is pro football without a college football title.

2) Shawn/PureSim have baseball sewn up, for the most part, esp. since Shawn un-retired and is back on board.

3) Hockey trails NASCAR, pro wrestling (sports entertainment) and celebrity poker in popularity at the moment (that strike REALLY hurt), and EastSide Hockey Manager has a pretty strong foothold.

4) Tennis is a more-open market, but trails competitive cooking shows in popularity. And it doesn't have the subculture popularity of golf. Tennis needs to find its own "Tiger Woods" to revitalize interest in tennis.

5) What's left? Celebrity fishing? Bounty-hunting? Boxing (which trails rooster-fights in popularity)?

Really, unless Wolverine is prepared to go up against big-dogs like Solecismic or PureSim, sports entertainment is the next-most-popular sports-like thing to go to. Plus, there have been plenty of attempts (Crappy manager modes in THQ's WWE games, Total Extreme Wrestling, etc...) to create playable wrestling-based sports-entertainment-management sims and none have really received critical acclaim for "getting it right." Plus it expands Wolverine's market, adding in an unexplored niche.

From a business standpoint, wrestling isn't the worst place to go. Like golf, it's a solid opportunity to create a product that will be embraced if done well.

But, as I've reiterated, I'm voting for DDS:CB to be next. Get that done and basketball is SQUARED AWAY for quite some time.

Wrestling could be a nice little side-product, like golf started out being, that grows into a surprise hit if done well, while Wolverine gears up for its next MAJOR sport... which I hope will be pro football and college football, personally. But that's just me.

Final point: No matter WHAT Wolverine decides to do next... I'm sticking around to find out what they do with it. It's a bit childish to have a "my way or I'm leaving" attitude about it.

[painmantle]

Craig, I think you gave too much credit to Purduerowdie. He's been here for almost 11 months and only posted 18 times.

I can promise EVERYONE 1 thing... The People who want Wrestling will vote EVERY DAY so if you want it to be COLLEGE BASKETBALL you better too!:)

[CraigInTwinCities]

Craig, I think you gave too much credit to Purduerowdie. He's been here for almost 11 months and only posted 18 times.

I can promise EVERYONE 1 thing... The People who want Wrestling will vote EVERY DAY so if you want it to be COLLEGE BASKETBALL you better too!:)

Oh, I'll be voting every day for sure. For College Basketball.

I'll also welcome wrestling when it comes... I just want College Basketball to be first!

[Zorro]

oh, and its not a sport. poker is more of a sport.. at least there's competition in that.

LOL. I never looked at it like that. That is how I pay for my games. Wait til I tell my wife that she is married to a athlete.........................Z

[Holycow98]

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would put College Basketball at a 9 and Pro Wrestling at about 3. I had a hard time getting into previous wrestling sims not so much due to how they were designed and more so just due to personal preference.

I loved your previous college basketball game and its still in my top 3 all-time sports sims knocking Front Office Football to #4. Would buy the 2nd version with no question.

[Cooleyvol]

1) Solecismic has a pretty good corner on the football market, even though I think Gary could top it. Plus, that's really committing to TWO titles, because just like basketball, what is pro football without a college football title.

2) Shawn/PureSim have baseball sewn up, for the most part, esp. since Shawn un-retired and is back on board.

Craig, both these quotes make me wonder what world you're living in.

Ever hear of BBCF from Grey Dog? If not, there's a league with well over 100 human owners going right now.............with a pro version on the way.

As for the second comment you make, well, that's just a silly thing to say. I thought everyone realized just how good OOTP has been and continues to be. I guess you don't.

[Gary Gorski]

We're committed to making quality games here - those games may be hardcore sports sims like a DDS:PB, games that mix sports with some RPG elements like TPG or we're open to going totally outside of sports for a simulation game. The bottom line is that we're interested in making good games that have a large appeal. So whether I develop them or bring in other people to develop more games we're going to expand beyond golf and pro and college hoops at some point. We would be foolish not to. This poll is to find out how soon do we take that plunge.

Do our current customers have an interest in a wrestling sim? If they do, what are they looking for out of it? Does the possibility of a WS wrestling title make other people who don't visit the site now more likely to do so - at least while the vote is going? Will some of them try one of our other games while they're here?

I've stated there will be a follow up to TCB. Draft Day Sports: College Basketball will be made for sure at some point. If there is a poor response for wrestling in the poll then it's something we might not ever do. That doesn't mean we won't expand outside of the titles we have now because we will definitely be doing that at some point but we'll see if that time is now or not.

[jbergey]

I voted college basketball simply because I feel Adam does such a great job on the wrestling sims. I have a hard time believing his games could be topped at any point. I would be more inclined to see an Olympic sim, Nascar sim, maybe even Tennis followed by NHL since Eastside is out of business now. The reason I would choose these are because they are untapped and it would be easier to compete against an untapped market rather than go head to head against a person well known for how great his games are(Adam). I am not that interested in a college bb sim at this point either as Gary just released one not long ago plus his former employer is in the process of working on a college bb sim.

[Zorro]

Nascar

Humm. Thats a thought. Is there even a Nascar or F1 Management sim out there?I do not mean the EA sports kind. I mean a responsible one.................Z