It's amazing, but there's no football game worth playing

[Mike Lowe]

Just had to vent. It's amazing that no one has successfully cashed in (Madden makes money obviously) on this cash cow to something that would be comparable to NBA 2K11, The Show, etc.

Madden 2012 might be our only hope!

I still love me some football sim, but I just can't believe we don't have something decent on a console for the most popular sport.

[Izulde]

The exclusive agreement has a ton to do with it.

[Mike Lowe]

But Sony and Microsoft could have made games by now. It just seems with people out of work, and so many people getting into techy jobs like game design, there'd be an opportunity.

I know these companies tried a game in the past, but c'mon. As soon as a movie is out, a new game. As soon as a popular book is out, a new game. Granted, they are crap...but it just seems they've had enough time and the return seems to be well worth any risk involved.

[Izulde]

Doesn't really matter. Without having real players, the game simply isn't going to sell well enough to make it worthwhile

[SegRat]

That is the way I feel about football textsims. I am playing a little FOF again, but let's face it, the game is just not up to par. I have only played a little ootp and fm on the computer, and those games are incredible for what they offer. All FOF is, is numbers, which is ok, but if a football text sim could compete with fm and ootp, I would be in heaven. On top of that, will we ever get another FOF. It has been what, over 4 years? That is disappointing. I still have a little hope that Jim releases another game, but I am far from holding my breath anymore.

[RainMaker]

I agree. It's sort of amazing that my favorite sport, the most popular sport in the country, doesn't really have a good game right now. I made a thread a few years back about how sports gaming was dying, but since then we've seen some amazing strides in almost every sport but football.

EA deserves a lot of blame, so does the NFL who does seem a bit out of touch with their younger demographics. But it's sad that we don't have any options right now. Hopefully that will change at some point, I miss playing football games.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

I agree, look back 6 years ago at what we had;

NFL2k5
Madden 2005 for Consoles(Best version)
Madden 2005 for PC
Blitz
NCAA
NFL Fever 2004

Now we only have the two;

Madden 11
NCAA 11

Heck, if they would just release both of these version on PC I'd be extremely happy...

[cthomer5000]

But Sony and Microsoft could have made games by now. It just seems with people out of work, and so many people getting into techy jobs like game design, there'd be an opportunity.

I know these companies tried a game in the past, but c'mon. As soon as a movie is out, a new game. As soon as a popular book is out, a new game. Granted, they are crap...but it just seems they've had enough time and the return seems to be well worth any risk involved.

I'm sure you can find the game 'Backbreaker' for like 10 dollars at this point. Came out last year.

On a mass scale: Without licensing no one is interested.

[RainMaker]

It's sad when games that came out 6-7 years ago had more features than ones out now.

[SteveMax58]

I'm sure you can find the game 'Backbreaker' for like 10 dollars at this point. Came out last year.

On a mass scale: Without licensing no one is interested.

I guess it makes you realize how small of a niche community the text sim fans are but you would think a product like Backbreaker would have been made with the ability to customize things extensively. Everything from being able to download roster files & graphics to being able to customize the league structures, etc. I believe you can do some level on the logos & such but the rest is not really conducive from what I've read.

I mean...I get that little kids & even adults playing pickup games are popular enough ways to play Madden but who really plays game after game of exhibition on that game? Of course the franchise mode is a MUST for any sports game/sim on any platform. I just dont get why the BB guys didnt focus there unless their real intention all along was to just sell their tech to EA anyway. But I dont know why EA would buy them anyway without them being a viable alternative to Madden.

None of it adds up to me but I echo the sentiments of frustration that the most popular sport in the country has no viable game of interest to me.

[Warhammer]

For any of these games, you need a good franchise mode. Plus, a good algorithm for generating players. Unfortunately, most console games I have ever played fell down on that point.

[RainMaker]

I actually felt like the franchise mode was decent around 7-10 years ago. Some issues with depth charts and the AI not being aggressive enough in free agency, but it was relatively decent. Now it's just abysmal.

[Matthean]

That is the way I feel about football textsims. I am playing a little FOF again, but let's face it, the game is just not up to par. I have only played a little ootp and fm on the computer, and those games are incredible for what they offer. All FOF is, is numbers, which is ok, but if a football text sim could compete with fm and ootp, I would be in heaven. On top of that, will we ever get another FOF. It has been what, over 4 years? That is disappointing. I still have a little hope that Jim releases another game, but I am far from holding my breath anymore.

My guess is that even if there is a new FOF, it won't be intended to be the football version of FM, or OOTP. It will be just an updated version of FOF.

[Big Fo]

I think this is the year that EA has promised a lot of upgrades to Madden's franchise mode. I remember reading that some of the guys who worked on Head Coach 09 (which I thought was actually pretty fun) are on the Madden team now and since so many changes were needed, they just left the Madden 10 franchise mode in Madden 11.

But this is EA so I am skeptical. I'll wait to hear what other people are saying about Madden 12's franchise mode before I buy it.

[RainMaker]

They always promise all sorts of upgrades to the game. One of the better marketing departments out there. When has Madden ever exceeded expectations?

O/T but somewhat related to text sims. I remember when I was much younger playing a text sim football game. We are talking early 90's. It had x's and o's on a field and it would sort of animate out all the plays. I don't think the team management was all that deep, and I don't think it had anything more than a basic season mode. But wondering if anyone could come up with the name of it. Pretty sure it came with all the players/teams in place as I remember using Neal Anderson in the game.

[cougarfreak]

Maximum Football 3.0 is in development, just be patient.....

[SlyBelle1]

They always promise all sorts of upgrades to the game. One of the better marketing departments out there. When has Madden ever exceeded expectations?

O/T but somewhat related to text sims. I remember when I was much younger playing a text sim football game. We are talking early 90's. It had x's and o's on a field and it would sort of animate out all the plays. I don't think the team management was all that deep, and I don't think it had anything more than a basic season mode. But wondering if anyone could come up with the name of it. Pretty sure it came with all the players/teams in place as I remember using Neal Anderson in the game.

Are you thinking of XOR's NFL Challlenege football game. I remember playing that all the time. I had alwaysed wished that a good text sim game could add the x's and o's screen to it. That is all I need, no fancy graphics required :)

[Comey]

Maximum Football 3.0 is in development, just be patient.....

I CANT BE ANY MORE PATIENCE MY GAwD I WANT IT NOW

[General Mike]

I thought Madden was really good this year, but what do I know.

[Big Fo]

It was more like the mid-90s but a friend and I used to play a PC game called Tom Landry Strategy Football. It didn't have player generation, finances, drafts, multiseason play but it had decent graphics for the time and seemed realistic enough in terms of stats and strategy.

It wasn't that detailed, players were only rated 1-9 in various attributes and iirc offensive and defensive lines were just rated a group, there weren't individual players. But we still had some fun with it.

[RainMaker]

Are you thinking of XOR's NFL Challlenege football game. I remember playing that all the time. I had alwaysed wished that a good text sim game could add the x's and o's screen to it. That is all I need, no fancy graphics required :)
That is it! I loved that game so much. Was fairly realistic considering how far back it was.

[SlyBelle1]

That is it! I loved that game so much. Was fairly realistic considering how far back it was.

Agreed, it was a good one. The one I played the most after that was NFL Pro League by Micro Sports. It had graphics, but was very simple. I really liked that one as well, Too bad all of these went away instead of evolving.

[Warhammer]

I figured out how to play NFL Challenge on DosBox and I think it still holds up for what it is. If someone updated the playbook and added a franchise mode, I'd shell out cash for it.

[MJ4H]

NFL 2k5 is still the only game I can tolerate, but it freezes up on my PS2 so I can't even play that.

[RainMaker]

There was a basketball game I used to play too. It wasn't a text sim though and it didn't have the license. Basically an over-the-top view of the court. If anyone knows the name of that, it'd be awesome.

My other big time waster was Earl Weaver Baseball. I can't tell you how many hours I put into that. Customizing rosters, having my own leagues, etc.

[DanGarion]

The problem with most franchise modes nowadays are that they make it a bunch of micromanaging and you can't just let the game handle the parts you don't like. I don't care about my stadium upgrades and ticket prices and shit, I just want to manage my team, draft players, and trade shit.

[SlyBelle1]

The problem with most franchise modes nowadays are that they make it a bunch of micromanaging and you can't just let the game handle the parts you don't like. I don't care about my stadium upgrades and ticket prices and shit, I just want to manage my team, draft players, and trade shit.

That is the one thing that keeps me from playing FOF nowadays. Coming up with the offense and defense gameplans is too tedious, it has a million situations you need to account for. I know you can have the CPU do it, but I don't want it to do everything for me. It would be nice if there was something in between where I can make high-level gameplan decisions so that I feel like I am still contributing.

[RainMaker]

The problem with most franchise modes nowadays are that they make it a bunch of micromanaging and you can't just let the game handle the parts you don't like. I don't care about my stadium upgrades and ticket prices and shit, I just want to manage my team, draft players, and trade shit.
I'm in the same boat. I sort of feel that way about OOTP and FM from time to time. Actually, OOTP 6.51 was about as close to perfect as you could get a game when it came to what you controlled and didn't control. There is a happy medium that games have failed to reach over the years.

Madden was on the right path I felt at the early part of last decade. Then they sort of got a little crazy with it and let the basics go, and then they decided to shit all over everything.

[lungs]

edit wrong thread

[MajikMan77]

I guess it makes you realize how small of a niche community the text sim fans are but you would think a product like Backbreaker would have been made with the ability to customize things extensively. Everything from being able to download roster files & graphics to being able to customize the league structures, etc. I believe you can do some level on the logos & such but the rest is not really conducive from what I've read.

If someones really keen to have Backbreaker modded, then check out the best place for it here. They have tutorial videos on how todo it and show off their work.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BBHighlitesGS

Not the simpliest method I'll grant you but the only viable alternative to a modern take on the NFL.