EA has officially ruined football!!

[LethalWolfe]

I responded w/my distaste to this at another forum. I wonder how soon EA is going to start letting Madden "coast" sense they have no competition any more. Hopefully, at the very least, SEGA will still be able to release roster updates for ESPN2k5 in the coming seasons.


Lethal

 

[leftbanke7]

I responded w/my distaste to this at another forum. I wonder how soon EA is going to start letting Madden "coast" sense they have no competition any more. Hopefully, at the very least, SEGA will still be able to release roster updates for ESPN2k5 in the coming seasons.


Lethal

Their college game has already began to coast as there is no competition whatsoever. When I bought the 2005 version, I almost took it back as the "improvements" and "enhancements" were very disappointing and many of the issues with previous games were not fixed. As for the NFL game, I don't care as I don't play them.

 

[FightTheFuture]

i remember when sega dropped the dreamcast and announced they were going into making third party games. an EA official commented how he's happy that there will be more competition for them. nice how losing marketshare and $500 million can change the pace. madden for 5 more years. the sad part is that i was getting a lot of people into the espn 2k series this year. it was like moving people from IE to firefox. try something different for once and you may like it.

i've heard around the rumor mill that EA may be going after the NBA and the MLB too.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Funny, I thought that football ruined football.

I agree. Sports in general have become something that only a few can afford to enjoy firsthand.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

This is just begging to be smacked down by federal antitrust rulings.

The NFL is a monopoly. The courts said so.

I doubt that Sega will settle for the $1(tripled to $3) that the USFL got.

But has not Congress given their blessing to the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL to be able to gouge the American public at will?

Just look at at how MLB is trying to rape the citizens of DC over a stadium deal.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

just from a non-american prospective, the title of your thread should be that "ea has officially ruined AMERICAN football"

soccer as you call it came first! so we claim the word football!

Didn't Australia just rename the "football league" to the "soccer league"?

 

[jadam]

I agree. Sports in general have become something that only a few can afford to enjoy firsthand.

Yeah because it costs like $3000000million dollars to play a football game with your friends right?


RIIIIGHT...

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Yeah because it costs like $3000000million dollars to play a football game with your friends right?


RIIIIGHT...

I was referring to the costs to go to the pro games. And it is the pro games that feed the desire for the game box games. Great marketing by the major leagues.

 

[Barham]

I'm a writer for a video games site, and I can tell you two things about this.

1) EA has done a major disservice to all gamers by making this deal. We all know that competition is what drives business (and captialism to whichever ignoramus claimed the opposite becuase of America's "lack of rules"). Besides driving business, competition creates better games.

2) EA's Madden is by far and away the best Football "game" of the year. Pricewise, it's a ripoff, and NFL 2k5 kicks Madden's ass in the graphics department. But, in comparison 2k5 is a slug race when it comes to game pacing. Also, EA's hit stick and playmaker buttons might sound like a gimmick, but they actually add an improvisational depth that is simply not present in 2k5. I think EA preferred not to rebuild it's graphics engine on the current generation of consoles, because it can get away with not being the most graphically superior. 2k5 needed that facelift severely, and though I think Sega gave Madden a run for its money this year (and thought that it was great for Football games in general) I can in no way say that it was a better football "game" than Madden.


-Hasta

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The last sports game I played much was Madden '92 for Genesis...So I've been out of the loop awhile. But this sounds pretty greedy, nice work EA, you just buggered us all for choices.

 

[jadam]

I was referring to the costs to go to the pro games. And it is the pro games that feed the desire for the game box games. Great marketing by the major leagues.

I dunno about you, but my friends and relatives buy sports games because we tend to play the sports with each other in real life too.

 

[markjones05]

EA makes a better game period. But what bothers me is that now they have no competion, hence no reason to continue trying to come out with better games.

 

[iKwick7]

nice spamming in a thread about sports gaming, mockage. real nice.



back on topic..... I too was EXTREMELY pissed about this move by EA when I first heard about it back in december. Ever since the Dreamcast came out, I believe that Sega Sports has been making far superior sports games than EA, imho. Personally, the original NBA live (95) on Sega Genesis was, and still is (I still play it A LOT) one of my favorite games of all time, so I am not anti EA in general. But this is rediculous.

Whats funny is that EA tried to get the NBA license too, and the NBA shot them down. Now I think the NBA is looking for genre specific licenses (give EA the NBA Street type license, and give Sega the sm license, and I'll be happy).

But what really really makes my day is the MLB license. Appparently Take To (basically, Sega Sports) has signed an exclusive deal to make MLB games. But it gets better. Apparently from what I have read on ign.com, the deal allows for specific third parties to also make games, BUT NOT EA. Thats the best thing I have ever read if it turns out to be true. Sad, too, because I really liked EA's MVP baseball (the only EA Sports game I liked the past few years). But you go Sega.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Recently I read that EA and ESPN have signed a deal together. Madden does MFL (which is ABC as is ESPN), so it will be interesting to see how EA handles Madden and ESPN.


Lethal

 

[crachoar]

Well, if you guys haven't noticed: EA has now acquired the rights to the ESPN name for the next fifteen years.

Awesome huh?

Not a football fan myself (although I am a gamer - and dislike this dirty tactic), but as soon as they start messing with hockey? It'll be fisticuffs....

 

[Thomas Veil]

I don't even play any of these games, and I object on principle. No one company should "own" the players as far as gaming is concerned.

Wonder how we'd all feel if MacAddict cut a deal with Apple where you could mention the names of Apple products only at MAF, and not here?

 

[ShavenYak]

He Hate Me could make a come back!

He Hate Me, aka Rod Smart, played for the Carolina Panthers in last year's Superbowl. He's already made his comeback and gone away again. Now the Dash for the Ball instead of the coin toss... I'd pay for a football game with that!

 

[greenmeanie]

players

i thought overpayed players acting like babies ruined football!

"Video game publisher Electronic Arts on Monday said it had signed an exclusive agreement with the National Football League and the marketing arm of its players' union, giving EA the sole rights to put NFL players, stadiums and teams in its games.

The exclusive license struck a blow for EA in its ongoing battle with the joint venture of Sega Sammy Holdings and Take-Two Interactive Software."

"While EA's "Madden NFL" used to outsell Sega's NFL football game as much as 10-to-1 on a units basis, this year the ratio has been closer to 1.5-to-1. The Sega/Take-Two game uses NFL player names and likenesses, as well as team names and colors, which will not be allowed under the new arrangement."

full story here

First off I am happy to say this is officially the first thread I have ever started. As soon as I read this story I had to vent somewhere and what a better place than here. Now onto more serious matters - I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED. ESPN NFL2k5 is hands down the greatest football game ever made, some may disagree but that is life. Truthfully I am speechless, I will let you guys read the story and post some more of how I feel later on.