Enjoy playing ESPN NFL 2k5....

[HaemishM]

Monopolies have certainly never shown themselves to be good at keeping prices down.

If I want to play a football game next year, I'll just have to wait a few weeks until someone trades in Madden 2006 and buy it used. Since EA apparently sees none of the money from used games, they can suck it.

But I will be a very sad penguin when I do that. If I even bother, that is.

Bruce, you are a furry. No one gives a shit what furries think except other furries.

[kidder]

This really does stink.  So, how does this affect roster updates and such off of xbox live for NFL 2K5?  

I don't buy a new football game every year, but this year I did get 2k5.  I'll probably just keep playing 2k5 until I either get tired of outdated teams, or Madden/EA does something to really improve the experience.

[Jacob0883]

diversifying their income stream to an extent.

This is a very important thing in business.  Its been pounded into my head every stinking accounting class I have had so far.

[Dark Vengeance]

diversifying their income stream to an extent.

This is a very important thing in business.  Its been pounded into my head every stinking accounting class I have had so far.

Translation: Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

It's as true on Wall Street as it is in the chicken coop. Diversification = stability.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[chinslim]

This means a run on old NES consoles and Tecmo Bowl cartridges.  Way too many spin moves and plays for this old fart in today's football games.

BARRY SANDERS IN YOUR FACE!

[Paelos]

I remember in Madden 93 where I first started to horribly abuse the spin move. My RBs looked like ballerinas coming out of the backfield.

[Evander]

I heard somewhere (and it may be false) that thie agreement is not in place until August.

Meaning that Sega might be able to get away with a late July release of ESPN NFL 2k6, and just leave it very open to roster changes, and such.

Even if updates aren't a possibility, if they can release the game for VERY cheap, right before the deal takes effect, it would be a fun blow aainst EA.

[Dark Vengeance]

I heard somewhere (and it may be false) that thie agreement is not in place until August.

Meaning that Sega might be able to get away with a late July release of ESPN NFL 2k6, and just leave it very open to roster changes, and such.

Even if updates aren't a possibility, if they can release the game for VERY cheap, right before the deal takes effect, it would be a fun blow aainst EA.

Doubtful. The NFL has to license ESPN to use the teams and players...and I sincerely doubt they'd do a last minute license for Sega that defies the spirit of the exclusivity deal.

It'd be the business equivalent of getting engaged, and then fucking another woman the morning of your wedding day.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[schild]

It'd be the business equivalent of getting engaged, and then fucking another woman the morning of your wedding day.

And they couldn't do a goddamn thing about it. Because they aren't married yet and the wedding has already been planned. YOU CAN'T CANCEL THE CATERER THIS LATE INTO THE GAME. THE FAMILY WILL BE ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHED.

[Dark Vengeance]

It'd be the business equivalent of getting engaged, and then fucking another woman the morning of your wedding day.

And they couldn't do a goddamn thing about it. Because they aren't married yet and the wedding has already been planned. YOU CAN'T CANCEL THE CATERER THIS LATE INTO THE GAME. THE FAMILY WILL BE ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHED.

"And do you, Doug, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"My dad already paid the caterer."

But seriously, they indeed could. I'm going to go ahead and say that EA would have a damn good case for a lawsuit against the NFL, because it would effectively allow the NFL to license any number of competing products that would be in their prime market cycle during the period of the exclusivity agreement. Moreover, the NFL would be truly screwing EA by licensing several products set to release 1 month prior to Madden.

1) The NFL isn't looking to screw EA, or the flagship franchise of licensed NFL video games.

2) For $300 million, I'm sure there is a clause regarding such activity in the contract.

3) Much like fucking the other woman, it's cheating....and good luck using the "but were weren't married yet" argument with your fiancee. Once the engagement ring is on her finger, that means no fucking around. Likewise, once this deal was signed and made public, EA and the NFL aren't supposed to be picking out china patterns, not screwing each other over.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[Ryuji]

Damn you EA!  Business aside, you're always trying to feed you're fucking goddamn DOMINATING ego.

Oh, and stop licensing other properties for all you're shitty games.  At least make a game based on an original property of your design every once and awhile.

FUCK EA!


Whew.... I think I feel better after letting all that out.

[schild]

3 out of 4 ESPN gamers are black.

Guess what market EA is going after?

Just sayin.' And if ANYONE tries to pin this as racist, take a look at the motherfucking white dude in that ad! Could he look more like a gibbering idiot?

[Evander]

3 out of 4 ESPN gamers are black.

3 out of 4 of the guys I sell it to are, at least.

[Daydreamer]

Piracy might be immoral on a personal level but it has a proven history of being the only force capable of keeping software prices down. Which is utterly depressing.

I absolutely hate to be trolling for more info, but could you substaniate this? I have a rabid anti-sharing roomate (His 10gigs of bad 60s and 70s pop excluded, naturally) I would LOVE to sick this on.

[eldaec]

PA had a blog entry on this issue I found amusing...

I contacted EA hoping to ask them some questions regarding their recent NFL deal. I was however only able to ask one question.

Q. "How do you respond to rumors that your company is actually the fucking devil?"

A. "EA does not comment on rumors."

[eldaec]

Piracy might be immoral on a personal level but it has a proven history of being the only force capable of keeping software prices down. Which is utterly depressing.

I absolutely hate to be trolling for more info, but could you substaniate this? I have a rabid anti-sharing roomate (His 10gigs of bad 60s and 70s pop excluded, naturally) I would LOVE to sick this on.

When I say 'proven history' I should really have said 'record I vaguely observed based on prices of media formats with easier or harder piracy'.

Or to put it another way...

Which are cheaper to develop, console or PC games? Console.

Which have a bigger market, console or PC games? Console.

Which are harder to pirate, console or PC games? Console.

Which are more cheaper to buy, console or PC games? PC. Wtf?

______________

You can play the same game with other types of media.

I do remember reading something more formal on the subject somewhere, I'd have to hunt around though.

[sidereal]

3 out of 4 ESPN gamers are black.

I'm confused.  Those are athletes from the games, not gamers.  

Specifically Ben Wallace, Terrell Owens, Martin St. Louis, and Josh Childress.

As far as everyone except the NHL guy being black, that seems pretty fair.

[Shockeye]

Let the non-NFL games begin:

LOS ANGELES -- Midway Games Inc. plans to publish a "mature"-rated pro football video game with the kinds of violence and excess shunned by the National Football League, the company said Thursday.

The game, called "Blitz: Playmakers," is being designed with the help of a writer from the now-canceled ESPN series "Playmakers," which the NFL condemned for its behind-the-scenes portraits of player drug use and mayhem.

Since the NFL granted an exclusive license to video games rival Electronic Arts Inc., Midway said, it can create its own football game that stretches the limits of what video game players have seen before from sports titles.

"No longer bound to the NFL license, there will be no league restrictions on content and gamers will finally experience what makes playing a football video game really fun: off-field controversies, dirty hits, excessive celebrations and much more," Midway marketing chief Steve Allison said in a statement.

"Blitz: Playmakers," featuring a fictional league and fictional teams and players, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2005, a Midway spokesman said.

[HaemishM]

"No longer bound to the NFL license, there will be no league restrictions on content and gamers will finally experience what makes playing a football video game really fun: off-field controversies, dirty hits, excessive celebrations and much more," Midway marketing chief Steve Allison said in a statement.

Yes, because that's what I really want in a game about football: illegimate children, hookers on crack accusing my players of rape, pom-pom touchdowns and steroid controversies.

Ass, meet hat.

[d4rkj3di]

Nice.

I want to see a combination of GTA + NFSU + Blitz: Playmaker.

Something where you can bang a chick, do fat lines of coke, get in your ricer, shoot 30 people in drive-bys on the way to the stadium, and then rush for 300 yds.  After the game you can win the team in an illegal street race with the owner, then beat him to death in front of cops.

This game not yet rated.

[Shockeye]

As it stands now, I will be buying Blitz: Playmakers. I like violence in sports and I like pom-poms. The fat lines of coke is just a bonus.

[Moroni]

Nice.

I want to see a combination of GTA + NFSU + Blitz: Playmaker.

Something where you can bang a chick, do fat lines of coke, get in your ricer, shoot 30 people in drive-bys on the way to the stadium, and then rush for 300 yds.  After the game you can win the team in an illegal street race with the owner, then beat him to death in front of cops.

This game not yet rated.

Yeah. You can club a team owner after you beat him in an illegal street race and steal his team. Oh, and have Sam Jackson do something cool with John Travolta and Bruce Willis. Just because.

[WayAbvPar]

Let the non-NFL games begin:

LOS ANGELES -- Midway Games Inc. plans to publish a "mature"-rated pro football video game with the kinds of violence and excess shunned by the National Football League, the company said Thursday.

The game, called "Blitz: Playmakers," is being designed with the help of a writer from the now-canceled ESPN series "Playmakers," which the NFL condemned for its behind-the-scenes portraits of player drug use and mayhem.

Since the NFL granted an exclusive license to video games rival Electronic Arts Inc., Midway said, it can create its own football game that stretches the limits of what video game players have seen before from sports titles.

"No longer bound to the NFL license, there will be no league restrictions on content and gamers will finally experience what makes playing a football video game really fun: off-field controversies, dirty hits, excessive celebrations and much more," Midway marketing chief Steve Allison said in a statement.

"Blitz: Playmakers," featuring a fictional league and fictional teams and players, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2005, a Midway spokesman said.

I can't believe that is not from a satirical website. That may very well be the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard.

[Jain Zar]

Yes, because that's what I really want in a game about football: illegimate children, hookers on crack accusing my players of rape, pom-pom touchdowns and steroid controversies.

Ass, meet hat.

It would make a pretty good adventure game though.

[sidereal]

I've always thought you could do well mixing up RPG and sports games.  I've played some token shitty attempts in sports games to introduce a kind of RPG mode where you rise up from the minors blah blah.  But they're just putting lipstick on the same in-game engine.  I'd play a game where you actually have to deal with a career, have some kind of murder/mystery intrigue, and then on Sunday you have to go rush for 100 yards or you get waived.  Good times.

[SirBruce]

I've always thought you could do well mixing up RPG and sports games.  I've played some token shitty attempts in sports games to introduce a kind of RPG mode where you rise up from the minors blah blah.  But they're just putting lipstick on the same in-game engine.  I'd play a game where you actually have to deal with a career, have some kind of murder/mystery intrigue, and then on Sunday you have to go rush for 100 yards or you get waived.  Good times.

Out of the Park Baseball already did this, witch something they called "Inside the Park" Baseball.  Reviews have been mixed, but it was certainly innovative.  You might want to check it out:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/itp/index.php

Bruce

[sidereal]

I've seen ITP, but I'd put that under the 'lipstick on the in-game engine' version of sports RPG, with the added bonus that the in-game engine is text based.  Nothing you do outside the park is fundamentally different from the sort of thing you do in Championship Manager or any other detailed text sim. .schedule training time, etc.

I'm thinking more along the lines of an open-ended Bloodlines style adventure RPG with a fully fleshed out setting, active city, and so on. . and then every few days you actually have to go play in a game.

[Riggswolfe]

I still have fond memories of mutant league football from my old Sega Genesis. Maybe we'll see games like it now.

[Dark Vengeance]

"No longer bound to the NFL license, there will be no league restrictions on content and gamers will finally experience what makes playing a football video game really fun: off-field controversies, dirty hits, excessive celebrations and much more," Midway marketing chief Steve Allison said in a statement.

Sweet, Linebackers Gone Wild...will Doug Stanhope make a cameo?

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[SirBruce]

I wonder if this will allow ESPN to sell the use of their name and IP in EA/Madden games now.  I'd love to see SportsCenter replays in Madden.  It was kind-of weird having the ESPN name on a competing product, since the ESPN guys have had a love-affair with Madden NFL for years.  (And Madden, of course, works for ABC, which is a sister company of ESPN.)

Bruce

[Samwise]

To explain it another way, when you're deciding whether to pirate something, it boils down to comparing two quantities:

A) The time and effort it takes to pirate
B) The cost of the legit copy

(There are a few other elements of the equation such as guilt and how much you like having the original box, but these two quantities are probably more significant and they're the only ones the company has any control over.)

If B is smaller, the company gets your money.  If A is smaller, they get nothing.

Therefore, if "time and effort" is small, the company has to keep "cost of legit copy" correspondingly small in order to maximize the number of legit purchases.  If "time and effort" is large, the company can inflate "cost of legit copy" that much higher and not have to worry about losing as many customers to piracy.

[Rodent]

Which are more cheaper to buy, console or PC games? PC. Wtf?

Well, this is generally because Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft want a slice of the pie.

[SirBruce]

But that doesn't show that "piracy keeps prices low".  It shows just the opposite: piracy keeps prices higher by prompting companies to create copy protection schemes so fewer people will take the time and hassle to try to pirate it.  The problem comes with confusing the relationship between the frequency of the game being pirated with the difficulty of pirating the game.

Bruce

[kaid]

Maybe with the crap that EA is pulling somebody will go and make a new modern version of Mutant League Football. Damn I enjoyed that game and would love to see it remade with the graphics of today.


kaid

[HaemishM]

Mutant League Football was created by EA. Or at least, published by them.