End of Console Generations is Not an Excuse for No Innovation

[RaychelSnr]

"Innovations will come with the new consoles" has become a popular defense for stale franchises like Madden NFL and NCAA Football, as they continue to improve in marginal and incremental ways instead of making sweeping changes or true innovations during the Xbox 360's and Playstation 3's final hours.

Yet Madden's history, spanning over 20 years and four generations of consoles, suggests that the opposite of "incremental change" should be happening right now.

In all previous console generations, the Madden NFL series reached its creative peak just as veteran systems neared their retirement.

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[Profit89]

This series needs to move to the PC if they want to be taken seriously.

[wat3]

Is Madden 13 the last Madden before the license expires? I don't want to hear " they're just going to extend" because that's not what I'm asking.

[luv_mist]

I haven't really been following the Madden series. What innovation did Madden 10 bring?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Quote: Originally Posted by luv_mist

I haven't really been following the Madden series. What innovation did Madden 10 bring?

Pro Tak, actual gang tackles.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Quote: Originally Posted by Profit89

This series needs to move to the PC if they want to be taken seriously.

True, but they never will. They don't want regular gamers to upstage them. Because they know full well the modding community would do it in a matter of days.

[huskerwr38]

Wow, Madden 94 had over 100 Player injuries...we don't even have that now. But, it was fun to take a look back at the history of Madden with photos of the back of the box features.

Also, I think this article kind of shows that Madden might have went the way of NBA Live if not for the exclusive rights. With how bad Madden 06 was for xbox 360, this would have been the perfect time for 2k sports to land a fatal blow to the Madden franchise. Thank goodness for the exclusive rights.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Much like the NCAA series, the Madden series spent this whole generation playing catch up to the last generation. Adding features we already had last generation back into this generation as new features, when in reality it wasn't.

This generation was nothing but the HD generation for EA Tiborun, because the only thing they improved upon was the graphics and online stability. Game play has been at a stand still for 6 years now.

If it wasn't for online, most people wouldn't even buy Madden or NCAA. And that is the sad truth of it all.