Thank God there is another Madden coming out this year!

[HMcCoy]

Quote: Originally Posted by pistoldill

The hardcore gamers, which I consider myself a part of that whole deal and have for years, need to get over themselves. In the grand scheme of things, you're just fifty bucks. People think they are so vital to this whole deal, and in reality, they just are self important tools who don't understand that video games aren't made to be these glorious things that they envision. It's about making money.

The saddest part about that loooooooooong but well-written post is that you, my friend have been programmed to "swallow". I really feel sorry for anyone that's been hammered with pitiful, incremental changes for so long, that they've not only accepted it, but actually believe that its the industry standard. Uhhh, no its not. What if every GTA was exactly the same...but with a few more cars? What if Halo had the exact same 2-player maps, but added 2-3 new guns? Those are both lucrative franchises, and they both attempt to innovate their product. And the fact that Madden comes out every year is no excuse, as some smaller dev teams have completely re-tooled their games in that yearly cycle. Look at both NBA Live and MVP Baseball...both have made significant strides.

Some game companies take their early adopter fanbase very seriously.

[MVPlaya]

Quote: Originally Posted by HMcCoy

The saddest part about that loooooooooong but well-written post is that you, my friend have been programmed to "swallow". I really feel sorry for anyone that's been hammered with pitiful, incremental changes for so long, that they've not only accepted it, but actually believe that its the industry standard. Uhhh, no its not. What if every GTA was exactly the same...but with a few more cars? What if Halo had the exact same 2-player maps, but added 2-3 new guns? Those are both lucrative franchises, and they both attempt to innovate their product. And the fact that Madden comes out every year is no excuse, as some smaller dev teams have completely re-tooled their games in that yearly cycle. Look at both NBA Live and MVP Baseball...both have made significant strides. Some game companies take their early adopter fanbase very seriously.

lol first, who are you to tell someone what they have been programmed to? The only thing I see is that you've been programmed with hatred. Madden 04 and Madden 06 have different graphics to begin with.

Comparing games like GTA, Halo...shooting games...action games is not valid and holds absolutely NO WEIGHT in your point. Madden comes out every is an excuse. Comparing GTA and Halo...etc has no logic to it, as it comes out every how many years? And those games demand more new features. They have much more time to retest the game and build. Madden comes out every single year...if that's not an excuse what is. It seems like you are looking for a BRAND NEW GAME WITH A WHOLE NEW ENGINE.

NBA Live and MVP Baseball don't make significant strides as you speak of. MVP Baseball this year is very similar to last year but it was tweaked to almost perfection. NBA Live...it's very similar every year.

Quote:

Some game companies take their early adopter fanbase very seriously.

The fact that you listed MVP Baseball and NBA Live as examples of signifacant strides, and THAT is your following statement truly shows that you are not thinking, but only posting in hatred. NBA Live and MVP Baseball are both made by EA...LOL@ you. :y4:

[caero]

To be perfectly honest with anyone hyping this game, let alone this series, since Madden 2000 or 2001, the game is just a mere update. It's the same engine. It's the same graphics. It's the same gameplay wit just a few minor tweaks and additions.

I really don't understand why people get so pissed off from a 8.2 review when real reviewers have given the game about 65-75% for the last 3-4 years. Why? because the game is the perfect example of the term cash cow for Tiburon. They knew that the game would sell no matter what (yes for some reason consumers of football games are just that naive it seems) because they had a product that was basically the only on the market, and they had a name for this product that would lure even moms and dads to buy the game as they had about this Madden guy, so it had to be a great product hadn't it?

And just to quote what I said in a thread on another board about reviews and the pricing.

What they (Tiburon) need to do is go and format all of their computers they develop on so they don't reuse the same 5 year old engine every year...

I mean the way that the game works physically and how its game engine lets you interact with other models is something that was used before the new millenium. It's of course a great feat to have an engine that has survived this long. But it's really not because it's a game engine that is in any way great at what it does. Everything seems scripted and almost like the players a just big floating squares moving around this 2D field bumping into each other and thus invoking some prescripted animation.

If you look at most any other 3d action game being released in the last 12-24 months they have so much more to offer just in their physics engine alone (and yes the xbox hardware can handle it. HL2 can run on a ****ty 800Mhz computer and still have ragdoll physics). Also the shading and lighting in Madden is something that reminds me of one of the old conceptual demos from 3DFX (The old 3d card maker from 8 years or so ago). Games today (again looking at recent games like HL2, doom3 or F.E.A.R.) have so much more to offer in this regard that builds up a much more intense atmosphere.

The Audio in madden has gotten worse over the last 2-3 years. I really think they have cut a lot away, especially player introductions etc etc, before the match.

I might be a bit harsh when saying this but paying full price for Madden 2006 is the worst case of ripping people off for what on the PC would just have been an update that could be downloaded as a patch for almost any other game. Just look at a game like Starcraft. It was released in 1998, people still play it to death and the developer (even though being very busy with World of Warcraft and the sequel to both Diablo and Starcraft) still releases updates, bug fixes and addons for free. If Tiburon was just half as good at developing games as Blizzard was we would already be playing nextgen Madden, just not on the nextgen systems, but on our current ones. Nuff said.

[globalbeats7]

Quote: Originally Posted by USF11

This years madden is nearly unplayable, NCAA 2006 is light years ahead of madden in terms of gameplay. How many years in a row can madden go without any crowd atomsphere to speak of? The Speed of the game feels off, and the pre snap controls have gotten to a point where theres no way to make all your adjustments b4 your oppent snaps the ball. I love how NCAA put all the moves on the right stick, yet madden only added the back juke and truck stick. The right stick is also useless when playing as a d-lineman. On a side note I do enjoy the cone of vision, but I wish the velocity of passes was higher. Most importantly Madden has seen very very minimal changes which leads me to believe one thing EA put a majority of their resources behind Madden 360. I can't wait till november and I have NCAA to hold me over till then while my copy of Madden 2006 begins to collect dust.

what makes you think that they are putting their resources into madden 360? when will people realize each madden is an expansion pack from the previous year.

[globalbeats7]

Quote: Originally Posted by GrandVizier

well put. but i would expect that, even if their creative ambition doesn't get them there, EA's business side probably has enough sense to know the importance of Next Gen. especially since it's for xbox. we know EA has thrived more on the PS2 than on Microsoft's console. they want to get in good right away with owners of the new xbox. (at least i'd think they would want to) plus, if it rocks, they get $60 more out of everyone who already spent $50 on it for PS2 or xbox. now that i think of it, maybe it's brilliant. if Madden '06 was awesome, we wouldn't turn around and buy next gen. good going EA. that's kinda smart.

whaaaa? dood, that is not a good marketing strategy. no, its NOT smart.

[USF11]

EA can't afford to start their next gen game on a bad note.

[coogrfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Havok410

JESUS.....here we go again. Everytime I critisize someone's BS posts and point out that they are just plain ol' haters, someone always says this. How many times do I have to say that I am a bigger 2k/VC fan? I rather play Nfl2k5 then Madden 05. I'm not a EA homer. Hell, I even liked 989 sports' baseball game better then Ea's. Im just seeing plain hating. THE GAME HAS BEEN OUT FOR 1 DAY and people are saying "Ncaa '06 is better" (Madden has TONS more options, and I mean TONS, then Ncaa and the lame deep balls aren't present.....how is it better????) or "this game is unplayable. It obvious these morons have nothing better to do then make these BS threads just because they either A.)SUCK AT THIS GAME and don't want to take the time to improve or B.)Just have a vendetta against EA. This game isn't perfect but it sure as hell isn't "unplayable" unless your a casual gamer who hates challenges. *Waits for the daily "Does EA pay you?" and "Stop riding Ea's jock" followed by the "Its been a DAY!! and This GAme is UNPLayable!!1111"*

...

[cman321]

Quote: Originally Posted by caero

To be perfectly honest with anyone hyping this game, let alone this series, since Madden 2000 or 2001, the game is just a mere update. It's the same engine. It's the same graphics. It's the same gameplay wit just a few minor tweaks and additions. I really don't understand why people get so pissed off from a 8.2 review when real reviewers have given the game about 65-75% for the last 3-4 years. Why? because the game is the perfect example of the term cash cow for Tiburon. They knew that the game would sell no matter what (yes for some reason consumers of football games are just that naive it seems) because they had a product that was basically the only on the market, and they had a name for this product that would lure even moms and dads to buy the game as they had about this Madden guy, so it had to be a great product hadn't it? And just to quote what I said in a thread on another board about reviews and the pricing. What they (Tiburon) need to do is go and format all of their computers they develop on so they don't reuse the same 5 year old engine every year... I mean the way that the game works physically and how its game engine lets you interact with other models is something that was used before the new millenium. It's of course a great feat to have an engine that has survived this long. But it's really not because it's a game engine that is in any way great at what it does. Everything seems scripted and almost like the players a just big floating squares moving around this 2D field bumping into each other and thus invoking some prescripted animation. If you look at most any other 3d action game being released in the last 12-24 months they have so much more to offer just in their physics engine alone (and yes the xbox hardware can handle it. HL2 can run on a ****ty 800Mhz computer and still have ragdoll physics). Also the shading and lighting in Madden is something that reminds me of one of the old conceptual demos from 3DFX (The old 3d card maker from 8 years or so ago). Games today (again looking at recent games like HL2, doom3 or F.E.A.R.) have so much more to offer in this regard that builds up a much more intense atmosphere. The Audio in madden has gotten worse over the last 2-3 years. I really think they have cut a lot away, especially player introductions etc etc, before the match. I might be a bit harsh when saying this but paying full price for Madden 2006 is the worst case of ripping people off for what on the PC would just have been an update that could be downloaded as a patch for almost any other game. Just look at a game like Starcraft. It was released in 1998, people still play it to death and the developer (even though being very busy with World of Warcraft and the sequel to both Diablo and Starcraft) still releases updates, bug fixes and addons for free. If Tiburon was just half as good at developing games as Blizzard was we would already be playing nextgen Madden, just not on the nextgen systems, but on our current ones. Nuff said.

excellent post. However, can you blame EA. EA has a market cap that dwarfs creative and hardworking companies like Blizzard. EA is all about maximizing their profits. What can be more profitable than to put out the same game w/ tweaks year after year and sell 5 million copies. If the lemmings continue to buy up your stuff, I would do the same thing. Blame the consumer for not demanding more.