Why are people so sensitive and personally invested?

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

Again, I don't accept that. When 2k and Gameday and QB club were around there were still massive game wars... there's more to it than just "they're the only game in town." There has to be. That more is what I'm looking for.

For me personally, it is the exclusive.

I played Madden in the old, old days of SNES and even N64, but when I got a PS2, I felt that 2K was the better game. I became addicted to 2K. But every year, I'd always buy Madden first, because I wanted to give it a shot. But every year, I ended up just trading it in for 2K, because 2K was better (in my book). 2K5 was the first year I didn't even bother with buying Madden. I became more addicted to NFL 2K5 more than I did with any sports game, and to this day, it's the most invested I've been in a franchise mode. When EA bought the exclusive rights because NFL 2K was offering up competition, I was pissed off, because now if I wanted NFL football, I *HAD* to buy the video game that I hadn't liked for the past 3-4 years.

I don't like what Madden offers as a football video game, but they didn't want to deal with competition so now I don't have a choice. That's why Madden is so polarizing for me.

If there was no exclusive deal, and I could buy the football game I wanted, I'd just completely ignore Madden, the way I did EA's NBA title. It wouldn't polarize me. I'd just ignore it completely.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

Ok, every year I want to love Madden. I enjoyed 10 more than 11 for whatever reason- even though I will concede that most think 11 is a superior title. Before that, I played last gen. I'm pretty excited for M12 I understand there's only one choice for the NFL. I understand that people think there was a better title over half a decade ago. I want to love every game I play, and am disappointed when I don't. But my question is, why do people take Madden so seriously??/!!! Over the years, this has been the most heated forum- many posts sounding like someone insulted your mom or wife or something. In the end it's just a video game, right? And I spend A LOT of time playing video games... so what do you attribute it's "hot button " game status to? Please, be civil... and try to go deeper than "EA is corrupt and screwed gamers with the exclusive, etc." Think along the lines of "What made this game a cultural icon to begin with... and when did it happen?"

I haven't read the other posts in this thread, as I wanted to give my own perspective on this.

I think part of it is that a lot of guys that primarily play sports games have "grown up" on Madden, so to speak. I know for me, I recall playing Madden with my buddies on our Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles back in junior high, then progressing to the Playstation in High School/College and the PS2 towards the end of college.

The fact that this game comes out every 12 months, and again, a large portion of the games' fan base has been with the game 10-plus years, leads to very high expectations. Since we associate this game with our youth, we tend to look more fondly on past titles, while blocking out some of the glaring faults.

By this point, we all have a pretty good idea of what Madden is going to look like, so it's easier to pick out the faults and the good things the game does don't mean as much because heck, we've been enjoying the game for decades and the "wow" factor that you get from "new" games isn't the same with yearly sports releases. For example, take a game like Batman: Arkham City. Looks freakin' amazing. It will have that "wow" factor because it's been 2 years since the last game was released, leaving gamers who loved the first game anticipating the next game. With Madden, we expect the game every 12 months, so it's never going to have that new car smell.

The increase in pre-release videos, articles and blogs also contributes to escalating opinions on the game. Back in the day, we'd get maybe an article or screenshot in EGM or Nintendo Power and that'd be it. Look at how much video and article info. we've had on Madden 12 and it's only the second week of June. Big difference.

I think all of that adds up to why a lot of people take Madden so seriously; they really want to re-create that "new" experience and just aren't getting it, so they grow frustrated and instead of just enjoying the game for what it does well, they go searching for faults and repeatedly harp on them.

I have to admit that this generation has been tough on EA's football titles. Things have gotten better after 06-09, but I still feel like we are not at the level we were at the prior generation of consoles. I try not to be overly negative with Madden and give the game a fair chance every year. Madden 10 really grabbed me and I enjoyed the game, but Madden 11, from the outset, didn't sit well with me and I could never get in a groove.

[guaps]

In short, I guess my passion stems from seeing how far hockey, soccer, basketball and baseball games have come on this generation of consoles, making it hard to me to just continue to accept Madden's lackluster offering. Madden used to be one of the best sports game in my world, but now I don't even consider it top 5.

What makes me passionate about Madden is my passion for football. Football is the only sport that I spend a lot of time on. I follow the NFL all year long, I play competitive flag football (IFAF rules) and I spend way too many hours on fantasy football in the Fall.

To me last gen Madden was about just having fun and I gladly accepted that back then, because all games were like that. Then the current gen consoles was released and other games got lots of noticeable gameplay updates, but Madden was mostly stuck with graphical and presentation updates. My buddies and I quickly changed from playing Madden to playing soccer or hockey games instead, and settled with playing an occasional game of last gen Madden until we stopped playing Madden all together.

When I see the Madden 12 gameplay videos, I still see so many issues that have bothered me and others for the past 3-4 years and that we know the developers are fully aware exist. I guess one aspect that also makes me passionate about Madden is that it's the only current gen sports game that hasn't been able to erase their past. Nobody talks about last gen soccer, baseball, basketball anymore, even the early current gen games are almost unplayable to most fans of those sports by now.

... these days Madden has become more frustration than fun for me.

[PGaither84]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

But my question is, why do people take Madden so seriously??/!!!

This is a good time for Herm Edwards to remind some people why we play the game:



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Also, the Madden franchise has been around a long time. At least in my opinion and experience, NFL 2k had a big impact on the Football Video game market.

Madden 2000


NFL2k



I don't think I need to compare 2k5 with Madden '05+ the only thing I liked about Madden 05 and beyond was off-the-field franchise mode. Next gen has failed to give us a great franchise mode thus far. While M12 looks like the first answer, the game play still looks like it will be lagging far behind.

Finally, no matter the game, the average gamer is a SUPER casual. Games that are built for hard core gamers are not nearly as popular. If I had a nickel for every time I read or heard "I school/beat anyone at Madden," I would be rich. Madden appeals to that crowd, EA knows it, and that is who they marketed the game to... at least from 06-09.

[Cre8]

I wasn't personally invested until I started paying $60+ for an incomplete game.
(This isn't some sort of EA sucks type of garbage)

This is more along the lines of noticing how lacking the product is in this case.
I feel the same way about many different games - (A few examples)

1. Online Exploits in Call of Duty and other games (even Madden, etc.)
2. Complete lack of a final product due to annual development (insert any sports title here)
3. Offline glitches (Fallout New Vegas <--- name your glitch out of the box, Madden 08<--------Totally broken/disappearing Free Agents)

Seriously, you could add on to this list for weeks.

My point in all of this is that most of (if not all) the annually released games that have been released for the PS3 and 360.

So, you ask why I am personally invested?...

Because when I spend between $60 and $360 on software - I expect it to work and be fully developed. I shouldn't have to wait 3 months to start a franchise or dynasty. I shouldn't have to wait a month to even PLAY a game.

[Jistic]

I've never gotten that emotional about the whole thing. I think a lot of the 2K fanboyz back in the day were douchebags. The whole holy grail of NFL 2k5 is kinda pathetic to be honest. I wish 2K was making an NFL game every year as I loved the franchise, hell I bought 'em both every year, but my god it's not THAT great.

Madden to me has just been frustrating over the years because it's the same damn game...well let me take that back, it sometimes gets worse in stretches and then makes "improvements" to feel like it's getting better again. The developer interaction on OS what a sham to me. Ian's videos that he used to do felt like nothing more than guerrilla marketing. I hated the way that was handled and the minute a game comes out and people have complaints they go running. A lot of the devs that come on here are like that, but still that sends a negative message to me. Players only love you when they're playing.

I loved Madden on the last gen systems. Madden on the PS2 and Xbox were GREAT games. The franchise mode was solid. I religiously exported classed from NCAA and was obsessed with the game.

Nowadays I honestly can't play Madden for more than a few weeks. You see the same problems every year. Things like progressive lighting not being in bug me. Things like not being able to see when a player was drafted in franchise bugs me. Things like not having TV style overlays and graphics bug me. There's zero immersion factor in Madden.

Playing Madden is like being a Cubs fan. As you get older "there's always next year" happens earlier and earlier until eventually you just become apathetic to the whole thing. I gamefly it every year now and usually ship it back within a few weeks because it's so BORRING.

[Hova57]

Good post WTF

For me Madden saved my life. It kept me off the streets when I was younger. I've played madden since 90 when they had like 16 teams no nicknames or players names. I watched this series grow as I was growing. though there are aspects of madden I wish they fixed or improved over the years I usually like the game . 11 was the first madden that I didn't get alot of play out of. But in the end no matter what the bug. I can look past it and accept it as a videogame and not life. I try not to get into it with other people complaints or gripes with the game. Madden 12 looks like something we'll be playing till next August.

[Not 2 Day]

I believe that this is the longest running football franchise ever. So i really think people want to love this game, but get disappointed after playing it year after year. If you're like me, and love the game of football, you should have some type of passion. People have their favorites, and when other companies could no longer make games, people took it out on EA. It's not their fault no one else could out bid them. Back on subject, i get mad because i want to play a football game every year. Madden and NCAA are my only real options. So when you read interviews saying one thing, and the game plays another, people feel like they've been got. 60 bucks is a lot of money to spend on a game that doesn't live up to your expectations. Some just won't give it a chance. For some reason they are loyal to certain companies regardless of how other games are.