EA and NFL extend exclusive agreement for 3 more years......

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Hey, give the guy a break. In case you guys didn't know, he's doing this game in his spare time. He actually has a real job with NBC, and he just does what he can on the side!

Oh boo hoo hoo. Gimme a break.

Once he started charging for it, he becomes a professional whether he likes it or not (or is ready for it or not). I'm sick beyond death of all the excuses that are made for these small designers when they put out crap product. Either man up or go home.

[Kodos]

Did JimG miss that that post was a joke? I read it as Madden doing the programming himself.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Did JimG miss that that post was a joke? I read it as Madden doing the programming himself.

Psst, Kodos ... mine was a gag too.

See, someone mentioned Madden doing this in his spare time (as a joke).
So I took the Madden-as-solo-programmer joke & ran with it, plugging in the customary response to the give-the-solo-programmer-a-break excuse.

I swear, these things really lose their punch if you have to explain them.

[Groundhog]

On the plus side, hopefully EA had to pay a fortune to get this, thus potentially driving another nail in the coffin, if everything goes to plan.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

This is why I only play text based games and Civ, too much drama for me when it comes to consoles.

[Raiders Army]

I can't believe that Baddell let this happen. The Sunday Ticket, Madden...

Competition breeds greatness. Look at the WWE and WCW Monday Night Wars. Once someone gets a monopoly, they can put hotels on Boardwalk and we're screwed.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Psst, Kodos ... mine was a gag too.

See, someone mentioned Madden doing this in his spare time (as a joke).
So I took the Madden-as-solo-programmer joke & ran with it, plugging in the customary response to the give-the-solo-programmer-a-break excuse.

I swear, these things really lose their punch if you have to explain them.

Ahhhh. The ol' joke within a joke. I should have known!

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I agree with you that the situation sucks. But I think that you are looking at it from the perspective of the mega-informed gamer.

While people here raise legit concerns about the direction of EA sports, guys like Bill Simmons say that Madden Day should be a national holiday. And guys like Bill Simmons (and the vast majority of his readers) buy enough games to keep the game companies happy.

Edit--Just saw Wade's post. I'm not sure how the numbers for Madden are. If they are shrinking, then that does have to be cause for concern. I'm sure that they'll find a way to blame it on piracy and used game stores, though.

Look at the source. Simmons is a complete moron who should not even be allowed to leave his house, never mind his inability to write a decent sports column.

[Apathetic Lurker]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

Well, it's better than Matrix Games and the MF team getting the license.

Frankly, at this point I think Matrix would make it more adventurous than staid old boring Madden. At least they have new bugs. EA 's lazy asses can't be bothered to fix the same damn bugs year in year out.

[Groundhog]

BUT GUYS, MADDEN IS NOW BEING LOOKED AFTER BY THE PRODUCER WHO BROUGHT US NFL TOUR!!!!! COLOUR ME OPTIMISTIC!

[CU Tiger]

What better Madden or MF?

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

I can't believe that Baddell let this happen. The Sunday Ticket, Madden...

Competition breeds greatness. Look at the WWE and WCW Monday Night Wars. Once someone gets a monopoly, they can put hotels on Boardwalk and we're screwed.

And you get the taxpayers to foot the bill for your glossy new stadiums, then move the already small amount of games away (internationally)!

[Big Fo]

I can't wait for the new Tecmo Bowl to come out and blow Madden out of the water.

[Groundhog]

Pastapadre, the biggest EA fanboy in the entire universe, is soon going to post an interview he had with the new Madden producer. Surprisingly, there are some solid questions being asked:

How does EA feel about the negative reaction from within the community regarding the deal and what can they do to change that

Is there a difference in how games such as Madden with no direct competitor are produced vs other titles that have direct competition

What is the reasoning behind the drop in sales from 07

How the ESPN and NFL Network licenses are seen as not being utilized properly and how that may affect overall perception of the NFL license deal

The consistent disappointment in areas such as presentation, commentary, and atmosphere

Why are there uniform inaccuracies every year despite working together with the NFL and what could be done to eliminate that problem

Why does it seem AAA titles such as Halo, Call of Duty, and Bioshock have advanced so much since the last generation of consoles but sports games haven’t (outside of graphically)

All pretty excellent Qs.

I expected it to be more along the lines of "Exactly how awesome will Madden 09 be???" and "Depending on how awesome I paint you to be in my interview, how soon can I expect my preview copy of the next Madden??".

Still, as one of the comments say on Pasta's blog, can't wait to see how he manages to evade all these Qs.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Pastapadre, the biggest EA fanboy in the entire universe, is soon going to post an interview he had with the new Madden producer. Surprisingly, there are some solid questions being asked:



All pretty excellent Qs.

I expected it to be more along the lines of "Exactly how awesome will Madden 09 be???" and "Depending on how awesome I paint you to be in my interview, how soon can I expect my preview copy of the next Madden??".

Still, as one of the comments say on Pasta's blog, can't wait to see how he manages to evade all these Qs.

While they sure are good questions, those first 3 will result in such obvious answers, I guarantee I can respond to them now and be 95% accurate.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

BUT GUYS, MADDEN IS NOW BEING LOOKED AFTER BY THE PRODUCER WHO BROUGHT US NFL TOUR!!!!! COLOUR ME OPTIMISTIC!

EA's so good they put a guy who was suspended last year for steroids on the cover of Madden and NFL Tour. I guess they had to find someone with their moral values.

[Raiders Army]

Merriman was on the cover of Madden Spanish, BTW.

[MizzouRah]

HORRIBLE NEWS!!!!!!!!

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Merriman was on the cover of Madden Spanish, BTW.

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

HORRIBLE NEWS!!!!!!!!

Merriman's a jerk, but it's not that big an issue.

[Groundhog]

Well, the interview is up, but it's audio. Might have a listen tonight for a laugh. I was expecting a written interview, so at least this guy is going to have to think up terrible lies on the spot - assuming he didn't know the questions in advance.

[Flasch186]

link?

[Groundhog]

http://rapidshare.com/files/91346368...adre1.wav.html

It's actually an interview with the head of EA, rather than the new madden dude. So I expect the propaganda to be even worse than expected.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Merriman's a jerk, but it's not that big an issue. I do prefer Atari football though. Something about a 3 man team excites me!

Oh my....

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Merriman was on the cover of Madden Spanish, BTW.

Madden spanish has Luis Castillo on it, not Merriman.

[Deattribution]

dola

He's an admitted roid user though.

[RainMaker]

They lost 18% revenue on a game that is based on the most popular sport in the US and has no competition. No wonder this company keeps losing money.

[Phototropic]

I was going to listen but after hearing that Moore loves the "ESPN integration" in Madden, why bother.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Some points from the guys at the Sports Gamer Blog............

http://www.sportsgamerblog.com/2008/...more-ea-notes/

One of the most entertaining things about that story though is that EA feels the need to convey the fact that the NFL is the reason they’re doing this. The NFL keeps coming after them to renew it. “The deal we had with the NFL it was instigated by the NFL, it wasn’t EA going after them,” (Moore) said. “The NFL tendered for the exclusive license and EA bid on the license.”

They’re just screaming out, ‘Don’t hate use for doing it. It’s the NFL’s fault, see?’

http://www.sportsgamerblog.com/2008/...ns-id-ask-him/

1. You mentioned “innovate” in Madden, while must people would call that an oxymoron. I mean seriously, ESPN radio on a menu screen really doesn’t affect the gameplay. When are you going to innovate by putting the number of time outs left for each team on the friggin game screen?

2. NFL Tour sure was an innovation in crap. How can EA possibly put out a game worse than this next year?

3. Why do you call the NFL game on next gen consoles “Madden” when apparently EA can’t seem to get him in a recording studio to lay down any audio for the 360 or PS3 versions whatsoever aside from the “ask madden” button?

4. Would you call EA sports radio in the Madden game an “innovation”? Blades of Steel for the NES has better play by play.

5. Why can’t EA “innovate” online league play which was done , what 6 years ago by 2K? On a last gen console?

And these people wonder why we get mad.

[Julio Riddols]

Fuck Madden, I'm all about Backbreaker.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

What better Madden or MF?

As long as I can play both with 31 of my closest friends and favorite pets on the Madden Bus, I'm happy!

[Mota]

Originally Posted by Bee

With the exclusive license they control the market and all that comes with it. They get all the talking heads talking about Madden when it comes out, they get the tv shows like Madden Nation or whatever it's called, they get all the articles written about Madden on release, etc. If they didn't have the exclusive license, I suspect a lot of that stuff would disappear in a year or two.

I think their decision has more to do with controlling the market and all the benefits that come with that. When I said they'd lose 50% instead of 10%, I just pulled the number out of the air but I don't think the decision has so much to do with minimizing that loss in sales as much as maintaining their control of the market. Is it worth it for the cost? I have no idea because there are a lot of factors that you'd have to consider. Do I like it as a consumer? No.

Most likely they'd have to work harder for their money. They were selling more copies of Madden when there was competition. Why? Because it was a much more feature-rich product and frankly felt a lot more finished than the current versions of Madden. I mean, 3rd year on the new engine and still no play-by-play? Shouldn't that be considered a base feature of a first year game?

No competition = no motivation. Remember that they are not people doing it for their love of the game. Madden programmers are basically like factory workers, clock in and clock out, get their stock options and get the hell out. They are so creatively stiffled and it shows in their by-the-numbers, lifeless product which is EA Sports.

I picked up Madden 2008 this year and it has become so complicated over the years. The problem is that this complexity doesn't make it more fun. I feel less like I'm playing a football game and more like I'm trying to put some secret code into my controller to unlock a desired outcome. Then why does another EA game Rock Band feel so good? Because it doesn't feel like you're pressing buttons on a controller, it feels like you're really playing guitar. EA Sports doesn't understand that.

I also have no idea how the programmers and playtesters did not notice the extreme amount of interceptions and fumbles in the game, that there wasn't even a semblance of flow because you would turn the ball over so often. Was that their solution to playing defense being so boring? If you could force a turnover on every 2 drives we would find it a lot more exciting?