I was talking to my friend about the whole EA NFL Football game exclusivity thing and got pissed all over again about the situation. I found this article from June that said EA's exclusive license might be up in a couple of years.

What are the chances 2K Games gets the license back and makes a new game? If so, would it be any good? Over a decade out of the game is a long time and I'm unsure they would be able to recapture the glory of the original 2K series.



http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/20/ea-has-exclusive-license-from-nfl-for-a-couple-more-years/


EA has exclusive license from NFL for a “couple more years”
Posted by Mike Florio on June 20, 2014, 9:54 AM EDT


A recent mention of the flaws inherent to the only available NFL video game prompted a positive response from many of you who lament the fact that the exclusive license EA obtained from the NFL and the NFLPA in 2004 removed any incentive for the Madden series to become the best game it can be.

Or, more specifically, to become as good as the game that prompted EA to obtain the exclusive license in the first place.

Rewind to 2004. ESPN 2K5 arrived with a superior product for only $19.95. EA panicked, slashing the price point of the Madden game from $49.95 to $29.95. In lieu of innovation, EA went straight for the nuclear option, paying for an exclusive license that shut out the 2K series and any other company that would push EA to do something other than upgrade the game slowly and methodically so that people will plunk down another $49.95 every year into perpetuity.

The good news is that, per the league office, the exclusive EA license lasts only a “couple more years.” The bad news is that, thanks to all the money earned over the last decade by selling basically the same game with different players in the software and a different picture on the cover (which has been hyped into something far more significant than it is), EA will surely be able to extend the exclusive license, if it wants.

The NFL has the power to keep that from happening.

The question for the NFL is whether it’s content to give its names and logos and other trademarks (federally protected or otherwise) to a product that isn’t as good as it could be or should be. Perhaps the only factor that matters is the money, given that no one is complaining all that loudly about the fact that the fans ultimately are being scammed.

As we’ve recently learned, plenty are complaining. But the complaints have gained little traction in the mainstream media. Especially since ESPN — which licensed its own name to the great 2K5 game — has plopped into bed with the Madden series, presiding over the contrived bracket for determining the player whose image will be linked to this year’s version of the game.

Which ultimately may be the only noticeable difference between one year of the Madden game and the next.

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After playing NBA2K for years, football in general is just way too slow for me to play. I had Madden 11 for a while and kept falling asleep in between plays. I'm probably the only one in the boat of hating that All-Pro Football they put out.

Pre-edit: if they do the asshole price undercut, I'm all in.

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Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

it sucks the sports genre doesn't really support more competition, because both EA and 2k are just kind of phoning it in with their respective titles.

-30-
You know it's drama, but it sound real good.

The game itself is good quality. It really is the online component that's been problematic the past few years. That's where the issues are.

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Last 3 things I watched:

The Changeling Season 1 (Apple+): C
OMITB Season 3 (Hulu): B-
Ahsoka Season 1 (Disney

but 2k15 doesn't feel vastly different from 2k12 or 13.

Maybe it shouldn't, since game genres tend to settle on certain mechanics over time, but I think at least in terms of presentation NBA 2k would be better served by having more competition.

Playing the My Player really drives this home. Everything about the tacked on "story" is embarrassingly bad and you can't skip it. You just have to suffer through it. But they don't need to make it better because it's not like you're going to play Live instead.

-30-
You know it's drama, but it sound real good.

I haven't been very into the non-online ranked or offline 1 v. 1 stuff since 2K10 or so. AI always felt cheap and I had to mess with sliders too much. I've played about six MyGM games at 12 minute quarters on All-Star this year with the Pelicans though and everything's felt right - what goes in, what doesn't, who gets boards and who doesn't, the stats at the end of the game. It's a VERY good simulation of basketball right out of the gate.

And all the new information they give you under your player/the return of the heat check graphic showing stats instead of just badges is really great. All the changes to player durability and how player interaction works seems like it'll be real sweet down the line. Glad they pulled all (or most of) that VC bullshit from the single player stuff that isn't MyPlayer, too.

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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

its literally NO different than 14

other than the fact it runs smoother and maybe looks like a tad better
its literally the same game

>it sucks the sports genre doesn't really support more
>competition, because both EA and 2k are just kind of phoning
>it in with their respective titles.

The whole 'every year' thing for these games makes it too tough to 'fix' anything forreal between iterations. We all know that a lot of these games take a couple months to get a feel of what is really wrong unless it is one of these overt 2k online/server-related bugs.

Basketball has the opportunity to get away with a delay far more than football. I kinda get that Madden can't just say 'look here y'all...we'll get this game to you by Halloween'. But NBA 2k!? Shiiid...they could drop it around February and most of us would be A-okay. Hell...I basically wait at least that long before I get involved in the 2k situation every year.

>The whole 'every year' thing for these games makes it too
>tough to 'fix' anything forreal between iterations.

This is the crux of the problem in my opinion. 2K (along with a most sports video game companies) have to raise the ante EVERY YEAR to get people to buy the game. It's really impossible to have to recreate yourself every year, yet they try. No other genre does this. This won't happen, but if they released a new basketball game every other year, and just promised a major update in the off year, they'd not only save money, but the expectations wouldn't be so high.

https://digife.com

>This won't happen, but if
>they released a new basketball game every other year, and just
>promised a major update in the off year, they'd not only save
>money, but the expectations wouldn't be so high.

Agreed. That's not going to happen because their revenue would take a hit in the off years. A business can't do that. Creatively, it would be best if they did a new game every other year with them doing roster updates and performance tweaks in the off years for a small fee. But that's too big of a financial risk for a company.

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Podcast Now on iTunes and Google:
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Twitter: @nipsey @JTTOUPodcast

Last 3 things I watched:

The Changeling Season 1 (Apple+): C
OMITB Season 3 (Hulu): B-
Ahsoka Season 1 (Disney

the NBA/NFL/NHL etc. is as much to blame for how sports games ended up as the publishers themselves.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

The way it's going is not feasible from a quality stand point. Granted, they're making money every year so there's no need to change. But the console video game market WILL change after this current generation is done. Shoot, maybe before that.

https://digife.com

rather than a product

graphics aren't going to get that much better over the next 5 years without getting uncomfortably close to the uncanny valley so there will be less incentive to roll out new game engines for annual sports games. at some point the publishers will decide that it's not worth the time, effort, or money to make a game incrementally better from year to year and/or people will see through the hype and stop buying the games. then the devs will likely have to adopt the world of warcraft/league of legends/dota 2 model of having one engine that you constantly (meaning weekly) make changes to over the course of x years

>The whole 'every year' thing for these games makes it too
>tough to 'fix' anything forreal between iterations. We all
>know that a lot of these games take a couple months to get a
>feel of what is really wrong unless it is one of these overt
>2k online/server-related bugs.

games are no longer a physical product that cannot be interacted with by the developers once the game is out the door. nearly all games on current generation consoles that come on disc at least suggest an install to the system's hard drive, and most require that installation. this isn't even counting digital only downloads. developers can patch games at will. major fixes to bugs, changes to game mechanics, game engine optimizations, etc. happen all the time on both consoles and PC

also these games are constantly collecting data about how people play them. i find it hard to believe that the devs could be unaware of post-launch issues for more than a few weeks. not to mention that 2K and EA have huge online communities that provide instant feedback via message boards

these problems could be handled post launch but there is no incentive for EA or 2K to put any effort into it. they know these games are going to sell every year regardless of how messed up they are

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