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EA, Sega Line Up Bands For New Football Videogames
Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for its article discussing the ever-larger sphere of music licensing for videogames. The in-depth licensing efforts for both Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 and Sega's Madden NFL 2005 is discussed, and EA's Steve Schnur "says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory." Analyst Edward Williams adds: "When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged. That is almost exactly what the game publishers want to get into, but they won't comment on it now, I'm sure, because it really depends on Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony and what their next-generation console hardware will allow."
When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged.
/. is seriously screwing with Firefox.
Or they could, of course, take advantage of the technology they have now in the Xbox and let gamers listen to any sort of music they enjoy.
BTW, something on
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
All EA sports games suck fucking monkey balls
Instead of beating each other with the songs they can license, how about trying to trump each other with GAMEPLAY? Yes, I know you don't need to improve that to sell sports games since the annual changes are often rather minimal (cue replies "but in the year X they added feature Y!"). It would be a lot more consumer friendly if they just threw in a roster editor and allowed the fans to keep the rosters up to date or patch it in and release a new game every few years throwing in all of the features that accumulated over the time (instead of spreading them out over multiple releases). The current model makes more money, but no other genre can get away with such cookie-cutter changes between sequels. It's time sports fans demand more value for their money.
says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory."
Yes, I'm sure it was very difficult to select bands that have a new album coming out. Not only does EA get bands that are probably 'hip' in middle/high school, they most likely pay less to license the music because it's promotion for the band.
All of this mainstream bullshit, music/movies/TV/games, all they want is your money (duh). All of these crossovers are starting to screw the consumer. Oh great, I bought Pitch Black when it came out because I really liked it. Oh wait, now the new special edition comes out before Chronicles of Riddick with extra footage that adds some backstory. Not only that, but it comes with a free movie ticket. Don't forget to pick up the video game, it'll actually tell you something about Riddick, besides that he's badass.
Same thing with The Bourne Identity/Supremacy, fuck this shit.
BURN THE MAINSTREAM GARBAGE!
I've enjoyed some songs in video games before (especially Test Drive 6 and Jet Moto) but I've never had the notion to buy a game because of the music on it. I'm always suspicious that things like this happen because something is wrong with the game. It's kind of like how the crappy cereal always has the good prizes or that Three Stooges beer must suck or else they wouldn't bother paying to put them on the label (and it does indeed suck). Of course, if they don't make a big deal out of signing all of these acts for their game, then I won't be nearly as skeptical.
At any rate, EA and Sega had better watch out because I'll burn down the offices of the one that sells a game with that "Are you ready for some footbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal" song in it. That's the single biggest reason I stopped watching Monday Night Football. (The others being the vastly increasing number of commercials making the game somewhat unwatchable and the interviews that overlap with actual plays on the field. Some people mention Dennis Miller as the downfall of MNF, but it was already a dead horse by the time he got there.)
the poster is not attempting to discuss the licensing of these games but is rather trying to incite people who enjoy football to reply.
also, it should be noted that slashdot is american-centric and this has been stated many times.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
Sega's Madden NFL 2005 ?
I'll humor you. Yes, it's much more like rugby than "real football." It's a much more strategic than what we like to call soccer, requiring careful planning and practicing of formations, plus the instinct and spur-of-the-moment grace of soccer. If you're really interested in finding out what the "deal" is, prove it by reading the Wikipedia article, it's pretty good. Hopefully this is helpful to our non-American friends.
Chill out. isn't the whole point of a message board to increase one's knowledge? (and yes i know a lot of dotters will say, no! it's to argue about nothing!)
mod grandparent +1/-1 informative, troll.
mod parent -2, flamebait, troll.
It is broadly correct to call American call football 'football' because it is a type of foot ball. Just like it is also correct to call rugby union, rugby league, rugby 7s, and Australian Rules football: football. They all share a common parent, Football, or soccer as it is known in America.
When people like the poster talks about rugby, they mean Rugby Football Union, unless they live in parts of Australasia, Rugby Football League is play more frequently. Thus, most people do not complain when Rugby is used to specify Rugby Union almost exclusively, because it is the most popular version of the game.
Similarly, football means 'soccer', due to convention, and due to it being the parent of all other footballs.
Soccer is not the name of the game, however, it is an old nickname for the sport. The way Americans call football 'soccer' would be the same as everybody else calling American Football 'gridiron'.
Thus, to prevent the rest of the world wondering what news stories like this one are about, please just insert the word 'American' in the story title, as an indication that you know that there is a larger world outside of your country.
If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
I can think of 2 titles that I've bought just for the music: PS2's Amplitude and Tetrisphere for the N64. I sorta fell in love with Amplitude's gameplay also. I have all the Wipeout soundtracks, but I've never played the games.
the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory.
I like Greenday, and plenty of other bands that were included in Madden 2K4, but I don't want to hear them in my football game. All I really want is the theme music that the networks play, so the game feels more like a 'real' game. I don't need to hear DMX, Bon Jovi, Green day, lil' kim, or yanni in my Football simulator. I'd like to see them use these resources to enhance the distinctions between the teams and improve the commentary.
Analyst Edward Williams adds: "When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged
I don't need Madden to turn into some half assed version of I tunes, thanks but no thanks EA.
"Thus, to prevent the rest of the world wondering what news stories like this one are about, please just insert the word 'American' in the story title, as an indication that you know that there is a larger world outside of your country.
Thanks, that's all I was asking for! When I read the title of the article, I assumed it was about football (soccer) rather than American Football. Both Sega and EA have released sucessful football games (EA's FIFA Football arguably being the most popular), and so it seemed like the story was about those games.
Note that EA actually changed the games name to "FIFA Football" a few years ago, after realizing that no-one in Europe calls it soccer. FIFA itself stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I don't buy (or download) much music these days, and I don't pay much attention to new bands, but for only a little more than the (outrageous) price of a CD i can buy an EA sports game for my PS2. With the last one I bought, I got about 20 songs from artists I hadn't really listened to before. Some of them I didn't like, others I thought were alright.
EA wins 'cause I bought their game, I win 'cause I get a pretty good game with some ok music, the artists win 'cause they reached a potential consumer they wouldn't otherwise reach.
I'm not sure I would want to buy and download songs based on hearing them in a game (I already have that song in the game!), but I'll definitely consider buying an album or two.
"Preceded by itself yields falsehood" preceded by itself yields falsehood.
First of all, this is an American-centric site. This has been stated many times in the past. I don't understand why we have to keep explaining this to you fuckwits.
Second of all, the summary should make it clear that what is being discussed is American football and not soccer. You know that EA's game is called FIFA Football, right asshole? Then why, when you saw Madden NFL 2005 did you get confused?
Finally, if all you wanted was to make a point that Slashdot should make things more clear for a global audience, why the comparison to rugby and the stupid nonsense about padding? It's insulting. Go fuck yourself you piece of shit.
And is it any suprise that your country is fucking awful at team sports with an attitude like that?
EA's Steve Schnur "says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory."
Mm-hmm. Sure.
One thing the video game publishers are not benefiting from is an additional revenue stream; they are not being paid for the exposure they give the artists. Said an EA spokesperson, "We want to compensate the artists for their intellectual property. We also want to retain the integrity of the creative content of the game. We don't want the game to be just an advertising vehicle. If it evolves to that, then the spirit of the music within the game may change. Our goal is to create the most entertaining experience for the gamer."
Right. Totally.
The songs chosen and put into EA's games are picked based on the preferences of the designers. Definitely. Totally. Just like the songs chosen and put into radio playlists are picked based on the preferences of DJs.
BULLSHIT.
If you didn't RTFL, payola schemes have been ruining radio airplay for decades. Since direct payola is illegal, record companies hire "indies" (the nice term for music middlemen) to take the $ from the label to the radio station in order to "persuade" said station to play certain songs at certain times.
Oh, but EA said they don't take money? That's cute. Complete bullshit, but cute. I have a lot of buddies who only buy EA Sports video games (and the occasional GTA and such), and every single time they load up an EA Sports game around me, they almost always mention a "favorite song" on EA Trax. The shit works because it targets the perfect mainstream audience: sports-watching males, ages 15-35. Record labels would be crazy to ignore that kind of advertising.
I do wonder whether or not ESPN/Sega Sports is accepting $ for song contributions, though, since they appear to be dipping in the non-major-label pool. I've seen the figures on labels like Definitive Jux, and they can't afford much in marketing, so I'll play the semi-optimist and pretend that Take Two's financial clout has helped Sega make a move like that without asking for "indie" fees.
Not like EA needs the money, though, thanks to their superhuge bankroll these days.