EA signs exclusive contract with NFL - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Jeff · 12-13-2004, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Electronic Arts, the leading maker of sports video games, signed an exclusive five-year contract with the National Football League and the NFL Players Association, deals that will give the company sole possession of the licensed football video game business.

The partnership, which will commence with the publishing of Electronic Arts' Madden game next August, eliminates the competitive battle EA endured this year with ESPN's NFL 2K5 game, a joint venture between Sega and Take-Two Interactive. Without the use of team and player names, generic games have struggled for survival in the current environment.

Before this year, EA's Madden franchise -- which the company has sold more than 40 million copies of since its debut in 1989 -- previously dominated the football game marketplace. Bit players, including Midway, 989 Sports and Microsoft, dropped out of the licensed football game business this year.

But the Madden 2005 game was seriously challenged by NFL 2K5, thanks to good reviews and a pricing war. NFL 2K5 was available in stores in August for $19.95. For three months, the Madden game was priced at $49.95, until the company finally relented on Nov. 8 and lowered it by $20.

"We considered a whole variety of factors in making this decision," said Gene Goldberg, the NFL's vice president of consumer products. "We chose EA based on game quality, marketing ability and track record."

As part of the deal, EA will have access to NFL resources, including video, audio and music scores from NFL Films. The partnership pertains to every aspect of gaming, including content for hand-held games, personal computers and cell phones.

Goldberg said he's not concerned that the monopoly on the business will cause EA to relax the year-to-year innovations that have been pushed by recent competition. Though financial terms of the deal are not known, Goldberg said there is "a lot of self-imposed pressure to improve the product to make it stand out in a robust and diverse marketplace."

Sports video games accounted for more than 20 percent ($1.2 billion) of the $5.8 billion video game market last year, according to the NPD Group, a market tracking firm.

EA spokesman Trudy Muller said that the deal is not a financial risk for the company.

"We believe this is a good investment for us, as well as the league and the players," Muller said. "We know we have a responsibility to our fans to continue to make the best game. We have plenty of competition with other games in the marketplace."

Electronic Arts also has exclusive deals with NASCAR, FIFA and the PGA Tour.

"This exclusive relationship will maximize the value of NFL players through EA's continued commitment to bring fans closer to the game," said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFLPA and chairman of Players Inc., the organization's licensing body.

In a statement, Take-Two spokesman Ed Nebb disagreed.

"We believe that the decisions of the National Football League and Players Inc. to grant an exclusive license for videogames do a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices," Nebb said. The game was "not a material contributor" to the company's profitability, "nor was it expected to be," Nebb said.

An ESPN spokesman said the company will evaluate the impact that the deal has on the company's licensing business.

The EA deal continues an unprecedented business year for the league. In January, the NFL signed Visa to a six-year deal worth $400 million. In February, Gatorade ponied up $500 million for the right to be called the official sports drink of the league for the next eight years. And PepsiCo signed a contract worth $560 million to use the NFL shield on its Pepsi, Frito Lay and Tropicana products in March.

Wow. This is bullshit. This leads to them having the exclusive rights to team and player names.

ESPN will have to create fake teams and fake names next year.

This is especially upsetting knowing ESPN is the superior game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sport...ory?id=1945691

silver26 · 12-13-2004, 06:24 PM

woah, that's pretty big news considering how well the NFL games sell.

I guess EA was feeling the heat after that price drop the ESPN games slapped them in the face with earlier the year.

Rdr4evr · 12-13-2004, 07:07 PM

Wow, that is insane, but considering all I play is Madden and all I have is a Cube which doesn't contain the 2k series, it doesn't affect me.

thrsn0730 · 12-13-2004, 08:48 PM

The worst part is, you can forget seeing another price war again. Get ready to fork out $60, at least, for next year's edition.

pan6467 · 12-13-2004, 09:34 PM

I don't know. I still think ESPN can get around it by signing individual "stars" and while using different team names and logos still be able to market the game. Quality DOES matter, as does price so I can see something coming out of ESPN that will rival EA.

It's probably going to end up like the baseball games where yeah, one may have the league BUT the other will get the NFL players union, and still be able to use the players names.

But we'll see.

omega2K4 · 12-13-2004, 10:22 PM

Fuck you EA and the NFL, you money and power hungry whores. I hope you crash and burn.

To EA, I'll never purchase anything published, developed, or financially backed by your monopolist company again. If you ever actually put out a game that's half decent anytime soon instead of shitting out the same rehashed garbage every single year, I'll pirate it.

EDIT: Sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/nfleacon/petition.html

Locke · 12-13-2004, 10:46 PM

Looks like I wont be playing a football game for a few years.

NeverBorn · 12-13-2004, 11:16 PM

I agree thats absolute bullshit. I thought ESPN was the better football game, and at 20 bucks a pop you just couldn't pass that up. To me, this sounds like someone is scared and has to be a monopolizing little bitch.

Mr.Deflok · 12-14-2004, 12:00 AM

Is it possible to buy the rights to bullshit games? 'Cause that may make things a little harder for EA.

MageB420666 · 12-14-2004, 12:15 AM

Why the big deal? If people are mad with them, they need to buy one of the non-franchised games, so what if your team has a made up name and none of the players can sell out. Your playing a game, go for gameplay quality, not a name on the screen. Instead of complaining about it, why not get together with a bunch of people, and email or call the companies that produce competing football games and let them know that there is still a market for their *better* product, even if it doesn't have a "official licensing".
If a company does something you don't like, don't buy their product, buy the competition's.

absorbentishe · 12-14-2004, 06:16 AM

I won't be buying this game. Exclusive rights deals like this give one competitor the edge over another, basically giving them a monopoly in the market. Had EA thought about improving the game play, and lowering prices, this wouldn't have happened, but they are a greedy company.

FailedEagle · 12-14-2004, 06:20 AM

I just read this, today.

I'm pissed beyond words. Anyone who has given the 2K series half a chance has loved it, myself included. It BLOWS madden out of the water in nearly every way possible. EEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the petition BTW.

pan6467 · 12-14-2004, 06:32 AM

I still say maybe not this year but before the contract ends the players union will cry the owners are making more than the players and break away with a contract all their own.

Baseball has done it.

FailedEagle · 12-14-2004, 06:52 AM

Ok, hear me out . . .

I've thought about this, and what if, since there are loopholes in the contract about online such and such . . What if SEGA took their 2k6 availible through premium downloadedable content (granted X-Box only probably) Charge 20 bucks and then you download the Entire game to your Box. With people already having modded box's capible of such things does that sound like such an impossibility? Think about it.

Jimellow · 12-14-2004, 09:41 AM

The thing that stands out for me is that team names and logos must be generic..

Players can generally be edited and tweaked by the users so that they are "real" (IE NCAA Football rosters, etc.), but the team names and logos are likely unchangeable in game, and thus causes this to really hurt IMO.

While I think the potential to play a non-liscensed, but superb, NFL game would be great, I think it would only succeed if they don't try and market it as a realistic NFL game.. If they (Sega) try to sell future NFL games as if they are realistic, I think they will fail, because it's almost like they are falsely advertising.

It's a very unfortunate situation.. Monopolies are rarely good, and EA made minimal upgrades to it's football game each year, even with competetion from Sega. Now that Sega is out of the picture, they literally can release nothing more than a roster update for $60 and get away with it, because they have the brand recognition required to do so.

buclao · 12-14-2004, 03:18 PM

There's always the Arena League or Canadian Football.

blitz.fenix · 12-14-2004, 03:47 PM

Don't really know how the college system works but are the college type games affected by this? Could ESPN buy the rights for College games?

silver26 · 12-14-2004, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buclao

There's always the Arena League or Canadian Football.

A CFL game would rock

Jimellow · 12-14-2004, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blitz.fenix

Don't really know how the college system works but are the college type games affected by this? Could ESPN buy the rights for College games?

I don't think the college game and it's players are as easy to "buy" due to the fact that they are college players, and thus not playing for money.

I'm sure it's much more complicated than that, but I would think it would be a logical step for ESPN to shift to the college game now that their NFL hopes are pretty much shut down.

I don't like this move at all, as it just increases the chances that EA will be releasing nothing more than a roster update from year to year, but I am not going to boycott the game either. If next year's game is good, and improved, I'll likely buy it.

It's a very big deal though, and I read EA spent upwards of $300 million on it. Which is likely a big chunk of change, even for them.

shadowalker · 12-14-2004, 04:02 PM

I just preordered madden nfl 2006, for 29.99 at a local eb games. So i dont think the price war is going to be that big of a deal.

Jimellow · 12-14-2004, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowalker

I just preordered madden nfl 2006, for 29.99 at a local eb games. So i dont think the price war is going to be that big of a deal.

Nice price, was it a promotion, or was there some other reasoning for this low price?

Their website has it listed at $49.99 and I'm curious if this price of $29.99 is just in your local area, or instead part of a promotion..?

Cross-Over · 12-14-2004, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimellow

Nice price, was it a promotion, or was there some other reasoning for this low price?

Their website has it listed at $49.99 and I'm curious if this price of $29.99 is just in your local area, or instead part of a promotion..?

The article states "NFL 2K5 was available in stores in August for $19.95. For three months, the Madden game was priced at $49.95, until the company finally relented on Nov. 8 and lowered it by $20."

I bought Madden 05 within the first 3 month period, so I paid the full price. I don't know for sure if it is $30 everywhere, but the article insinuates it is.
On a related note, I bought NBA Live 05 (EA Sports) for $30 bucks a few weeks ago from Best Buy, I was surprised it was so cheap.

shadowalker · 12-14-2004, 04:56 PM

i did not ask, Scott the store manager is a good friend of mine and knew i like the madden games and tole me about it. So I dropped the 30 bucks down and just have to wait for it to come in.

theburner · 12-15-2004, 11:08 AM

screw EA.. I REFUSE to buy any of their Football offerings any longer. ESPN had a GREAT game and a great price. EA can blow me.

MiSo · 12-15-2004, 09:17 PM

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have you guys played ESPN games? they SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will never play another football game that is not an EA sports game.

NCAA Football and Madden is on a totally different level than ESPN games.

espn games are a fucking waste of money...
you get what you pay for.. and ESPN is TRASH.
ask anybody who knows football and who PLAYS football games.. which company makes the better game.

EA SPORTS BABY!!!!!!
It's In the Game.

Jimellow · 12-15-2004, 09:20 PM

Any time competetion is removed, it's a bad thing for the consumer IMO.

Regardless if the opposition's game is good or not.

Jadedfox · 12-16-2004, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimellow

Any time competetion is removed, it's a bad thing for the consumer IMO.

Regardless if the opposition's game is good or not.

Exactly. I don't care for Madden or ESPN but the above statement is so true.

--jaded

crossova · 12-16-2004, 07:07 AM

that is such bullshit.. but you know what EA you wont get my 60 bucks, im burning your madden 06 to my HD.

damn i hope ESPN gets exclusive deals with NBA so that EA can stop making that whack ass NBA Live

Jeff · 12-16-2004, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiSo

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have you guys played ESPN games? they SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will never play another football game that is not an EA sports game.

NCAA Football and Madden is on a totally different level than ESPN games.

espn games are a fucking waste of money...
you get what you pay for.. and ESPN is TRASH.
ask anybody who knows football and who PLAYS football games.. which company makes the better game.

EA SPORTS BABY!!!!!!
It's In the Game.

Have YOU played ESPN? Sounds like you're such a Madden fanboy that you haven't even bothered.

trickyy · 12-16-2004, 02:42 PM

this reminds me of the old NES days with phony players and phony teams
Espn could go with "Toledo Greedy Bastards" or "Hoboken Cheatin' Executives"

omega2K4 · 12-16-2004, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiSo

NCAA Football and Madden is on a totally different level than ESPN games.

You're right, EA's yearly-rehashed-garbage can't touch SEGA's games.

mandal · 12-17-2004, 12:26 AM

I've played both and like Madden better, but I still think this whole thing is buillshit.

names and logos do matter, the whole experience of the game is being Ray lewis and randy moss and all the bigtime players and doing awesome plays. I think it'd be quite a different experience to be playing as player #54 on the chicago lemonheads

Jadedfox · 12-17-2004, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandal

I think it'd be quite a different experience to be playing as player #54 on the chicago lemonheads

Being a Bears fan I laughed so hard I have saliva on the keyboard. And people are looking at me weird.

--jaded

Scipio · 12-17-2004, 02:37 PM

EA can go screw themselves, cause I'm not spending a dime on their Madden games. I haven't yet, and I damn sure won't now that they're serving themselves ahead of the consumers. So much for the free market.

Prophecy · 12-20-2004, 10:16 AM

I can honestly say I've never bought a Madden football and I sure now I never will. Sure I've played Madden on friends systems, and it wasn't bad. I'm just a cheapo and a die hard Sega fan. I still have NFL2k on my Dreamcast for crying out load.

Anyway, I honestly can't wait to see next years Madden and how people respond to it. I know I won't buy it, but I just want to see if EA is gonna DO anything to improve the game now that they're solo makers for the NFL. Like someone else mentioned I wonder what EA is going to do for Basketball...

Rdr4evr · 12-20-2004, 10:33 AM

I have a feeling most of you guys saying you won't buy Madden anymore will buy it when you are in need of a NFL game with official teams, players, and up to date stats. You are not going to go buy an unofficial game with fake teams and players when Madden is the only NFL game on the market. The temptation would be too strong.

crossova · 12-20-2004, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rdr4evr

I have a feeling most of you guys saying you won't buy Madden anymore will buy it when you are in need of a NFL game with official teams, players, and up to date stats. You are not going to go buy an unofficial game with fake teams and players when Madden is the only NFL game on the market. The temptation would be too strong.

not buying a damn thing. Going to blockbuster rent madden '05...burn it to my HD..return it back to blockbuster. i dont play football on xbl that much so i wont be missing anything. and with all the characters i create in my franchise mode i dont care what the names of the teams are, as long as they play like they are supposed to play.

Prophecy · 12-20-2004, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rdr4evr

I have a feeling most of you guys saying you won't buy Madden anymore will buy it when you are in need of a NFL game with official teams, players, and up to date stats. You are not going to go buy an unofficial game with fake teams and players when Madden is the only NFL game on the market. The temptation would be too strong.

I don't play a lot of football on my console but when I do I'm to fire up this years ESPN. Plenty of people online make up to date saves of players names and teams each season. I don't see why I can't download that off the web. *shrugs* I'm more of a college football gamer anyway.

Rdr4evr · 12-20-2004, 03:03 PM

EA is planning on dominating the world soon. They are going to purchase 20% of UbiSoft as well. Ubi is one of my favirote gaming companies, hopefully EA will stop at that because I don't want the quality of Ubi's games to diminish.

http://cube.ign.com/articles/574/574483p1.html

Rdr4evr · 12-20-2004, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prophecy

I don't play a lot of football on my console but when I do I'm to fire up this years ESPN. Plenty of people online make up to date saves of players names and teams each season. I don't see why I can't download that off the web. *shrugs* I'm more of a college football gamer anyway.

You're right about that, but eventually the gameplay will be out-dated.

12-13-2004, 06:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
silver26 Insane	woah, that's pretty big news considering how well the NFL games sell. I guess EA was feeling the heat after that price drop the ESPN games slapped them in the face with earlier the year. __________________ I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the inbetween is mine.

12-13-2004, 09:34 PM	#5 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	I don't know. I still think ESPN can get around it by signing individual "stars" and while using different team names and logos still be able to market the game. Quality DOES matter, as does price so I can see something coming out of ESPN that will rival EA. It's probably going to end up like the baseball games where yeah, one may have the league BUT the other will get the NFL players union, and still be able to use the players names. But we'll see. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

12-13-2004, 10:22 PM	#6 (permalink)
omega2K4 Natalie Portman is sexy. Location: The Outer Rim	Fuck you EA and the NFL, you money and power hungry whores. I hope you crash and burn. To EA, I'll never purchase anything published, developed, or financially backed by your monopolist company again. If you ever actually put out a game that's half decent anytime soon instead of shitting out the same rehashed garbage every single year, I'll pirate it. EDIT: Sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/nfleacon/petition.html __________________ "While the State exists there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin "Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form."- Karl Marx Last edited by omega2K4; 12-13-2004 at 10:24 PM..

12-13-2004, 10:46 PM	#7 (permalink)
Locke Insane Location: The reddest state ever. :(	Looks like I wont be playing a football game for a few years. __________________ CUBS WIN, CUBS WIN!!!! - Pat Hughes "Don't surround yourself with yourself." Yes

12-14-2004, 12:15 AM	#10 (permalink)
MageB420666 <Insert wise statement here> Location: Hell if I know	Why the big deal? If people are mad with them, they need to buy one of the non-franchised games, so what if your team has a made up name and none of the players can sell out. Your playing a game, go for gameplay quality, not a name on the screen. Instead of complaining about it, why not get together with a bunch of people, and email or call the companies that produce competing football games and let them know that there is still a market for their better product, even if it doesn't have a "official licensing". If a company does something you don't like, don't buy their product, buy the competition's. __________________ Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.

12-13-2004, 07:07 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rdr4evr Banned	Wow, that is insane, but considering all I play is Madden and all I have is a Cube which doesn't contain the 2k series, it doesn't affect me.

12-13-2004, 08:48 PM	#4 (permalink)
thrsn0730 Crazy Location: Mount Pleasant, SC	The worst part is, you can forget seeing another price war again. Get ready to fork out $60, at least, for next year's edition.

12-13-2004, 11:16 PM	#8 (permalink)
NeverBorn I'm a pepper bitch..	I agree thats absolute bullshit. I thought ESPN was the better football game, and at 20 bucks a pop you just couldn't pass that up. To me, this sounds like someone is scared and has to be a monopolizing little bitch.

12-14-2004, 12:00 AM	#9 (permalink)
Mr.Deflok Blood + Fire Location: New Zealand	Is it possible to buy the rights to bullshit games? 'Cause that may make things a little harder for EA.

12-14-2004, 06:16 AM	#11 (permalink)
absorbentishe Boy am I horny today Location: T O L E D O, Toledo!!	I won't be buying this game. Exclusive rights deals like this give one competitor the edge over another, basically giving them a monopoly in the market. Had EA thought about improving the game play, and lowering prices, this wouldn't have happened, but they are a greedy company.

12-14-2004, 06:20 AM	#12 (permalink)
FailedEagle Crazy	I just read this, today. I'm pissed beyond words. Anyone who has given the 2K series half a chance has loved it, myself included. It BLOWS madden out of the water in nearly every way possible. EEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the petition BTW. __________________ Head over to Nonsense to sign up for the newest round Of the Trivial Racing Image Game. Hurry.

12-14-2004, 06:32 AM	#13 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	I still say maybe not this year but before the contract ends the players union will cry the owners are making more than the players and break away with a contract all their own. Baseball has done it. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

12-14-2004, 06:52 AM	#14 (permalink)
FailedEagle Crazy	Ok, hear me out . . . I've thought about this, and what if, since there are loopholes in the contract about online such and such . . What if SEGA took their 2k6 availible through premium downloadedable content (granted X-Box only probably) Charge 20 bucks and then you download the Entire game to your Box. With people already having modded box's capible of such things does that sound like such an impossibility? Think about it. __________________ Head over to Nonsense to sign up for the newest round Of the Trivial Racing Image Game. Hurry.

12-14-2004, 09:41 AM	#15 (permalink)
Jimellow Junkie	The thing that stands out for me is that team names and logos must be generic.. Players can generally be edited and tweaked by the users so that they are "real" (IE NCAA Football rosters, etc.), but the team names and logos are likely unchangeable in game, and thus causes this to really hurt IMO. While I think the potential to play a non-liscensed, but superb, NFL game would be great, I think it would only succeed if they don't try and market it as a realistic NFL game.. If they (Sega) try to sell future NFL games as if they are realistic, I think they will fail, because it's almost like they are falsely advertising. It's a very unfortunate situation.. Monopolies are rarely good, and EA made minimal upgrades to it's football game each year, even with competetion from Sega. Now that Sega is out of the picture, they literally can release nothing more than a roster update for $60 and get away with it, because they have the brand recognition required to do so. __________________ Desperation is no excuse for lowering one's standards.

12-14-2004, 03:18 PM	#16 (permalink)
buclao Insane	There's always the Arena League or Canadian Football.

12-14-2004, 03:47 PM	#17 (permalink)
blitz.fenix Insane Location: Toronto	Don't really know how the college system works but are the college type games affected by this? Could ESPN buy the rights for College games?

12-14-2004, 04:02 PM	#20 (permalink)
shadowalker Psycho Location: Firefox yourself and change the world!	I just preordered madden nfl 2006, for 29.99 at a local eb games. So i dont think the price war is going to be that big of a deal. __________________ I'll make ya famous!

12-14-2004, 04:56 PM	#23 (permalink)
shadowalker Psycho Location: Firefox yourself and change the world!	i did not ask, Scott the store manager is a good friend of mine and knew i like the madden games and tole me about it. So I dropped the 30 bucks down and just have to wait for it to come in. __________________ I'll make ya famous!

12-15-2004, 11:08 AM	#24 (permalink)
theburner Canadian Beer Ambassador Location: Cumming, GA	screw EA.. I REFUSE to buy any of their Football offerings any longer. ESPN had a GREAT game and a great price. EA can blow me. __________________ Take Off Eh!

12-15-2004, 09:17 PM	#25 (permalink)
MiSo Psycho	THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have you guys played ESPN games? they SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i will never play another football game that is not an EA sports game. NCAA Football and Madden is on a totally different level than ESPN games. espn games are a fucking waste of money... you get what you pay for.. and ESPN is TRASH. ask anybody who knows football and who PLAYS football games.. which company makes the better game. EA SPORTS BABY!!!!!! It's In the Game.

12-15-2004, 09:20 PM	#26 (permalink)
Jimellow Junkie	Any time competetion is removed, it's a bad thing for the consumer IMO. Regardless if the opposition's game is good or not. __________________ Desperation is no excuse for lowering one's standards.

12-16-2004, 07:07 AM	#28 (permalink)
crossova Psycho Location: new york	that is such bullshit.. but you know what EA you wont get my 60 bucks, im burning your madden 06 to my HD. damn i hope ESPN gets exclusive deals with NBA so that EA can stop making that whack ass NBA Live

12-16-2004, 02:42 PM	#30 (permalink)
trickyy ►	this reminds me of the old NES days with phony players and phony teams Espn could go with "Toledo Greedy Bastards" or "Hoboken Cheatin' Executives"

12-17-2004, 12:26 AM	#32 (permalink)
mandal Crazy	I've played both and like Madden better, but I still think this whole thing is buillshit. names and logos do matter, the whole experience of the game is being Ray lewis and randy moss and all the bigtime players and doing awesome plays. I think it'd be quite a different experience to be playing as player #54 on the chicago lemonheads

12-17-2004, 02:37 PM	#34 (permalink)
Scipio Mencken Location: College	EA can go screw themselves, cause I'm not spending a dime on their Madden games. I haven't yet, and I damn sure won't now that they're serving themselves ahead of the consumers. So much for the free market. __________________ "Erections lasting more than 4 hours, though rare, require immediate medical attention."

12-20-2004, 10:16 AM	#35 (permalink)
Prophecy Oracle & Apollyon Location: Limbus Patrum	I can honestly say I've never bought a Madden football and I sure now I never will. Sure I've played Madden on friends systems, and it wasn't bad. I'm just a cheapo and a die hard Sega fan. I still have NFL2k on my Dreamcast for crying out load. Anyway, I honestly can't wait to see next years Madden and how people respond to it. I know I won't buy it, but I just want to see if EA is gonna DO anything to improve the game now that they're solo makers for the NFL. Like someone else mentioned I wonder what EA is going to do for Basketball... __________________ La Disciplina È La Mia Spada, La Fede È Il Mio Schermo, Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza, E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

12-20-2004, 10:33 AM	#36 (permalink)
Rdr4evr Banned	I have a feeling most of you guys saying you won't buy Madden anymore will buy it when you are in need of a NFL game with official teams, players, and up to date stats. You are not going to go buy an unofficial game with fake teams and players when Madden is the only NFL game on the market. The temptation would be too strong.

12-20-2004, 03:03 PM	#39 (permalink)
Rdr4evr Banned	EA is planning on dominating the world soon. They are going to purchase 20% of UbiSoft as well. Ubi is one of my favirote gaming companies, hopefully EA will stop at that because I don't want the quality of Ubi's games to diminish. http://cube.ign.com/articles/574/574483p1.html