NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

[King_B_Mack]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

FROM GAMERADAR: The Rumor: Titanfall is Xbox One’s biggest exclusive so far, but now that has arrived, Microsoft has apparently set its sights on it’s next third-party system seller. Apparently, the platform holder has 'secured' a new ‘big third-party title’, and could be ready to make a splash at E3. That’s word from an apparently noteworthy games industry whistleblower known as Ahsan Rasheed, or 'thuway'. Our Take: We can’t vouch for the source, but Microsoft is most aggressive in its pursuit of third-party platform exclusives, and no one should be surprised that Titanfall isn’t the only big deal it had lined up for Xbox One. And while the list of rumored games for Sony’s E3 press show is long and ominous, Microsoft’s E3 plans are certainly more of a mystery. Let’s hope it has some truly huge surprises in store.


Yes, lets hope especially for football fans.

You could have kept this. You think a returning NFL video game not from EA Sports is going to be exclusive to Microsoft? Come on man.

[bcruise]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

Geez...this used to be rumored for every year, now it seems like it's rumored for every show. I guess if you want to believe it's going to happen for every single show you might actually get it right sometime.

Myself, I'm waiting for the announcement at the next TGS. Book it.

[PacMan3000]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

It doesn't really occur to me that part of what makes NFL 2K what it is, is Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe. I'm trying to picture this game without them, and right now I can't. Just imagining that if a new game comes out... I mean... do they need them to make it still feel like 2K football? I just think they might.

I'm going to drop this on everyone's doorstep:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3nOu3QfTg1w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Loved Dan and Peter back in the 2K days. Never had heard this outtake reel--very funny and brings back memories.

If I'm going with my gut, I feel something is up with the license. Either it's not fully exclusive, or it's ending very soon and the NFL is trying to figure out if they want to re-up or not, and now is the short window for 2K to possibly jump in.

Not sure...something feels different this year.

When is Madden announcing the cover vote? Will it be at E3? They don't normally do it at E3, do they? I did some quick research--looks like last year they tied the cover vote release to the NFL Draft. Barry Sanders came out on stage to announce a draft pick and thanked fans for putting him on the cover.

This year, a draft that was the most watched ever and had the most hype in a decade comes and goes and there's no Madden news? No trailer? No cover vote announcement? Remember, come NFL Draft 2013, you not only were given a cover vote announcement, but a "Run Free" gameplay trailer released on EASports.com.

It's now June...there's no legit trailer showing any actual footage, and we still don't know who's on the cover? Hmm....

I think something's up. I'm just not 100% sure if it's going to equate to a new 2K game in 2014. But I think something is cooking behind the scenes.

[Cre8]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

If there is a new 2K Football game announced or released next week I will immediately place a pre-order. It will be the most anticipated sports game I can remember for myself.

As much as I love(d) APF, I was really disappointed in how bare-bones it was. I hate admitting how many hours (days) I poured into Madden since then. Fact of the matter is that while gameplay is vital (#1 and most important) - franchise mode depth and detail is at least #1A.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

There's a reason 3 different companies make the 3 different sports games. It's because the other companies had poor attempts at the other sports, outside of MVP Baseball.

[Cre8]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

There's a reason 3 different companies make the 3 different sports games. It's because the other companies had poor attempts at the other sports, outside of MVP Baseball.

2K poured all their effort into NBA games. As a result their MLB and NHL titles went from mediocre to absolute garbage.

EA poured their effort into FIFA and abused the NFL license in order to allow them to recycle games year after year. They basically gave up on baseball after MVP 2005 and I think that was simply because baseball titles aren't as big as they were back in the 1990s and early 2000s.

[cowboy_kmoney]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

Here is to E3 and the NFL opening up the 2k back into the world. Its long over do because the players r tired of EA doing what there doing as well. So i kant wait til E3.

[noplace]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

Here is to E3 and the NFL opening up the 2k back into the world. Its long over do because the players r tired of EA doing what there doing as well. So i kant wait til E3.

Its just a rumor homie so calm down and dont get your hopes up..

[Hooe]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

2K poured all their effort into NBA games. As a result their MLB and NHL titles went from mediocre to absolute garbage.

EA poured their effort into FIFA and abused the NFL license in order to allow them to recycle games year after year. They basically gave up on baseball after MVP 2005 and I think that was simply because baseball titles aren't as big as they were back in the 1990s and early 2000s.

EA was forced to give up on baseball because 2K signed an exclusivity agreement with the MLB which made 2K Sports the only third-party publisher allowed to produce a baseball game. Sony San Diego does not fall under the envelope of "third-party" so MLB: The Show was spared from being killed off by this agreement, much to its benefit long-term.

As to EA "recycling" Madden NFL year-after-year, that's simply not true, particularly looking at how the game has changed since Madden NFL 09. The guts of ballcarrier-tackler interaction have changed (twice!), the game's AI has gotten smarter, the game has become more accessible with Strategy Pad, GameFlow, and Skills Trainer, the career modes were completely rebuilt... one can say a lot of things about Madden, but to say Madden was "recycled" is just lying about the matter. There's no other way to put it. It's no more recycled than any other iterative annual sports game at this point.

[stiffarmleft]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

The games may have not been recycled but what was the net improvement from year to year?

[Hooe]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

The games may have not been recycled but what was the net improvement from year to year?

Given that I found Madden NFL 06 through Madden NFL 08 nigh-unplayable on XBOX 360 and Madden NFL 13 may be my favorite total-package football game I've ever played, I'd say the net amount has been reasonably positive, at least in my opinion. Surely opinions can differ, however, but I think there's plenty of things to point at between Madden 06 and Madden 25 in which one can obviously point at the game and say "this is much better than it once was".

[Hooe]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

Crashes, freezes, etc. run rampant in Madden.

No. This borders on outright lie.

If it were true and Madden had rampant major glitches would greatly hindered and/or prevented gameplay, foremost the gaming media would be all over it, given both the massive popularity of Madden NFL as a series and the gaming media's laser-focus on popular and highly-anticipated games which don't work. For example, the gaming media's coverage of SimCity 2013 (server issues which prevented any gameplay), Diablo 3 (server issues at launch which prevented any gameplay), NBA 2K14 (server issues which prevented any gameplay in MyGM at launch on PS4 / XBOX One), Battlefield 4 (countless technical and server issues, some still ongoing), Ride To Hell: Retribution (countless technical issues), Aliens: Colonial Marines (countless technical issues), Dead Island (countless technical issues), Watch_Dogs (uPlay login issues on launch day which prevented gameplay)... you get my point. These games actually didn't function and/or actually had major crash issues. The popularity of these games is all over the board compared to Madden NFL, and Madden - one of the staple franchises of the American video game landscape - would surely get some amount of attention if it was truly an unplayable broken mess of a game. Heck, if Madden NFL were truly full of rampant crashes and freezes, surely this website of all places would run a piece about the matter.

The two major technical problems I even remember Madden NFL having are a hard-crash issue in practice mode in either Madden 09 or Madden 10 (not both, I just forget which version) which was patched, and a non-crash issue in the PS3 Season Ticket version of Madden 25 in which players disappeared from the field which was also patched before the game launched. I can't ever remember an issue existing in which any Madden NFL was routinely unplayable to the likes of any other game I've listed above. If you're going to criticize Madden for patching out crash issues here, fine, but please be consistent and also criticize every other video game in the modern-day gaming landscape as patches are expectation and normal nowadays.

On a personal anecdote level (knowing full-well that personal anecdotes aren't regarded as reliable and so you're going to take this with an entire shaker of salt, but whatever), I remember experiencing a hard crash in Madden NFL exactly once in fifteen years I've been playing Madden games, and I regard it as one of the most stable console video games I've owned if nothing else. NCAA Football is a different story, admittedly, and I also qualify the preceding statement by saying there's a big difference between "hard crash issues" and "bugs in functionality", which by virtue of playing Madden 13 alone I've experienced a good number.

It's one thing to criticize the game for legitimate shortcomings as a football game or bugs in intended functionality - again, for example, Connected Careers mode in Madden NFL 13 was a bit of a mess with respect to the number of functionality bugs, or whatever implementation issues exist in the game which break the authenticity of the game's simulation of pro football - but the statement above as you've offered it simply isn't true, there's no basis for it, and I don't understand how you can begin to offer it.

[Cre8]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

EA was forced to give up on baseball because 2K signed an exclusivity agreement with the MLB which made 2K Sports the only third-party publisher allowed to produce a baseball game. Sony San Diego does not fall under the envelope of "third-party" so MLB: The Show was spared from being killed off by this agreement, much to its benefit long-term.

As to EA "recycling" Madden NFL year-after-year, that's simply not true, particularly looking at how the game has changed since Madden NFL 09. The guts of ballcarrier-tackler interaction have changed (twice!), the game's AI has gotten smarter, the game has become more accessible with Strategy Pad, GameFlow, and Skills Trainer, the career modes were completely rebuilt... one can say a lot of things about Madden, but to say Madden was "recycled" is just lying about the matter. There's no other way to put it. It's no more recycled than any other iterative annual sports game at this point.

Good point with the exclusive license when it came to MLB. However, calling other people liars indirectly (by stating our views are lies) isn't the direction I would go in order to prove a point. It is rather divisive and doesn't leave much room for anything other than your views to hold and supposed merit.

Clearly, you are a big fan of Madden (and that is fine - too each their own). However, I would challenge you to support that Madden's changes from year to year haven't been anything more than incremental additions at best. The GameFlow, Skills Trainer, and Strategy Pad would qualify as minimal DLC for almost every other game type outside of sports games (and maybe Call of Duty.

Also, I would have an easier time supporting or just going along with your remarks if half of these 'completely rebuilt' things actually stayed on the game for more than one year. GameFlow is still on the game, but it is a glorified Ask Madden that has been around for quite some time.

There are numerous other things I could ramble on about, but I won't waste my time typing them out or your time to read them.

I am in this thread to talk about 2K Football - not Madden. In that regard I will try to get back on topic.

[Hooe]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

Good point with the exclusive license when it came to MLB. However, calling other people liars indirectly (by stating our views are lies) isn't the direction I would go in order to prove a point. It is rather divisive and doesn't leave much room for anything other than your views to hold and supposed merit.

Asserting that a game "is full of crashes and freezes" is absolutely not an offering of an opinion and I'll leave that one there.

Clearly, you are a big fan of Madden (and that is fine - too each their own). However, I would challenge you to support that Madden's changes from year to year haven't been anything more than incremental additions at best. The GameFlow, Skills Trainer, and Strategy Pad would qualify as minimal DLC for almost every other game type outside of sports games (and maybe Call of Duty.

Also, I would have an easier time supporting or just going along with your remarks if half of these 'completely rebuilt' things actually stayed on the game for more than one year. GameFlow is still on the game, but it is a glorified Ask Madden that has been around for quite some time.

There are numerous other things I could ramble on about, but I won't waste my time typing them out or your time to read them.

I am in this thread to talk about 2K Football - not Madden. In that regard I will try to get back on topic.

If I allow that Madden's additions over time have been incremental, does any sports game year-over-year do anything that isn't also incremental / "DLC" additions? I don't understand this perspective. I'm not sure that any sports game ever has been as ambitious year-over-year as Madden NFL 13 was compared to Madden NFL 12, even if said ambition wasn't perfectly executed. Feel free to provide me a counterexample.

As to additions not staying in the game - last I saw, Connected Franchise, Real-Time Physics, and Ultimate Team (an entirely new gameplay mode introduced in Madden NFL 10 in a patch for free!) have become integral parts of Madden's core experience as a video game at this point.

For whatever value it adds to the discussion - sure, I enjoy playing Madden. At the same time I recognize the game has flaws and I want to see it improve. In addition I was a fan of 2K's brand of football as well when NFL 2K5 and All Pro Football were relevant games. Again, I would welcome 2K football back to the sports gaming landscape should they return, however unlikely I think that return is for a variety of reasons. In general, I enjoy video games. There's a reason I'm making a reasonably successful career out of them.

[NicVirtue]

Re: NFL 2k COMEBACK? License not exclusive?

the game's AI has gotten smarter

That is VERY debatable.