More of that good 'ol 2K/EA hypocrisy - jdareal21's Blog

jdareal21's Blog

More of that good 'ol 2K/EA hypocrisy

Posted on November 23, 2013 at 02:02 AM.

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Now, for those with revisionist history, let's go back a bit. When Madden 06 was released, EA made the decision to completely rebuild the game from scratch, with a different engine, different mechanics, worse AI and less features. In short, it was a next gen game visually but a disaster in almost every other regard. This lasted for a good portion of the previous gen, particularly the early years, and IMO most of that resulted from building on top of the wobbly foundation that was Madden 06.

On the other hand, 2K took the opposite approach of basically porting 2k6 from the PS2/Xbox and dropping in slightly better player models who sweat profusely. What they lacked in sheer graphical "wow" factor in comparison to Madden, they made up for with proven gameplay from the previous gen and a more robust set of features. In time, they focused on bringing the graphics up to speed and fleshing out the intricacies of the game and with 2k11, they achieved a modern classic which they tweaked to even greater success in the next two installments.

Fast forward to the dawn of this new generation, and somehow EA is taking a beating for doing the exact same thing 2K did years ago. Instead of trying to build a whole new game from scratch, especially since they just started to turn the corner in the last few years, they got smart. 2K also took a different approach this time, and while they did it far better, they basically rebuilt the game to showcase graphical power the same way EA tried to do with Madden 06. For anyone who's actually played Madden on PS4/X1 it's impossible to say it's the same exact thing or that it doesn't play better. This time, they're working with a more solid foundation and I believe they'll rebound because of it in this generation. I'm not saying Madden 25 is anywhere close to being a classic, but it's certainly on the right track to becoming one. Possibly much sooner than we think...

Comments

# 1 jdareal21 @ Nov 23

If this comes out looking strange, pardon me, I posted it from work and the whole setup is pretty archaic...

# 2 tril @ Nov 23

so you are comparing basketball to football. So far the reviews for Madden on next gen has been overall, positive.
played the PS4 once at a friends home and was impressed. for the record, Ive never been a huge EA MAdden supporter. but I do hav eto admit that the game has improved. so yes they are on the right track. Now hoepfully in the future, theyll fix things that folks have been complaining about for the past decade.
for me thats really penalties, amongst other things.

# 3 jdareal21 @ Nov 26

I was more or less talking about the two different approaches developers take when making the transition to next gen, regardless of sport. I've read and seen almost everyone bashing EA for not making next gen a significant enough improvement. But they're doing what 2K did back in '06 with their basketball game, and in the end, it worked out. I believe it will for Madden as well, it just takes time. The hypocrisy though, is the main issue I have.

# 4 supermanemblem @ Nov 26

I've said the same thing to friends. 2k has the sizzle which masks its flaws.

# 5 cusefan74 @ Nov 26

I laugh everytime I see someone say,"Their taking steps in the right direction with the game." I laugh because I see that every year with people saying that about Madden. Lets face it, EA has messed up Madden so bad that they might never be able to come back from it. And this is coming from someone that had defended EA right up through Madden 12, but after 13 forget it. That was aweful and for the first time every I didn't buy Madden this year. So for me to believe that Madden on the PS4 is "going in the right direction" well......excuse me if I don't believe that.

# 6 inkcil @ Nov 26

Who cares about hypocrisy when EA puts out such terrible games? It's a red herring dude. The issue is not hypocrisy, the issue is bad games. Seriously, if NBA 2k had been cancelled back in 05 and Live had continued on we would have been "forced" to play a terrible Live series and there would have been blog after blog about "stop picking on EA." "Live has a three-year plan." Live this, Live that. The main reason Live scores so low right now is because another game developer is proving a great basketball game can be made. Same used to be true with football.