The Competition between Madden and 2K is closer than you think

[SimFBallCritic]

 

[buckeye]

I absolutely love reading the comments on your vids bro... Hilarious!

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[Steel Mamba]

The fact that a sports game from 2007 is even remotely comparable to one with 7 years of additional development over it says it all. EA needed 7 years to "close the gap" with 2k and that alone is a joke. If you need 7 years just to put yourself on equal terms with your competition, that's not even actively competing, then you failed. Period, the two companies aren't comparable so let's just call it what it is. Madden is just as trash as Live, the only difference is it's the only game in the market and the Madden brand is strong enough to carry a poor product.

 

[jms493]

Fool me once...

sent from my flip phone.

 

[buckeye]

I was never a big fan of APF2K8. Way too many bugs and AI was borderline pitiful. That and seeing that dline animations triggering at a predetermined clip was a killer for me.

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[j.hen]

Yeah, yeah. Madden vs NFL 2K would be great and all, but I'd like to see Sony try a NFL game. The Show is far and away the best MLB experience, would love to see what they could do with the NFL. Imagine going from having Madden year in and year out to getting to choose between 2K or Sony.

 

[dave]

Yeah, yeah. Madden vs NFL 2K would be great and all, but I'd like to see Sony try a NFL game. The Show is far and away the best MLB experience, would love to see what they could do with the NFL. Imagine going from having Madden year in and year out to getting to choose between 2K or Sony.

I love The Show, don't get me wrong, but it's been coasting on its rep for way too long. Yes, it's way better than Madden, but the same presentation, graphics and gameplay pretty much for the past five years. Again, I love The Show, but it's far from perfect. All these years in and online play still sucks at a Dreamcast level. Not acceptable.

 

[buckeye]

Yeah, yeah. Madden vs NFL 2K would be great and all, but I'd like to see Sony try a NFL game. The Show is far and away the best MLB experience, would love to see what they could do with the NFL. Imagine going from having Madden year in and year out to getting to choose between 2K or Sony.

I still miss 989 Sports and NFL Gameday

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[dave]

I still miss 989 Sports and NFL Gameday

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I loved that competition. I owned both ... but Gameday in its origin years was a revelation.

 

[buckeye]

Yessir sure was! Played Game day and Madden religiously until '98

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[dave]

Yessir sure was! Played Game day and Madden religiously until '98

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It's really a shame that offline video football gaming sucks.

 

[ThunderHorse]

Abilities is what does it the most for me.

Simple example, in 2K8 Derrick Thomas has the ball strip ability. I've played Madden for years and I've never seen Robert Mathis or Freeney come off the edge and perform one of those patented strip moves on the quarterback that we see on Sundays. Derrick Thomas will do it in 2K8. It's one animation, and it gets stale seeing the same one every time, but how the mechanic functions is what jumps out to me.

I know that if I can get Thomas a free lane to the quarterback's backside there's a good chance I will force a fumble in a realistic manner, not the AI's Dice Roll deciding my opponent's QB was going to fumble. It's a truly functional mechanic that deepens the game in multiple aspects. From a strategic aspect having Thomas' skill set means that my pass rush is that more dangerous, specifically because there's only 1 or 2 other guys that have the skill set, and neither of them can perform at the HOF level Thomas does. From a gameplay perspective, there's a learning curve on the ability; You have to be able to time it correctly and have the skill to maneuver around lineman and runningbacks to get the quarterback as efficiently and quickly as possible.

So when the animation does pull off because you've done everything right in not only a strategic sense but also a "stick skill" sense if you will, it's actually a really rewarding experience. It's one of those moments where you can look at your bro that you're playing against and say "I just did that, not John Madden".

People have their gripes about 2K but the only real problem I ever saw with the game was the learning curve is just too steep. We can sit here and complain about DB's staying home in goal line situations and psychic coverage but we're also talking about a game made in 2007, with relatively few resources, no NFL license, and the daunting task of somehow making a non NFL football game profitable without breaking the bank signing former players for their likenesses. The Mechanics of that game are difficult to master.

With an NFL license maybe 2K puts more into their product because they know now they can actually turn a legitimate profit. They don't have to spend their budget on just signing retired players and I imagine the budget would be bigger for a project that will easily be more profitable than the generic game.

 

[Aso]

2K8 definitely was not a game for the casual gamer. I liked that you could disguise coverages by showing a cover 2 or cover 3 shell. You could also switch between fronts at the line in a more realistic manner rather than just shift like right/left. Things like these made the game feel so much more realistic and deep.

 

[buckeye]

Abilities is what does it the most for me.

Simple example, in 2K8 Derrick Thomas has the ball strip ability. I've played Madden for years and I've never seen Robert Mathis or Freeney come off the edge and perform one of those patented strip moves on the quarterback that we see on Sundays. Derrick Thomas will do it in 2K8. It's one animation, and it gets stale seeing the same one every time, but how the mechanic functions is what jumps out to me.

I know that if I can get Thomas a free lane to the quarterback's backside there's a good chance I will force a fumble in a realistic manner, not the AI's Dice Roll deciding my opponent's QB was going to fumble. It's a truly functional mechanic that deepens the game in multiple aspects. From a strategic aspect having Thomas' skill set means that my pass rush is that more dangerous, specifically because there's only 1 or 2 other guys that have the skill set, and neither of them can perform at the HOF level Thomas does. From a gameplay perspective, there's a learning curve on the ability; You have to be able to time it correctly and have the skill to maneuver around lineman and runningbacks to get the quarterback as efficiently and quickly as possible.

So when the animation does pull off because you've done everything right in not only a strategic sense but also a "stick skill" sense if you will, it's actually a really rewarding experience. It's one of those moments where you can look at your bro that you're playing against and say "I just did that, not John Madden".

People have their gripes about 2K but the only real problem I ever saw with the game was the learning curve is just too steep. We can sit here and complain about DB's staying home in goal line situations and psychic coverage but we're also talking about a game made in 2007, with relatively few resources, no NFL license, and the daunting task of somehow making a non NFL football game profitable without breaking the bank signing former players for their likenesses. The Mechanics of that game are difficult to master.

With an NFL license maybe 2K puts more into their product because they know now they can actually turn a legitimate profit. They don't have to spend their budget on just signing retired players and I imagine the budget would be bigger for a project that will easily be more profitable than the generic game.

Would love to see the player weapons come back to Madden, be re-done and expanded on. (I'm working on it... Gonna take more than just me pushing it though.)

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[HardHittnOzone]

"Sell" the rumor and "buy" the news fellows.


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[ThomasTomasz]

As Thunderhorse alluded to, I loved in the NHL games back from 00-04 that, at a certain level, you would see an icon (or more) next to a player if they had a rating in that category high enough. I would love to see that put into other sports games, and back into the NHL game for that matter. Definitely make it rare, so having a star player actually means something in the large scheme of things.

 

[Aso]

As Thunderhorse alluded to, I loved in the NHL games back from 00-04 that, at a certain level, you would see an icon (or more) next to a player if they had a rating in that category high enough. I would love to see that put into other sports games, and back into the NHL game for that matter. Definitely make it rare, so having a star player actually means something in the large scheme of things.

That is what Madden used to do and all that does is make the game look really tacky.

APF abilities went a lot farther beyond that. I'm all for APF like abilities. I'm completely against the old Madden like weapon icons. Those don't mean anything. Most people know that players like Devin Hester are fast. They don't need a little lightning bolt to remind them.

 

[Steel Mamba]

The old weapons feature in Madden was more of a marketing tool than an actual feature that made the gameplay more realistic. I can't really see them sinking resources into anything in depth like signature animations and unique abilities. I think it's clear by now that their top priority is profit margins so they try to keep the development process as inexpensive as possible. If that wasn't the case, we'd see those type of things by now. Again, 7 years and very little progress towards anything. They're milking it.

Also, it's one thing if you have a great title like the Show and let off the gas, but Madden isn't in that category yet. Plus, there's only so much you can do with a baseball game, whereas with Madden there are numerous fundamental aspects of the game that are missing or not replicated properly. Apples to oranges imo.

 

[kingbryk]

Only way 2k could ever compete is if they have all the NFL players and NFL teams on board. I could never buy a game where i play as the cleveland dragons and have a few old fart players on the team. Sorry no chance hate fake sports teams.

 

[SimFBallCritic]

Only way 2k could ever compete is if they have all the NFL players and NFL teams on board. I could never buy a game where i play as the cleveland dragons and have a few old fart players on the team. Sorry no chance hate fake sports teams.

Good point. That's important to real sports fans, you want to play with your team.