Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - Competition Creates Better Games is Baloney

StormJH1 · 08-28-2009, 02:46 PM

spursfan, here's the problem with that logic: You're saying that Madden 2005 was the last great game because 2k5 pushed it to be better. But those two games were released in the same year. Nobody talks much about ESPN NFL Football, which was the 2004 game from 2k. In fact, the ONLY reason people started talking about 2k5 as much as they did was the decision to release it for $19.99 (We all remember the T.O. commercials--"Tis the season for giving, but receivings aiiight")

So, are you saying that Madden never comes up with Hit Stick unless 2k is there? What were they afraid of this year, when they slowed down the gameplay and put in Pro-Tak....Backbreaker?

Even in the sports where we have "competition", there is usually a big dog and a little dog, and the big dog doesn't lower itself to copying innovations of the smaller dog. If the smaller dog's innovations catch on, then maybe their sales will improve, but that's simply evidence of an internal creative process.

In 2007, EA's hockey game clearly surpassed 2k's. NHL 2k8 offered a much deeper feature set, functioning online leagues, and all kinds of franchise goodies. But the gameplay sucked, and NHL 08 focused on refining an idea (Shot Stick) that they created on their own. In NHL 09, did EA bother to go back and copy all of the missing features that 2k8 had and they didn't? Heck no! They focused on their own formula, and made another GoTY.

Contemporaneous games don't influence each other to the degree that consumers perceive them to.

08-28-2009, 02:46 PM	#27
StormJH1 MVP OVR: 13 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Twin Cities, MN	spursfan, here's the problem with that logic: You're saying that Madden 2005 was the last great game because 2k5 pushed it to be better. But those two games were released in the same year. Nobody talks much about ESPN NFL Football, which was the 2004 game from 2k. In fact, the ONLY reason people started talking about 2k5 as much as they did was the decision to release it for $19.99 (We all remember the T.O. commercials--"Tis the season for giving, but receivings aiiight") So, are you saying that Madden never comes up with Hit Stick unless 2k is there? What were they afraid of this year, when they slowed down the gameplay and put in Pro-Tak....Backbreaker? Even in the sports where we have "competition", there is usually a big dog and a little dog, and the big dog doesn't lower itself to copying innovations of the smaller dog. If the smaller dog's innovations catch on, then maybe their sales will improve, but that's simply evidence of an internal creative process. In 2007, EA's hockey game clearly surpassed 2k's. NHL 2k8 offered a much deeper feature set, functioning online leagues, and all kinds of franchise goodies. But the gameplay sucked, and NHL 08 focused on refining an idea (Shot Stick) that they created on their own. In NHL 09, did EA bother to go back and copy all of the missing features that 2k8 had and they didn't? Heck no! They focused on their own formula, and made another GoTY. Contemporaneous games don't influence each other to the degree that consumers perceive them to.