End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

[RaychelSnr]

"Innovations will come with the new consoles" has become a popular defense for stale franchises like Madden NFL and NCAA Football, as they continue to improve in marginal and incremental ways instead of making sweeping changes or true innovations during the Xbox 360's and Playstation 3's final hours.

Yet Madden's history, spanning over 20 years and four generations of consoles, suggests that the opposite of "incremental change" should be happening right now.

In all previous console generations, the Madden NFL series reached its creative peak just as veteran systems neared their retirement.

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[Profit89]

This series needs to move to the PC if they want to be taken seriously.

[wat3]

Is Madden 13 the last Madden before the license expires? I don't want to hear " they're just going to extend" because that's not what I'm asking.

[luv_mist]

I haven't really been following the Madden series. What innovation did Madden 10 bring?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

I haven't really been following the Madden series. What innovation did Madden 10 bring?

Pro Tak, actual gang tackles.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

This series needs to move to the PC if they want to be taken seriously.

True, but they never will. They don't want regular gamers to upstage them. Because they know full well the modding community would do it in a matter of days.

[huskerwr38]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

Wow, Madden 94 had over 100 Player injuries...we don't even have that now. But, it was fun to take a look back at the history of Madden with photos of the back of the box features.

Also, I think this article kind of shows that Madden might have went the way of NBA Live if not for the exclusive rights. With how bad Madden 06 was for xbox 360, this would have been the perfect time for 2k sports to land a fatal blow to the Madden franchise. Thank goodness for the exclusive rights.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

Much like the NCAA series, the Madden series spent this whole generation playing catch up to the last generation. Adding features we already had last generation back into this generation as new features, when in reality it wasn't.

This generation was nothing but the HD generation for EA Tiborun, because the only thing they improved upon was the graphics and online stability. Game play has been at a stand still for 6 years now.

If it wasn't for online, most people wouldn't even buy Madden or NCAA. And that is the sad truth of it all.

[BobbyColtrane]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

These guys are experts in why the game can't be improved.

If they spent half as much time working on the game as they do changing direction and "monetizing the consumer" this game would be the BALLS...

[TreyIM2]

I really don't think Madden needs new innovations because that's what they've been trying to do for far too long with things like the Vision Cone, a repetitive football radio show, that blocking crap they tried to pull, etc. Hit stick was necessary with the advent of dual joysticks because it made no sense not to utilize the extra stick so console control innovation forced that one, so to speak.

I think EA needs to work on completing the basic, core game of football, full circle, first. Things like gang tackling and multiple hit tackles/add on tackling is not an innovation, per se. THAT IS APART OF THE BASIC, CORE GAME OF FOOTBALL, period. We need more of that and the lil things that make football, football more than grandiose not quite needed right now 'innovations' because it almost makes no sense how they don't have those things down pat , yet.

[TNT713]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

Much like the NCAA series, the Madden series spent this whole generation playing catch up to the last generation. Adding features we already had last generation back into this generation as new features, when in reality it wasn't.

The decision of the 1st NG Madden team to start from scratch was the worst decision in the history of football video games... Madden '06-08 were steps in the wrong direction. Madden '09-11 brought us back to square one. Madden 12 is the first Madden on NG with all of the 'features' of the previous generation of consoles and is what Madden '06 should have been.

People that haven't enjoyed Madden on NG systems need look no further than the decision made in 2005 for the source of their bemusement. That decision still haunts the series...

During the 3 years in which Madden fell down the rabbit hole - the dev team's priorities were just DEAD WRONG... Features that the previous generation of consoles innovated were left on the cutting room floor until the CRAP that was added during the plunge. Setting aside memory to chart the field wear overrode game play we sorely missed.

That said, I'm kool with where Madden is now - even if it's 6 years later than it should have been. At least the garbage that was Madden '06-08 won't happen again. I'm 100% sure the dev teams have learned from their 2005 mistake. As eager as I am to see the new systems, I'm more eager to see what happens during the remaining life of the current systems...

Later

[MiNiDiTkA]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

I haven't really been following the Madden series. What innovation did Madden 10 bring?

Pro Tak, actual gang tackles.

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[rudyjuly2]

I agree. I wish we would see more of an improvement but we won't. Tweak, tweak, tweak until the new consoles come out is crap but it's what we are seeing.

[drk3351]

one big difference. Competition. madden 99 had nfl gameday, madden 05 had nfl 2k. now, nothing

[DaReapa]

Re: End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

...though Madden would remain strong financially the next few years, the series struggled to match the quality of Sega's new 2K Sports brand while EA Sports underwent the transition from Playstation to Playstation 2...

Not to nitpick, but it was actually Sega's Sega Sports brand - not 2K Sports, as 2K was never realized until the year EA started buying up exclusivity licenses left and right - circa 2004-2005.

Aside from that, I agree with this article, and TBH, never really had much faith in EA Sports this gen. IMO 2K5 was a hard standard to live up to, and Tiburon did very little to even so much as come close.

Off topic, isn't the NCAA exclusivity license up by now??