The release date...is Taketwo missing the window?

[Trevytrev11]

Quote: Originally Posted by wwharton

bit of a stretch. 2k's advertising has been suspect at best but it's not like it's a new thing that ign or gamespot plays favorites. i always wonder why so many people around here (who are informed as much as possible) give either much credibility.

I agree with you on the bias that has been shown and for all we know Madden is slipping reviewers $$$ to help pad their reviews and maybe leave out some negative aspects, but 2K sure isn't doing anything to help matters. When your in the media business, you live and die buy what you offer to the customer. In this case, your info is dependent on what these companies make available for you. Companies that constantly hook you up, make your life easier, so maybe your inclined to favor them. And companies that keep you in the dark, maybe you may not go the extra mile. Or like Blitz pointed out, maybe you don't hype something as much or you use a different tone in your articles.

I'm not saying it happens, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Almost all business follow the "what have you done for me" philosophy and are going to take extra care of there better or premium clients.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by wwharton

bit of a stretch. 2k's advertising has been suspect at best but it's not like it's a new thing that ign or gamespot plays favorites. i always wonder why so many people around here (who are informed as much as possible) give either much credibility.

I've wondered that myself. I think people like hearing what they want to be told, which is why you see the back and forth - if a review is bad on a game they want they ignore it; if the info is vice versa then they use it to hype themselves more. IGN and Gamespot (as well as the others) never really strike me as true journalists - they're too dependent financially on the people they're reviewing to be unbiased. They're good for media, but that's about it. It's weird that gaming is this multi-billion dollar industry, yet there's no place you can turn to for a relatively unbiased opinion, because they need to have access

[PAPERNUT]

Quote: Originally Posted by Trevytrev11

I agree with you on the bias that has been shown and for all we know Madden is slipping reviewers $$$ to help pad their reviews and maybe leave out some negative aspects, but 2K sure isn't doing anything to help matters. When your in the media business, you live and die buy what you offer to the customer. In this case, your info is dependent on what these companies make available for you. Companies that constantly hook you up, make your life easier, so maybe your inclined to favor them. And companies that keep you in the dark, maybe you may not go the extra mile. Or like Blitz pointed out, maybe you don't hype something as much or you use a different tone in your articles. I'm not saying it happens, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Almost all business follow the "what have you done for me" philosophy and are going to take extra care of there better or premium clients.

I agree 100%. $$$ is the reason we are in this mess now anyway. It had nothing to do with the gameplay as the NFL took the best $ offer on the table. IGN and Gamespot may be getting paid off by EA, but they also know they will get paid more for coverage on a game like Madden more than 2K. That is just the facts until the license is freed again. I will not buy either until they both can prove to me they can release a bug free decent game of football.

[therizing02]

I don't understand why people are so fired up about the lack of info for this game. They have never been even with EA as far as marketing/hypeing the game. Probably never will be. If I'm the marketing guy at VC/Take 2 I certainly would not be trying to keep up with EA. Maybe they could release some more info, but it's not that big of a deal.

Personally, I'm happy that they aren't spending the dollars on a "hype machine" similar to Madden's. What I'm hoping for is that the money went to the developers and into building a great game.

Additionally, the idea that this game is competing with Madden is a joke IMO. The only thing similar is that they are football games and that's it. Remember them saying in the interviews that this game was geared towards the hardcore football fan. If that's truly the case, how do you market that? Certainly not the way EA does. EA markets to the masses which consist mainly of casual gamers and online cheesers. 2K may get market share from Madden but not that much.

I'm like everyone else, I would love to see more info on the game, but I trust that this company will put out a killer product. If it was EA and there was no info out, I'd really be worried(I still am with the info that they've sent out already). Remember NBA Live '07? Lack of info...God awful game.

[therizing02]

Quote: Originally Posted by LBzrule

The sad thing is the 2k game is already getting backhand treatment. Here is a good example. Look at how IGN highlights Madden. When they do it it is the CENTER story on both Xbox 360 and PS3 pages as well as the sports page. They did the same thing with NCAA. Now look at what they did with All Pro Football when they had their press conference. It wasn't a center story. It was off to the side and down in the reading. If it was a book AP2k8 would have been a chapter, but Madden would have been the cover of the book. And what's the first thing you see when you see a book? You see its cover, not its chapters. The tone of the reading also tells the tale. You get maybe one or two good comments about the animations but other than that the tone is dry. Now read the Madden articles. Completely different tone. There is enthusiasm, there is life, and yes there is alot of hype. 2k needs to do something to get people to start talking about this game. I have no doubt in the guys putting in the hard work to bring this game to us. But they don't call the shots on when media is to be released

If I'm IGN, why wouldn't I have a better "tone" if I'm talking about one of the most popular video game series ever.

[quietcool72]

Bottom line: EA is giving more access this year to the press and the fansites than ever. Community leaders, producer blogs, actually releasing detailed info...

Say it with me: "Releasing detailed info."

All that stuff. And you know what? Those are cheap things that 2K could do, but doesn't. They never do. They have no relationship with the fansites. They tell the press very little....

And when you do that, and you DONT release info- how on earth can anyone say IGN or anyone else is unfair? Love Madden/NCAA or hate it, they seem to be getting TONS of info out there this year...

And for the press to actually pimp your story, you have to actually GIVE the press a story to pimp. Madden/NCAA has playable builds that the press has already seen, and in some cases played.

IF 2K gave that kind of access, instead of the cloak and dagger BS they are doing, then you guys might be able to claim a bias.

But EA is actually sporting information to give and builds to play. 2K isn't.

So how is there a comparison so far?

[Crimsontide27]

Quote: Originally Posted by quietcool72

Bottom line: EA is giving more access this year to the press and the fansites than ever. Community leaders, producer blogs, actually releasing detailed info... Say it with me: "Releasing detailed info." All that stuff. And you know what? Those are cheap things that 2K could do, but doesn't. They never do. They have no relationship with the fansites. They tell the press very little.... And when you do that, and you DONT release info- how on earth can anyone say IGN or anyone else is unfair? Love Madden/NCAA or hate it, they seem to be getting TONS of info out there this year... And for the press to actually pimp your story, you have to actually GIVE the press a story to pimp. Madden/NCAA has playable builds that the press has already seen, and in some cases played. IF 2K gave that kind of access, instead of the cloak and dagger BS they are doing, then you guys might be able to claim a bias. But EA is actually sporting information to give and builds to play. 2K isn't. So how is there a comparison so far?

Couldnt agree more with this.

Wether you or I like it or not, Madden and 2k will be compared to each other..thus they are competitors.

Every website and print media about video games will run a side by side comparison, there will be a billion threads again on here about which is better etc. So to dismiss this as 2k and Madden not going against each other, you are wrong.

2ks marketing team should be fired, period. There are tons of ways to get your information out there to the public if you want it to get there...for free.

I hear so much about marketing budgets and how much 2k doesnt have that it makes me sick. There are many different ways to advertise and dont cost a penny to do it.

Madden is doing it right this year. They are releasing videos , giving interviews, giving out playable copies to reviewers etc....2k has done nothing at all but one craptastic interview that shed no new information whatsoever. The GI article actually killed the hype that I had for the game cuz it seemed to tell me more about what the game didnt have, as opposed to what it did have.

2k is shooting itself in the foot right now. If we think that EA doesnt know when 2k is releasing, then we are idiots. EA knows when 2k is releasing. Madden and NCAA have had firm release dates for years, so it would have been easy for 2k to prepare their product to release earlier than these 2 counterparts.

2k has already set a bad precedence for this game already. No matter how good or bad the game is, if people dont know it exsists then it will lead to bad sales....bad sales = less likelyhood to make another game.

Best thing for 2k to do at this moment is release info, screens, videos, and playable versions to the websites and magazines to get thier info out there.

Madden and NCAA are so far along in development that they cant change drastically even if 2k sets the world on fire with something in 2k.

2k is going to be the worst enemy for 2k....not EA and its football franchices.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by Trevytrev11

I agree with you on the bias that has been shown and for all we know Madden is slipping reviewers $$$ to help pad their reviews and maybe leave out some negative aspects, but 2K sure isn't doing anything to help matters. When your in the media business, you live and die buy what you offer to the customer. In this case, your info is dependent on what these companies make available for you. Companies that constantly hook you up, make your life easier, so maybe your inclined to favor them. And companies that keep you in the dark, maybe you may not go the extra mile. Or like Blitz pointed out, maybe you don't hype something as much or you use a different tone in your articles. I'm not saying it happens, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Almost all business follow the "what have you done for me" philosophy and are going to take extra care of there better or premium clients.

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

I've wondered that myself. I think people like hearing what they want to be told, which is why you see the back and forth - if a review is bad on a game they want they ignore it; if the info is vice versa then they use it to hype themselves more. IGN and Gamespot (as well as the others) never really strike me as true journalists - they're too dependent financially on the people they're reviewing to be unbiased. They're good for media, but that's about it. It's weird that gaming is this multi-billion dollar industry, yet there's no place you can turn to for a relatively unbiased opinion, because they need to have access

This is pretty spot on. With much respect to the great work the people here at OS do (which is why there are so many members), anybody can create a website and call themselves an expert. We had the biggest 2k site on the Net. Why? Pretty much b/c of the domain name. I'd like to think we did a good job of getting info and having reasons to get people coming and coming back, but really being able to hunt down the right people and professionally pursue the opportunity doesn't make you an unbiased or even qualified reviewer of anything... and I've written reviews, lol.

I try to stay away from speaking on conspiracy theories like EA paying these sites though it's possible. I think spank summed it up in saying they don't necessarily have to. When you factor in everything, the big dog gets the press for a ton of reasons. 2k should be cut some slack b/c they were closing that gap before the rug was pulled out from under them and now they're back at square one... square -1 actually without the NFL and the ghost of the perfect game of 2k5 hovering over them.

This game won't get great reviews, no amount of advertising is going to get it competing with Madden or NCAA, and like 2k5 new ones will be bought long after the release date but there won't be a huge rush on that date like the other games. People may continue to compare it to Madden but they'll also continue to wonder why things don't make sense.

Quote: Originally Posted by quietcool72

Bottom line: EA is giving more access this year to the press and the fansites than ever. Community leaders, producer blogs, actually releasing detailed info... Say it with me: "Releasing detailed info." All that stuff. And you know what? Those are cheap things that 2K could do, but doesn't. They never do. They have no relationship with the fansites. They tell the press very little.... And when you do that, and you DONT release info- how on earth can anyone say IGN or anyone else is unfair? Love Madden/NCAA or hate it, they seem to be getting TONS of info out there this year... And for the press to actually pimp your story, you have to actually GIVE the press a story to pimp. Madden/NCAA has playable builds that the press has already seen, and in some cases played. IF 2K gave that kind of access, instead of the cloak and dagger BS they are doing, then you guys might be able to claim a bias. But EA is actually sporting information to give and builds to play. 2K isn't. So how is there a comparison so far?

Not really. If there were an APF2k7 things may be different right now. EA is more fansite friendly? Answers more questions? LOL, I wish I could pull up some quotes from the earlier nfl2k days... no one would even dream of thinking this. It's a different playing field right now. These sites (fansites, ign, gamespot, 1up, etc) get waaaaaaay too much credit. I think the guys here at OS do a great job with their reviews... better than any of these other sites imo, but more than anything the community reviews and feedback here is what makes this place special. IGN and Gamespot are pretty big now but I'm still waiting to read a sports review that's even remotely accurate. They've got reviewers all but admitting bias at times. A newspaper journalist would be fired but these guys have no worry.