BE Honest- NCAA 08 is better and you Know It!

[QB16]

I like NCAA but to me Madden '08 is the real deal this year. NCAA does some things better, but Madden has been stepped up and a 2K fan like myself can actually enjoy it now.

All 3 football games have been fun this year. Each having their problems, but clearly EA is picking up on the effort. I believe it has to do with the other guys coming back to market. Now with those other guys looking less likely to come back next year, you just have to hope that EA's football games don't go down the crapper again.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by QB16

All 3 football games have been fun this year. Each having their problems, but clearly EA is picking up on the effort. I believe it has to do with the other guys coming back to market. Now with those other guys looking less likely to come back next year, you just have to hope that EA's football games don't go down the crapper again.

I don't think APF was a factor in their improvement. I think more time with the hardware was one factor but the really big factor was that this is a huge transition time. They could afford to make a substandard product on next gen last year since the bulk of their market was still past gen. This is the first year the market has changed to where the bulk are buying next gen and they had to improve the product to maintain their profits.

I do think next year will be really good as they have had time to learn the new hardware, finally get a solid foundation in place and they can really improve on some things to make it a really good game. EA usually takes forever on the new systems to get their games right. Usually the third time is the charm (although it will be the 4th version for Madden on the 360).

[QB16]

I wish I could agree, but I can't because the facts tell a different story. EA's every move since 2K5 rocked their market share has proven that they are always concerned with 2K's presence in the market. This cannot be discounted.

The "more time with the hardware argument" is nice company line from EA, but it bothers me when I hear gamers believing it. While there is no question that more time will produce better results, there are a number of things in Madden 08 that took a step backwards from a technology standpoint, and other things that could have been implemented before and had nothing to do with hardware inexperience. So because of that, the argument doesn't hold any water. Much of what they did this year was possible in previous years, they just suddenly chose this year to make use of it... the same year 2K just happens to return. Rewind to 2004 when Madden 2005 included a bunch of new wrinkles in anticipation of the monster 2K was about to release in 2K5, and a subsequent price drop after 2K moved weight in sales early.

These things didn't happen coincidentally. If 2K doesn't come back and come back harder, expect the Madden series to return to its stagnant pre-'08 form.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by QB16

I wish I could agree, but I can't because the facts tell a different story. EA's every move since 2K5 rocked their market share has proven that they are always concerned with 2K's presence in the market. This cannot be discounted. The "more time with the hardware argument" is nice company line from EA, but it bothers me when I hear gamers believing it.

"More time with the hardware" is part truth and part convenient excuse. I don't disagree with that part at all and don't think EA should be given a free pass on that. I didn't make the jump to next gen until this year in large part because the EA football games were not worth it yet. However, I don't think EA really feared APF. I really think they were focused on getting their core audience to make the leap from the PS2. They were competing more with themselves than with 2K.