How can EA dare to claim the game will improve even with the exclusive rights?

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmood88

That's the dumbest excuse I've heard. If it was so unplayable then why were the gameday games considered to be the rivals of madden? They didn't want to change and they didn't change until viable competitors came around. And you still haven't addressed the online gaming part. They said that it couldn't be done(which has turned out to be a lie).

It's not a dumb excuse at all. I was first in line to own Gameday and it played..well very slowly. Madden would have been the same way. As it was it was a great idea and was inevitable but the PSX just had a very difficult time of pushing around the polys at that point. Games are supposed to be fluid and fun, not technology demos. It'd be like me running Farcry on my PIII 866 just so I could brag about how many poly's I am pushing around, despite the fact it runs like molasses. I'd rather play Duke Nukem 3D from a few years ago that's much faster, less prettier but is more funnester because it's not beating my hardware down. Now when I get a P4-3.0 ghz machine then it'd make sense to go up to Farcry.

That's all EA was saying at the time was the hardware yielded better results by running in 2D mode. I don't think any of us really believe that without Gameday we'd be playing Madden 2005 on our PS2s in 2D.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmood88

When?

I'm not going to go thru Maddens year by year history for you but suffice to say there have been competitors come and go (mostly go) and Madden has continue to improve year in and year out. As I have stated in my previous arguements they have always had competition, even when there is no competitor they are competing vs last years Madden. After all its pretty easy for anyone to update rosters and just play the old game instead of buying the new one if it's basically a minor upgrade. EA knows that just as well as we do.

[grunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

EA did not say 3D was impossible, they said it was technologically limited, which at the time it was. Although Gameday utilized it first the game was choppy and very slow (albeit playable) which is the reason EA had indicated they were choosing to stay with 2D at that time. In other words they thought it made more sense, and would make more people enjoy the game more, if the game ran in 2D and played better overall than if it was changed prematurely to 3D and ran like it was underwater.

Gameday 98 played smooth and better than Madden 98. Their polygons based game played better with more anaimation than Madden 98 and yes I owned both games and still have both Gameday and Gamebreaker 98. Classic games. Gameday 98 you could jump over piles and you still cant do that in Madden. The juke move was sweet also. If only I could find Digital Sport review for this game. It was rated very high by many magazines and sites.

Madden 98 had this thing called v-poly graphics standing for virtual polygons. Great marketing a new feature, naw the same old sprites. Did the technology environment change so much in the next year because Madden had a 3d polygon game in Madden 99 with a great franchise mode.

This is the best example on why competition matters. GD98 sold very competitively relative to Madden 98 and by Madden 99 we had a much better game. With Gameday 98 the Madden series would have stayed sprite until the next generation. I could almost bet that GD 98 is much more playable than Madden sprite based game of 98.

EA/big companies (ibm) dont move until they are pushed.

Peace

[grunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

I'm not going to go thru Maddens year by year history for you but suffice to say there have been competitors come and go (mostly go) and Madden has continue to improve year in and year out. As I have stated in my previous arguements they have always had competition, even when there is no competitor they are competing vs last years Madden. After all its pretty easy for anyone to update rosters and just play the old game instead of buying the new one if it's basically a minor upgrade. EA knows that just as well as we do.

Gameday 98 and Gamebreaker 98 shook EA. NCAA 98 was a awful game but NCAA 99 was a great game. Please, dont rewrite history. I am looking for the reviews for these games because these games changed the expectation and direction for sport football games. I found the review for GD 2001 this when the series was clearly behind the Madden series but this is what this reviewer said...

The Bottom Line: 80

Save for the regrettable audio suite that returns this season and lengthy load times, 989 brings a sound effort to the table. If you're a collector of PSX sport titles, you'll probably want to buy a copy. Enough gaming variety exists to keep Gameday 2001 entertaining throughout the football season. If, however, you wish only one pigskin title for your PSX this year, Madden 2001 is the superior product on all levels. Gameday, once the domimant force in PSX football will need to take a back seat for thetime being. That's calling 'em as I see 'em. Happy Gaming!

Added: July 23rd 2002
Reviewer: Marty Goldstein
Score:

That "Gameday, once the dominant force in PSX football" and it wasnt because of "slow game play" it was because of innovative gameplay. Total Control Passing changed the passing game. Madden/EA beat GD by not buying out the NFL license but by making a better game. So, give thanks to GD/2k5 because you would still be playing with sprites. (Its a joke but not too far from reality)

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by coogrfan

Several people have posted something like this. Imo, that's totally irrelevant to this discussion. The question was "how can EA claim the game will improve even with the exclusive rights?" Whether you like the NASCAR games EA has published since they obtained the exclusive rights is equally irrelevant. The only question that is relevant to the topic at hand is "has EA made an effort to improve their NASCAR games, even though they are the only game in town?". Frankly, I don't see how any reasonable person can say anything other than "yes". You may not like their games, but to argue they aren't trying simply isn't correct. For that reason, I believe that the commonly accepted notion that EA will sit on the Madden franchise and just rake in the dough is equally incorrect.

My reply was based off the statement that EA's game had improved. My point was because of EA exclusive deal with NASCAR, even after all this time and "improvements", it STILL isn't close to the quality we once had.
So yes it is very relevant to the exclusive aspect of the discussion.
EA's meaning of improvement and mine are totally different.
I am very reasonable. I will not accept EA's game as improved until it at least matches what we once had.

[HMcCoy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

My reply was based off the statement that EA's game had improved. My point was because of EA exclusive deal with NASCAR, even after all this time and "improvements", it STILL isn't close to the quality we once had. So yes it is very relevant to the exclusive aspect of the discussion. EA's meaning of improvement and mine are totally different. I am very reasonable. I will not accept EA's game as improved until it at least matches what we once had.

Co-sign.

The Papy racing sims were a 95/100, IMO, while the "Thunder" series started off as a 70/100..then improved to a 74/100 the next year...then made it up to 80 the next.

Ya, its improvement, but man, this game JUST caught up to the "Heat" titles for my money...and those yokels are still lightyears behind the old PC sims.

Tiburon bites.

[Programmed2Kill]

Quote: Originally Posted by ObiWanJenkins

I think you're really missing what EA's competition is. It's the over $1 billion dollars that they have paid to the NFL and ESPN. They HAVE to improve year to year as never before, because all participants with be watching the bottom line more than ever. If there is a significant drop in sales over the next few years, EA could be in serious financial distress. Remember that they are publicly traded and if they miss sales figures by alot, investors will sell. This is a make or break deal for EA right now, even moreso with the ESPN deal. They can't afford to lose customers.

Damn....you spoke my mind.


It seriously cracks me up that people in here think Madden will stay the same or go downhill because they took out the competition. Really pretty much foolish to think so.

Do alot of you think the masses are stupid?

Don't you think that if a person looks at the 2007 version of Madden and it looks exactly like it does now, they will say "Oh God, this is horrible! I'm not buying this. After all the money they used to get rights and took out the competition...and it still looks like the 2004 version?!?! Sorry EA...not buying you again this year."?


Trust me, somebody will put out a game with no licenses that will kick EA's butt around that time and EA will falter because of this. Why? Because I will buy that other game. I refuse to buy a game that goes to a new and improved console and still looks the same as it was on the previous console. And I'm thinking the masses will think the same way.


Like dude said, EA got their competition with the money they just spent and taking out TT/VC and whomever else. If they don't improve to the graphics of other games out there, there is no way they survive.

[Programmed2Kill]

Quote: Originally Posted by grunt

Gameday 98 played smooth and better than Madden 98. Their polygons based game played better with more anaimation than Madden 98 and yes I owned both games and still have both Gameday and Gamebreaker 98. Classic games. Gameday 98 you could jump over piles and you still cant do that in Madden. The juke move was sweet also. If only I could find Digital Sport review for this game. It was rated very high by many magazines and sites. Madden 98 had this thing called v-poly graphics standing for virtual polygons. Great marketing a new feature, naw the same old sprites. Did the technology environment change so much in the next year because Madden had a 3d polygon game in Madden 99 with a great franchise mode. This is the best example on why competition matters. GD98 sold very competitively relative to Madden 98 and by Madden 99 we had a much better game. With Gameday 98 the Madden series would have stayed sprite until the next generation. I could almost bet that GD 98 is much more playable than Madden sprite based game of 98. EA/big companies (ibm) dont move until they are pushed. Peace

I never thought Gameday was that good. In fact, I thought it was bad. Like a sim version of NFL Blitz.