This happens every year !!!

[Dienekes]

Guys you can watch videos all day but when it comes down to it you have to go by "feel". Let's just wait for it to get here and try it out for ourselves, thats all I am saying. Ultimately for 90% percent of us one game is going to be in the tray and one is going to gather dust, how we decide is going to based on how the game feels to us.

Man, if we could only take the two games and combine the things we like into one we would all be in heaven.

[SportsTop]

As I sit here reading these anti-Madden/anti-ESPN posts, I think back to the days of TECMO Bowl and Ten Yard Fight and I wonder if anything makes people like these complainers happy.

I can't believe there are complaints like these about video games I never thought I'd see 10-15 years ago.

ESPN is a visual masterpiece and its presentation is the best we've ever seen. So it may be a little buggy in its gameplay and the animation is a little herky-jerky for me. Big deal. It's still a work of art and something to appreciate.

Madden's gameplay and franchise mode are top-notch. The graphics aren't as incredible as ESPN's, but it does it really take away from what has been the one game that started the sports video game franchise as we know it today?

Gang tackling? "Mario running"? Come on. We can all sit here and pick apart ESPN as well, but why do it. These games are both purchase worthy in my book.

I've got an original thought......if you feel strong enough to take 20 minutes of your time blasting a game you haven't even played yet.....don't buy it, don't rent, don't borrow it, and surely don't play it.

But let me enjoy it!

[Kanobi]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dienekes

Man, if we could only take the two games and combine the things we like into one we would all be in heaven.

indeed.

[KymeraGB]

that was a great post and i agree with you 100%.

I was gonna trade ESPN in but im gonna wait to see if i like Madden this year. ESPN is a great game also. We should be glad we live in a age of gaming where we have a choice.

I also remember Tecmo Bowl and Nes Playaction Football. If you told me 15 yrs ago id see games like today id slap ya for being dumb. Just remember your roots guys, imagine if we were still playing Tecmo Superbowl instead of games like ESPN and Madden.....

[jordan0386]

isnt that whole argument tired...

espn/madden only games out...best at what they do...how can you not compare and contrast

is anybody really that offended...this is a message board

[grunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dapo

Every year, we wait for Madden and ESPN to come out with our expectations high. We read IGN’s annual review about the games. The always hype them up. We read impression from mods and the fortunate few that say its great. Everybody seems to forget that pre release is like waiting to open your Christmas present. You are so anxious. You cant wait to get your hands on the gift that its unhealthy then when you open the present its lose its excitement. Remember before ESPN came out, everybody said it was great. The reviews said “it will own your soul.”lol. Even SteveOS gave it a 5/5. Then the game came out and People started acting like VC just raped them. Yall need to understand that Nitpickers are game terrorists. They will find every bug and glitch. I have only experienced one glitch in ESPN and that’s the clipping bug. This is because I don’t expect to much and I don’t complain about every mistake made on a videogame. Nothing in life is perfect. What makes it most sad is Gamers think madden gameplay is going to be perfect. The perfect defense. Before ESPN came out and the first few days of gameplay, Everybody said the db Ai was great. Now they call it mentally cripple. At least you only see ESPN’s problems after you play the game. In the videos I have seen of madden, I still see Suction blocking, Mario running, flat pockets created by Oline, horrible..yes..horrible player interaction and tackling animation. How did I see this from just watching 40 minutes of game footage? Because I dont own rosy colored glasses. This is 2004 and the madden development team still cant program gang tackling. A 15 year dynasty cant figure out how make two defenders bring down a player. They make all that money and they still cant figure out how to make DB look back at ball yet IGN proclaims it has the best DB play ever. The richest company in the gaming industry with huge development team cant have pretty graphics and great presentation. Please don’t tell me presentation doesn’t matter. if a girl was butt ugly but had a great personality, would you date her… only if she was rich…lol. There is no excuse for madden to be stale. If EA created ESPN 2k5 and VC created Madden 2k5, which one will be better? Last year, Madden hyped Owners mode. They said it revolutionalize video gaming. Why are we not hearing about it now? What happened to that. This year, its storyline central. Please tell me what a radio show as to do with football. Its all fluff just like owners mode and the crib. In three months, Would you still be listening to Tony Bruno? If you think im full of sh*t then please tell me you are hyped to play owners mode this year. Then there is the hit stick. Which is actually great if it wasn’t hyped. First, I have never seen those “big hits” in real football. The defenders don’t even touch the floor when they hit. Are they allergic to grass? The only thing that was added that actually meant something was defensive hot routes but that shouldn’t be hyped either. After 15 years, that should already be in the game. Lets look at it this way. If ESPN wasn’t around, we will never have known graphics could look that good, players could have their real faces in the game, headtracking was possible, runningbacks could run differently (balance, power and finesse), and gang tackles. This is how it is going to be at release date. Everybody will come on here and declare Madden king just like they did with ESPN. The nitpickers aka Game terrorist will go to work. By Day 2, couple of bugs will be discovered and the masses will complain. Day 4, Game killers will be discovered. On like ESPN, We will let Madden slide and they wouldn’t fix it the next year. Mario running is a glitch, One person tackling is a glitch, suction blocking is a glitch but nobody complains about it but they could declare the clipping bug as a game killer. I CAN wait till Madden comes out. After seen the videos, there is nothing phenomenal about the game that will make me lose days of sleep. I will probably give it a rent. Its great that they improve the defense… but wait they said that last year.

Best post in a long time. I am going to buy all three, 2 down and 1 to go. I am happy that Madden improved their db ai but they could have done that years ago. They didnt need to improve their db ai because people kept buying their game. I mean the most hardcore football gamers worked their way around Madden poor db ai but cant do it for other football games and that NCAA included.

For those gamers that will get the "Collectors" edition please play a game of Madden from PS1 era. Check out the tackling and db ai. I was watching the video review on gamespot and notice similarities between the tackling system then and now. I never feltl that I or we get our money worth from EA sports. EA makes billions of dollars and should be able to kill VC but will just do enough to stay ahead or even. With that being said EB better have my game on Monday night.

Peace

[GHill]

The DB AI has ben fine for years, it's the QB accuracy that's always too good.

Personally, I'm sick of this debate. I'm also sick of hearing "maybe next year they'll fix it".

I grew up on 10 yard fight, today's Madden is amazing and I prefer it over ESPN because I can, and that's my choice.

[Blueballs]

I like Sega's game and EA's game equally, just in a different way. I guess I'm lucky to feel this way.