The Madden 360 Positivity Thread

[VanillaGorilla]

What is with all the negativity around here? Geez people, can't you try to think positive for once? Sure, the new Madden for 360 might not be "teh greatest game evar", but it will be solid no less. Given EA's track record, how can anyone expect this game to be terrible? Let's take a look at each games review ratio on GameRankings, going all the way back to the first Madden on the PSOne:

1997: 79.6
1998: 84.2
1999: 84.4
2000: 86.5
2001 (PS2): 89.4 (This was a LAUNCH game, and it almost broke "A" status)
2002: 91.5
2003: 91.4
2004: 90.3
2005: 90.3
2006: 85.6

See that? Basically, in the last 10 years, you can argue that EA has yet to put out a "Bad" Madden. I know that might not seem like much, but the way people around here are talking, it sounds like they expect this game to be in the 60-75 percent range.

And just like IGN said, EA is fully aware of the problems with their game. They aren't stupid. A lot of you might think they are, but they aren't. EA knows that even the casual fans will be left with a bad taste in their mouths if Madden 260 is subpar. Contary to what you all might think, EA didn't get to the top by making crappy games and marketing them to idiots who will buy them every year. For the most part, EA makes very good games, and given their track record with the Madden franchise, I am inclined to believe that they will put out, at the very least, another "very good" version of Madden, this time, for the 360.

I don't subscribe to the theory of "But EA has no competition, so Madden doesn't need to get better." I disagree. EA and Madden have never competed against the 2K football games. Madden competes for the top of the OVERALL games sales chart, not just the football game charts. EA WILL improve the game, because it competes with all games in general, not just other football games.

[Mikejones1964]

Madden 2004 and madden 2005 = Bad Madden IMO...Likely the two most glitch filled games ever produced by Tiburon.

On a more positive note Madden 2006 is IMO the best OVERALL football game ever produced by EA or any other company.

[seanmac]

I thought every Madden up until 2000 on the PSOne was pretty shaky, myself. In any event, I'm feeling reasonably good about Madden 360, good enough to drop $450 that I absolutely don't have. What's encouraging is that most of the lukewarm previews from mainstream gaming sites stress things like the lack of Superstar mode. But I could care less about anything that doesn't relate to the actual gameplay. When I start hearing that it plays terribly, I'll get concerned.

[Spin]

alot of us just want the best they can offer, and we expect not to see the same BS in the Next Gen Madden that we've seen the past 5 yrs in the current gen.

[Skyboxer]

Those rankings don't mean crap IMO. Rankings of any game from sports to fps are not the same as they once were. With the increasing popularity year after year of video games, the industry as a whole has brought in more and more people. Back "in the day" there were a select few who did reviews etc and those reviews IMO were more reliable. Nowadays we have everyone giving reviews. We have people reviewing games who at the beginning of the review even sometimes state they hate the genre of game they are about to review.
Anyways I just don't think you can compare reviews with each other unless the reviews themselves have a common denominator, being the reviewer. I could review Halo and give it a 9.0 because the game and genre is what I like. The following year another person who might not be excited about fps games can review Halo2 and give it a 8.0. Does it make sense then to say the Halo series has fallen behind?
Just my .02

[VanillaGorilla]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

Those rankings don't mean crap IMO. Rankings of any game from sports to fps are not the same as they once were. With the increasing popularity year after year of video games, the industry as a whole has brought in more and more people. Back "in the day" there were a select few who did reviews etc and those reviews IMO were more reliable. Nowadays we have everyone giving reviews. We have people reviewing games who at the beginning of the review even sometimes state they hate the genre of game they are about to review. Anyways I just don't think you can compare reviews with each other unless the reviews themselves have a common denominator, being the reviewer. I could review Halo and give it a 9.0 because the game and genre is what I like. The following year another person who might not be excited about fps games can review Halo2 and give it a 8.0. Does it make sense then to say the Halo series has fallen behind? Just my .02

Yes, but with the overall volume of reviews, it balances out. On one hand, you'll have a Madden fanboy give it a nice score, and then you'll get the 2K fanboy who will can it just because he hates EA.

[spankdatazz22]

I don't think anyone's trying to be overly harsh on Madden. But c'mon. EA seems to be putting out more information about NBA Live 360 than they are about Madden 360. That doesn't look good. When they give information worthy of praise they'll get praise. Do you really want people talking about the good times of '89 at this point?

And it's hard to judge those review numbers year by year; the reviews are definitely skewed. Madden '06 rated below 2002-2005? Again, seems like they got some backlash for the exclusivity deal and having somewhat fluff reviews in the past.

[VanillaGorilla]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

I don't think anyone's trying to be overly harsh on Madden. But c'mon. EA seems to be putting out more information about NBA Live 360 than they are about Madden 360. That doesn't look good. When they give information worthy of praise they'll get praise. Do you really want people talking about the good times of '89 at this point? And it's hard to judge those review numbers year by year; the reviews are definitely skewed. Madden '06 rated below 2002-2005? Again, seems like they got some backlash for the exclusivity deal and having somewhat fluff reviews in the past.

Maybe EA is withholding info because they know the game, in it's early states, was rough around the edges? I would much rather not hear anything at all about a 70% done Madden and then see it at 95% for the first time, than see a whole bunch of videos of the game looking like crap in an early build. Why do you think Square is so secretive of ALL their games, most of them probably look like junk in their incomplete stages.