Is it Time to Stick a Fork in the NHL 2K Series?

[RavenWire]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

The "competition" argument is a double-edged sword. Having competition in "The Show" certainly hasn't pushed its MLB2K series in the right direction. Their NHL2K product has also been in decline even with competition. Madden had no competition this year, and yet they turned out a game that many fans and critics have called the best pro football game ever made. Look at the Tony Hawk franchise, competition hasn't helped them. Having competition has not been proven to push quality with the involved parties. People using this argument are still stuck in the last gen football wars.......ancient history at this point.

Many fans have called Madden 10 the best football game ever made? Its a glitch fest. You can't have a competitive game score wise without the computer cheating to compensate. You finally think you have a good balance in gameplay after playing around with the sliders, but the you get a final score in the 50's or 60's. Its just not fun at all. Madden is getting worse year on year, the sales are apparently showing that. Do you know any other football game that you can block the kick off? Or control the opposition defense online? Suction blocking is rife, superman 70-rated linebackers are everywhere and they can't even implement sideline catch animations properly. There are plenty more issues in that game but I'm not going to spend all day typing

As has been said on here, competition breeds excellence. NBA games - better every year, NHL games better every year, NFL games - getting worse year on year. Its evident that NHL 2K is important to the progress of NHL games as a whole. I hope NHL 2K continues, was very disappointed with no demo (had to compare 2K9 to NHL 10)

[metallicatz]

Or maybe you just flat out suck at Madden? The Steelers came back against the Packers yesterday and the Saints almost came back against Dallas....I guess the "comeback logic" was running rampant huh? Hate to break it to you, but teams come back late in games all the time in real life. Ratchet up the difficulty and you won't have scores in the "50's and 60's". I've played something like 10 franchise seasons on All-Madden......never seen a "blocked kickoff". But hey, keep over-stating the glitches and ruining the games for yourself with your bias. You're only cheating yourself.

The sales argument is weak in a down economy.....especially regarding a yearly sports game. You see any sports games putting up COD-like sales numbers? Nope. You see any sports games breaking sales records of any kind? Nope.

I believe quality games are a result of a sound company philosophy and a talented development team. Competition didn't save the Tony Hawk series. Competition didn't save the Medal of Honor series. Competition couldn't even generate a half decent product in Prizefighter. Competition didn't stop the NHL2K series from moving backward this year. Competition won't save MLB2K.....which is getting its clock cleaned by The Show in a huge way on every level. If you have companies that want to make great games, then you will get great games. It's not an accident that the quality of EA Sports games started doing a 180 once Peter Moore took over. And let's not try an act like the concept of competition is exclusive to sports games. All games in all genres are competing for a shrinking pool of disposable income dollars. It's EA's job to get you to buy NHL10 instead of Assassin's Creed II. It's Take Two's job to get you to buy DLC for GTAIV instead of Braid or Shadow Complex on XBLA. The industry is shrinking, not booming. That's where the real incentive is coming from.

[kcxiv]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

Or maybe you just flat out suck at Madden? The Steelers came back against the Packers yesterday and the Saints almost came back against Dallas....I guess the "comeback logic" was running rampant huh? Hate to break it to you, but teams come back late in games all the time in real life. Ratchet up the difficulty and you won't have scores in the "50's and 60's". I've played something like 10 franchise seasons on All-Madden......never seen a "blocked kickoff". But hey, keep over-stating the glitches and ruining the games for yourself with your bias. You're only cheating yourself. The sales argument is weak in a down economy.....especially regarding a yearly sports game. You see any sports games putting up COD-like sales numbers? Nope. You see any sports games breaking sales records of any kind? Nope. I believe quality games are a result of a sound company philosophy and a talented development team. Competition didn't save the Tony Hawk series. Competition didn't save the Medal of Honor series. Competition couldn't even generate a half decent product in Prizefighter. Competition didn't stop the NHL2K series from moving backward this year. Competition won't save MLB2K.....which is getting its clock cleaned by The Show in a huge way on every level. If you have companies that want to make great games, then you will get great games. It's not an accident that the quality of EA Sports games started doing a 180 once Peter Moore took over. And let's not try an act like the concept of competition is exclusive to sports games. All games in all genres are competing for a shrinking pool of disposable income dollars. It's EA's job to get you to buy NHL10 instead of Assassin's Creed II. It's Take Two's job to get you to buy DLC for GTAIV instead of Braid or Shadow Complex on XBLA. The industry is shrinking, not booming. That's where the real incentive is coming from.

Nope, Madden is just bad. The game engeines it uses are flawed and cant be fixed. Its been the same flaws for years and years now.

Madden is broken. It sells very well because its the ONLY NFL game and NFL is HUGE in America. People need their football fix. its evident by posts of people saying, i need to play with my team. Down Economy thing is a hoax. NBA2K sold 60 percent more then they did last year. Or maybe they are the exception to the rule?

In the end you have to make a good game, Madden has been going down every year. MLB2K has been going down every year. Its not because of the economy.

I just know that there is a bigger football market then there is a Hockey market. Hockey is nonexistent where i live. I dont know anyone personally outside of the internet that like hockey. Everyone i know likes foootball though.

[Cydonia]

NHL by EA is the only product worth a darn in the EAsports arsenal. If they'd dedicate as much time to that arcade football game of theirs, you wouldn't see so many NFL2k5/2k8 sites all over the web. NBA2k9/10 are awesome and IMO much better than the the NBA Live series by EA. Competition is needed. If NHL 2K goes away, you will see a drop in the quality of NHL by EA. You can take that to the bank. Which EA has already proved by monopolizing the NFL market and continually putting out crap products that still don't hold a candle to NFL2K5 or ALL PRO FOOTBALL 2K8. Both still better than any version of Madden.

[RavenWire]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

Or maybe you just flat out suck at Madden? The Steelers came back against the Packers yesterday and the Saints almost came back against Dallas....I guess the "comeback logic" was running rampant huh? Hate to break it to you, but teams come back late in games all the time in real life. Ratchet up the difficulty and you won't have scores in the "50's and 60's". I've played something like 10 franchise seasons on All-Madden......never seen a "blocked kickoff". But hey, keep over-stating the glitches and ruining the games for yourself with your bias. You're only cheating yourself. The sales argument is weak in a down economy.....especially regarding a yearly sports game. You see any sports games putting up COD-like sales numbers? Nope. You see any sports games breaking sales records of any kind? Nope. I believe quality games are a result of a sound company philosophy and a talented development team. Competition didn't save the Tony Hawk series. Competition didn't save the Medal of Honor series. Competition couldn't even generate a half decent product in Prizefighter. Competition didn't stop the NHL2K series from moving backward this year. Competition won't save MLB2K.....which is getting its clock cleaned by The Show in a huge way on every level. If you have companies that want to make great games, then you will get great games. It's not an accident that the quality of EA Sports games started doing a 180 once Peter Moore took over. And let's not try an act like the concept of competition is exclusive to sports games. All games in all genres are competing for a shrinking pool of disposable income dollars. It's EA's job to get you to buy NHL10 instead of Assassin's Creed II. It's Take Two's job to get you to buy DLC for GTAIV instead of Braid or Shadow Complex on XBLA. The industry is shrinking, not booming. That's where the real incentive is coming from.

Always the excuse - because people are happy with mediocrity they have to bash anyone who slates their fave game. And as far as overstating? Well, seeing a D-Lineman suction blocked from 4-5 yards away is definetely not an exaggeration. I've had a pass picked off when the CPU CB put his hands THROUGH my WR. Blocked kickoffs do happen online, Its not happened to me but I have heard about it and seen videos. The best one has to be a vid I saw, where someone subbed an entire O-Line for Kickers, punters and QB's to test something (he also changed the rosters slightly, hence why players may seem out of place) - I saw Haynesworth PANCAKED by one of these guys, and they held off Peppers with ease. And you are telling me this game is good? Seriously, take off the rose tinted glasses.

And as far as my playing standard goes, I have gone all the way up to the max skills allowed, the hardest possible gameplay, and I still walked most of the games. There is a difference between having a tough game, and having BS like the above affecting the outcome

It wouldn't be so big a deal if this was the first attempt, but they've been making this game for 20 years - it just isn't good enough. Whatever the reason, EA have beeen shortchanging the fans with a sub-standard product. Like you said, its EA's job to get you to buy games - so why buy a game that isn't what its supposed to be? Your arguement with regards to the poor economy is weak - FPS games will appeal to a wider audience all over the world. NFL, NHL are only big in certain areas, so they will never put up sales like COD. Games like FIFA, Pro Evolution Soccer will sell more because soccer is a world renouned game.

It still baffles me how people can be happy with products like Madden - if we presented something like that in our workplace, we would get an earful from our bosses

[RavenWire]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

Or maybe you just flat out suck at Madden? The Steelers came back against the Packers yesterday and the Saints almost came back against Dallas....I guess the "comeback logic" was running rampant huh? Hate to break it to you, but teams come back late in games all the time in real life. Ratchet up the difficulty and you won't have scores in the "50's and 60's". I've played something like 10 franchise seasons on All-Madden......never seen a "blocked kickoff". But hey, keep over-stating the glitches and ruining the games for yourself with your bias. You're only cheating yourself. The sales argument is weak in a down economy.....especially regarding a yearly sports game. You see any sports games putting up COD-like sales numbers? Nope. You see any sports games breaking sales records of any kind? Nope. I believe quality games are a result of a sound company philosophy and a talented development team. Competition didn't save the Tony Hawk series. Competition didn't save the Medal of Honor series. Competition couldn't even generate a half decent product in Prizefighter. Competition didn't stop the NHL2K series from moving backward this year. Competition won't save MLB2K.....which is getting its clock cleaned by The Show in a huge way on every level. If you have companies that want to make great games, then you will get great games. It's not an accident that the quality of EA Sports games started doing a 180 once Peter Moore took over. And let's not try an act like the concept of competition is exclusive to sports games. All games in all genres are competing for a shrinking pool of disposable income dollars. It's EA's job to get you to buy NHL10 instead of Assassin's Creed II. It's Take Two's job to get you to buy DLC for GTAIV instead of Braid or Shadow Complex on XBLA. The industry is shrinking, not booming. That's where the real incentive is coming from.

Always the excuse - because people are happy with mediocrity they have to bash anyone who slates their fave game. And as far as overstating? Well, seeing a D-Lineman suction blocked from 4-5 yards away is definetely not an exaggeration. I've had a pass picked off when the CPU CB put his hands THROUGH my WR. Blocked kickoffs do happen online, Its not happened to me but I have heard about it and seen videos. The best one has to be a vid I saw, where someone subbed an entire O-Line for Kickers, punters and QB's to test something (he also changed the rosters slightly, hence why players may seem out of place) - I saw Haynesworth PANCAKED by one of these guys, and they held off Peppers with ease. And you are telling me this game is good? Seriously, take off the rose tinted glasses.

And as far as my playing standard goes, I have gone all the way up to the max skills allowed, the hardest possible gameplay, and I still walked most of the games. There is a difference between having a tough game, and having BS like the above affecting the outcome

It wouldn't be so big a deal if this was the first attempt, but they've been making this game for 20 years - it just isn't good enough. Whatever the reason, EA have beeen shortchanging the fans with a sub-standard product. Like you said, its EA's job to get you to buy games - so why buy a game that isn't what its supposed to be? Your arguement with regards to the poor economy is weak - FPS games will appeal to a wider audience all over the world. NFL, NHL are only big in certain areas, so they will never put up sales like COD. Games like FIFA, Pro Evolution Soccer will sell more because soccer is a world renouned game.

It still baffles me how people can be happy with products like Madden - if we presented something like that in our workplace, we would get an earful from our bosses

[kerosene31]

I think it is pretty clear that EA spends a lot more time and effort on Fifa and NHL (not sure about NBA but it seems competition has helped there too).

Fifa was a pretty poor game overall last gen, and NHL was pretty much a joke. Now, they are some of the most highly regarded games in the industry. I'm an admitted "EA *****", but what they've done with these games is nothing short of amazing.

For me, games like Madden and 2k baseball have not made nearly the strides forward. Those games are in the "buy every other year" category (if that).

[Basebrooklyn]

I hope mlb 2k is next.