Ouch 2K Sports....

[TheBadazz]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

I'm personally not worried about 2K. As long as TT have GTA, 2k will survive. If not 2K (Visual Concepts) will find another publisher. Remember Sega had them first.

[chapmanosu1]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

You've never played MLB: The Show?

Great game, but the fact it doesn't come out on the 360 leaves us with just one title...a still improving MLB 2k. Which leads me to my next point...

I love 2k til the end, but if something does happen, I wouldn't mind seeing MVP baseball back, that I would love...

Like Pared touched on in the last post, MVP was a great game...for PS2/XBOX. Maybe if they hadn't lost the license it still would be, with the last few years to work on the game on the next gen. But they don't have the license. They haven't been working on, improving it, working out the kinks, etc. for 3 years. If 2K goes under and EA gets the license back, they have to start rebuilding from scratch again on a whole new set of consoles. At this point 2k is already in year 2 of a 3 year plan of what looks to be like a decent game. I have faith that by the end of year 3 MLB 2k will be on par with what MVP could have been. I'd rather not have to go through the same 3 year process from MVP.

[Kodiak33]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

jmood, EA also has the PGA license (I think).

[iLLosophy]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

...And EA is still trying to buy other liscenses, if the company wasn't making money off of exclusive deals why would they keep doing something that results in a loss of income?

I don't pretend to know the "ins-and-outs" of the business behind video-game production. I just believe that EA is too business savy to continue to make moves that don't benefit them financially in some way. So I don't see how them buying liscenses counts against them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing

This isn't exactly the same thing, but it has the same intentions and cost inccured as what you mention above. EA *COULD* be losing money with the exclusive NFL license on the Madden franchise, but they know they have way more bank than 2K Sports....if both are drowning, EA knows it can hold its breath
longer. So yes, it does benefit them financially in the long term in hopes of killing off their competition.

I hate to say it but looks like 2K Sports would've been in a lot better position if they didn't lower their prices for 2k5.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

EA Did something for the last 3 years, that they haven't been able to do in the past. They made sports games with better graphics.

You can all deny it, but 2k's graphics are outdated, and this world is large on Graphic whores.

People go to stores and pick up cases, they say,"damn those graphics are sick". They get the game home, and it could play like crap. But overall, those graphics got their attention.

EA markets their games, pushing graphics, never gameplay. Thats what the average and overall consumer sees, and so it sells.

2k has had better in the past, I don't know why they stopped.....Bring back those incredible graphics, and better marketing, and the sales will increase....Thats for damn sure.....

I think you are right, and to go even further, EA has the average consumer nailed down. They have successfully built their brand to the point that when people see their logo on a box, they buy the game. 2K can't claim that. Like you said, the concentration on graphics has helped them do this. I guess it's the whole "judge a book by its cover" theory.

[Cebby]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

I think you are right, and to go even further, EA has the average consumer nailed down. They have successfully built their brand to the point that when people see their logo on a box, they buy the game. 2K can't claim that. Like you said, the concentration on graphics has helped them do this. I guess it's the whole "judge a book by its cover" theory.

There's also the whole advertising thing. 2k's commercial for APF was relatively boring. A washed up, old, "before my time" rapper with a few clips in the background. Oh yeah, coming out the same day as NCAA. But then comes Madden's commercial, a game I haven't considered buying since 2004 (the 2005 game). I know I don't want to play it; EA knows I don't want to play it, but then they put out the commercial featuring minimal, if any, gameplay footage, and suddenly I'm intrigued. 2k needs more advertising.

[grunt]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

I don't even care anymore. I still play 2k5, APF2k8, NCAA 07, and Madden 07. Next gen sport games are being left behind because they didn't take the jump in graphics are game play.

[born_bad]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

I don't even care anymore. I still play 2k5, APF2k8, NCAA 07, and Madden 07. Next gen sport games are being left behind because they didn't take the jump in graphics are game play.

I'd say some of them definitely made a jump in graphics - MLB2k7, Fight Night Round 3, Madden, etc. Gameplay hasn't progressed much, though.

It's just a matter of brand recognition. It's like trying to compete with Coke or Pepsi. It's doesn't matter how good your new carbonated drink tastes, most people will still recognize Coke on the shelf and grab that instead.

[Brandwin]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

Any chance MS would buy them?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

Any chance MS would buy them?

Can you imagine that? WOW

[nemesis04]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

At some point someone will purchase them. Too much waffling going on by them.

[fistofrage]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

I'd say some of them definitely made a jump in graphics - MLB2k7, Fight Night Round 3, Madden, etc. Gameplay hasn't progressed much, though.

It's just a matter of brand recognition. It's like trying to compete with Coke or Pepsi. It's doesn't matter how good your new carbonated drink tastes, most people will still recognize Coke on the shelf and grab that instead.

Gameplay has REGRESSED in every single next gen sports game I have played except NBA2k. NCAA CH2k has flaws and Madden and NCAA Football are just plain garbage. Its all about graphics and they don't even do those very well. We have reached the end of the golden age of sports games. There are just too many great non-sports games coming out now. Sports games think they need to add gimmicks to avoid just being a roster update, but in the process of adding gimmicks they have trashed the core gameplay to the point that they don't have nearly the "fun" factor of other games. NCAA Football felt like I was going to work instead of relaxing and enjoying a game. Sliders can't cover up major programming flaws. I hope 2K sticks around and rights their ship in the process, but I think for gaming enjoyment, most of us on this board are picking up non-sports game and enjoying them more, and that is telling right there because this is a sports gaming website. List your favorite 3 games in the last year. Are any of them sports games?

[Pared]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

MS won't buy them. They realize how important EA is to their success. Do you honestly believe they'd compete with them when they want their games in their corner? Why piss off one of their largest buddies?

A purchase would only drive them into finding alternative means to securing their market lead... not something they'd want to deal with.

MS is sitting pretty right now.

[Pared]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

List your favorite 3 games in the last year. Are any of them sports games?

2 of them are: NBA 2k8 and The Show.

[born_bad]

Re: Ouch 2K Sports....

Gameplay has REGRESSED in every single next gen sports game I have played except NBA2k. NCAA CH2k has flaws and Madden and NCAA Football are just plain garbage. Its all about graphics and they don't even do those very well. We have reached the end of the golden age of sports games. There are just too many great non-sports games coming out now. Sports games think they need to add gimmicks to avoid just being a roster update, but in the process of adding gimmicks they have trashed the core gameplay to the point that they don't have nearly the "fun" factor of other games. NCAA Football felt like I was going to work instead of relaxing and enjoying a game. Sliders can't cover up major programming flaws. I hope 2K sticks around and rights their ship in the process, but I think for gaming enjoyment, most of us on this board are picking up non-sports game and enjoying them more, and that is telling right there because this is a sports gaming website. List your favorite 3 games in the last year. Are any of them sports games?

I agree completely. I posted this in another thread last week or so:

I find myself becoming less and less interested in sports games these days. I can't honestly say sports games have improved much in areas other than graphics on the the 360/PS3, so they're starting to feel stale to me. I didn't even buy Madden 08 and in previous years it would have been unheard of for me to not buy the newest NFL game (especially since the Pats are my home team and their roster would have been awesome to use this year!). I'm not even having that much fun with the NBA2k series anymore.

I think sports games have hit a wall with what they can do with AI and gameplay. We all want them to be more realistic, but that's incredibly difficult to program, so all they've done is make the graphics better and add some animations. The sports games aren't presented any better (and in some cases there's less presentation than previous years/consoles) and they don't really play much better. It's not like when I'm playing a sports game, like MLB2k7, on the 360 I'm thinking, "Wow. There's no way this gameplay could have been done on the Xbox." The only thing that couldn't have been done is the graphics.

Non-sports games, however, have really taken a leap from the Xbox/PS2. I play a game like Mass Effect and it's the closest thing to an interactive movie I've ever played. The dialogue options are so much better than anything I've seen. Games like Bioshock, Gears of War, Oblivion, COD4, really feel like a generation jump in games, so I'm having more fun with non-sports games now and finding myself more and more disappointed with sports games this gen. Sure, I know sports games have the 1 year dev. cycle and the big non-sports games have years of development. I understand that. I still can't deny that I feel like I'm playing the same sports games I was on the Xbox with prettier graphics and that's getting boring to me now. I was hoping for a much bigger jump in things like presentation. I know AI is going to be tough to improve, but I was hoping there would be things like better physics, animation, etc.

At least I can't complain there aren't plenty of great games to play. I'll just stick to non-sports games for now.