Next-gen sports gaming ruined for me...

[brudjazz]

Quote: Originally Posted by tmac2k3

I've been looking forward to the next-gen systems for quite some time. The battle of Madden vs. the 2K series was starting to heat up and then just like that, it's over. Madden and only Madden for the next 5 years is something that I just can't stomach. I still can't believe EA and the NFL have done this. I have little to no desire to buy a next-gen gaming system now. I used to buy NFL 2K and Madden on occassion. Now, I see myself buying nothing...lol. If NBA 2K6 really blows me away, nd there's a good lineup of launch games then I might consider getting XBOX2. But, I'm not as excited as I thought I would be heading into the next era of gaming. EA...thanks. You ruined it for me.

I think this belongs in the "Is it just me?" forum.

[BigTim]

quick, someone get him a tissue and call 9-wah-wah.

you whining, short-sighted, cant see the forest for the trees people are friggin hilarious.

[quietcool72]

Quote: Originally Posted by scamden311

Do you guys who work for EA get free games and stuff?

Nah, we just tend to post in the right forum- instead of trying to ruin someone elses forum area with daily posts about how the very rotation of the earth changed on Dec. 10th 2004, or that we are somehow living in the end-times because of it.

[Victory]

Well, I don't know about sports games in general but I have reservations about what next gen gaming is going to be like. Several things have me down. First is the fact that niether console will have a harddrive standard. I know that the graphics and all on the next gen will be awesome but at what point does this reach the point of diminishing return. Graphics are great now. What games need more of now is detail and more options for customization to do things your own way. And detail requires the use of a harddrive. And as we have seen in this gen developers don't bother to put stuff in the game that can't be used by everyone. I was really hoping HDs would be standard. Look at ESPN football 2K5. This is the only sports game in this gen that actually made use of the XBOX HD. The presentation was much better than Madden because of it. (The passing of ESPN is lower down my list of concerns. I like Madden just as much but ESPN had it all over Madden in the presentation category.)

Perhaps the thing that scares me the most is this talk of micro-charges. I am not into massively multiplayer RPG but this is always the type of game that I think of when I hear this. Like I said I am hoping to see more detail and customization. So hear is a possibility I can imagine. Design your own outfit to wear. Download a template form the game website and use photoshop or something to design your own look. The kicker is to get this into the online world you might be charged, say, $2.00. Not horrible. It would be nice if you could do it for free but this is better than nothing. (You could also do something like design your own uniform in a sports game and save the file for your own use on your HD. What? No HD? Well, maybe we won't bother to put this in the game just yet. It would take up too much space on a Memory Card. People might not use it.)

Now here is where my thoughts get more disturbing.
Buy this super sword for use in the online world for $2.00 of real money.
2 weeks later: NEW! Armor with invulnerabilty to the super sword! $3.00
2 weeks later: NEW! Sword that does double damage to someone wearing said above armor! $5.00
2 weeks later: NEW! Armor that paralyzes the user of above sword if they hit you with it! $10.00

etc., etc., etc.

I am a true geek that has always loved and new gadgets. I still don't own a cell phone. When a cell company can tell me calls are X cents a minute or charges are X amount a month no matter what then I might be interested. With all the possible extra charges and signed contracts I always feel like I would be renting the phone form the cell company. I want new gadgets to give me more control of my own life and not give control of my life to someone else. This is where I am afraid gaming is headed. Every new piece of news makes me feel like I am going to be treated more like a renter than an owner.

[tmac2k3]

It's true. I'm a sports/football geek. I bought a genesis for bulls vs. lakers. I bought playstation 1 because of Gameday. I bought Dreamcast because of NFL 2K....ps2 for Madden. You get the picture. I buy videogame systems for their sports games, which is why I never owned a N64 or gamecube. I could see if this deal was for 1 or 2 years, but 5 years...lol.

Based on the improvements of 2K football year in and year out, I thought they would surely pass Madden in the next-generation of consoles. The biggest thing for me that comes with next-gen systems is the improvements in graphics. But, this is not one of EA's strong points. They STILL, to this day, haven't gotten the whole player proportion thing down (big heads, small bodies). But, I admit, I got over that with time. And, I always had the option of buying 2K, which always had the more realistic graphics, so it was no big deal. I ended up buyingn both games some years, or just 2K. Blame me for looking forward to seeing what kind of visuals the 2K team could create with a system as powerful as XBOX2. It's apparent that EA wasn't looking forward to it.

What makes things worse is EA's habit of porting over Madden from ps2 to XBOX. I don't see how this will change with XBOX2. Going by EA's history, they'll most likely revamp the ps2 version of Madden for XBOX2 and then come out with a fully redesigned next-gen version for PS3. That's just how they do business with Microsoft for some reason. But, I will stop whining and complaining...after all, there's always basketball. I might as well make the complete switch and get back to NBA League Pass and ditch Sunday Ticket. The NFL could learn a thing or two from the NBA on how to not alienate your biggest fans.

[quietcool72]

Quote: Originally Posted by tmac2k3

It's true. I'm a sports/football geek. I bought a genesis for bulls vs. lakers. I bought playstation 1 because of Gameday. I bought Dreamcast because of NFL 2K....ps2 for Madden. You get the picture. I buy videogame systems for their sports games, which is why I never owned a N64 or gamecube. I could see if this deal was for 1 or 2 years, but 5 years...lol. Based on the improvements of 2K football year in and year out, I thought they would surely pass Madden in the next-generation of consoles. The biggest thing for me that comes with next-gen systems is the improvements in graphics. But, this is not one of EA's strong points. They STILL, to this day, haven't gotten the whole player proportion thing down (big heads, small bodies). But, I admit, I got over that with time. And, I always had the option of buying 2K, which always had the more realistic graphics, so it was no big deal. I ended up buyingn both games some years, or just 2K. Blame me for looking forward to seeing what kind of visuals the 2K team could create with a system as powerful as XBOX2. It's apparent that EA wasn't looking forward to it. What makes things worse is EA's habit of porting over Madden from ps2 to XBOX. I don't see how this will change with XBOX2. Going by EA's history, they'll most likely revamp the ps2 version of Madden for XBOX2 and then come out with a fully redesigned next-gen version for PS3. That's just how they do business with Microsoft for some reason. But, I will stop whining and complaining...after all, there's always basketball. I might as well make the complete switch and get back to NBA League Pass and ditch Sunday Ticket. The NFL could learn a thing or two from the NBA on how to not alienate your biggest fans.

You make some good points. But remember- statistically speaking, and sales-speaking, the NFL did not alienate its biggest fans. They awarded the license to the highest bidder, but also the bidder that sold the most copies of its game by a wide margin- year in and year out- like it or not.

I'm no fan of exclusivity, but these are the cars we have been dealt. May as well hope for the best, instead of canceling subscriptions based on the surmised failures of a game nobody has seen yet.

[scamden311]

Quote: Originally Posted by quietcool72

Nah, we just tend to post in the right forum- instead of trying to ruin someone elses forum area with daily posts about how the very rotation of the earth changed on Dec. 10th 2004, or that we are somehow living in the end-times because of it.

T-shirts at least?

[quietcool72]

Quote: Originally Posted by scamden311

T-shirts at least?

I told you- we get FREE EA SPORTS TOASTERS and free copies of "Catwoman" for XBOX & PS2 with every pro EA post we make.

But wait!

Visual Concepts has the same type of incentive program? You didn't know that? Yeah, if you post 100 positive posts about NFL 2K5, Visual Concepts send you an updated version of the game where SPY works, franchise isn't broken, hot double team safeties always move into position before the play, no 3-4 defense franchise stat bugs exist, and mid range post/fades aren't such gimme routes.

It's called "ESPN NFL 2K5 Playtested Edition."

better call Chau and Atwood and tell them they owe you a copy because of your positive VC posts and anti-EA posts.

EA must have intercepted the package that they probably sent to you.

It's part of EA's evil plan, don't you know:
Let's review:

1. First, Tagliabue was brainwashed in mid 2004 by EA, because how could he ever approve a contract to the highest bidder, and to a developer who makes games for EVERY game system, and sells far more than the number 2 bidder? Clearly- he must of been of his rocker.

2. IGN is a puppet arm of EA, paid large sums to distribute pro-Madden propaganda to feed their fascist goals of world domination. They use a curious technique of backward masking on their website, and if you hit the back button at IGN fast enough, you'll see a brief text message that says "We Are EA. Resistance Is Futile. Assimilate."

3. QB Spy worked in NFL 2K5 as long as you typed in the secret Konami code from "Contra" (up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-BA-START) at the crib screen. The rest of us were just too dumb to realize it.

4. EA produced a hunter-seeker program to deliberately penetrate the CPUs of even the offline game systems running NFL 2K. This program would totally screw up ESPN's AI to AI trade logic in franchises, as well as cause several draft and penalty bugs. That same devious hunter-seeker program has been handicapping the NFL 2K series for several years, making it default to the same offensive/defensive playbooks from 3 years ago. This program also gave ESPN NFL 2K5 the same bad AI defense against posts and fades that Madden 2003 had.

5. EA hacked the computer network of Visual Concepts back in July, causing their automated systems to press, seal, and ship many thousands of copies of NFL 2K5 before they were playtested at all. VC just had to roll with a story of "We released it early" to cover the obvious embarrassment of the EA hack-effort.

6. EA sent a spy in the form of a pizza delivery man (who was really Madden producer Jeremy Strauser) to sneak in VC's offices and "ghost program" the abilities of the Kansas City pass defense into ALL of the corners and DBs in the NFL 2K5 game. He also programmed left offensive tackles to forget to block RDEs on 1 out of every 4 plays from scrimmage.

(That's one devious pizza delivery man. Strauser is sneaky like that.)

..this after sneaking into the offices of VC in 03/04 and re-rating all HBs to have Earl Campbell/Christian Okoye-like abilities.

7. EA bribed Chris Berman with a lifetime supply of beer and wings to help push the ESPN to EA deal. They also provided Michael Irvin with a lifetime supply of pimp-gear a-la "Huggy Bear" from Starsky & Hutch. The deal was then sealed immediately.