Ea sports grabs ESPN title

[Demonpenz]

EA Nabs ESPN as 15-Year Exclusive
First the NFL, now the most recognized brand in sports media.
January 17, 2005 - With thundering force, Electronic Arts may have just swung the final punch to sports rival SEGA: the gaming giant just announced it has entered a 15-year exclusive licensing deal with ESPN.

Under the agreement, EA has exclusive video game rights to ESPN-branded print, telecast, and online content -- in addition to other ESPN media properties. The agreement covers all gaming platforms -- consoles, PC, handhelds, and wireless, and will begin in 2006, upon completion of ESPN's current licensing commitments.

The agreement most clearly affects Take Two and SEGA, which jointly publish a series of ESPN-licensed sports titles. The companies are still reeling from EA's announcement last month that it had acquired exclusive video game rights to NFL properties -- a direct challenge to SEGA's ESPN NFL franchise.

Obviously, the challenge is now doubled.

Electronic Arts explains the ESPN agreement as helping gamers: "This relationship was created to benefit consumers who are passionate about sports games," said EA CEO Larry Probst. "EA SPORTS recreates the real life experience fans enjoy while watching or playing their favorite sport; while ESPN programming captures the look, sound and excitement of the sports they follow. Together, we believe we can significantly grow the interactive sports category."

Until recently, EA's sports titles, such as the Madden NFL series, have faced vigorous competition from SEGA's ESPN Videogames brand, which saw success last year with a strong critical reception and prices cut in half.

We'll be back with more on the situation as soon as new details emerge.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Like I've asked the many others that have asked that question before --- What kind of question is that? Out of the box, I expect a fairly realistic, very playable game. Of course everyone has a different idea of what their video game experience should be, but the default middle-of-the-road sliders should give everyone a good starting point.

Sliders are [should be] there to tweak an already fairly realistic game. Past obvious reasons for why this should be, it's really hard to not just pin down a problem, but to adjust it so it's accurate across the board. They have plenty of testers to do it, but it's always a problem. I usually have to rely on someone else spending hours adjusting sliders, because it's so tedious. Play one game against one team, adjust sliders, play a few games, play another team, adjust them again, etc.

I don't think it's asking too much.... I loved NCAA '04 out of the box (even though I ended up tweaking when I went to Heisman level), loved ESPN NHL '04 with a couple of minor tweaks... don't even remember if Madden '01 or '02 had sliders, but they were fine, IIRC. OTOH, Madden '03/04, NCAA '05, EA's NHL '04/05, --- were all completely unacceptable out of the box.



IMO.






I've only been talking about those 4 things since Madden came out in '03 and ESPN came out this year

ESPN 2k5 wasn't any better than Madden 2005 out of the box. ESPN was FAR too easy. I think my first game was 70-0.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

What's complete BS is everybody treating EA like the bad guy.

The NFL WANTED to sell exclusive rights.

ESPN WILLINGLY signed this deal, because it would make them more money than putting their name on the Sega product.

Don't blame EA for buying stuff that's out there on the OPEN MARKET. Blame the greed of the NFL and ESPN...

Yep.

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Saying the AI hasn't gone anywhere for years is wrong.

This year is the 1st I've bought Madden since 2002 and there's LIGHT YEARS of difference in the AI.

Yep.

Originally Posted by htismaqe

If you're not into a franchise, then I could see why you'd much prefer ESPN. Franchise/simulation is the only reason I buy these games...

As for gameplay, I personally think the physics engine on Madden is better. The running game (specifically the o-line play) on Madden is lacking, but can be fixed somewhat with sliders.

I give the edge to ESPN in the presentation and graphics departement, and that's about it.

I don't know about that. I like ESPN's physics engine. It's been awhile since I played it but, I'm pretty sure I liked it better. Well, maybe that's until this year's Madden. They definitely improved the physics in this year's version. Still needs some improvement, though. Especially with guys like Dante Hall. He should be able to make some incredible jukes. Instead, the other team always knows exactly when he makes a cut and they make the same cut and tackle. I hate it. I do love how the RB runs through tackles to gain a couple extra yards, though.