Madden at Crossroads?

[Kevin26385]

I wont be to angry with no gang tackles

If it makes it any better, we wont have to wait as long for Madden 07. which will hopefully have it

[qdas]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that the best madden ever will be the one released the year before the NFLPA exclusivity deal ends. So.... let's just be patient till then.

[MachoMyers]

Heck wasn't Sony's Gameday franchise number one at one point, where did they end up?

[TheProfessional]

Quote: Originally Posted by RubenDouglas

we all say, "oh it doesnt matter.. the casual's will still buy it no matter what." you know what guys, it may be a time to take a stand and just dont buy it? but whos actually strong enough, will power wise, to do that? noone. its a nonstop cycle.. everyone buys and then complains. EA cares about sales and every year you have the what if's right before launch, and everyone still buys regardless. my point is, i think its foolish to single out casual fans for buying a "lackluster" product, when we're doing the SAME thing every year.

I agree with your point there. In order for any change to occur on any level the cyclical nature of things needs to be broken.

The cycle being that EA gives us just enough to keep coming back year after year, but not a fully realized product. I don't blame EA for this either, because of the cyclical nature of the business cycle. Its hard to do everything that needs to be done to to deadlines and marketing and whatever else. But we've all learned that it is possible for this cycle to be broken and EA has certainly shown us it is more than capable of delivering a top notch product when pushed to do so.

I think the worst thing, even worse than Madden going in the toilet, is for EA to keep churning out a mediocre to good game. Because we'll continue to get what we get now....a decent game that can be fun, but never something that will live up to its potential.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by RubenDouglas

we all say, "oh it doesnt matter.. the casual's will still buy it no matter what." you know what guys, it may be a time to take a stand and just dont buy it? but whos actually strong enough, will power wise, to do that? noone. its a nonstop cycle.. everyone buys and then complains. EA cares about sales and every year you have the what if's right before launch, and everyone still buys regardless. my point is, i think its foolish to single out casual fans for buying a "lackluster" product, when we're doing the SAME thing every year.

I dont buy it. I havent bought a Madden in 4 yrs. The point is casual fans dont think this game is "lackluster". They enjoy it because they dont obsess over suction blocking or gang tackling or hunchback player models.

[CM Hooe]

Maybe I'm a little loco, but it would seem to me that if Madden were to go into a cycle of increasing complaints from the fanbase, regardless how little of a percentage of their total Madden sales we the complainers make up, the programmers of the game that may read these criticisms would eventually be motivated to improve the game simply from a pride standpoint. No one can honestly say that they like to have to have their work kicked around by reviewers like its nothing special.

[NCHelix]

As for those not seeing the MASSIVE jump in gameplay as is the norm with a new generation of gaming in Madden, need to remember that the release time between this generation and the last is much closer than usual.

The gap between the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 was 6 years, which is pretty standard.

The gap between the Xbox and the Xbox 360 was just 4 years.

That is shaving the normal extra 2 years in technological advances that you normally get with the new generation.

[TheProfessional]

Quote: Originally Posted by NCHelix

As for those not seeing the MASSIVE jump in gameplay as is the norm with a new generation of gaming in Madden, need to remember that the release time between this generation and the last is much closer than usual. The gap between the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 was 6 years, which is pretty standard. The gap between the Xbox and the Xbox 360 was just 4 years. That is shaving the normal extra 2 years in technological advances that you normally get with the new generation.

You're talking about the time between hardware releases...not actual game development... TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS