Slashdot Mirror
Only NFL Game This Year Gets Lukewarm Response
aendeuryu writes "The first reviews are in for Madden '06, and the reception is underwhelming -- it's scoring an average rating of 79% on gamerankings.com (at the time of this submission). The reviewers on Gamespot (7.8) and 1up.com (9.0) have different takes on the game, but the readership of both sites doesn't (7.4 and 7.8 respectively). Gamespot's criticisms put the game in a less-than-exciting light: the new QB-vision feature adds realism but takes away from basic fun, and (perhaps most damning) the graphics rate a 7 out of 10 on what was supposed to be a next-generation title. Normally, a mediocre game release isn't a big deal, except that, because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year. So, what are the players to do?"
I happen to love football, the actual game, not really most of the video games (for a number of reasons). Before we get a slew of comments making fun of Madden's often repetitive commentary, I wanted to add my 2 cents. NFL football is a game that does not change every year... the rules are pretty much the same from one year to the next, and the real life games themselves were far more interesting in the seventies and mid-eighties than they are today, barring of course some of the big plays (and big win streaks) you see from time to time. New players and annual player turnover only makes the competition slightly more interesting, but the actual systemic variance between each year is minimal.
Systemic differences and improvements are what drive the typical gamer's series purchases. Video games, for the most part, try to deliver a REVOLUTION on each upgrade. About the only revolution you could get with a series like Madden is having the guy come up with something original to say (hasn't happened yet), improving the UI, and making the players look more realistic. But there is a time when this effort stalls, because the game of football itself doesn't change enough to keep fans as interested in purchasing an upgrade to a game that they already own.
Any football fan here would agree that there is very little difference between each new Madden release, except for possibly the player names, stats and some minor UI changes, and Madden saying something slightly different from time to time. But most of his old bricks stay in the game.
Someone could easily reskin and redevelop the game using Madden's engine to make it far more interesting. Like how about a game of medieval football where you have to slit the guy's tendons with your sock-knife, like they used to do back in the day? Seriously... there are a lot of different avenues game developers could be taking to add some spice to these types of games.
If you break it down and see Madden 04 and Madden 05 sitting in either the week rental or the 2 night rental, you'll pick 04 so you can have it a few more days... or at least I would.
My point is that they have to really do something different if they want to improve their ratings and this has to be one of the hardest challenges facing any game designer in the world right now. How do you take a regular sport and make a game out of it that will release a new title each year, without boring the hell out of your fans? It's hard.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Buy another game? Oh, no, it's NFL with the latest roster. BOO FRIKKIN HOO. You want to show the NFL/the game maker you don't like the monopoly on the NFL? Don't give them your money. Sheesh.
Looks like the NFL is outta luck. Or EA is. Fortunately, most people who'd buy this, still have the very playable (I suppose) Madden 2005.
If there's that little difference, what's the point of upgrading?
"So, what are the players to do?"
Um...buy a football perhaps?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
or they could just charge you a subscription fee to add new rosters and occasionan texture/model updates. Then you only buy it once, and assuming the fee is reasonable, it would make more sense.
But that's not nearly as moneymaking as having 10 million people just rebuy a small update every year...
"So, what are the players to do?"
Play one of the hundreds of other NFL games already released?
Word has it there's a "hot cocoa" mod available showing hidden footage of a naked John Madden being dragged onto an airplane, lashed into a jumpseat and flown city-to-city over the course of the season. Decency advocates, NFL officials and Hillary Clinton are already threatening to sue . . . :-P
no one cares
If sales drop, maybe the NFL will look to renegotiate their deal
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I'm sure there'll be a lot of comments here about the whole monopoly not causing innovation thing, except for one thing. EA is currently in the same position as Microsoft is regarding their Office suite. They may be a monopoly, but if they don't offer significant upgrades on a regular basis (once a year for EA, maybe some extra time for Microsoft), nobody will buy their product.
Nobody will buy these games just to upgrade the rosters now, since you can download this information online. If EA wants to keep selling titles (monopoly or no monopoly, they still cost millions to produce each year) they better offer something good with each new upgrade.
UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
This is just in.. a game got a bad user review. What will happen next? Will hollywood produce mediocre movies? Will someone write a book that is only mildly entertaining? The world is coming to an end!!!
Instead of making NFL games, the gaming companies should focus on unheralded games like the Canadian Football League, and Aussie Rules football. Then people can learn a new sport, have a good time in front of their TV, and be a little more worldly than just another Joe that talks about Monday Night.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
If you'll notice, it's the PC version of Madden 2006 that has a collective 79% rating. The Xbox and PS2 versions (presumably more popular than the PC game) are at 87.4 and 88.2 respectively, only 1 or 2 points behind the score of Madden 05.
Man, I was thinking about having lunch sometime today.
Naked John Madden.
*shudder*
Maybe this will mean less people buy the game. I was thrilled with ESPN NFL2k5 last year. It was arguably as much fun as Madden '05, and only cost $20. When I heard about the EA exclusivity with the NFL I decided not to buy another Madden title until there was competition again. This flop serves two purposes. It will hopefully diminish the number of people who buy the title, ultimately leading to a lower revenue to both EA and the NFL, and secondly it shows that a lack of competition leads to a lack in quality.
That said, EA has been turning out some great titles lately. Burnout 3 for Xbox, and Battlefield 2 for the PC are just great.
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
Considering that this score is based on only 2 reviews, I'll still wait for more reviews.
This could even open things up for competition from another company that may not have NFL players, but better graphics and gameplay.
That ain't liver; that's beef kidney!
First...
Avg Ratio: 79%
Based On 2 Media Outlets
I.e. this may change wildly later on.
Second, I don't see why this story didn't get on just the Games section. A game is "pretty good" but not "excellent" and it's big time news? Keep in mind that ~80% is nowhere near "bad" especially for a fan of the genre.
So, what are the players to do?
If I were a fan of this genre, I'd pirate this game to see if it was worth the money (unless they release a demo).
If it wasn't, I'd just play the former / my current favorite NFL game...?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
You're trying to tell me any sport-based game was ever fun?
Do you see what I did there?
Ever hear of Megaman Soccer? Overall, I don't think the game fared very well, because people thought it was a badly made sports game, but as just a fun game, it was cool. I mean, you hit the guy with a ball and he bursts into flames? How cool is that! Or you can't quite get past their goalie? Chop him into little pieces. BUt wait, he's a big metal thing that can't be chopped up into pieces. Your loss. you just wasted your special ball. I mean, there was strategy, (although it's not quite a strategy game), there was sports (although there was enough changes to make it not quite a normal sports game), and there was super cool enhancements that you could get by defeating other teams. That's cool stuff. I'm not even a soccer fan and that game rocked.
Luke
----
Is your boss making dumb decisions because he doesn't understand computers? Send them to ChristianNerds.com, the easy-to-understand computer encyclopedia
"When you first snap the ball, you'll be locked on to a primary receiver. But by moving the right control stick around, you can move your view to another receiver, should you need to"
"The whole song and dance you have to go through to get the cone to switch to a receiver post-snap lends itself to you taking a whole lot more sacks than you might be used to, and even just trying to move the stick around manually is a clunky affair in the early goings. "
Gee, great job morons. Way to fumble on trying to improve the passing game. What's next? You have to remember to wipe you hands on your towel with a series of movements on your right analog or the ball will get sweaty and you'll lose accuracy?
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I don't even understand why these games come out with misleading names.
It's 2005... why is there a game called "Madden '06", out now?
VOTE!
Unfortunately, most business only learns by losing money. In this case EA paid handsomely for the rights to NFL, so the winner will be.... The NFL. EA will lose a lot of money, which will hit their share price. EA will then whip the designers even harder and tell them that the whippings will stop when the products get better. Great for morale!
If the NFL titles suck, then support other titles that don't need NFL endorsement. Cyberball rocked in the day. No NFL needed. Support great games, don't support big name trademarks and monopolistic organizations.
" most people who'd buy this, still have the very playable (I suppose) Madden 2005."
I guess you answered what the gaming companies have to do. They have to provide an RIAA like solution, and DRM the game so that it can only be played during the year it is purchased for and after that it will come up with a message that you need to purchase an upgrade for it to maintain its game-like authenticity in both players and stats.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
go out and buy sega's espn nfl2k5. it rips madden apart.
Oh My God! The tragedy! How awful to only be able to play other football titles that don't have the sacred NFL trademark, but may be much better games. Such games might even cost less besause a few bucks didn't have to flow to the NFL, or play better because dollars that would have gone to the NFL can be spent on coders or testing, how can players accept that??? How horriable it would be to play completely different games and have to stretch one's mind beyond the limits of NFL football! And lets not even think of actually putting the console down and actually going outside and throwing around a football or playing other sports. What in the world are players to do when they have been deprived of the sacred NFL logo by the evil forces of EA????
Doing anything except just playing the official NFL labeled game is completely unthinkable. Players must accept what they are given. It will be good.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I dont much see myself as a football fan overall and especily an NFL fan. I do like NCAA football cuz they put on a better show then the money hungry NFL. I do like football video games alot though but Madden 2006 is really lacking from last year and even this years NCAA football (It usuely is the other way around with NCAA lagging behind NFL video games). That QB Vision thing is what really hurts it for me. It is sapposed to make the game more relistic but I play 2 player and never aganst the computer and all QB vision does is tell yer opponent exactly where the ball is going and the result for was as interception after interception and the game eventualy just turned into a running game so somone could score. I'll stick with NCAA '06 and good old classic Tecmo Bowl on the NES (A true fun football video game).
True, the video game rights to NFL, NCAA, and AFL teams, stadiums, and players have been gobbled up by Electronic Arse, but that's not all the football there is. What about the CFL? And if you'll allow me to think outside the box, are FIFA and MLS under exclusive contracts? What about folk football, which could be partly standardized?
Frankly, if I were EA, I would have negotiated the NFL license so that I could make a new release every few years.
Attempting to have "earthshattering" new features with only a yearlong development cycle, especially with the way games are coming out today, tends to mean that
- You're not going to be able to build a new code base from stratch with all the new wonderful and marvelous features
- You're going to overpromise and underdeliver
- You're going to saturate your market
Football doesn't change. If there were new rules every year, sure, it might be a compelling value proposition to put out a new game every year.
Seems it would be better to release a new version every few years. Get the features you want done right while at the same time not oversaturating your market.
Seems the mantra of "but that's what we've always done" has a far firmer grip on people and business than we might otherwise suppose.
$u(k 1t!!!!11!
Stop forking over your hard-earned money to EA and play Tecmo Bowl for the NES (it was more fun anyways.) I refuse to play any Madden until they have that neat little song that plays during the kickoff.
* If this resulted in lower interest in the sport itself and the NFL was really harmed as a result, it would probably just be attributed to some other factor and nobody would come close to learning their lesson. Any amount they suffer will be needless.
* The demographic this game appeals to doesn't tend to care if a game is good or not, only if it is "cool". How could this not be cool if it is the only option available? Chances are EA won't be burned by this at all.
* Sports Legues are systems that work best as a monopoly. At various times competing legues have rose up in some sports and it very rarely has created any good results. This monopoly is there to be in the best interest of cooperation between players, clubs and supporters. Clearly the NFL has abused this privalage.
It's unfortunate that the NFL doesn't seem to be embodying the ideals of sportsmanship and fair play that I would personally expect from a institution built around a game.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
I promised myself that I wouldn't buy the game when I heard about the exclusive deal with the NFL. I really got turned on to the football games starting with NFL2k for the DC and continued to buy the NFL2k line until this year, when they didn't produce a game.
:-( for capitalism.
I was pretty close to not giving in but as the season got closer and I saw the preseason game, I gave in and bought it. I agree with the reviewers that the game isn't that special. It's basically a less fun version of 2k5.
Ohh well, I guess EA knew what they were doing. Even though everyone bad-mouthed them and swore not to buy their games, EA knew people would still buy their game because it was the only one available.
Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl.
there's more than one way to do me.
Where what you play on the screen is what you COULD do in real life. There's no reason people who play Madden NFL Football can't go out and toss a pigskin around. And no, I see no point in buying a comp game that only marginally expands on a previous version. ESPECIALLY at what they're charging for games. Computer games are supposed to allow you to do things you couldn't do ordinarily, like fly a chopper or drive a tank, or infiltrate a Martian base. What's next? 3d Badminton? Or maybe 3d Ping-Pong?
That's just crazy talk. It must be purchased. It has the NFL logo on it! Who cares about quality or gameplay, that's clearly only secondary. This game must be purchased, after all, it's the only officail NFL game this year!!!!
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
What are players to do, you ask? Isn't it obvious? If someone comes to the conclusion that the game isn't worth the purchase, be it based on reviews, word of mouth, test-playing it or whatever, then simply don't buy it. There's lots of other games that you can choose from - or you could even go outside for a change instead of just playing computer games all the time.
If you're an absolute die-hard fan that wants a great new NFL game every year (and who thinks that this isn't it), then write to them and tell them what you think about their "exclusive license" deal. Send a snail mail letter, too - these are taken far more seriously than angry emails, who're probably just deleted without anyone really reading them.
That's what I would do - if I cared about football or football games.
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
Peace
Despite having heard terrible things about this year's EA Madden NFL football, I've heard really good things about this year's EA NCAA football game. Go figure.
Don't worry about the end of competition, folks. We'll be getting you the illusion of competition real quick now. Just like that row of many and varied laundry detergents at the store, all of which are technically, if you go and look it up, manufactured by subsidiaries of Proctor and Gamble...
How awful to only be able to play other football titles that don't have the sacred NFL trademark, but may be much better games.
One problem is that all the well-known American football leagues (NFL, CFL, AFL/af2) are belong to EA. Is there a CFL video game on one of the consoles? What about Gaelic football, Australian Rules football, Rugby Union, or association football?
Posting as anonymous pussy dosen't help you any ya know.
Burnout 3 is a great game, but it wasn't developed in-house at EA, it was created by Criterion in the UK before EA bought them (a deal that went through partway through development of the title). I remember working with the Criterion guys before I left EA last year. BO3 does have some really fun bits, I remember being impressed with it even at the early stages.
People are never as simple as their stereotypes. This applies equally to Christians, Muslims, and Emacs-lovers.
Sure, you get upgraded stats and some new gameplay features. What I really wonder is how much testing EA's put into the new features. I'd hope that every new feature got over a year of development, playbalancing and testing.
To me, it sounds like getting Zelda 04, and then a year later getting Zelda 05 with two extra dungeons, new outfits and a new item.
Oh wait, I get it now.
Madden '06 has evolved. Have you?
This will, of course, be presented to the consumer as a benefit. "With our new LiveUpdate feature, you'll never again have an outdated player roster! Each year you'll be automatically connected to our website to update your software for the latest and greatest in player info." They'll leave it up to the user to figure out that what it really means is that they aren't really buying a game, but renting it year at a time.
I think it would be cool to avoid this whole mess and create a better arcade style football game. A game like this could take some cues from Sega Soccer Slam as an example. Or someone could develop a great football game for the Nintendo DS. Drawing up you own plays would be fun to do with a stylus. I think the possibilities are out there, its just no developers want to take the risk.
maybe I'm too forgiving, but I dont play a game when its rated at 60% or lower.
79% just doesnt sound bad...
As soon as the exclusivity deal was signed, innovation ended. I expect EA to release the exact same game for every year of the contract, with the exception of updated rosters and some new "feature" like the QB vision. Each new feature will be half-assed and poorly implemented.
Football games haven't exactly been known for innovation, but what little did exist is dead now.
The only hope is that the exclusivity contract will cause game developers at other companies to branch out and build truly interesting sports games, ones like Base Wars or Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 perhaps, though obviously football instead of baseball.
Maybe we can get a Blood Bowl game (on a console)?
// harborpirate
// Slashbots off the starboard bow!
> because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal
> with the NFL, this is the only NFL title
> you'll get to play this year. So, what are the
> players to do?"
Have a little pride and refuse to buy it? And thus punish both EA and the NFL?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Madden 06 is not a next-gen game for the PS2 and XBox. It still runs on the same game engine that they have been using since the game came to the PS2. Madden 06 (if it actually is released) for the 360 will be on a new engine and of course look much better than what appears on the XBox. Madden 07 will still be available with the same game engine for the PS2 (and probably XBox too). I still remember seeing Madden 2005 for the PS1 at the store. It's still the same Madden for the PS1 that you got in the late 90s. Just update rosters.
As was suggested by some friends last night during a random gaming discussion: Sega should put out a good "Mutant League Football" game.
Make it as good or better than Madden (which doesn't look to be a challenge according to the reviews), and they can print their own money.
I really don't know if you can say an 80-90% rating a FLOP. If it doesn't sell well then sure it will be a flop. But they will probably still sell their 10 million copies.
What matters is the review text, which wasn't exactly glowing. Seriously, does anyone pay attention to scores these days?
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Madden certain fills the genre for those who want a twitch game. You get to be the QB or the Running Back, on defense you can be a Middle Linebacker or Corner...
But I miss the Coaching Simulations. We used to play leagues were everyone was a coach and we drafted the (NFL) players, made our own offensive and defensive plays, worried about salary caps and made play calls. The game would show you what happened just like you would see it from a coach's perspective.
I don't want to Throw the ball... I don't want to press the spin move button... I want to build a team using my own philosophies of what makes a great team and I want to make plays that out-think my opposing coachs.
Gridiron (Bethesda Soft) was a great example of a game where you could make your own plays and the physics worked. It was just a bunch of X's and O's but I had more fun playing that game than I've ever had playing Madden.
I didnt like QB vision either, so i turned it off, which pretty much makes it the same game as '05. (I didn't buy '06, my roomate did, however, so thats what we play now, though i would have been just as happy sticking with '05)
...With our new LiveUpdate feature...
Then Symantec will sue them for trademark infringement, and two wrongs will make a right! Or something.
I'm scared of numbers that can't be written as a fraction. It's an irrational fear.
79% is considered bad? Game reviews have always been inflated, why not do anything about it? 79% is practically the same as 8/10 or 4/5, and that's considered really good in, say, book or movie reviews. Look at IMDB, the best movie there, The Godfather, has a score of 9/10.
Really, a score of 40-60% should be an avarage game, but it appears the game reviewers give this score to games that suck completely.
Oh well.
The quality of a product dropped after it became a monopoly? Surely this must be some sort of oversight . . .
I bought ESPN 2k5 last year mainly because people kept bugging me to play it online, but I had a blast (and still do when I'm bored and need to feed football fever) with it in single player. I knew it would suck for consumers when EA got the NFL exclusive. But what can I say other than "don't buy it"? Honestly, I've never been impressed by an EA sports game.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
For computer graphics class , Dave Swanson, the Director of Madden, gave us a lecture about the "process" of making a new Madden game. I decided to joke around and ask him "Why do you need to do anything? Don't you have a monopoly?". He replied saying that he actually still works as hard as he did before the monopoly; and that his current aim is to get people who were not intrested in the Madden series before-hand into the game.
He also said that all the stories in the press are mostly an exaggeration of what is really going on.
I agree with your argument for the most. However, I own Madden 2005 and have recently rented '06. In doing so, I have noticed small little improvements that go a long way with the more meticulous football fan, such as myself.
For example, the article's aforementioned QB vision light, which is based on the QB awareness rating and determines the field of vision for a QB. You can control this yourself with the right analog stick or focus in on different receivers. Make a pass to someone not in your field of vision and you will make a duck pass. This feature will need some tweaking, but it is one step closer to making the game realistic and prevents previously awseome madden players from exploiting passing the ball all game.
Another small improvement has been in line play. The animations that determine positioning of linemen during the play are improved. Defensive lineman in a 4-3 now finally line up as they are supposed to (in gaps instead of headup), and the ability to slide your offensive line protection, while not perfect, definitely lets you control logic for your lineman that never existed in previous games.
The last one I'll mention are smart routes. In older games. WR's were restricted to predetermined routes based on the play you call, or you could hot route them, but the distance they run in the route is always the same. Now you can make their curl routes and in/out routes go all the way to first down marker. Again, a small improvement, but one that makes the play in this game a bit better.
In all honesty, I think people expect too much of this football game series. There are only so many things you can add each year and each year everyone wants something revolutionary. All I want is steady improvement so that when I play this game in 2015 (assuming it is still being produced) it should be much closer to the real thing. Just look at at how far it has advanced in 1995 to see what I mean.
I highly doubt that 79% rating on the PC version of Madden is going to assist in the rethinking of the exclusive NFL contract the Commision made with EA considering the game just had the largest opening weekend in franchise history.
Hi,
I just had to correct you that the CFL uses yards just like American football. Essentially the differences are there are 110 yards in the length between endzones, there are 3 downs, the ball is a bit bigger, the endzones are bigger, the field wider, goalposts at the front of the endzones, and the salaries are a lot smaller.
But since a game designer can do whatever they want, they could invent their own style football game to make things more interesting.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
"So, what are the players to do?"
Uh... Switch to soccer (footbol)?
GOOOOOOOOooooooooaaaaaaallllllll!!!
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
to make the game? Sega produced an excellent _licensed_ football game, sold it cheap and still got their asses handed to them. Who'd put up money making a niche game when established players fail so spectacularly against EA? You might see a crappy budget title or two, maybe even a few decent ones. But you won't see anything with polish, that take big money no one's gonna risk.
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Jet Grind Radio was quite fun, imo
EA: "I'm tired of trying to make competitive games, can I just have a monopoly?"
NFL: "Okay!"
EA: "Hooray!"
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world. It's just a lie you've got to rise above. - John Mayer
I'm a bit befuddled as to why the story submitter considers Madden 2006's response to be "lukewarm".
Firstly, as mentioned by other posters, the rankings he linked to were for the PC version, the PS2 version got an 88% rating and the Xbox version an 87% rating, both respectable scores and hardly 'mediocre' (I would also argue that 79% is quite respectable).
I also am unsure of why the submitter is referring to Madden 2006 Xbox/PS2/PC as a "next-generation title"...
And as to the "what are players to do?" comment, it appears that they are running out in droves to buy this game. After all, they did sell 1.7 million copies in the first week alone...
I can see it now cross maden with the WWE series and you've got a multi million dollar hit. Now if I can only work in NASCAR and I can target every rednecked american ... I mean red blooded american.
Second, the graphics are significantly better than 2005. There are a ton of new animations and things look much more smooth and realistic.
Third, the QB vision is complicated, but it makes the game more realistic. It was too easy to make circus passes for big gains, and the new system makes it much more real. Yes, it can increase sacks, but that's the way the real game works.
LordBodak's journal.
Who gives a crap?
I mean seriously, what is the worst case scenario in this situation? That a die hard football and video game addict will only be able to buy an EA branded NFL game for the next 5 years? So what? Cry me a river.
A Playstation NFL game is not water, nourishment, shelter or air. In fact, it is so far away from being anything close to basic necessity (or any kind of necessity for that matter) that its just pathetically funny how rilled up a few individuals get over it.
People, get a hold of yourselves.
Specifically, NFL2k5.
Update the rosters using either manual or action replay/gameshark codes, and play online with the standard rosters.
Seriously, the current rosters aren't critical for online play, and just play with EQ turned on. When EQ is on, you're playing based on skill and not having the better players.
I hate playing online against people who refuse to turn EQ on. For example, you only saw about 5 teams online at any time: Eagles, Pats, Colts, Falcons, and Rams. Anything else beyond that was a stretch. What sucks about that is that I'm *IN* St. Louis, so playing as my home team makes me look like a bandwagon jumper. Sheesh.
Take2/Visual Concepts/2k Games has agreed to leave online play functional indefinitely, so play continues. That's where I'll be, and that's where my friends will be. None of us plan on buying a single EA title ever again. I know that's extreme, but I don't really care what they say or do at this point. I'm a fan of the sport, and I'm a fan of hte players, true. I don't need to have the NFL stamp of approval to play online against other teams.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
Seriously. This way, the EA fanboys that wanted and would have bought it anyway, and it deprives EA of another sale.
:)
You made a mistake, you can still fix that though.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
http://investor.ea.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=88189&p=iro l-newsArticle&ID=744892&highlight=
Madden 2006 sells a record breaking 1.7M copies in its first week.
So it doesn't seem to matter to the lemmings that the game has very little to offer in terms of innovation.
$49.99 for a new roster either means people have more than enough disposable income to waste, the reviews are wrong or mass consumtion is good. Or something else.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
Normally, a mediocre game release isn't a big deal, except that, because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year. So, what are the players to do?
:-)
How about go for a football game WITHOUT the NFL license? Midway's making one that should be out in a couple of months called Blitz: The League , and because they don't have the NFL license anymore they're free to put in stuff the NFL wouldn't allow before. I was at a Midway event earlier this month, and listening to people talk afterwards it seemed like they were impressed by what they saw.
As a side note, I have a friend who's the biggest sports nut I know, and he's actually looking forward to the new Blitz game more than he was Madden.
Just my $.02...
"because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year"
That's why it's mediocre! Clearly when EA has no opposition to worry about they don't feel the need to make the game any good. I hope they never get their hands on Ubisoft who somehow have managed to publish nothing but gold for the last few years.
It's funny to see all you nerds talking about Madden but have no clue what football even is. Do you know what the difference between a linebacker and a wide receiver even is? Nope, I thought so.
Anyway, I've been playing Madden only for a few years, since 2002, but in a short period of time, I became a hardcore fan. I didn't even like football until I started playing Madden a realized how strategic the game really is. It's basically a turn-based RTS, with some hand-eye coordination skills associated with it.
For the most part, the reviews are correct. The new QB Cone vision sucks. It sucks hard, mainly because it makes playing the game not incrementally harder but exponentially harder. Its no longer fun.
Despite what you folks say, Madden does get incrementally better ever year. The plays become more elaborate, the graphics and cut-away scenes get better, more strategy is involved, so, yes, it is worth it to upgrade every year, and people around the world do to a tune of $500 million a year.
The only problem with Madden 2005 was that online cheating was far too easy to do. There were so many glitches that it became trivial to cheat and win, which made it frustrating.
Improvements come in online gameplay, and "features", but this year was a significant step backwards. Some features like NFL Superstar feel ridiculously poorly thought out.
The one thing Madden will have to face is that it is becoming so hard to use, with so many different combos, etc, that there is a significant barrier for new users to come and play it. I started playing just before the complication curve took off, so I have a handle on it, but I can't see how new users will ever get the hang of all the buttons, move combos, etc, to do what you want. To top it off, the booklet that comes with the PS/2 version doesn't mention half of the new features, which really sucks. Iguess they figured that a manual would be far too hard with all the moves possible.
So, yes, this year really was a step backwards in terms of the Madden franchise.
So, what are the players to do?
I assume we mean players of the video game? Don't buy it.
This reminds me of how EA has made an NHL game for a LONG time. Me and my cousin played it since 93 or so, or maybe that year is wrong. But a long time.
We were sorely disappointed with ea's 2003 and 2004. Then we heard about ESPN sports first NHL game, tried it (for one THIRD the price mind you), and it was a fantastic game!
It had some problems, but for a first year game, it was REALLY impressive.
Of course in this case it's different, thanks to the NFL allowing their fans to be cock blocked like this. Good job.
Do NOT shell out the money for the game, then!
If you do, you have no right to bitch.
-- Note: If you don't agree with me, don't bother replying. I won't read it.
It would be another thing if there had been several hundred other football games released already in our history.
But, as you say, they're stuck with just this one. Ready the suicide prevention hotlines: these sad football geeks are coming home.
Let me preface this by saying, I don't play Madden and I don't intend to buy Madden 06. However, I had some concerns about the way the post was written.
The poster cites 2 sources for review scores. Have you heard of Metacritic? They look at reviews across the web and create a score based on all possible reviews. If you look at Madden there you'll see:
XBox: 88% - Based on 20 reviews
PS2: 89% - Based on 18 reviews
PC: 81% - Based on 5 reviews
While these still may not be an ideal sampling, it's a much better guage of how reviewers are judging this game.
~ "When I'm of that age I'm just going to live up a tree."
Uh... why can't they play Madden '05 or Madden '04 or even ... I don't know... Madden '03?
Someone who enjoys video football enough to buy a new version every year probably isn't very difficult to entertain. He'll buy Madden '06 even if it's just a feature-creep of '05.
...just my 2 gil.
Two reviews does not make a consensus. Checking Metacritic suggests that response to the game have been more favorable than the submitter suggests.
d ennfl06
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/mad
I have 05 and and 06 for xbox and I think 06 is a worthy step forward from 05. But, that's just one opinion.
The bigger question is: Is this the least relevant accepted Slashdot submission ever?
nonsig. unsig. desig.
Dig out the Techmo Super Bowl on my NES emulator.
Is 79% really "underwhelming"?
If you took an algebra test and got a 79%, how would you feel?
Meh.. I won't buy it...
--
You could BugMeNot, or you could just click. You decide
EA receives less money when fewer people buy the game.
Check out http://www.chaosleaguegame.com/
Chaos League is similar to the old Game Designers Workshop board game Blood Bowl. Orks vs. Elves pigskin play. It's a nice little game that got kind of overlooked. They just released the Sudden Death expansion.
Blitz: The League, anyone?
I'm reminded of the patch for GTA:VC that put the real names on the cars...if a game is good enough, the fan base for it will make a "realism patch" to add in all the real player and team names. Not sure what will happen to the console games...but last I heard the new consoles have some sort of a patching system. Whether or not it will be feasible to utilize that system for a patch of that nature is yet to be seen.
Marky Mark Killed Jason Bourne!
This is a college dorm room staple.
I don't think it matters how good/bad it is. People will be playing it regardless.
My bet is EA knows that.
And for the playstation version? PC sales mean little to EA sports.
Except due to their contract actions, EA is now the only group left making football games.
So "if you don't like it don't buy it" actually means "if you don't like it don't buy football games".
I absolutely fucking hate it when apologists for [X random corporate thing] toss off "if you don't like it don't buy it" when this actually means "if you don't like it don't buy a computer" or "if you don't like it don't get a job in the computer industry" or "if you don't like it learn to grow your own food". "Buy our product or don't buy anything at all" is never a reasonable choice to put before a consumer, and it's one the american consumer gets shoved on them all the time.
Is the average rating (of the big 3 systems) at time of this comment posting. If it's changed by that much just in the time since this article was posted to Slashdot, this may not be that accurate a measure.
Still, Madden sux. =)
With the first link, the chain is forged.
I tried this mod; all I saw was footage of John Madden drinking hot cocoa.
"what was supposed to be a next-generation title. Normally, a mediocre game release isn't a big deal, except that, because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year. "
how exactly is this supposed to be a next gen title when there are no next gen systems out? this game is for 5 year old consols. and it is not the only football game out this year. madden 06 will be out for xbox360 at launch. not the same game, and it is next gen.
The winner of the round gets 10, and the loser gets a 9 in almost all circumstances. Penalties that lower the score from a 9 are somewhat common, but to get the judges to hand out an 8 in a round, the loser has to be on the verge of unconsciousness and bleeding from every oriface. I don't know if even a boxer being beaten to death in the ring can cause a judge to give out a 7 to him.
If EA says their monopoly isn't harmful, then that's good enough for me.
After all, if you can't trust a multibillion dollar corporation with no accountability to anyone except their shareholders, who can you trust?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Who says football means NFL?
Just avoid NFL trademarks and make a real football video game. You'll lose a few players to hero-worship, but you'll make up for it in licensing costs.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2005--Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), today announced that, based on internal data, Madden NFL 06 scored big at retail in its first week in stores and sold-thru more than 1.7 million copies, making it the biggest week one launch of a Madden NFL Football game in the franchise's sixteen-year history.
n dex.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050818005614& newsLang=en
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/i
That's not exactly true. I still have Madden 2003, and there's nothing stopping me from playing that just because it's now 2005.
Who would of thought that after gaining a monoploy on the product that the programers would stop putting their all into the games?
whoooooooooo cares
Well I did the smart thing and sold the game on ebay immediatly after being dissapointed. I only lost $5.
Once you get in the habit of it it becomes second nature. Furthermore, the defense has a tendency to hone in on receivers you are looking at, thus you can actually look them off by staring at someone else. Ironically betters QBs have a harder time doing this as they have a bigger field of vision. Still, if you don't like it, turn it off as others have said. I hadn't played a Madden game since about 2002. I hate the exclusive deal. But I wanted to buy one this year and had no choice.
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Surprised Arena football hasn't tried to team up with a software publisher to make an arena football game.
When did 70% become bad? Surely anything below 50% if bad. Anything above is above average no?
When did a rating system become 70 = bad 80 = okay 90 = good?
I like muppets.
Although I am not a fan of American football, since I am European, I am fan of soccer. Electronic Arts has made great damage to electronic soccer, especially on PCs, so great in fact, that there is no decent soccer game on the PC.
What has EA done? they have done this: every few years, they lower the quality of the FIFA soccer game they release, so as that the bar on soccer games is not raised too high.
If they kept putting out better and better versions of FIFA soccer, then eventually they wouldn't have a way to milk consumers, because they have an upper limit on what they can do.
They also have an exclusive licence with FIFA, so if you want to play your favorite team, you have to buy EA's game.
FIFA 96 was very playable on the Megadrive/Genesis and on the PC.
FIFA 97 was 3d, but suddently all the gameplay has been missing! instead of using the 96 version gameplay, they recoded everything, and the game sucked big time.
The same thing had happened the following years with the rest of the FIFA games. Version 98 was ok, version 2000 was fine, but version 2002 was a mess.
I guess it is the same with Madden NFL.
At the time i'm writing this, according to gamerankings.com, the scores for madden games (ps2 version) are:
/. obsession with Madden is I'm not sure, they are average games that fit a certain niche market perfectly. Besides that I have a feeling this year's Madden got less development time because the developers are busy preparing for the upcoming Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 titles. Madden could potentially make or break these consoles so I'm sure Sony and MS are putting all their weight on EA.
2006: 88%
2005: 90%
2004: 91%
2003: 91%
These scores are pretty respectable, especially for a sports title. If you are expecting any respectable gaming mag to ever give a "realistic" (as opposed to a mario sports title) sports game 100% you can pretty much forget it. Sports games appeal to people who like the sport, and want to relive a little bit of it at home. They don't really appeal to hardcore gamers, who could care less about having an updated roster. The real test will be the sales numbers on this title, I'm betting lots of people will buy it and enjoy it. What the
EA has also ruined formula 1 sims.. there hasn't been an updated F1 simulator in a long time because EA holds all the rights, and their last offering just plain sucked IMHO. Grand Prix 4 and others are hamstrung because EA holds the exlusive rights to the new car designs, tracks, etc.
Why would they do anything BUT incremental improvements, and squeeze a pile more profits out of their investment? Whatcha gunna do? Complain? Write your own? Hahaha.
Here's to waiting, because it's all you can do. I wish FIA / NFL / Insert major player here would think of these things, but I guess those cheques are pretty big.
..don't panic
http://www.petitiononline.com/MLF/
Mutant League Football managed to be one of the most entertaining football games ever released for a video game system, eschewing petty realism and NFL line-ups in favor of silly things like mutated robotic alien players and playbooks that included such classics as "Kill the Ref".
Instead of churning out the same old 3D crap over and over year after year they should take a look at putting out titles that sacrifice some of the realism in exchange for something unique.
Bring Back Mutant League Football!!
http://www.petitiononline.com/MLF/
If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be respected, sit down and shut up.
End result? I pirate the thing when it shows up on the torrent sites. Now, in fairness, at some point when I get around to a store that has it, I'll buy it anyway because I want to support the company. So they'll lose nothing monetarily. My point, however, is that their sales figures will be skewed.
Just something to keep in mind.
As for international sports, you missed rugby, which is without a doubt one of the most exciting sports out there. Talk about non-stop action...
And how about Basketball? Not enough action for you? A couple points every 30 seconds seems pretty good to me.
A slow (or in this case rather quick) slide into mediocrity is the hallmark of exclusivity (read: monopoly).
I would have thought it might take more than one cycle for the lack of impetus for innovation to come to fruition, but hey, never underestimate EA.
smash.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
As in Canadian Football League. We've been waiting for a decent video game for our league. Now's the time I say. C'mon, the field is 25% wider, 10 yards longer, the end zones are twice as long. You can score single points on missed field goals or on punts, our balls are bigger (ahem!), and we only have 3 downs to make the ten yards. That, and you can knock a zero or two off of the salaries. Anyone know the contact particulars for 989 or 2k Sports? ;-)
Toronto Rock? Only the most dominating lacrosse team in recent memory.
First off a disclaimer. I don't play much console and I'm not a football fan. I just ducked in here to see how EA's exclusive contract with the NFL is working out.
Not so well, apparently.
You know, if this was any other software in the world, the little tweaks you're describing would be a 1.01 downloadable patch (or something of the sort) and not a new release. Characters finally lining up correctly isn't exactly a breakthrough. It's a bugfix.
One can't help but wonder how much better of a football game you'd be able to play if there was another competitor out there who was allowed to make football games.
But since there isn't, gamers have to be happy with these little dibs and dabs of gameplay improvement at the cost of a completely new game.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I don't have the link to the NYT article, but the jest of it was that EA is in a creative slump; something like all but two of their titles for this year are either annual releases (Madden 2006 et al) or parts of series (LotR games) and/or sequels. That's right, two original titles from EA this entire year.
Those interviewed by NYT had the same reaction to this year's Madden; too much money for a game that's basically a rehash.
It seems to me we experienced more innovation when you had several companies racing to make the ultimate football game. I think we should take it personal when a company thinks that year after year we are going to spend hard earned cash for slight innovations, when you have another company that can already provide the much sought after features at a less expensive price. With the rapid growth of technology and innovation, there should be no reason why we put up with a mediocre product when you had another company with a product that was much closer to perfection. Would you accept this from any other product? Automobiles, Electronics, clothing. Wake up people! You are being taken for granted!
It's not that there's nothing happening in these games, it's that a lot of it is psychological. Pro sports are like violent versions of chess for the most part.
(Except rally racing, that's just fun.)
As one of the many people that go through life with the last name Madden, I am tired of the game and the use of my name to promote a product.
Games, films, music...things might change.
The the most creative and inspiring games, films and music come from independent artists who create because of only one reason - 'passion'. But the work they do will not be appreciated beyond a minority unless your 'friendly neighborhood multinational' thinks it will make money (a decision by completely clueless suits) and picks it up for wide distribution.
Internet was supposed to minimise the distance between the creators and the public. Though technology has minimised the costs of producing games, music and films to a great extent, distribution is still a big issue.
The only silver lining in the horizon is the less than expected performance of Hollywoood blockbusters, average artists heavily promoted by music companies, and games developed and marketed by big players in recent times. Whether this will amount to genuine talent getting appreciated or not is yet to be seen.
Tat Tvam Asi
So, what are the players to do?
That's simple. Don't buy the game. All a company that would seek out a monopoly cares about is money. If you arent giving them money, they dont have any money. If they dont have any money, theyll do anything it takes to get money. In this case, make a decent game.
this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year
Shit - you mean EA's exclusivity deal means I can't play the 2005 games I own anymore?
so, I'm wondering if sega could release a roster update (via xbox live) for their last year's ESPN game? that was quite a good one: beautiful graphics, LESS-REPETITIVE commentary, and just great overall... would it be legal for them to release a roster update, moving players around, and creating "custom create-a-player" style players for the few players who weren't in the NFL last season? can sega do that, and not invoke the ire of the NFL's licensing department?
...and if they can't, when will someone come up with a good replacement webpage showing me exactly how to manually tap it into a customized roster myself?
I have been a long-time fan of the madden and 2K franchises. What they need to do is what they fail to do every year. Fix the "gimme" plays. There are plays every year that always work. You can run them over and over again and will only be stopped if the player knows the exact play you are running.
I am done with Madden football now, because they have refused to fix the problems and because I would only have 1 choice if I were to purchase an NFL game.
It's gotten to the point where I will vote with my wallet, which is pretty hard for me to do because I really wanted to buy a new NFL game this year.
For the best football game ever, Mutant Leage Football. You play teams of oddball mutants, skeletons and monsters. In what other football game can you kill the other players, bribe the ref to make bad calls, or turn the ball into a bomb and let the other team intercept? I played this for hours on end on the Genisis, and even now when I play it's still fun despite the very dated graphics. EA still owns the rights to this, lord only knows why they don't bring it back. It would certainly break the monotony of Madden.
So how many of you losers have not only played this version of the game, but previous versions of the game, qualifying you to comment on the series in any form?
That's what I thought, very few.
-- Primis.
I'm another player that mourns the loss of the SEGA/ESPN game. It truly was much more playable, and therefore more fun. AND it was an appropriate price.
If by tip-top you mean any rube that dropped out of junior high then yes, tip-top.
I believe your a mental retard already.
Simple. Tell EA to buzz off buy not buying the game. It's called anti-competitive practices.
Insert Sig Here
Despite not having a license Midway isnt just lying down. They are relasing an updated version of Blitz. Without the No Fun Leagues rules they include all sorts of goodies you will never see in madden.
m g_2871413.html [gamestats.com]
http://www.gamestats.com/objects/719/719321/ [gamestats.com]
Highlights include being able to use steroids, bailing your players out of jail,broken limbs and an Atlanta QB named Mexico
http://media.www.gamestats.com/media/719/719321/i
For those that dont follow the NFL Ron Mexico was listed as the alias for league posterboy Michael Vick, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming he gave her genital herpes. Chcek out the smokinggun. For extra fun try ordering a personallized Falcons jersey on NFL.com with the last name Mexico.
Despite its lukewarm reviews, it appears that EA is selling Madden NFL 06 in record numbers, selling 1.6 million copies in its first week. If consumers will eagerly buy a warmed-over rehash of last year's game, what incentive does EA have to innovate?
Not Found
The requested URL
"Sports games MUST exhibit a growth in visual relaity, or gameplay reality. They have no other way to grow."
And, without contradicting what you've said, but rather as a tangent, that's a path of diminishing returns. Going from 300 to 1000 polygons per character is a much bigger visual improvement than going from 3000 to 10,000.
And I already know one game that's at 30,000 polygons per character (The Singles). While you can see occasional places for improvement if you really zoom in ("hmm, that sweater's neck kinda looks like a dodecagon instead of round") I just can't see how going 100,000 polygons would make more than a subtle difference.
That's not limited to sports games. In any game the graphics alone make less and less of a difference between last year's game and this year's. (E.g., I'm playing PSO Blue Burst ATM, and while you can tell that the old Dreamcast graphics they reused are low polygon count, they're not visually offensive.) Sports games just have this problem more because, in your words, they don't have much else to improve.
Worse yet, going ultra-high resolution and polycount becomes really a handicap to overcome, because when you give people that detail level, they start noticing details that don't match or don't animate exactly like the real thing. So the work to make the magic still happen increases a lot.
Again, that's not limited to sports games. E.g., EQ2 went the ultra-realistic graphics route and just created the criticism that the graphics look "sterile". They're high polygon count and all, but that just encourages you to expect more details to match RL... and notice that they just don't. By comparison, WoW's slightly cartoonish look generated a lot less criticism, and (surprisingly) a lot of people find it easier to suspend disbelief in that.
Sports games don't really have that escape either, and in any case it would be a one-shot affair.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Beach Volleyball
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
have access to 21 other players, a 110 yard field, pads, beer, an ambulance, coaches...
American Football is not the same when played in a pick up manner, still fun, but not the same. A video game is the best way to simulate the real thing.
or another game that is football without the real NFL players? Joe Dakota instead of Montana or something like that.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
So, what are the players to do?"
Bitch on slashdot.
http://penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-01-26
Nuff said...
Until they can learn to treat their employees like human beings, instead of slaves, they don't deserve, nor will they get, any of my money.
Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
How's about this, "Play a real game like the rest of us."
I'm sorry, but I've *always* thought that EA sports games were nothing but landfill filler anyhow.
[Now, I'm off to lift my le... Um, visit... at another place.]
The ONLY thing I want EA to do in Madden 2006 is take out the ridiculous feature they put in Madden 2005 where Peyton Manning audibles about 10,000 times before the snap (and god forbid you decide to audible along with him, he'll run the snap count all the way down to 0, shifting his wide receivers to play fullback and running backs into the slot). It got to the point where I would simply sim the game whenever I was playing the Colts (or whatever team Manning ended up being traded to) and eventually I picked him up via free agency so I could bench his ass out of spite and watch his stats (and hall of fame chances) nosedive until he finally retired.
I play sports games for the game, so when I find one I like I'm perfectly happy sticking with that edition until a truely superior simulation comes along.
Here here! Tecmobowl 4 life!
Down + B: QB Eagles Touchdown
Why do we even need new football games?
True story.
fumbbl.com
And it's FREE!
You build your team, play games whenever you have time, and buy more players when you lose them to injury and death. (mostly death)
It's based on an old Games Workshop game called Blood Bowl. Think rugby with War Hammer. Great game, although a bit long. Quick games are around 90 minutes.
EA should remake it. I bet it would sell more copies than Madden has for the last 5 years.