You are wrong my friend. But ima respect ur opinion. They do only have a year to improve and the demand is high, so compliants are unwarranted for A TON of things. Everyone wants something new...howthehellever...the is no excuse for leaving out features and adding features from last-gen, then calling them "new". That is BS. Im sure most would be up for roster updates and a two/three year cycle...that is if the developers arent too 'lazy' for definate improvement.

While I understand the constrictions of a one year dev cycle the way these franchises improve is by adding little by little that way when you look back on the past 5, 10, 15 years you see a steady progression and are left with a game that is far improved than the one that was released years ago. It just seems to me that whichever company has been lagging behind in a certain sports genre, EA with Madden, NCAA Football on next gen and both Basketball games plus 2K with MLB2K and NHL2K, they haven't shown that steady progression from year to year. So that's why we're left 5 years deep into the next gen (still don't call it current, strange) consoles' lifespan and we're not being shown anything that is all that close to the leading competitor. I do find it rather discouraging though that a certain NFL football game was released 5 years ago and on a less powerful system and yet I find myself still immersed in that franchise. The two major aspects for me in a sports game are gameplay and presentation. You get these two down and I don't care if you have a single season mode and no franchise or just allow me to play pick up games, I'll love it.

I definitely dig what you are saying HiTEqMETHOD...Gameplay and the Presentation is the most immersive that I have ever seen. Madden should have passed 2K by now..."The Extra Point" segments just seem half-arssed....and I think it should have been light years ahead of a game 5years ago! lol

@ Logic Doctor, no you cannot please everyone, but EA can't take away 2K's right to make NFL football and then drag their feet making a good FB game....taking away features and then trying to add them again, stating that they are new, when its clear they are not.

@Pacman83 repect bruh!!! Everybody got an opinion, but I believe they are doing sports gamers wrong!

I won't go so far to say what u are saying in this blog. You're not factoring in the "top brass" of a rather large corporation when it comes to EA. Take Two was a HELLUVA lot smaller than EA and smaller companies can take more chances especially when they are hungrier and have a lot to prove but I can also say that Visual Concepts developed a completely different engine than Madden's, since they used to dev sports games for EA, remember, and they may have made their sports game engines more flexible. Could be a resources thing, a talent thing, what have u but those things have to be factored in. 2K may have had guys working like dogs to get the ante up from 2K4 to 2K5 or maybe guys were working on things for 2K5 behind the scenes before 2K4 even dropped because they had the resources and man hours to do so. Who knows? Plus 2K4 was NOT majorly overhauled for 2K5.

I've spoken on all this before and, honestly, Visual Concepts' 2K sports games were very arcadey to me, more so, when they were with Sega. I was not impressed. They got better once they became a part of Take Two, yet still hanging on to some of the arcadish aspects, even in Espn Football 2K5. (Deny the arcadishness of 2k5 as many do).
But back to the more corporate side of things - Yes, it could even be said that EA sat on their laurels and got comfortable with being IT when it came to sports games, and maybe the big wigs didn't want to spend money on more tech and/or talent when they had cash cow sportsgame lines.
Well, they've recognized the error of their ways because they probably haven't been cashing in as much as the past because they still do have comp with their Fifa, NHL, and Live lines. Fifa and NHL have "taken back" their crowns and now they are working on this with Live and even Madden which has no comp. I think bringing in Peter Moore is contributing to this EASports uprising.
One note about 2KSports - Many people have been complaining more and more about 2KSports taking this "lazy" course of action, as early as years ago. U know why? They GOT to the top in many people's eyes and started believing their own hype so what happens? By nature, most people put things on cruise control at that point and 2KSports is no different. They have gotten comfy. It happens.

Ahem, in conclusion, I don't co-sign on this blog, at all, because EASports IS turning it around not only for Madden, but Live and have already done so with Fifa and NHL. No need in demanding that things get majorly overhauled in a less than 1yr cycle. U see what has been done when EA wanted to get thing done with Madden 10 from Madden 09. U can ONLY do so much in less than a year. This blog sounds bratty.

@TreyIM2.....everybody has an opinion, but factually speaking, most people who know sports played 2K because there was/is a total lack of opportunity for cheating and crazy glitches. So 2K being arcadey is a total lie. As I said before it had plenty of room for improvement, but it was far from arcadey.....Try dropping back 20 yards in 2k and see the consequences unfold.....Do it in madden and you will exploit the long ball and many other things.....2K penalized you for not playing the game the right way....you rarely had to touch the sliders.

I know all about Corporate overhead and the demands on time and money....However, EA my friend, is simply skimping on the goods...You can defend them to the end, but facts are facts. And for the record SMALLER studios struggle to stay on schedule in development of their games, unlike their larger counterparts who can afford a larger development team and are working with Billions in the budget. I respect your opinion, but it is definitely laughable

Ahh, great. My opinion is laughable even though I tried to touch on more bases than u did and truth be told, it was not necessarily in defense of EA.

Gunna sidebar and just touch back on the 2K5 greatness record for a little bit and get that out of the way - Not so great AI, running around that Joe Montana Sports Talk "arcade pole" (soooo many arcade and even console games had their characters run around that "pole" in a circle JUST LIKE 2K5 and all the previous 2K football AND b-ball games. Proof? Play NBA 2K9 then go back to NBA 2K2 or sumthin then play NFL 2K5. 2K9 moves NOTHING like all those games do), floaty passes, charge up moves (not arcadish, eh?) yada, yada, woot. What made NFL2K5 "cool" was the animations and presentation, bottomline. I even said a while back that if Madden 05 had the animations and presentations, instead, but still had the same other probs that plagued Madden 05, people would be glorifying that Madden and even making excuses for it's shortcomings just like they do with 2K5. I liked 2K5 but preferred Madden 05 because of those same arcadish things I pointed out and more. If I go back and play the game, again, for a week(I still own it), I could report back with more of the probs once they come flooding back to me.

Now back to the point of your blog about the 1yr cycle "excuse". I gave more to chew on. If u know so much about corporate overhead and had a broader interpretation of thing, maybe that would have been apart of the deciding factor for you to NOT write such a blog. I think when you put it all together and see that EA is now stepping up their game, dramatically, there would no need for this. THAT'S why I said it sounds bratty and if you took offense then wanted to call my opinion laughable, sounds about right when someone gets defensive and wants to show up someone who made an even greater point. Now, if EA was STILL giving us the same ole retread of a Madden, then I could fully understand such a blog.

@TreyIM2.......yes on the field Madden 05 was a great playing game. And yes I took a little offense when you call this blog bratty...its not bratty, I could bring up videos and showcase the differences in gameplay, but I won't. EA is good with me, I am just hard on their football games because they have been serving us the same lunch for years. And Madden 10 may more may not break that spell. We will find out in a few days.

And I will put it to you like this, there are only two-three glitch videos at best on any 2Ksports game of recent history. Madden has a whole following of "Truth Chasers". And you cannot compare NBA 2K9 to NBA 2K2....thats like comparing Madden 09 to madden 93......We don't believe you, you need more people!

But hey all our opinions will come to light August 14th. I love Madden, and even agree that on the field, Madden 05 played better than 2k5, but overall 2k5 HAS A LEGENDARY FOLLOWING FOR A REASON.

Great Jigga reference because just like how people took/take shots when Jigga is/was on top, it's the same with Madden and will go HARD at trying to find holes in something considered so dominant hence people like Apex but he did say multiple times that he likes the Madden 10 demo, overall, multiple times in his vids - "Troof Chasers, Troof Chasers..." Lol, that's my dude, at least from watching the Madden 10 demo vids he made. Sounds like Sean Price, don't he?? Lol....

I think that we need people to be hard on EA and the fruits of that labor have been produced but I think it should be done sensibly. Again, poopin' on the 1yr cycle is a bit much. As for the 2K inner comparisons, it was about the movement being arcadish in the older games including 2K5 compared to the movement of a 2K9 which is more directional, as it should be. Maddens even of old didn't move around that pole. That was my overall point of that...

But, yea, we have Aug 14th to look forward to. From what I played in the "full length" demo, initially, I have to admit, I wasn't impressed because of certain things like suction blocking still being apparent but as I played more, some of the nuances began to show themselves....then my PS3 shutdown on me. Lol! Hopefully, I will get it back from Sony all repaired and nice like before the 14th. Peas....

"Never has a football game looked as parallel to the real game as ESPN NFL 2K5. Every single aspect of the on-the-field action is unparalleled. Try to recall a game that captured visual aesthetics better than ESPN NFL 2K5. You might as well just give up, because you won't be able to." - Alex Navarro