09-01-2003, 11:49 PM
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#20
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MVP
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Re: Move Over Maden...
Quote:
Kanobi said:
jrod,
are u gettig espnfl??
I get all the damn games becuase I'm stupid.
If I was smart I would give up gaming and save me 50 bucks every few weeks...
Here's the games I think I'll be getting and the ones I have already this sports season.
Madden
Fever
ESPN
FIFA 2003
ESPN NHL
Tiger
Links
There's five I can't remember right off the top of my head.
That's 250 right there.
Anyway back to ESPN and Madden.
Madden's returns are expected. Also remember that some of those returns might be due to the "NCAA" import problem. I don't think all that many but a few. Plus every store in my experience usually has enough Maddens to last the entire season. ESPN and Sega Sports I don't think put out as many. I think this is a cost saver. Because if only 500,000 thousand are bought and you made 1.5 million that's a lot of money setting in these stores.
ESPN needs a very good year to get the Buzz around. Let's take an example of WE6 a soccer game for the PS2. It was only a Japanese release in the first couple of PS2 releases. A community started to import this game and that generated a lot of buzz. So much so that WE6 was finally released in the US where it was only sold in Asia and Europe. To boot, FIFA was losing saled in Europe, one of it's "gold suppliers" for years. Just last year WE (called PES over there) pulled neck and neck for the PS2. Now FIFA is changing it's ways to get it's game more realistic.
ESPN/NFL 2k has not had a solid year to date. For the average game (they make up the majority of sales) the game is off-putting. I don't know why. I think it's the pick up and play aspect of it. When you fired it up it didn't look "mainstream". When you played it, there was more than just a "new" game learning curve. All this and more led to NFL 2k getting the critics choice but not the sales winnner. Think Oscar, half of those movies I've never seen in a year and I'm sure most of you haven't either. There sales aren't 100 million for the first weekend or any of that craziness. Instead they win best picture and that's that.
ESPN is a lot like that...it just never did appeal to the mainstream gamer. Whereas Madden was already entrenched in the minds of average footballs fans and football gaming culture. NFL 2k3 was a start but wasn't polished enough.
Fastforward to this year, there's some buzz not enough to generage big sales but I think this year is the start of the revolution. IF ESPN plays a technically sound game, it will please hardcore fans. That include simming, franchise modes, editting and the like. If it's just plain fun to play that will get the casual gamers. And if it's just eary on how it mimmicks football than it will please both. If Vick plays like Vick, if Portis is Portis and if Farve is just Farve, the ball will start rolling and next year, will be the year to watch.
So far NFL 2k3 never did enough to get the mainstream gamer. Let's face it, online play is only a draw for some people and the hardcore gamer. YOU ARE ALL HARDCORE GAMERS. Other than that what did ESPN/NFL 2k give gamers to enjoy. It wasn't ultra realistic football, yes ultra realistic.
For ESPN to get good sales, it's going to have to be twice as good and twice as perfect as Madden. Why? Becuase it's not Madden. Madden gets away with a lot because it can and it's name recognition. It's reality and the underdogs always have to look twice as good and play twicde as good and the big dogs.
Anyway, I'll be waiting in line like the rest of you on Weds.
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