Madden NFL 15 Screenshot - Colin Kaepernick with Tattoos

[Hooe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when tattoos used to exist in Madden on PS2 / XBOX / PC, they were pretty much all generic tribal bicep bands, none of which approach what existed on players in real life, yes?

Tattoos don't make or break my opinion of the game, beyond that the more authenticity in the visuals, the better.

[m1ke_nyc]

Quote: Originally Posted by dghustla

But it is being lazy because there is a thing called immersion and realism. And other developers who face the same hurdles as EA constantly go beyond the call of duty (no pun intended) to make sure they can have as many areas of realism in their games. If all EA had to do was get players to obtain permission from their tattoo artist to have their tats in the game why wasn't it done before? You mean to tell me this is the first time a tattoo artist was willing to agree to allow the tattoos he's provided to one of his most famous, high profile client's to be published without compensation? The bottom line is EA didn't do it because they didn't have to because there was no incentive to do so. The sad thing is this "tattoo license debate" really overshadows a damn nice screen shot of what could be a special madden from a visual standpoint. Need to see it in motion before I anoint them.

I get what your saying, but ultimatetly in that situation wouldnt it be up to the player to actually go out and seek permission ? how do we know EA didnt try to convince players to do this ? we dont know that. Thats why im saying its a bit premature to jump to those conclusions. Im willing to bet this explanation about tattoo artist needing to consent is probably only half the truth. We are all probably specualting on half the truth.

Quote: Originally Posted by apollon42

We aren't sure if this is true yet.

Yep, like I said this is probably only partly truth.

[dghustla]

Quote: Originally Posted by ratedmoney

I get what your saying, but ultimatetly in that situation wouldnt it be up to the player to actually go out and seek permission ? how do we know EA didnt try to convince players to do this ? we dont know that. Thats why im saying its a bit premature to jump to those conclusions. Im willing to bet this explanation about tattoo artist needing to consent is probably only half the truth. We are all probably specualting on half the truth.

I'm with you, someone dropped the ball somewhere. Maybe they asked and didn't follow up. But if devs are saying players are calling/emailing them asking where are their tats in game somewhere there was a disconnect.

But for at the end of the day tattoos not be included were the lease of the problems within the game. Hopefully gameplay will look as impressive as this screen shot.

[roadman]

Are people overlooking what I posted above or maybe they just don't want to believe it, but FIFA comes under the same umbrella as Madden does: EA

This came from a developer of FIFA:

Why don't tattooed players have their tattoos in the game? (Stuart Maughan)

It's a long and complicated story but all different reasons, really. Sometimes we don't have permission to use them; there's a bunch of different reasons for that. We actually get emails and messages from the players more than the fans saying, 'Where's my tattoo?' The copyrights around tattoos is really interesting, you'd be surprised."

Edit: I see dg read it.

I know we were told by the developers before the Weber regime that the NFL didn't allow tattoos, that's where the disconnect is coming from.

This sounds more like more of a valid and legal reason.

[TheBuddyHobbs]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Are people overlooking what I posted above or maybe they just don't want to believe it, but FIFA comes under the same umbrella as Madden does: EA This came from a developer of FIFA: Why don't tattooed players have their tattoos in the game? (Stuart Maughan) It's a long and complicated story but all different reasons, really. Sometimes we don't have permission to use them; there's a bunch of different reasons for that. We actually get emails and messages from the players more than the fans saying, 'Where's my tattoo?' The copyrights around tattoos is really interesting, you'd be surprised."

But NBA, WWE, and even EA UFC get around this? That's why I don't buy it.

[bad_philanthropy]

It's funny though because some players in FIFA have tattoos located on their heads/necks by virtue of their facial scan.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBuddyHobbs

But NBA, WWE, and even EA UFC get around this? That's why I don't buy it.

Acccording to THQ article, there were many missing tattoos from NBA 13 and maybe these companies paid out for the tattoos.

Who knows?

Tattoos were never a biggie for me, but I can see it being a biggie for others for the realism.

From one of mesteveo articles:

EA has lost of lot of money to lawsuits recently. Why take that chance, I guess?

Still sounds like a slippery slope to me:

Good stuff for a law school exam, I would think. Of course, plenty of tattoo artwork is actually covered by copyright -- which quite frequently goes ignored. But if we're talking about a unique piece of artwork, and no clear assignment of the copyright is made, there could very well be an issue.

It's worth pointing out, however, that this is not entirely a theoretical issue. Six years ago, we wrote about a tattoo artist suing the NBA, because a professional basketball player he had tattooed, Rasheed Wallace, had shown off the tattoo in a TV commercial, and the artist claimed it was a violation of his copyright. That lawsuit settled out of court, however, so we don't have a legal ruling as specific (that I'm aware of... but if there are other such cases, I'd love to know about them!).

[m1ke_nyc]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBuddyHobbs

But NBA, WWE, and even EA UFC get around this? That's why I don't buy it.

I'll give you Live and UFC, but WWE and NBA 2K are from a completely different company with different policies and procedures of operation. You can stream Live to twitch and get audio, you stream 2K and you get none because of legal issues.