ESPN Article: The Story Behind Madden and Electronic Arts

[DropKickFlutie]

ESPN - OTL: The Franchise - E-ticket

A pretty fascinating read for anyone who has ever played the Madden football games, which have made over $3billion dollars now as a video game. About how the company got started, and how they met with John Madden to create the first computer simulation of football.

 

[ensoul]

Could be very interesting to some but I am still pissed that EA bought the licence up because I was a 2K guy.

 

[Sicilian]

Could be very interesting to some but I am still pissed that EA bought the licence up because I was a 2K guy.

I'm more pissed that all of the advances in the game every year are in regards to animation. They've done almost nothing to enhance the franchise, superstar, and simulation based modes. I want to play GM!

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Could be very interesting to some but I am still pissed that EA bought the licence up because I was a 2K guy.

Same here. Competition is always a good thing, it makes the football games better for consumers. I thought 2k had a ton of great things about it and advanced the way simulations were done in general.

Madden kind of went the back-door and shut out competition with their exclusive player's license.

 

[ensoul]

My theory about EA is that the intentionally ignores/leave in obviously problems (The last madden game I played which was 09 the computer would just randomly run out of bounds for no reason). People complain about this issue and EA fixes the problem making themselves look a company that listens to their fans. The problem is they fix one problem from the 09 game but the 10 games has a new set of problems.

 

[Major **********]

The last 2K game (the one made with ESPN and with TO on the cover) is still my favorite football game. And it sold for $20.

 

[sbpatfan]

It's kind of sad, sports games have such great potential. EA loves milking money more than producing quality games though, so they push games early resulting in expensive pieces of trash. They are awful at building on the series too, always throwing in new gimmicks that'll be replaced in two years or removing stuff people love.

And the best part of the games, the Manager modes, are down even worse. FIFA 10 was full of so many damn bugs.

 

[emoney_33]

Could be very interesting to some but I am still pissed that EA bought the licence up because I was a 2K guy.

Same here. Competition is always a good thing, it makes the football games better for consumers. I thought 2k had a ton of great things about it and advanced the way simulations were done in general.

Madden kind of went the back-door and shut out competition with their exclusive player's license.

Exactly, they basically "monopolized" Football games, which was bad for EVERYONE except EA and their wallets. 2K was making fantastic progress, and not only would it likely have been a great game today but it would have forced Madden to progress much more as well. They went the M$ way and all consumers got 'screwed', but of course still ran out to buy the games unfortunately.

:/ I miss 2K

 

[Holy Diver]

Still, Madden is the bomb.

NOthing is better than Online games against friends across the country. So easy.

Just pick up the phone, turn on the PS3....and BAM!


we should start a Patsfans league.

 

[patsinthesnow]

we should start a Patsfans league.

That'd be sweet. You getting Madden 11 the day it comes out?

 

[Patspsycho]

Thanks for the link. Very interesting read.

 

[TrueBeliever]

Yeah, I've pretty much given up on Madden. I prefer NFL Street 2 and Blitz: The League, though I do have the Madden game with Vince Young on the cover for PS2. Bought it just because they were having a 2-for-1 sale at a used game store one day.

However this weekend I think I'll rent either Madden '09 or '10 for the Wii just to see what it's like playing on that console.

 

[TBradyOwnsYou]

Never got in to the games, but a was a great read. Thanks for the link!

 

[Sporin]

I love the Madden games, looking forward to getting M'11 on the day it drops.

If 2K's pitiful(Xbox360 only) MLB game is any indication, we aren't missing much with them not having an NFL license. Seriously, compared to Sony's MLB-The Show it looks like a PS2 game, and the game play is over complicated and unintuitive. It's shockingly bad for a 2010 game. Sure, maybe they would have pushed EA a bit, but I honestly find most of the griping about the Madden games to be a bit over the top.

 

[Deus Irae]

Madden peaked at around 2004-2005. Even at it's best, it was still only second best. It's never been better than the king!

 

[Ryan]

I've always loved Madden. I liked the 2K games too but never really understood why some people dislike Madden so much. I've been playing the demo for Madden 11 and it's awesome. Having a season with friends is really fun and one of the things I look forward to most about the NFL season starting.

 

[Why?PJ]

the problem with madden is ea. Terrible company. But then again, most gaming companies lately are proving to be far too greedy and uncaring, making the very few that actually do stand out.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I, for one, believe that Madden 10 was the best showing in a LONG time. I really enjoyed the game. Franchise mode is a little weak, and the roster update made it so that you couldn't create players anymore, but the game was rock-solid otherwise, IMHO.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Interesting to read that the original founder of EA, and Madden, eventually got pushed out of his own company. Reminded me of Steve Jobs.