Three Point Thursdays - Unlicensed Football Games Edition

[RaychelSnr]

Matt Blumenthal checks in this week with yet another Three Point Thursday, this week it's about the unlicensed football games coming up this year.

Quote:

"In last week’s Three Point Thursday, we looked ahead to Madden 09. This week, we’ll take a look at the rest of this year’s crop of football games.

[BigBlue]

I'm still holding out some hope that 2K Sports will eventually release All Pro Football 2K9 sometime this year (regardless of what has already been reported). While the lack of franchise hurt 2K8's replay value, I believe that the reason it did not do as well in sales was because it was only released on Next Gen systems with little to no marketing during major sports events like the NFL draft.

I still play 2K8 and feel that it is the most underrated game on the next gen consoles.

BigBlue

[Sausage]

I cannot wait to try other football offerings that are not over the top, but lean more to realism. I also hope 2K9 gets a chance to be released and I am looking forward to backbreaker. What will hurt both of these games will be the fact that nobody wants to learn new control schemes, camera angles, and play with players that are not players now on a pro or college team. Many say they want change, but they won't be able to handle a learning curve. Also so many people say no franchise hurt APF 2K8, but what hurt it more was the more realistic gameplay. People want the ease and comfort of Madden no matter how poop it is.

[BlyGilmore]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigBlue

I'm still holding out some hope that 2K Sports will eventually release All Pro Football 2K9 sometime this year (regardless of what has already been reported). While the lack of franchise hurt 2K8's replay value, I believe that the reason it did not do as well in sales was because it was only released on Next Gen systems with little to no marketing during major sports events like the NFL draft. I still play 2K8 and feel that it is the most underrated game on the next gen consoles. BigBlue

sorry man but I think you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. development on the game has already stopped and its too late in the game for them to kick back up and release a good game before Madden at this point.

[BlyGilmore]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

I cannot wait to try other football offerings that are not over the top, but lean more to realism. I also hope 2K9 gets a chance to be released and I am looking forward to backbreaker. What will hurt both of these games will be the fact that nobody wants to learn new control schemes, camera angles, and play with players that are not players now on a pro or college team. Many say they want change, but they won't be able to handle a learning curve. Also so many people say no franchise hurt APF 2K8, but what hurt it more was the more realistic gameplay. People want the ease and comfort of Madden no matter how poop it is.

I disagree. If the game is innovative and fun, people will play it. The question is will it be deep enough to provide everything people expect in a football game?

That was the problem with APF. It wasn't that there were fictional players (along with the legends), or fake teams that killed that game. It was the complete lack of a franchise mode with the ability to draft new players, make trades, have free agents, etc.

[BigBlue]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlyGilmore

sorry man but I think you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. development on the game has already stopped and its too late in the game for them to kick back up and release a good game before Madden at this point.

Bly:

Is it possible for Take Two to try a different approach to releasing the game this time around and wait until AFTER Madden was released? Perhaps even during the football season? If I'm reading Peter Moore's blogs correctly, it seems like EA is taking a more casual approach to the game so that it is easy for users to play. This approach would disappoint the sim-gamers who try to achieve a more realistic experience.

TT would then market 2K9 towards the hardcore sim-gamers who are ready to dump Madden for the more realistic gameplay of All-Pro2K9. At least I hope so. If not this year, then maybe next year.

BigBlue

[gamerk2]

Link looks dead right now; i'm personally hoping that Backbreaker delivers the goods.

[BlyGilmore]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigBlue

Bly: Is it possible for Take Two to try a different approach to releasing the game this time around and wait until AFTER Madden was released? Perhaps even during the football season? If I'm reading Peter Moore's blogs correctly, it seems like EA is taking a more casual approach to the game so that it is easy for users to play. This approach would disappoint the sim-gamers who try to achieve a more realistic experience. TT would then market 2K9 towards the hardcore sim-gamers who are ready to dump Madden for the more realistic gameplay of All-Pro2K9. At least I hope so. If not this year, then maybe next year. BigBlue

Honestly that would be a very ballzy move, and could only prove successful if Madden is another huge disappointment to hundreds of thousands of fans.

The problem with that scenario is people are used to buying certain sports games at certain times. I'm sure we've all felt those tugs in June just waiting for our first football fix, sitting around in February looking forward to when the baseball games will come out or realizing the arrival of fall means the NBA, NHL and FIFA being right around the corner.

Not having your game available in that general time frame, to me, puts you at a disadvantage.

Plus if you wait a month or two to release, you're competing against the NBA, College Hoops, NHL games plus FIFA. Huge football fans might be willing to try another game, but a lot of folks are ready to move onto another sport.

(You kind of see this with PES this year. it was released months after FIFA and as a result didn't get a lot of buzz. Part of the reason could have been what's been seen as a subpar offering, but leading up to it there wasn't near the same kind of anticipation FIFA had in the fall - in part because people who needed a soccer fix got it with FIFA).