Right, enough of that.

[gridlore]

After three games of the preseason I have turned the commentary off in Madden NFL 11. Four reasons:

1. It got repetitive really fast. I understand we cannot lock Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth in sound-proof booth to record different comments for every situation (although the idea of locking these two away for crimes against broadcasting is another topic) hearing "he drives it deep!" on every freaking kickoff was annoying.


2. The commentary is incomplete. Again, there probably wasn't enough time to record every single player's name, but when you get a mixture of player names and guys being identified by number only it is jarring. And, of course, there are any number of moments where the AI is faced with a complex situation and choses a bad comment. I had a play where three of my defenders were fighting a Vikings receiver for possession of a long pass in the end zone. Everyone got a hand on the ball as it was batted around before falling incomplete. The commentary? "Pass is knocked away."


3. It synced poorly. This wasn't a huge problem, but every so often you'd get a comment three or four seconds after the play. Hearing an excited "knocked out of bounds at the 15!" while on screen the two players involved in that play are jogging back to their respective huddles while discussing their off-shore tax havens sort of blows the moment.


4. Finally, and this is a really personal one... it's distracting. I'm trying to coach a game here! I'm reading what the other team has out on the field, picking a play, deciding what my audible will be if the defense shifts to cover my play.. shut up, you blathering idiots!

Niners finish the preseason 4-0 after a nail-biter against the San Diego Chargers, 26-23. Chargers scored two touchdowns in the last two minutes to tie the game, and I had to kick a 50-yard field goal to secure the win.

Comments

[baron-waste.livejournal.com]

I can't stand “color commentators.” People whose job it is to literally never shut up, to blither whatever drivel comes into their heads - why? Why ever in the world? I could see them providing background information as needed, but what happens instead is just aggravating to the point where the game is better watched with sound off! (There's enough information on the screen nowadays, you don't really need the announcer, if you think about it.)

Unfortunately this is an option not available at the game itself. The last time I went to a football game, this weird practice was being followed: Along the lines of “I'm bored unless I'm constantly bombarded with mass media,” the PA system switched to canned pop music between every play on the field. Whistle blows, announcer calls the play, then music cuts in. Now, how long are we talking, here, maybe sixty seconds? Thirty? This was something out of Fahrenheit 451 - we were not to be left in peace, no, not for a moment, never mind that it wasn't time for more than maybe six bars of music, that it was annoying and pointless to pipe these random fragments of songs over the PA system - not the highest fidelity speakers, either.

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

gain, not a solution for the game, but - my granddad used to turn the sound off on the TV and tune in to the game on radio.

[kshandra]

Well, the good news is, there's a setting to turn off the commentary in the video game. Now if only we could find that setting on Collinsworth....