Competition Creates Better Games is Baloney

[michapop9]

I hadnt read all the comments yet but im not sure if this has been said or not,
the idea that "innovation in the gaming industry is only truly the borrowing of ideas when it comes to competing games in the same genre " is only partly true.
start with comparing 2k5 and madden 05, 2k5 had qb avoidance, more ratings, far superior presentation, and far better physics to name a few things. Madden 05 was a good game in its own right dont get me wrong.

Qb avoidance did not come into madden until ps2 madden 09, more ratings didnt come to madden until next gen, superior presentation still has not come to madden, although its been attempted.

Now all these ideas were indeed borrowed from NFL 2K5, which, in turn made Madden BETTER! So in a roundabouts way two competing entities although maybe just borrowing ideas from eachother, do improve the quality of games.

Imagine what 2k could have borrowed had still been able to make an NFL game, and vice versa, In essence its putting more heads together to improve game quality.

[Uncle Stumpy]

You make an interesting argument, but I disagree with it, for the most part. As with most things in life, reviews are completely subjective. Of all those reviews that you researched, did the same reviewer do all the reviews? (eg did Madden 06 have the same reviewer as in '10? Doubtful . In reality there is no way to truly judge improvement numerically, as it's personal opinion. I can garauntee there have been reviews of ANYTHING, food, movies, games etc where I wonder if the writer played the same game i had, or same movie. As well, I can promise you here that NO ONE on this website decides whether or not they get a game based on a review rating.

What I partially agree with is that sports game may not necessarily compete against each other (2k vs EA) directly, but all games in general. Every year they are going to try and try to revolutionize the game to attract the casual sports gamer, because they know they already have or HAD ( judging from the madden haters) the hardcore gamer in their pocket.

I haven't slept in two days. i hope this was coherent. If not, sorry lol

[leereezy]

this whole thing is subjective.

ad dollars do influence scores as well as receiving perks.

this yrs madden, as well as 08-09 show this.

nobody wants to have ea say hey we spend our money with you we need this type of score.

dare i say maybe our reviewer got too cosy wit the devs and shot a 9.0 wad on us.

[deepen03]

yup that post was perfectly said.

[deepen03]

and just look at it this way. EA made Madden 06 for the 360 and stripped down every feature but on-field play. they had no franchise mode, no commentary, no refs, no field goal nets, nothing that made madden 2005 the best madden ever.

Meanwhile when 2k made NBA 2k6, they ported over every feature from ps2 onto the 360 and gave it a graphics update and people were very satisfied.

i have said this over and over. If EA had followed 2k's strategy and just ported over madden 2005 to the 360 with updated graphics, then madden 06 could have been what madden 10 is. and right now, who knows what kind of incredible game we would have!

EA made a mistake by making a stripped down version of madden 06. I understand different development goes into football games versus b-ball games, but its the same concept.

[RamzaLugria]

I wouldn't base the quality of a game on metacritic. I think competition does have an impact, but fan complaints (which can be very loud at times) plays a bigger part.

[EvanRG]

How does competition NOT create better games?

- Company 'A' creates a new innovation that rapidly changes the way a game is played. Company 'B' who WAS the better game before is now lagging behind and must either introduce the feature into their game or face losing a share of the market.

Example:

Rockband comes out and allows for player to play drums, bass, sing etc. Guitar Hero up to this point was simply a lead guitar game and must now either expand the game to cover other instruments or face losing a share of the market.

From what you stated earlier, A music game feels the same pressure to beat Madden as it does to beat another music game? That is just silly.

Your point is that Games score the same, but regardless of scores, Ian feels pressure to beat a game that hasn't even been made in 5 years. So how much pressure do you think he would feel if the game (NFL 2k5) was actually still being produces yearly alongside Madden?

[NavigatorD83]

If you need a better method of rating games just use the "ol eye test.