wlj

read for yourself:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04...s_6121995.html



wlj

goLUCKY

crap

Michael Corvin

you know I should have saved it but on another forum I stumbled upon, a member had an avatar(looked like a flash animation) that was genius. It had the EA logo turn into a swastika. Quite funny.

Josh H

I can't complain about this one as there's not been a decent challenger to their NCAA games.

So it's not like they've had any competition spurring them to keep making the game better.

Mopower

Great. More steaming piles like last years game.

fujishig

? I thought last year's NCAA football was pretty good (of course, I've liked the last few, as a USC fan).

I don't remember the last time I've seen a different NCAA football game on the market, anyway. I guess basketball is where it would be the most affected.

Mopower

Last years game sucked. The year before was a lot better. IMO.

nickdawgy

I don't even like NCAA sports, and even I know EA's NCAA games were the best.

Josh H

Sega has put out College Football 2Kx the past couple of years, but it sucked and sold like shit.

fujishig

You know, I thought the year's before was better too, but didn't know if that's because I got this year's buggy Xbox version.

murray731

I don't see how this is a big deal, the Gamebreaker series hasn't been the same since the move to PS2 (before that actually) and the last version of Sega's game (2k3) was terrible and based on the previous year's NFL engine. At least EA *tries* to put a few new things/tweaks/changes in every year.

Gizmo

EA changes? I thought all they did was add a useless feature (create a fan! OMG!), and tweak the roster. Oh well. Get ready to pay $59.99 for Madden!

nickdawgy

$59.99 for a limited edition, yeah. I don't think we'll see $59.99 games for awhile. At least not on the current systems.

Gromit

Damn. I was hoping NFL 2K5 would evolve into NCAA 2K6.

murray731

For 2005, they added a few things over the 2004 version, the "composure stick" was nice, the "home field advantage" was pretty stupid and their big-hit button was alright. The recruiting part of Dynasty changed slightly as well and you can definitely tell a difference in the AI, particularly for blocking and pass-rushing. Not wholesale changes to be sure, but it's definitely not the same game as 2004 with a roster update. Is it worth $50 or $60 (in the future) every year? Probably not, but it sure hasn't been even remotely challenged by a competitor in some time. If there was to be a college game based on the NFL 2k series (like there used to be), I think I would be a little upset, but there hasn't been for a few years.

asianxcore

I agree there weren't competitors when it came to the college football market, and EA's was the best overall. Although I do this whole exclusive crud is getting out of hand.

fujishig

Well, I guess when the NFL gave in, this kind of stuff was expected. I half expect EA to buy the rights to the FPS or racing genres (I mean, I like the new Timesplitters and all, but geez)

darkside

I just hope they keep their hands off of Basketball. College Hoops and NBA 2K5 are my two favorite games to play and I also end up getting hundreds of hours out of each one. If I was stuck with only EA's shit version of hoops I would be pissed to no end.

MrKen

I think he is referring to the overwhelming power EA has over the pricing standard for any NFL games, current system or otherwise. Whether the game is worth $59.99 or not is irrelavant if it is the only option and people are willing to pay it.

I think there is almost no chance of EA abusing this opportunity- any more than they usually do.

1998Nole

Looks like no football games for me unless 2ksports has something up its sleeve. What will they buy exclusive right to next?

Drexl

They wanted the NBA, but the NBA said no. College basketball is a possibility. If the NCAA allowed an exclusive deal for football, they could do it for basketball too.

Michael Ballack

This is not good for the consumer. Even if EA's NCAA football game was superior, what's their motivation to put out a good game now with no competition? This reminds me of how the wwe bought off wcw and ecw, now the product is suffering.

Josh H

That's true to a point, but EA really had no competition in college football as Segas offerings were terrible, sold like crap, and were never a threat.

EAs incentive to keep tweaking and improving the game is to get people to buy it every year, much more so than any competition.

Michael Ballack

Hardcore gamers will stop buying it if it's bad, but there's a lot of zombies out there that buy something like Madden because of the name recognition.

Josh H

Maybe for a year or two.

Case in point, 989's Gameday series. It was great 1998 for example, it started to suck and consequently started to sell like crap after a year or two.