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Midway Fine with NFL Split
JoeyPea writes "As seen on the front page of The Futon Critic and mentioned in this IGN article, Midway Games is apparently fine with EA's exclusive rights contract with the NFL. The complaints on the last Blitz were that there wasn't enough unecessary roughness that the franchise was previously known for. But now it looks like there won't be any pansy hits because of the NFL's licensing rules. The Blitz: Playmakers write-up mentions drug use and off-the-field habits, so perhaps you can expect more realism from Midway without the NFL's license."
We didn't have much/anything to lose, so we really don't care.
:(
Cute.
Meanwhile Visual Conepts/Take Two gets royally screwed. They had the superior product, but because they didn't bid the highest (if they got to bid at all) on the licensing rights, we'll either be stuck with a generic ESPN Football 2K6, or nothing at all.
I don't have the link handy, but if you're bothing to read this story, please sign the petition to the NFL to rethink this (if that's even possible).
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
This paradigm is cheap and trashy. Who cares if "Joe Player" beats his wife and gets thrown in jail? I would care if Warren Moon did. This is basically a ploy to hold the NFL hostage for their error in judgement. Even if the players don't have real names and the teams are bunk we know what it signifies. That there is something wrong with the NFL. It is a good move and maybe force the NFL to rethink its terrible sell-out we are all going to suffer for. This year Madden had to up the bar because someone else came up with a new product comperable and sold it for $20. With no competition to rattle the sword expect the consumer to be the one who ends up suffering.
Just make a City of Heroes style football game where users can make their own teams, design their own players, logos, etc, and have a txt import function for player names & stats.
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft
Oookay -- I have more patience now with the people complaining that the Doom movie will be unrealistic because it won't feature an invasion of Mars by the creatures of Hell.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
You don't need to put a gun to my head to say that Sega is a better company than EA. But let's make it clear: the Player's League took a bid from Sega and Take Two just as they did from EA. The difference is that EA bid more. If they had the cash, Sega would have gladly cornered EA out of the market if they could, so this is not exactly like a mom and pop shop v. Walmart. This is a large corporation v. a larger corporation. I like Sega - love Sega - but this is the way the game is played.
Well, not the original, it was a EA game if I remember correctly, but I would love to see a similar football game for the current systems... or a parody of the NFL as mentioned for that matter. The standard sports games have become pretty stale in my opinion so I would love some variation that just made fun of football stereotypes, had mutant player and let you design your own players! Go for it Sega/ESPN!
~Necromutant
Didn't the Madden franchise itself have to do without an NFL license in the past? Look where it is now.
Not the poster. The old game Pigskin was fun.
God spoke to me.
That's too bad. I always liked the NFL Blitz series because of the cartoon-ish gameplay and simplified playbooks. It's not meant to be a realistic (American) football simulation. Same with the NBA Jams (I think that was the name) series of basketball games. If I wanted realism I would have played Madden or some other EA sports series. Both are good games, they just weren't trying to accomplish the same thing.
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.
The Blitz announcement aligns perfectly to poo-poo on EA's big ol' NFL contract hoopla, and it sounds more interesting than merely another "watered down NFL sanctioned football games". Ouch!
This is further proof that EA is the embodiment of pure evil on Earth.