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JULY 2005 PAGE 1 EA SPORTS™ and NASCAR® Creating a Winning Team Year After Year By Gabe Leon Forty-one laps into the 2005 Welcome to NASCAR 06: MBNA RacePoints 400 at Dover Total Team Control International Speedway, Tony For the fi rst time in a racing video Stewart found himself trailing game, players have the opportunity rival by the slimmest to command and manage multiple of margins. After failing to pass teams and personalities—on the Gordon on previous laps, Stewart track and in the garage. In quest made his move. of individual glory and team Coming out of turn No. 2, the championships, you are not alone. Home Depot No. 20 car found an With the ability to switch between opening and began to slide down cars in the middle of the race low. Unwilling to give up ground, or instruct teammates’ actions Gordon did his best to hold his with real-time voice recognition, position. With two of the biggest NASCAR 06: Total Team Control stars in NASCAR® reluctant to raises the bar and sets a new give in, it was only a matter of time standard in racing before these two fi erce competitors history. It’s the latest breakthrough would swap some paint. from the NASCAR franchise developed by EA SPORTS™. As Stewart accelerated to the inside, his front bumper tapped “One of the things we have to Gordon’s car—just enough to send deal with every year is to try to get the No. 24 car into a race-ending away from the polarizing effect that spinout into the wall. a product like this can bring—‘the good ol’ boys driving around in Though Gordon’s day was over, Jimmy Johnson (left) and Jeff Gordon team together in NASCAR 06: Total Team Control circles,’ ” said NASCAR Game the story had just begun. Producer Scott Stutsman. “To With Gordon sidelined, it was up to his Hendrick Motorsports overcome that, it’s important for us to innovate in the functionality of teammate Jimmy Johnson to battle it out with Stewart. Racing for the product—create different possibilities you can do with this particular himself and for his team, Johnson eventually found himself in a similar title that make people want to go out and say, ‘I need to experience this.’ situation—racing side-by-side with Stewart. I feel we have delivered again with NASCAR 06: Total Team Control.” Jockeying for position, Johnson slid in tight during his pass, giving With true-to-life gameplay colliding head-on with NASCAR Stewart a little nudge along the way. The move left a dark donut tire authenticity in NASCAR’s newest video game, the Total Team Control mark on Stewart’s door and sent a message that was loud and clear. concept is just one of the latest innovations from a franchise that has led After the race Gordon and Stewart exchanged heated words. Both the video gaming industry since its inception. pointed fi ngers. Both made threats of retaliation. Stewart claimed However, the road to team racing didn’t begin over night. Gordon had the slower car and should have moved aside to let him pass; Gordon accused Stewart of being impatient. It was a typical day at the The Green Flag Is Out track for two NASCAR champions. By 1996, EA SPORTS had become one of the most popular brands in So what would you have done in Johnson’s situation? You just the gaming industry. With the Madden NFL Football, NBA LIVE, and witnessed your teammate being knocked out of the race and you had the NHL franchises near or at the top of the sales charts annually in their opportunity to do something about it. Would you leave more than a tire respective categories, was looking to expand its lineup. mark or would you gun for the checkered fl ag and win the race in honor After having already produced racing games like Andretti Racing and of your fallen teammate? with the booming popularity of , a NASCAR branded Now you’ll know. game was an obvious choice for EA. JULY 2005 A LEGACY OF INNOVATION PAGE 2

“By the mid-90s, we were looking for new opportunities in under- exploited sports, and the racing category was one that was growing at the time,” said David DeMartini, former Executive Producer of the NASCAR franchise. “Since the company already had experience making racing games we began to have discussions with NASCAR about the possibility of creating a new stock car racing title. With NASCAR’s expansion into new regions such as Texas and , the sport’s demographic and fan base were growing faster than any other major sport at the time. We felt we had a chance to become a part of something special—something that was about ready to really take off.” In 1997, EA SPORTS began working with NASCAR on the fi rst stock car in the company’s history. Featuring 24 drivers on 11 tracks, NASCAR 98 made its debut. The game received rave reviews from critics, fans, and most importantly, NASCAR. It was a sign of good things to come as the company continued to fi ne-tune the game each year. 43 Drivers on a Single Track One of the franchise’s biggest innovations came in 2001. Although it seemed like a no-brainer to include 43 drivers in a NASCAR video game, no title had been able to accomplish this task until NASCAR 2002 was released on the PlayStation 2, , and Nintendo GameCube. It Cover athlete demos NASCAR 2001 during race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. was a major accomplishment in the franchise—one that triggered a series of breakthrough enhancements in the following years. NASCAR with Personality “Having a full fi eld of 43 cars in a single game separated us from Up to this point, racing games had focused solely on the cars. Players any other racing game,” Stutsman said. “It made the game completely were able to select cars based on a favorite driver or car scheme, authentic while providing a great competitive experience. In addition, but their driving experience on the track was disconnected from the individual drivers who are such a large part of the sport’s popularity. In after the commitment was made to include all 43 drivers, we were then addition to an enhanced , NASCAR 2003 integrated driver able to move forward with a set blueprint which enabled us to focus on awareness into the gameplay. It was a groundbreaking moment for the other aspects of the game.” NASCAR franchise. Running full-throttle, the franchise began to add a deeper gameplay “In other games you were in a situation where the other computer- element with the introduction of Career mode the same year. It was the controlled cars were just following certain paths,” Stutsman said. “They fi rst time the game moved away from the race-to-race model, as players had no player awareness whatsoever. You would get rear-ended only were now able to experience the pressure of winning season after season. because the AI cars were following a racing line at a certain speed. With NASCAR 2003, the team took Career mode to a whole new level. Contact was pure coincidence; you just happed to be in the way. We took the game two steps beyond that. Our drivers actual knew where you were As a full-fl edged manager of a racing career, players now had the on the track at all times.” opportunity to choose a manufacturer, paint their cars, and entertain NASCAR 2003 also introduced Lightning Challenge, a game mode in new sponsorship offers based on their overall performance. Racing which players were given the opportunity to relive the greatest moments on authentic tracks against a full fi eld of drivers for multiple seasons, in recent NASCAR history. Put in real-life scenarios, players were players got a sense for the fi rst time of what it’s like to be a part of a real challenged to change history, or try to overcome the same scenarios real NASCAR team. drivers faced during the prior year.

1998 1999 2000 2001

• Featuring 24 drivers and 11 • Backed by an all-new Season mode, • Long or short? With the ability to race • The Daytona 500 is introduced as tracks, NASCAR 98, the fi rst NASCAR 99 is fi ne-tuned with the against 40 drivers, players have the NASCAR 2001 runs full-throttle offi cially licensed NASCAR addition of more tracks and drivers ability to modify their championship on the next generation platforms game in EA history, debuts on including six racing legends. season schedule. including PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the PlayStation and Saturn. Nintendo GameCube. JULY 2005 A LEGACY OF INNOVATION PAGE 3

“Because people were only used to relating to the cars, it was neat Series. Rookie drivers started out at the bottom, without sponsorships to fi nally give the users a driver’s perspective of what they go through and without a team. Working with an agent, players began their career on during heated racing situations,” Stutsman said. “We gave them a feeling the Modifi ed Circuit with the goal of working through each racing series of what it’s like being out at the tracks with the situations we created.” in order to earn victories and a reputation. With each win came more Grudges and Alliances recognition. With more recognition came more opportunities. Soon, players were racing with major sponsorships in major races. It was an The concept of adding real-life driver personalities into the game experience that allowed players to learn the game and sport naturally. exploded onto the scene the following season with NASCAR 2004, as players were given the choice to become Hero or Villain. Would they “NASCAR 2005 was one of the biggest leaps in innovation the game choose to be the sportsman and race with class, or would they smash and has made,” Stutsman said. “We were able to include the different racing crash their way through each lap? series and incorporate a lot of the elements that it takes to work your way up through the NEXTEL Cup, including the everyday communication “Integrating driver personalities was a huge milestone for us,” with your agent. It was a completely new experience for our fans.” Stutsman said. “The game was no longer about the cars. We were able to incorporate a new system where opponents reacted to the way you drove But what made NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup a bit different from against them. The AI cars raced against you as if they were controlled by its predecessors was the opening segment of its game. In the introduction somebody else. If you were clean, they raced clean. If you were banging scene, players found themselves in the middle of a street race against and bumping, they were sure to retaliate and pay you back.” Ryan Newman. After accepting the challenge to race, and hopefully winning the drag, NASCAR offi cials would approach the player with an With AI opponents now remembering your tactics, players faced new offer to race on the circuit. Players were then placed in Fight to the Top sets of challenges every time they played the game. Races were more mode with a small amount of name recognition. diffi cult to win as the days of driving against the track became a thing of the past. The game was now about racing the pack. “Accessibility was another key [in Fight to the Top mode] as players could win out of the box rather than working their way up from 30th The Grudges and Alliances factor had its biggest dividend in a position like in years past,” Stutsman said. “Also, the different series revamped Career mode—who you rallied with or teamed against played allowed us to naturally progress the diffi culty of driving the cars with a major role in your overall achievements. With computer-controlled unique characteristics at each level.” drivers now remembering their every move, players found themselves making more on-track decisions than ever before. More importantly, The Franchise Takes Its Next Leap Forward the overall driving experience from race-to-race was becoming more In NASCAR 06: Total Team Control, players are urged to think about realistic. more than individual racing by focusing on teamwork. “Because our drivers had good player awareness, there wasn’t a Getting the player into the team concept immediately, the game opens tremendous amount of beating and banging,” Stutsman said. “AI cars with a heated battle between two racing teams. Moments after a major would slow down if you slowed down, and they did everything they collision, the players are thrown into a teammate’s car with a few laps to could to try to avoid hitting you, just like in the real world. However, go. Within seconds they’re experiencing team racing at its fi nest. they also remembered your actions and raced against you the same way The game really heats up in an enhanced Career mode, which allows you raced against them. Best of all, it carried over to the next race.” players to race and manage a team’s career for multiple seasons. Players With the release of NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup the following can experience the full team racing concept by building their own racing year, the franchise dug deeper into the personality aspect of the sport organization from the ground up. After creating and customizing their with the introduction of Fight to the Top, a mode in which players had to team, players assume the role of team owner, manager, and driver. work their way to the top of the NASCAR world by winning in the top Starting off on the Junior Circuit, players must work their way up the racing series. NASCAR ranks as a team—it’s a path familiar to drivers and owners of Incorporating NASCAR’s new Chase for the Cup point system, the real-world NASCAR. If the team is successful, it all culminates in the game included three new racing series into the franchise: NASCAR ultimate prize: the NEXTEL Cup Championship. Featherlite Modifi ed, NASCAR Craftsman Truck, and NASCAR Busch Except this time they win and lose as a team.

2002 2003 2004 2005

• For the fi rst time in video game • An enhanced Career mode gives • Real-life personalities are introd- • Starting out as a rookie, players are history, a NASCAR video game driver-managers the opportunity to cued with the Grudges and Alliances challenged to race their way through features a full fi eld of 43 drivers choose sponsorships and manufactur- concept allowing drivers to choose three authentic racing series in Fight on a single track. ers based on overall performance. between Hero and Villian. to the Top mode.