NFL fan? Hope you enjoy Madden. (1 Viewer)

[BrianB]

And that keeps coming up in the discussion on here & other boards - I don't care that other sports have been doing it for years, I only care when it affects ME. Condescendingly putting "sports" in brackets in reference to football etc really doesn't help win me over to your point of view BTW.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

I don't know if the discussion of "blame" is relevant in either respect. This was a business decision. It is strategically relevant. And it doesn't mean other developers can't create football games. A positive approach to this might suggest that it will force those without the NFL license to be really creative with their new titles.

 

[Bryan_ZZ]

I played Tecmo last night and had a wonderful time. I would happily play an unlicensed Sega football game next year (I bet most who like ESPN Football would).
The big issue is going to be making the game appealing to buyers new to console football and those who like the career/season play. The magic just won't be there when the Dallas Wranglers lose to the Philadelphia Condors.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

I hate to see no competition in games like this. Who is going raise the bar for EA? Does anyone think a non licensed game might come out and still and try and compete?

 

[Marc Bax]

I don't consider WWE a sport hence the brackets. No offense to you intended.

 

[Ken Chui]

From a Take-Two company statement:

"While recent industry developments preclude the release of an officially licensed professional football title, the Company and SEGA are evaluating opportunities to publish a title based on the critically acclaimed 2K football game."

 

[Gary Seven]

Well... I'm quoting myself here since it seems that EA agrees with my assessment of Ubisoft. EA continues to acknowledge their software engineering inferiority.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12...s_6115370.html

 

[Ken Chui]

Looks like EA is applying some of the concepts taught at the Gates' School Of Business: if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

 

[David Galindo]

Oh man...we're all screwed. I've never been more afraid of a company than I am with EA.

Youve gotta love this news post:

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/7383/U...ng-is-Hostile/

Hah!

 

[Sami Kallio]

Where do you get the information of what the licenses are? I would imagine that FIFA and F1 wouldn't be that small as they are the biggest sports on the planet. "Soccer" is still the biggest and F1 is right there with the others if not at #2.

I have never bought a Madden game in my life, they just aren't very good. I have played football online for 10 years and nothing is better than the old Dynamix series of Front Page Sports Football. Unfortunately Sierra ruined the series and the last playable we got was in 1998. All others are just too arcade for me to enjoy. I'm still waiting for a decent replacement for FPSF but looks like we might not get it anytime soon.

Oh well, I might as well advertise our internet league here: http://www.pnfl.com/ Check it out if you're interested in the GM/coaching side of the game (which Madden doesn't offer).

 

[Marc Bax]

I'm referring to America not the entire world. Soccer and F1 are far from huge here. And NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL aren't as popular elsewhere, this I know. In America they are laregly considered the 4 major sports though. These leagues do not normally grant exclusive licenses for console games. That is why it's considered a big deal.

 

[Sami Kallio]

That part is understood but your comment about "smaller" licenses was obviously trolling.

I would imagine FIFA 2005 outselling Madden 2005 by a huge margin (worldwide) and an exclusive license being sold accordingly. F1 on the other hand is different, people aren't into car simulations and rather play arcade style games so Madden and FIFA should outsell any F1 game.

Geoff Grammond's F1GP4 is still the one I play, EA just makes horrible F1 games. Hockey games, I haven't played since EA's (I believe) 1995 version. They were a lot of fun back in college but I haven't had anyone to play with since then. Playing by yourself is like playing with yourself, not as much fun. EA isn't getting my money on Madden until they implement good GMing and coaching into it and I just don't see that happening, they are targeting the game for younger people.

 

[Marc Bax]

I'm done with this thread my point was made ages ago and if you can't grasp it then fine. I'm through with the nitpicking.

Maybe I'll start a new thread called "the best sport in the world" where we can argue the relative merits of tennis, cricket, rugby, polo, and cock fighting. See you then...

 

[Sami Kallio]

LOL, you trolled, what kind of response were you expecting? I apologize if you weren't trolling and it was just ignorance.

 

[Marc Bax]

Some would say you are the one trolling Sami but I digress. I apologize if you're having a hard time grasping the fact that those sports and their licence's have a much smaller impact here in America.

 

[Sami Kallio]

What, for pointing out that F1 and FIFA aren't small? I wanted to know where you were getting the information about the exclusive licensing fees for them. FIFA controls by far the largest sport in the world and to put them into a "smaller licenses" was just something that made me wonder.

Exclusive license might be new to the four major leagues but certainly not to the sports world, big or small. If I wanted to troll, I guess I could do that by putting major in quotation marks. I won't as they are major leagues but that doesn't mean there aren't other major sports. Even though there are several leagues of football, all official teams are under FIFA so the licensing is sold by them. That makes it one huge market.

 

[Marc Bax]

The only time I put anything is quotes was "sports" and it was already explained above. I do not consider WWE a sport hence the quotes. It had nothing to do with soccer or F1.

As for FIFA it's been an exclusive licence for years. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL have always allowed several licences a year to make videogames. The NFL is the biggest sport in America and many consider this to be a precedent setting move that the other 3 will soon follow. That is why it's a big deal here. I don't like the FIFA license deal either (I play Konami's game) but I, like most Americans don't know the real names of most players so having them changed isn't as big a deal. The thought of putting out an unlicenced NFL style game in this day and age is almost unthinkable.

 

[Ken Chui]

EA, it seems, did make a ploy for securing rights to the NBA, but the league has rejected their offer (see article).

 

[Sami Kallio]

Marc, lets not get too serious about the argument. I did put a smiley when I first mentioned troll. Does that make it ok? I didn't mean that you were a troll, just that you trolled a little with the comment.

You just made honest mistake by considering something like football and F1 small. I just wanted to know if their exclusive license was really sold cheap, that's why I wanted to know if you had some information about them. Lets bury the war hatchet (if it ever were even taken out).

 

[Marc Bax]

Ken that's great news thanks for the info, I'm very surprised the NBA didn't follow the NFL's example.

Sami no problem, the troll remark irked me a bit. No hard feelings though.