Kotaku: NCAA Football 13 Was More of the Same Rather Than Anything New

[JeffHCross]

The problem is I very highly doubt that they start over again on the next gen of consoles so the same core issues will be there.

Unless the next generation of consoles shares a significant amount of hardware and interfaces with the current generation, they're going to have to "start over" to an extent. That's why series get reset between generations ... it's the hardware that requires it, not a willing choice of the development teams.

However, some code can be transferred. It's debatable if some of the things you mentioned will "need" to be touched. For better or worse.

Yeah, I think that was a very unfair way to label the games as being too similar.

Personally, I also think it sends the wrong message. That presentation suggests that significantly different visuals is the only way to distinguish iterations of a series. That's the last thing I care about, personally.

It also flies in the face of basic, foundational game development theory. One of the rules, for lack of a better word, of game design is that you should be able to play your game with blocks for characters (think Pong, Atari Football, things like that), and the game should still be enjoyable. The message is that the graphics are not what should make a game fun or entertaining. They're to complement the experience, not create it.

So, I believe, that a logical extension of that is that graphics are not what make two titles different, but gameplay and features.