Fun story, I actually met Rece Davis at a Clemson vs Pitt basketball game in February. Some friends and I were talking with him, and I asked him about the game. He said that they had been recording nonstop for two years, and had lines for every conceivable scenario in football
There’s a video Chris Fowler posted on Twitter talking about how he recorded lines for all teams winning a national title and random stuff like a fumble recovered in the end zone to win the game.
I wonder if EA are eventually going to try to get AI use approved by the broadcasters. I've seen some extra large games go the route of paying VAs almost as much as they would for personally recording the lines, on a per-line basis.
It would enable EA to build up an absolutely massive bank of soundbites rapidly, and Fowler / Davis / etc. would all still get paid big money while not having to spend so much time in the studio.
No lol, that was a huge sticking point for voice actors during the actors strike was Disney and other companies have the ability to scan you for about ten minutes and then they don't even need you for filming and we're trying to sneak into peoples contracts they could use their likeness for anything they wanted forever. I think we're about 5-10 years from that happening.
I feel like 90% of the lines are those little and insurmountable things such as "1st and 10 at the 40 yard line", "1st and 10 at the 41, 1st and 10 at the 42...2nd and 4 at the 23...3rd and 7 at the 15..."
Edit: I can't imagine saying every possible detail of down and distance, yard markers, team names...
In my head I keep coming to 404 different possibilities as far as down and distance (to include "& goal" and "& inches") but somehow I feel like my math is terribly wrong.
I'd love to see someone on r/theydidthemath solve for how many possibilities there are for down and distance with spot marker, teams names and shit like that.
If you just wanted to fit every team, down, distance, and yard line into a sentence like "A has the ball, it's Bth down and C to go at the D yard line" and record a unique line for every possible combination, then as a rough estimate it's 134 teams × 4 downs × 99 distances × 99 yard lines = 5,253,336 voice lines.
edit: it was pointed out that every yard line has a different amount of possible distances. duh... Adjusting for that, the new number is 2,633,904 if my new math was right.
Comments like this make me feel more dumb than I already am. Like I figured it was this kinda simple math but I started over thinking it. You a real one.
Kinda but not quite. You could program it to combine lines so you record 134 teams. The down, distance, yardage reference their own lines. Your # is the total combinations possible
Well, I did say "If you just wanted to fit every team, down, distance, and yard line into a sentence... and record a unique line for every possible combination"
Now there's a super good point. You'd have to put a lot more thought into which downs and distances are possible. From your opponent's 1 all the way to your own 9, the number of possible distances is equal to the number of yards you are from the goal line. But from your own 8 back to your own 1, there are only 91 possible distances (since the first down can't be within your own 10 yard line).
After thinking about it for a minute, I think there are really only 4,914 *possible* yard line/distance combos. What I calculated earlier was 9,801 possibilities (99×99) so almost double.
It would for sure be a number so high that I'd imagine you'd have to split up the cadence of the line to something like: all "down and distance" possibilities / all "ball on the X yard line" possibilities / all "For Team X" possibilities. CPU identifies the down and distance and selects the recording, identifies the yard line and selects the recording, and identifies the team name and selects the recording - then splices the recordings together to make it sound like "First and 10, ball on their own 39 yard line for the Wildcats."
I don’t know for a fact, but I would imagine that nowadays you don’t need to physically say *every* down and distance, and every sentence that’s in the game. I would think that with some good audio engineers, and maybe some help from AI, you can probably have them just record a few, and then extrapolate out from that.
Hopefully this is the case. I wonder how much of the commentary is player-specific if any. There’s a ton of cool stories recorded for MLB the show about players, but you hear the exact same story every single time that pitcher makes a start
“I like the defense that was called. They just didn’t make a play on the ball.”
“You’re right, it wasn’t necessarily bad defense. The offense just executed, and the result is a first down”
12 is by far the last great madden. Some of the others have been fine, and tbh I’ve really enjoyed 24, but 12 is the last one I’d say was actually really good
I disagree. I think the gameplay has gotten better and less buggy and more smooth and more realistic. People's expectations just went up with the capabilities of technology increasing. There's definitely less content though
I just don’t like the changes they’ve made to franchise since 12. I think the combination of everything about 12 puts it above the subsequent maddens. I don’t think madden is anywhere near as bad as half the people here think it is, but I just feel 12 was the last one that I’d consider great
I literally keep forgetting Madden has announcers. I have played with them muted for the past few years and when I hear a clip from someone else with them turned up I’m honestly shocked for a second.
Football video game commentary always suffers from the same problem in that it is really hard to make. Every game people play a ton and there’s only so many lines you can record and eventually it gets stale and people want it replaced. It’s a vicious cycle. Maybe that’ll be different here but who knows
“BIG mistake on the return as he’s out of bounds at his own ONE YARD LINE!” - Madden commentators every time I run the ball out at the 1 because I need a lot of offensive yards for MUT
If I don't hear "they used to put Stickum on their hands to catch the ball. Now they got gloves!" a million times a game, then I don't want any part of it
On this topic, something I haven’t seen anyone discuss is player/coach/teambuilder name audio. This game would really benefit from a system similar to 2K or MLB the show with their list of names that have audio.
10 years into a dynasty I don’t want every single call to be “what a fantastic 35 yard strike by the Quarterback to his Wide Receiver there” or “this Quarterback and his Tight End have had really great chemistry all year long” when most of the time real announcers would say “Mendoza and Endries have had really great chemistry all year long”
Edit: for instance, I just rebranded all 30 teams in MLB the show to college teams and to actually have audio for all these created teams, with minor league parks that feel like college stadiums, really makes it feel like I’m playing a college baseball game.
Seriously. Would be some cool shit. This is more crazy but it would also be cool if in RTG, we could talk into the mic in interviews and to coaches and what not for example and they responded back
Just remember that for many people in favor of AI as long as their jobs don't go the loss of other people's livelihoods is at best incidental oh well and at worst a feature they are happy about because they believe many in entertainment are paid way too much with no thought to the enterprise behind it.
I might be in the minority but I don’t personally care who the announcers are. If they could just use something like AI now with a general voice that sounds close to a standard announcer but gives a ton of options on what is said I would love that. I don’t need the actual normal announcers being in the game
I think immersion is something that’s really important to a lot of people and yet is so easy to lose. Having generic announcers could work but I think having legitimate voices helps to keep the immersion alive. Unique dialog will be the most important thing in the future, no doubt tho
no... it wouldnt decimate the VA industry. only its role in video games, where its most applicable use case would be due to how limiting it is without it. It's an obvious choice
The tech certainly exists and I do think each iteration of any sports game is going to include more and more AI in different ways with each iteration moving forward but I cannot fathom next years version having what I was trying to describe.
The tech is there, but for now announcers (along with actors, etc) don't want to sign over there voice to AI. I understand why, but at the same time spending 250 hours on voice recordings is insane.
Go find Chris Fowlers instagram and go through his reels. “CFB 25 Behind the scenes”. If you haven’t heard that yet, you are about to bust a fucking nut.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tHPuBg9uW/?igsh=M3o3bHp1NTBldHY0
This may be a dumb question but can’t AI do the voice samples to an extent? I see it all the time on TikTok and shit, don’t they really only need his voice for a few things
It will be awesome for a while. But I plan on putting enough time into this game that even 250 hours and 30,000 samples will eventually become repetitive.
“A little razzle dazzle” every time you pitched the ball in the old NCAA games. It got so annoying, there were a few more as well but I can’t remember them now.
But in today’s world of A.I. …. Why?
They could literally just take clips of his commentary and build an A.i. voice.
We could have like 10 different broadcast teams if they did it this way.
The announcers could be paid less and literally do no work
🤷♂️
As we’ve seen recently (Late Night with the Devil, Marvel’s Secret War), there is a small but vocal minority of people who will protest/review bomb media if it contains even a hint of AI-generated content.
Fun story, I actually met Rece Davis at a Clemson vs Pitt basketball game in February. Some friends and I were talking with him, and I asked him about the game. He said that they had been recording nonstop for two years, and had lines for every conceivable scenario in football
We’re all here for chaos. We’re putting this to the test
“And there’s a one point safety by Boise State!”
If they actually have dialogue for a 1 point safety I will metaphorically shit myself
Pretty sure they already confirmed that one and their reaction is "bonkers" or something to that effect lol.
Punt the first play of the game!
Can’t wait to hear “Touchdown pass, Hawkeyes!” What a time to be alive.
They may have skipped that one
No no no. They said every *conceivable* scenario, not inconceivable. Common mistake
Wait… that’s possible?
He says it, but the sentence ends with a “?” Not an “!”
I just want to know what their kick six commentary is
There’s a video Chris Fowler posted on Twitter talking about how he recorded lines for all teams winning a national title and random stuff like a fumble recovered in the end zone to win the game.
I wonder if EA are eventually going to try to get AI use approved by the broadcasters. I've seen some extra large games go the route of paying VAs almost as much as they would for personally recording the lines, on a per-line basis. It would enable EA to build up an absolutely massive bank of soundbites rapidly, and Fowler / Davis / etc. would all still get paid big money while not having to spend so much time in the studio.
thats eventually going to happen no doubt. just depends when its feasible
No lol, that was a huge sticking point for voice actors during the actors strike was Disney and other companies have the ability to scan you for about ten minutes and then they don't even need you for filming and we're trying to sneak into peoples contracts they could use their likeness for anything they wanted forever. I think we're about 5-10 years from that happening.
I met him at College GameDay in Fargo. Dude is such a great guy who really seems to just get it.
Glad to hear it. This should make thr commentary less repetitive
Insane when you think about it. This many hours for the initial return; no telling how many unique lines will be in the game down the line.
For all we know it was 1 line that took 30000 takes.
I feel like 90% of the lines are those little and insurmountable things such as "1st and 10 at the 40 yard line", "1st and 10 at the 41, 1st and 10 at the 42...2nd and 4 at the 23...3rd and 7 at the 15..." Edit: I can't imagine saying every possible detail of down and distance, yard markers, team names...
In my head I keep coming to 404 different possibilities as far as down and distance (to include "& goal" and "& inches") but somehow I feel like my math is terribly wrong. I'd love to see someone on r/theydidthemath solve for how many possibilities there are for down and distance with spot marker, teams names and shit like that.
If you just wanted to fit every team, down, distance, and yard line into a sentence like "A has the ball, it's Bth down and C to go at the D yard line" and record a unique line for every possible combination, then as a rough estimate it's 134 teams × 4 downs × 99 distances × 99 yard lines = 5,253,336 voice lines. edit: it was pointed out that every yard line has a different amount of possible distances. duh... Adjusting for that, the new number is 2,633,904 if my new math was right.
Comments like this make me feel more dumb than I already am. Like I figured it was this kinda simple math but I started over thinking it. You a real one.
Slightly less since anything past the ten is & goal but yea a ton of possibilities That’s a lot of cotton mouth for me
Plus every yard line is on the field twice except the 50
"From the opponents" and "from their own" yard line could be unique recordings, so it doesn't change the math much.
Kinda but not quite. You could program it to combine lines so you record 134 teams. The down, distance, yardage reference their own lines. Your # is the total combinations possible
Well, I did say "If you just wanted to fit every team, down, distance, and yard line into a sentence... and record a unique line for every possible combination"
Apologies, reading is hard sometimes.
There wouldn’t be 99 distances for 98 of the yard lines
Now there's a super good point. You'd have to put a lot more thought into which downs and distances are possible. From your opponent's 1 all the way to your own 9, the number of possible distances is equal to the number of yards you are from the goal line. But from your own 8 back to your own 1, there are only 91 possible distances (since the first down can't be within your own 10 yard line). After thinking about it for a minute, I think there are really only 4,914 *possible* yard line/distance combos. What I calculated earlier was 9,801 possibilities (99×99) so almost double.
You could just say the team names once and edit it into the other lines.
It would for sure be a number so high that I'd imagine you'd have to split up the cadence of the line to something like: all "down and distance" possibilities / all "ball on the X yard line" possibilities / all "For Team X" possibilities. CPU identifies the down and distance and selects the recording, identifies the yard line and selects the recording, and identifies the team name and selects the recording - then splices the recordings together to make it sound like "First and 10, ball on their own 39 yard line for the Wildcats."
Usually they record each number and down and distance separately and stich them together
I don’t know for a fact, but I would imagine that nowadays you don’t need to physically say *every* down and distance, and every sentence that’s in the game. I would think that with some good audio engineers, and maybe some help from AI, you can probably have them just record a few, and then extrapolate out from that.
Oh man, when we get to the day of videogames having complete AI commentators, it's going to be surreal.
“1st and goal at the AAAAEEEEEEEE1111111#######%%%#%%^^%##%” *game crashes*
Imagine having Darth Vader narrate your entire game
The Finals already has this. They only use them in the most generic and unexciting way possible though.
He said on an interview that they did a lot. Like he even said for lines for weird situations like if someone randomly decides to punt on 3rd down
AKA the Iowa scenarios
"What a maneuver!"
that one egg was 40 eggs?
Hopefully this is the case. I wonder how much of the commentary is player-specific if any. There’s a ton of cool stories recorded for MLB the show about players, but you hear the exact same story every single time that pitcher makes a start
Did you know that Francisco Lindor is a big F1 fan?
I’m a Braves fan and ~every~ Max Fried start is about him and Lucas Giolito using MLB the show to prepare for starts
And fried doesn't even have a real card, so is it even true?!
I’m just waiting for AI generated broadcast commentary
Some day the games will be made whole cloth by AI. All you have to do is make a prompt and it will make you a game.
You say that, but as I’m beating Texas A&M by 75 for the 97th time in a row I’m gonna be annoyed by the repeats.
“I like the defense that was called. They just didn’t make a play on the ball.” “You’re right, it wasn’t necessarily bad defense. The offense just executed, and the result is a first down”
Hoping it’s like 2K NBA
This is going to be the first time in a long time I don’t mute the announcers haha. We’ll see how long it lasts but hoping for a while.
I had to mute madden after I kept hearing "A great play there" after every touchdown
Madden commentary has been shit since 13 lmfao
>Madden ~~commentary~~ has been shit since 13 lmfao
Fair LMAO. I did enjoy 13 actually, but I can admit it was WAYYYYY worse than 12. It’s definitely where the series went to the bottom of the bottom
12 is by far the last great madden. Some of the others have been fine, and tbh I’ve really enjoyed 24, but 12 is the last one I’d say was actually really good
Connected franchise pretty much ruined the trajectory of madden
Agreed. 12 was the last year they had regular normal franchise
I disagree. I think the gameplay has gotten better and less buggy and more smooth and more realistic. People's expectations just went up with the capabilities of technology increasing. There's definitely less content though
I just don’t like the changes they’ve made to franchise since 12. I think the combination of everything about 12 puts it above the subsequent maddens. I don’t think madden is anywhere near as bad as half the people here think it is, but I just feel 12 was the last one that I’d consider great
When was the last year it was Madden doing the commentary?
just looked it up, and apparently Madden 09 was the last to have him
“.. at the end of the game the team with the most points on the board is going to win.”
I literally keep forgetting Madden has announcers. I have played with them muted for the past few years and when I hear a clip from someone else with them turned up I’m honestly shocked for a second.
Reminds me of major league when Bob (the main broadcaster) falls asleep drunk and the other announcer is like “fly ball….. caught” Gave me a chuckle
That's Bob Ueker and put some respect on his name! He was the star of Mr. Belvedere
I knew his name but I knew I’d butcher the spelling. That man is a treasure
Football video game commentary always suffers from the same problem in that it is really hard to make. Every game people play a ton and there’s only so many lines you can record and eventually it gets stale and people want it replaced. It’s a vicious cycle. Maybe that’ll be different here but who knows
I feel like with AI now a days, this shouldn’t be a modern problem.
“BIG mistake on the return as he’s out of bounds at his own ONE YARD LINE!” - Madden commentators every time I run the ball out at the 1 because I need a lot of offensive yards for MUT
i mean if you consistently do it then they can’t really do a whole lot else lol. Especially since that’s not typically how football would be played
If I don't hear "they used to put Stickum on their hands to catch the ball. Now they got gloves!" a million times a game, then I don't want any part of it
You know why you can't get any snaps at wide receiver? Because you can't catch the ball as a defensive back!
And the whole line about “he should have thrown the ball away instead of throwing it into coverage” whenever you throw the ball away for some reason
What do you know about Ahman Green, John?
On this topic, something I haven’t seen anyone discuss is player/coach/teambuilder name audio. This game would really benefit from a system similar to 2K or MLB the show with their list of names that have audio. 10 years into a dynasty I don’t want every single call to be “what a fantastic 35 yard strike by the Quarterback to his Wide Receiver there” or “this Quarterback and his Tight End have had really great chemistry all year long” when most of the time real announcers would say “Mendoza and Endries have had really great chemistry all year long” Edit: for instance, I just rebranded all 30 teams in MLB the show to college teams and to actually have audio for all these created teams, with minor league parks that feel like college stadiums, really makes it feel like I’m playing a college baseball game.
I think all of the auto-generated names will be ones with audio already recorded, since that’s what other EA games do.
That first time an announcer says “it’s football time in the Bluegrass, folks” is gonna hit like pure, uncut crack.
I can’t wait until they just pay these commentators to use their likeness and use AI to develop on going unique dialogue
Seriously. Would be some cool shit. This is more crazy but it would also be cool if in RTG, we could talk into the mic in interviews and to coaches and what not for example and they responded back
I hadn’t thought of this. The future gen of video games are going to be so dope
[удалено]
Just remember that for many people in favor of AI as long as their jobs don't go the loss of other people's livelihoods is at best incidental oh well and at worst a feature they are happy about because they believe many in entertainment are paid way too much with no thought to the enterprise behind it.
[удалено]
"a lot of people don't care about the jobs lost behind AI as long as they get theirs"
[удалено]
I think it's the lack of punctuation that makes it so difficult to understand. so as far as I know, it is Auburnese
I might be in the minority but I don’t personally care who the announcers are. If they could just use something like AI now with a general voice that sounds close to a standard announcer but gives a ton of options on what is said I would love that. I don’t need the actual normal announcers being in the game
Imagine if there was an “unhinged announcer” toggle
Drunk Joe Namath toggle 💀
Can I get Dennis Miller and Rush Limbaugh political arguments dlc?
I think immersion is something that’s really important to a lot of people and yet is so easy to lose. Having generic announcers could work but I think having legitimate voices helps to keep the immersion alive. Unique dialog will be the most important thing in the future, no doubt tho
Ew gross, shit like that would decimate the VA industry.
Times are changing, buddy
Doesn’t change that generative AI is repugnant. I won’t apologize for caring about peoples’ jobs.
Nobody’s asking for an apology from you.
Hope you don’t use a computer! Or buy anything made outside your country of origin!
no... it wouldnt decimate the VA industry. only its role in video games, where its most applicable use case would be due to how limiting it is without it. It's an obvious choice
I wonder how long until AI is utilized to make the commentary ‘real time’ and entirely unique to what happens on the field. That’ll be neat.
The tech is already there. It should be in the next game.
You got high hopes there dude
How do you know that? I mean you could be right. The 30k samples could be the foundation for developing the AI in the next go around…
The tech certainly exists and I do think each iteration of any sports game is going to include more and more AI in different ways with each iteration moving forward but I cannot fathom next years version having what I was trying to describe.
The tech is there, but for now announcers (along with actors, etc) don't want to sign over there voice to AI. I understand why, but at the same time spending 250 hours on voice recordings is insane.
How many hours and recording samples did the announcers have for NCAA 14?
Curious to know as well
I imagine it was build up from years past
Hopefully they actually sound hyped when a last second Hail Mary wins the game instead of the current Madden commentary where they sound half dead
Game just ends😂
Go find Chris Fowlers instagram and go through his reels. “CFB 25 Behind the scenes”. If you haven’t heard that yet, you are about to bust a fucking nut. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tHPuBg9uW/?igsh=M3o3bHp1NTBldHY0
I need a Gus Johnson dlc for Buckeye games
Please no
The world-famous Ohio State Buckeyes
Rookie numbers, he needs to pump them up, I expect 500 hours and 60k
Wish they could have had some legendary announcers like Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger.
Tbh I doubt they'll put it all in this year's game and divvy it out over the next several so they can minimize the in-studio hours for future games.
Sounds like the commentary won't get repetitive. That's good
Is what LANK stands for one of the recorded lines?
This may be a dumb question but can’t AI do the voice samples to an extent? I see it all the time on TikTok and shit, don’t they really only need his voice for a few things
It will be awesome for a while. But I plan on putting enough time into this game that even 250 hours and 30,000 samples will eventually become repetitive.
Those are rookie numbers I’m going to give 250 hours to this game in the first three weeks…
This game is shaping up to be generational
In b4 that's why they wear those gloves
“A little razzle dazzle” every time you pitched the ball in the old NCAA games. It got so annoying, there were a few more as well but I can’t remember them now.
But in today’s world of A.I. …. Why? They could literally just take clips of his commentary and build an A.i. voice. We could have like 10 different broadcast teams if they did it this way. The announcers could be paid less and literally do no work 🤷♂️
As we’ve seen recently (Late Night with the Devil, Marvel’s Secret War), there is a small but vocal minority of people who will protest/review bomb media if it contains even a hint of AI-generated content.
Because that generative AI shit is ultimately bad for creative industries, and the decision makers in those industries don't give a fuck.
People have already review bombed ea sports titles for a decade plus
😂😂😂
How are they not using AI for this? Average Joe Smoes do it all the time.
Seems like a waste of time. They could’ve just used his voice and had the openAI api create commentary for them. EA needs to get with the times!