Competition Creates Better Games is Baloney

[wurstman3000]

Just because game reviews are the only quantifiable source to use for something like this, does not mean that you can draw such clear cut conclusions from them.

Agree.
And about the scores: The main problem is that the context of giving review scores is nearly totally neglected: There is no unified standard on all sites. Most compare relatively with what's on the market (either a specific genre, sports or games on a whole; mostly a mix of those) at the reviews time. Most great games I remember liking playing are really only great still in memory - if played today, they wouldn't score that high anymore - A lower score today can be given to a game, which is better than a back then higher scored game, but be better. Otherwise, many games would get scores near 100% by now, only to indicate them being better than past iterations - year after year a little step. Granted, some exceptions would be there.

This is the second article within a few days (the other being the ill-informed piece about NHL 2K10) of which I wonder, how it made it to OS.

[CreatineKasey]

It's tough, because what we want and what other gamers want are two different things. We want realism, some people want the arcade feel. We automatically assume our viewpoint is correct, but really neither is as they are merely opinions. This ties in to the game reviews. The reviewers probably aren't hardcore football fans like we are, so they want other things in a game. So, for our standards it is hard to accept those game reviews. Honestly, I don't think they are reviewing the game for our market, as we probably know more about the game before they even get an advance copy. We want different things, that's just it.

In defense of the exclusive license: It allowed EA's developers to come here and interact in detail with the realism community and really get a feel of exactly what we want. That helped us tremendously. There were so many things that I wanted and mentioned that got into Madden 10, and I'm just absolutely loving this game. They created it just how I wanted them to, and I can accredit much of that to the interaction with our community. They couldn't do that if 2k was competing with them.

In defense of competition, I do think that the games can reach different parts of the market. For example I feel APF 2k8 was the most realistic football gameplay ever made. Madden 08 still annihilated it. Does that make me wrong for liking it? No. I'm just part of a different area of the market. I feel like everyone's wants can be better addressed with competition in games as developers will skew their game towards one area of consumers therefore getting the most sales out of that area and garnering their approval.

Those are just some random comments, not really defending either side. I'd still choose competition over no competition though if I had the choice.

[spursfan]

To clarify what most of these companies seem to care about is money. I seem to remember the then ceo being quoted in egm saying "that 2k could give away its football game for free with a ham sandwich for free and they still would outsell them". 2k and Take Two promtly released the game for 19.99, and people finally gave the game a try. Months later ea locks up and exclusive with the nlf, ncaa, and the arena league, essistenly shutting 2k out of the video game football business. The only reason ea did all this because 2k finally cut into their profits, Ea could no longer wait to drop the price on madden till after the super bowl. They had to cut the price to keep up the sales momentum. I remember some of my hardcore maddenhead friends finally giving 2k a try. The look on their faces and their lame excuses for not likeing it. It wasn't as good as madden in the eyes of most football heads, but they weren't very far off. I loved both games for what they were good at. 2k had great presentation, and I loved the "feel" of the game. Madden was a bit more strategic because you had to do the work, the wouldn't do it for you. I loved the owner mode, hit stick and playmaker. If I could just take what I liked out of each game. Man, I'm thinking about getting that madden back, still have 3k5.

[Terrell28]

Ya 2K baseball theory was off cause of this reason MLB the Show is a PS3 only title and 2K9 baseball is all that you can have for the xbox how is that competition? If there were two baseball games out for the xbox then right on but the rest of ya theory kinda works but I must say 2K hockey was better than NHL in 2007 then NHL got they title back is that a coincidence?

[Shinyhubcaps]

The problem with review scores is that each is compared to its competitor. For example, Madden scores have risen because they are being compared to previous iterations. NBA Live scores have been inconsistent because they're being compared to NBA 2K AND previous iterations. To say that these are apples-to-apples comparisons is not correct; the fact of the matter is that competition-less games are scored differently than games with competition.

It's like teams in Major League Baseball. At some point, the Pirates realize that they are a distant 6th place in baseball's only 6-team division. The other 5 teams, when healthy, are all concentrated atop the standings, but Pittsburgh is way back. So what do they do? They sell off all of their Major League talent for prospects. Naturally, as they can't expect to make great strides with their new prospects, they develop them at the expense of future poor seasons.

The same is true for video game developers. If a company has a bad game one year (compared to another), they have to either go back to basics (which results in fewer new features, a perceived lack of improvement, and a lower score) or add new features atop a cracked foundation (which nets a lower score for obvious reasons).

Everything about economics tells us that competition is good. Otherwise, you're like me, paying way too much for spotty internet and cable.

[michapop9]

I hadnt read all the comments yet but im not sure if this has been said or not,
the idea that "innovation in the gaming industry is only truly the borrowing of ideas when it comes to competing games in the same genre " is only partly true.
start with comparing 2k5 and madden 05, 2k5 had qb avoidance, more ratings, far superior presentation, and far better physics to name a few things. Madden 05 was a good game in its own right dont get me wrong.

Qb avoidance did not come into madden until ps2 madden 09, more ratings didnt come to madden until next gen, superior presentation still has not come to madden, although its been attempted.

Now all these ideas were indeed borrowed from NFL 2K5, which, in turn made Madden BETTER! So in a roundabouts way two competing entities although maybe just borrowing ideas from eachother, do improve the quality of games.

Imagine what 2k could have borrowed had still been able to make an NFL game, and vice versa, In essence its putting more heads together to improve game quality.

[Uncle Stumpy]

You make an interesting argument, but I disagree with it, for the most part. As with most things in life, reviews are completely subjective. Of all those reviews that you researched, did the same reviewer do all the reviews? (eg did Madden 06 have the same reviewer as in '10? Doubtful . In reality there is no way to truly judge improvement numerically, as it's personal opinion. I can garauntee there have been reviews of ANYTHING, food, movies, games etc where I wonder if the writer played the same game i had, or same movie. As well, I can promise you here that NO ONE on this website decides whether or not they get a game based on a review rating.

What I partially agree with is that sports game may not necessarily compete against each other (2k vs EA) directly, but all games in general. Every year they are going to try and try to revolutionize the game to attract the casual sports gamer, because they know they already have or HAD ( judging from the madden haters) the hardcore gamer in their pocket.

I haven't slept in two days. i hope this was coherent. If not, sorry lol

[leereezy]

this whole thing is subjective.

ad dollars do influence scores as well as receiving perks.

this yrs madden, as well as 08-09 show this.

nobody wants to have ea say hey we spend our money with you we need this type of score.

dare i say maybe our reviewer got too cosy wit the devs and shot a 9.0 wad on us.

[deepen03]

yup that post was perfectly said.

[deepen03]

and just look at it this way. EA made Madden 06 for the 360 and stripped down every feature but on-field play. they had no franchise mode, no commentary, no refs, no field goal nets, nothing that made madden 2005 the best madden ever.

Meanwhile when 2k made NBA 2k6, they ported over every feature from ps2 onto the 360 and gave it a graphics update and people were very satisfied.

i have said this over and over. If EA had followed 2k's strategy and just ported over madden 2005 to the 360 with updated graphics, then madden 06 could have been what madden 10 is. and right now, who knows what kind of incredible game we would have!

EA made a mistake by making a stripped down version of madden 06. I understand different development goes into football games versus b-ball games, but its the same concept.

[RamzaLugria]

I wouldn't base the quality of a game on metacritic. I think competition does have an impact, but fan complaints (which can be very loud at times) plays a bigger part.

[EvanRG]

Re: Competition Creates Better Games is Baloney

How does competition NOT create better games?

- Company 'A' creates a new innovation that rapidly changes the way a game is played. Company 'B' who WAS the better game before is now lagging behind and must either introduce the feature into their game or face losing a share of the market.

Example:

Rockband comes out and allows for player to play drums, bass, sing etc. Guitar Hero up to this point was simply a lead guitar game and must now either expand the game to cover other instruments or face losing a share of the market.

From what you stated earlier, A music game feels the same pressure to beat Madden as it does to beat another music game? That is just silly.

Your point is that Games score the same, but regardless of scores, Ian feels pressure to beat a game that hasn't even been made in 5 years. So how much pressure do you think he would feel if the game (NFL 2k5) was actually still being produces yearly alongside Madden?

[NavigatorD83]

If you need a better method of rating games just use the "ol eye test.

[tabulaRasa]

FIrst check this guys sources.
Quick reference for MAdden FOR EXAMPLE(from game rankings)
Madden 2003 89,64
Madden 2004 89,00
Madden 2005 89,5(no more NFL2k after this)
Madden 2006 84,11(decline)
Madden 2008 74,80(decline)
Madden 2009 80,00(worse than any game before 2k5 was put down)

This author is a joke.

Author, check your facts....your story is bogus ....

[tabulaRasa]

Didn´t mean to sound too harsh (which I did, sorry) but I was able to debunk the story after one quick check over at game rankings.