[quote name='mmn']
How, for you, then, will it be improved? Humor me, will ya?
myke.
Alright.
To me, if ESPN had stayed and kept pumping out games at $20, Madden's quality would've declined.
See, to remain competitive, and cost effective, EA would've done things like cut Madden's staff and put less hours of work into the game. Yes, EA probably would've released Madden at $50, but you saw how fast it dropped to $20 this year (about 3 months, the way I figure it) when last year it stayed at $50 well past the Superbowl.
In order to save money on the production aspect of Madden, who knows how far EA would've gone. I really like EA as a company, because they make good games, but I realize all they care about is how profitable their games are, especially their biggest game.
Now that they have exclusivity, they don't have to worry about the monkey on their back in ESPN. They can calm down, add as much staff as they need, and really get to work on making a great game. Now they NEED to make improvements to Madden, because they have to convince the ESPN audience to play their game. They need the ESPN audience to justify the cost of paying the NFL a ridiculous amount of money for the exclusivity. That's why its my belief that they'll try to appeal to everyone by making solid improvements in almost every aspect of the game.
People have always said ESPN has better presentation while Madden has better gameplay, and that if you could combine the two, you'd have damn near a perfect football game. Well, now there's nothing to stop EA from doing this. Obviously EA has no problems copying an idea (look at the LOTR RPG thats almost a direct clone of Final Fantasy). Imagine if they incorporated the whole "Monday Night Football" aura into the game more. Maybe they get together with ESPN and go "hey, now that you aren't able to work with Sega anymore, you could throw support behind Madden". So then, maybe, just maybe, you get things like Chris Berman doing his halftime show on EA's game. You get the idea.
There's really nothing holding back EA now from making the best football game we've ever seen, because they now have all the power. See, unlike most people in this thread, I don't expect them to drop the ball - they didn't let me down with the LOTR franchise, the Burnout franchise, etc etc. I'm optimistic this will end up being a good thing for gamers and I'm convinced all this complaining is simply because people on these forums won't be able to buy a brand new football game for $20 next year.
Now you probably still aren't going to give Madden a shot next year, which is fine, but at least try to be a little more positive and don't shit all over EA before the game is even released. If Madden comes out next year and sucks badly, feel free to write complaint letters and boycott and all that you want to do. But at least let them make the game first.
[/quote]
I doubt I will give it a try, because as I've noted, there's something about the core gameplay; whether it's the timing, control, visuals, or something else, I'm not certain. I've never said it was a bad game; someone (jmcc) earlier mentioned that they likened EA to Acclaim. While that's a decent comparison, I will not say that EA makes bad games; Acclaim, on the other hand...well, they've been shit since the NES.
Anyway, I think you make some very good points. I would argue, however, that the money EA spent going exclusive far exceeds the overhead that they would need to stay competitive with Sega; there are, of course, some jokes about overtime not costing EA a dime, but I think you're onto something. I may not agree with it, but I recognize its plausibility.
I was also under the impression that Sega was going to boost the price this year; I thought the 2K5 sports shots were like television sitcom episodes about drugs; first, the dealers offer you some for free, and make you pay after you are hooked. If I recall, there was some mention of this on Gamespot a few weeks back; Take-Two was contemplating going to $20 for this year as well. Of course, it doesn't matter, because one can argue that EA's actions were presuming that they would be $20 again. That is perfectly rational.
I still believe that, given competition, sports game will only get better. In the meantime, though, I appreciate your elaborating on some key points.
sho' nuff.
myke
ing heartbeat. The only EA game that I've paid actual money for is C&C Generals + Zero Hour.
