When did EA jump the shark?

[mvb34]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blahzie

Are you serious? {insert Dicky V voiceover here}

Answer the question

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by mvb34

Like?

Blocking, CB and Safety play, running game in between the blocks, presentation, scripted animations, tackling, poor collision detection... should I continue?

I'll tell you... what's odd is that some of those things are issues in NCAA as well... but for some odd reason, do not feel as prevalent as they do in Madden. Overall... the game is just... BLAH. There is no emotion... ANYWHERE. NOTHING mimics an actual NFL broadcast. Where is the excitement when playing this game? NBA 2k7 has shown you can represent a sport very, very well while offering great gameplay. I would love to get a football game that has the incredible number of things you see in 2k7... every game feels fresh. You see animations that you swear you've never seen before all the time... and you just don't have that in Madden. It's the same handful of things over... and over... and over... and over... the game feels VERY stale and dated, despite the graphics being the best ever.

[Graphik]

Quote: Originally Posted by USF11

The inclusion of Online Play ruined madden. The game's AI and lack of a physics system has been abused to the point were the game is unplayable.

I dont think online play had anything to do with it. It certainly made the priorities of the devs change but when has EAs online service been anything worth mentioning. Hell, just about every PC game invented had some type of online play so the inclusion of online play to consoles was simply a matter of catching up with the times.

Besides, EA Sports games were always geared for multiplayer moreso than versus the AI. In each of those 16 bit games I named, each one of them had braindead AI. It was'nt a thing to score 160 points easily and beat the cpu by 100 on NBA Live. It was nothing to break records and score at will using many of Maddens money plays. In baseball, we're just getting to the point in console history where the cpu actually steals and bunts realistically. And we all remember the guaranteed quick wrist shot through the AI-goalies 5 hole in NHL 95. All these money plays and ways to take advantage of the AI is the main reason why comeback code, rubber band AI and cheat logic exsist. EA's goal is'nt really to make super AI because thier core fanbase is to busy playing H2H matchups. Us 'chiserz' are still in the minority.

[DaveDQ]

I don't believe there was a time where their creativity and skill in making a solid simulation football game ceased. I believe that the more sophisticated games became, the more pressured they were to deliver a true simulation experience.

It is then where I believe EA's philospohy of development had a defining moment and decided to go with making a game that reached the broader "casual/arcade" audience, and by doing so, the game did not meet expectations (for those wanting a true NFL experience). They simply stayed put with what they had, and didn't do much innovation for about 10 years.

[Seahawk76]

Quote: Originally Posted by dQbell

I don't believe there was a time where their creativity and skill in making a solid simulation football game ceased. I believe that the more sophisticated games became, the more pressured they were to deliver a true simulation experience. It is then where I believe EA's philospohy of development had a defining moment and decided to go with making a game that reached the broader "casual/arcade" audience, and by doing so, the game did not meet expectations (for those wanting a true NFL experience). They simply stayed put with what they had, and didn't do much innovation for about 10 years.

Madden 07 is still selling like hotcakes so who are we to argue that EA didn't make the right choice to cater to the casual/arcade audience? Hard core sports gamers like us can talk all we want about EA jumping the shark but they aren't going to care as long as the game is flying off the shelves.

[DaveDQ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seahawk76

Madden 07 is still selling like hotcakes so who are we to argue that EA didn't make the right choice to cater to the casual/arcade audience? Hard core sports gamers like us can talk all we want about EA jumping the shark but they aren't going to care as long as the game is flying off the shelves.

I agree with everything you said. It's all about what sells the product.

[grunt]

Madden 98.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Graphik

I've said this all along: EA has never changed. They've never "jumped the shark" so to speak. They've remained consistent in how they produce games from their beggining. The thing is, is that now, they've just simply fallen behind times and refuse to change the formula in which made them successful in the first place. For any company to remain successful for decades or even centuries, your formula must stay the same. , EA could possibly be around like companies like Ford and Coke. These companies have survived on a "if it aint broke, dont fix it" style of business stratergy for almost a century.

I agree w/much of your post. But I do think there's a point EA changed their philosophy, and that was with Madden 2004. I think that was the Michael Vick year, the year they seemed to focus more on the marketing aspect of Madden than representing the game of football itself. Focusing the gameplay on Vick totally threw the gameplay off and affected the game for years afterward. Up to that date, Madden was standing out in a competitive field legitimately - VC suffered from trying to make itself into EA, and 989's games dropped off from a lack of focus on the games themselves. The Vick year was also when VC dropped 2K5, and it seemed EA became more concerned with protecting it's market share rather than earning it

EDIT - Vick was Madden 2004 not 2005