BDunn, I'll willingly put
anything you write up against anything I write. In fact, I'll put anything I write up against anything your entire staff can write. We'll see who has the better writing ability.
Buckaholic, forget about the coverage. I agree with you on most of your points. But understand that some of the writers (like me) are not Mods over there. Therefore we (I) don't have access to the things others do. If I had a chance to actually get info, I could do MUCH more with my column.
I asked for an EA interview for three months and never got one. I ended up having to settle for a quick article about the MM online room and why it's a good thing to have.
I wrote this article in about 10 minutes right after I was told I would not get an interview.
Here's a link:
http://www.maddenmania.com/btg1.php
Here's a copy of the actual article:
I have applied for a job as an NCAA Head Coach.
Yes, you read that right.
Sure, there are many obstacles standing in my way. I've never coached before on any level, I only played three years of high school football (and not well, I might add), and I don't know the first thing about what it takes to be a head coach in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
So what?
Last night, I won my 300th game as a member of the EA Online Community. My overall record is 300-12 and I am rated #1 overall. I annihilate my opponents by an average score of 58 to 16.
So what if I put my fastest defensive back at quarterback and run him all game? That's just using the talent on the field to the best of my ability.
So what if I analog blitz 90% of the time? I'm just taking advantage match up problems the offense might have.
So what if I run the same play over and over? As long as it works, why not? After all, any good coach will exploit a weakness in another team's defense until they prove they can stop it.
Look those numbers, they don't lie! They prove that I am a football genius... the second coming of Paul "Bear" Bryant one might say.
But I'm not the only one. Take a look at the NCAA 2004 Online Top 25 list and you'll see the video game equivalents to Knute Rockne, Pop Warner, Eddie Robinson, John Gagliardi, Bobby Bowden, and Joe Paterno. It seems there is a wealth of untapped potential out there that has not been noticed as of yet.
And why not? Why hasn't an athletic director snatched one of these young men up yet to be the head coach of their football program?
The answer is simple:
BECAUSE IT'S ONLY A VIDEO GAME.
That made me wonder, if it's just a video game, why do people Care so much? Why do they put so much stock into an online ranking? Why do they exploit bugs in the game and do ridiculous things just to win?
Honestly, I don't know. It's not like you get a prize when you reach a certain number of wins. I don't even think you get a free t-shirt.
Perhaps I'm mistaken. It's possible that when you reach the top overall ranking, EA shows up at your door with pizza, beer (soda if you're not of age), and women (or men if that's your thing) and throws you a huge party. Then they hire you to be part of the creative staff for next year's game.
It's possible. It really is. It's also possible that Ed McMahon will knock on my door with a check for ten million dollars.
(Put's hand to hear and listens... nothing. It was worth a shot. Let's move on.)
So as I was saying, there's no reward for being the top player online, so why do people care so much about their ranking?
Pride? Like I said before, it's a video game, if people take that much pride in it there's something wrong. If they think the fact that they're very good at manipulating a bunch of pixels on a screen is something to brag about, they should turn off their console, slowly back away from it, and seriously re-evaluate their life.
I always thought the point of playing video games was for fun. I wasn't aware that people took it so seriously. It's ridiculous trying to get a realistic game from someone online. When you finally find someone who claims to play "totally straight," you just have to bite the bullet and hope they're not lying to you.
You might play five or six games in a row before you finally find someone who plays realistically. Oh, but when you do, it's really something special.
When you play a round of golf, one great swing on the eighteenth hole can make up for seventeen holes of lost balls, sand traps, and water hazards. With NCAA Online, one game with a realistic player can make up for an entire day of dealing with nonsense substitutions, uninspired play calling, and exploitation of program glitches.
Here at MaddenMania, we value a good game. MaddenManiacs don't care about online ranking, they care about having fun. They know that while winning is great, enjoying yourself is the only thing that really matters.
That's why we have a password locked MaddenMania room. Getting the password is a process that must be undertaken by any serious gamer. It involves trying out with three people on the "Approved Players List" to prove that you play realistically. This process ensures that the room will be full of people that will give you a good game. A realistic game. A game you can enjoy.
People have accused MaddenMania of being an elitist society, similar to the Freemasons or Illuminati. This is entirely untrue. Anyone, regardless of race, religion, or shoe size can try out for the password and as long as they prove they play realistically, it's given to them.
The newest versions of NCAA and Madden are almost here, are you Madden Mania material?