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Madden 07 Earns $100 Million in First Week Sales
192939495969798999 writes "CNN reports that Madden 07 grossed over $100 million in the first week, helping to resurrect a sales slump for Electronic Arts. The article states that most people are waiting for the release of PS3 and/or Wii to make game purchases." From the article: "An industry turnaround isn't expected until next year, and EA officials predicted during its quarterly earnings report on August 1 that videogame sales for 2006 across the industry would be flat to down 5 percent."
I would not bother getting this game. Rumour has it there is a sequel coming out next year!
Warhammer forums
The stereotype for /.ers is that they like video games but hate Football. Does this extend to video game representations of Football?
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Resurrecting a sales slump? Sounds like Sony will be all over THAT action...
New team stats, new rosters, better graphics... Its released RIGHT at football season... When a game isn't ON, we can play one. Also, you can get a bunch of people that DON'T play other games to play football cause, well, its football.
Yay, I have a sig.
Having had a roommate who was into Madden pretty hardcore, I can tell you that EA makes some minor design changes from year to year and occasionally adds new functionality (but not always all that interesting). Most of it, though, is roster changes. And sports gamers eat it up.
What's significantly different about all of the games based in the D&D universe? Oblivion, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Champions of Norath, every Fantasy MMORPG, etc. Each game has the same classes, almost the same spells, weapons etc. What changes? A few textures, a name or two in the same rehashed "you must fight evil" story?
Usually it is just new rosters and more player animations, capabilities. People buy the game to play with friends or online, once you play a game for awhile, you learn its quirks, so even if you had a new roster, the game wouldn't be as much fun. However a new game with new tweaks, will take a while to learn, so the game will be fun for another couple of months.
I think people see why getting an exclusive NFL license was well worth it. Football is a sport that just seems to be invented for consoles.
On a side note I've owned Madden almost every year since the Sega Genesis. The 360 version is the best one I've played hands-down. Gameplay is very realistic (need to focus on run to open up pass, defensive play calling most important I've ever seen), zoomed-in graphics are breathtaking, and the high-definition photos of each player are a great addition.
I love having a real-life ESPN ticker on the bottom. The UI itself is very smooth and intuitive. The mini games are a blast when you have a few friends over but don't want a longer competition between just 2 people.
it's doing Madden-ingly well.
While I don't entireley disagree with you, I do on several points, 2 of which I feel are worth mentioning:
A) Games in the "DnD" (as you put it) universe at the very least have different storylines. Different events will occur leading to something new, whereas in football you play football. Each game of football you play will be differemt, but I can't see the difference between madden 06, 05, etc being all that riveting (50$ worth of fun that is)
B) Yes, classes/spells/abilities are similar between games. However, there is room for innovation and development. In Madden you can pass, punt, tackle, etc etc etc. There isn't all that much room for development. It will always be pass, punt, tackle, etc etc etc.
To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion...
The difference is that RPGs don't get released every single year, and they tend to be fundamentally different. Anyone who says that Oblivion and Morrowind are the same - a few minor details, never played them both. The baldur's gate series is fairly close to what you're saying, but Neverwinter Nights is quite dissimilar to baldur's gate. I have not played Champions of Norath, so I shall not comment. But I will comment that D&D Online and World of Warcraft aren't even close to the same as far as gameplay mech goes. For the most part though, the games in the series you mentioned often involve a core engine rewrite, whereas the Madden games seem to only get engine upgrades each console generation, yet they charge full price for it. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining because it obviously works for them. EA would probably be long gone by now if they didn't have their EA Sports line-up.
disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
And you know, many of the more savvy gamers (who don't like to pay money for stupid add-ons) update the rosters manually anyway. It's 100 percent doable on the PC, and I'm told that you can even do it on the XBOX. There is still a cottage industry in providing recent roster and graphics updates for older NBA Live XX, Madden 'XX, and NHL XX games. Google "NBA Live roster update", for example, and you'll see what I mean.
It's because '06 blew. Every magazine I read indicated that if you had 05, not to bother with 06. So now you've got all your rabid foaming at the mouth by every year's game crowd, combined with the more conservative skip a year or two crowd, all lined up to buy the game.
08 projection? Don't even bother making the game. Sell a box with last year's game in it again, then make waves in 09. That's what six figure salaries suits call "a three-year-plan".
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
One industry insider reports they would've "earned eleventy billion dollars if it hadn't been for widespread video game piracy and used game sales."
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
My favorite football game of all time was Techno Bowl for the NES. I think the reason I liked it was because it was less like football than any other football game I ever played. In single player mode the AI was a little lacking (ok a lot lacking), but it was a great two player game. In these modern football games I seem to do best when I just let the AI play the game for me because it's better than I am...
Hobby Robotics
As far as I know, the NFL's storyline is the same each year. Now, what I want to see is a football video game that *really* mimics what happens in the *real* NFL. Want to bribe a ref? Try it. Honeytrap the other team's key players? Do it. Dope your players? Hook 'em up. Tactical penalties to injur others? Assassinations? Fixing matches? At least make it an option.
... don't think that game would go over well with the Jack Thompson crowd.
The problem is, I
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
I got Madden 2k6 and hated the QB vision. It complicated an already complicated game, and was totally unnecessary. What they need to do is make other parts of the game more realistic, like the timing aspect of throwing balls, not add some unnecessary complexity with which direction the QB is looking. For example, you can basically throw to a player at any point in his route and he will grab for it, whereas in real football that is impossible. The other thing that is very annoying is that defensive backs covering wide receivers can go and block throws even with their backs to the ball. In 2007, QB vision is now an option to increase the accuracy. Great idea, it decreases complexity. It also adds more features to make the running game more unique. I would say 2k7 is a step above, but I'm going to be playing it in earnest this Labor day weekend to see how it really cuts the mustard.
People don't wait till the next system to play games right now. They buy the next system to play the next games. EA's slump: A product of a stale market of games. I've never heard of anyone saying "This game sounds fun, but I'd rather not play any games for a year and wait till the PS3 comes out to play games".
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I was willing to give the 360 version a chance, and then found out that the game doesn't support co-op game play, so I can't sit at home and play this with my friends.
Not only is that functionality not in the 360 version (nor is Owner mode, audibles, and other features), but that co-op play was *removed* from the Xbox and PS2 versions as well. So, for my friend who likes to sit down and play on the same team with his son - too bad! I only play Madden with my friends on the same team - too bad for me!
Basically EA has said this game is no longer for people who play together. Its for those who play alone or who just want to use Xbox Live to trash-talk other players in an online game...
Pathetic.