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.

[KC Jones]

Don't worry guys, I'm sure FOXSports Arena Football 2K6 is gonna kick ass.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by KC Jones

Don't worry guys, I'm sure FOXSports Arena Football 2K6 is gonna kick ass.

And Aussie rules football is completely unexplored territory...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

I'm not a big franchise freak, I pick the chiefs and start dominating for a few seasons, get bored. Eventually rinse and repeat. The new franchise mode is so freaking deep as far as getting your team ready is so overwhelming, I just skip the whole process. My roommate has Madden and I've played it, but the graphics/run game/and overall gameplay didn't do it for me. The only better thing immediately noticable in Madden is that you don't have to click to run faster.

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.

[Bearcat]

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.

The strategy & depth is far and away better than Madden '02, '03, etc... but like I said, IMO, the AI seems to shift from one season to the next, without any actual improvement in gameplay. They seem to cater to complaints more than trying to make a realistic game. ...and when I see EA change the physics of NCAA so the ball is tipped up 95% of the time, it seems like they take offense to complaints. Instead of improving the collision engine so their would be more tipped passes, they do something so drastic, that it was better the other way. Same thing with their claim of "more dropped passes and less acurate quarterbacks"..... the best QBs in NCAA '05 aren't that good, and neither are the receivers.


I noticed the same thing before I quit buying Madden... One season, there's tons of plays that work every single time you run them, no matter how many times you run them (even consecutively), and then the next year every defenseman is Superman. I wouldn't even call it an improvement in defensive AI, because it's overkill, and it's certainly not an improvement overall.

[Ebolapox]

eh, espn 2k5 is great as far as gameplay/presentation... plus, it was only like 20 bucks

from the dudes I know who work at EB games, madden's gonna drop to 30 bucks next year (29.95)--which isn't half bad, really--you can pick up either without hurting the wallet

-EB-

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by KC Jones

Don't worry guys, I'm sure FOXSports Arena Football 2K6 is gonna kick ass.

EA just locked up the Arena license, as well...

Hopefully this will free up VC to make a Playmakers style world of football. Drug suspensions, players beating their wives and kids, the occasional gay player getting outed and being shunned from the league, money-hungry owners threatening anyone who gets in their way of making more money...

[picasso]

I own both espn 2k5 and nba2k5. These two games are awesome. Madden AI flat out sucks. Players are robotic in movement and look like cheap GI Joe figurines.
How can EA have exclusivity rights to a brand such as the NFL? Wouldn't that conflict with so many other companies that create similar products for the NFL? I never thought that NFL, NBA and so on ever gave exclusivity rights because it limits their licensing ability. I can understand ESPN rights, you are buying the use of character names and overall feeling of what they present to use in your products. But not a complete entity like the NFL. And if it is true isn't it considered monopolizing in not giving the consumer choice like they have had for many years now?

[Nightfyre]

Man you guys clearly dont know your football games. Both EA and Madden present acceptable products, however each has issues. For example:
Madden:
Terrible Secondary play
Terrible WR play
Unadjustable contracts
ESPN:
Just underdeveloped.
Laggy when it snows....
Franchise AI sucks.

Granted, there are still features I would like to see in both.

[Bearcat]

I will really miss the ESPN layout of SEGA's games.... maybe they can sign on with Fox or CBS?? Just what we need.... a cyber-Randy Cross


The naming rights isn't a huge deal, as long as SEGA allows you to upload a roster, like from ps2rosters.com .......it's not like anyone likes the rosters when they come out anyway. There's always roster movement after the rosters are done, so people are looking to update rosters.

[htismaqe]

I have to laugh at all the people praising ESPN while simultaneously saying Madden's AI sucks.

What do you expect out of the box? It's called sliders and they put them in the game for a reason.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

Have you ever played ESPN NFL 2K5? I haven't played Madden nearly as extensively as 2K5, but that's because IMO it was much superior in all aspects of the game.

Amen to that. I switched to ESPN this year due to the far better gaming experience; the $20 price made it that much better. I probably won't buy a Madden game for a while; Sega was catering to the FANS while Madden was just trying to get something out. This can only hurt the people who buy the games...

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Rausch

And Aussie rules football is completely unexplored territory...

Not true. On my trip to Australia, I found ARF at a store and yes, it was made by EA.

You know, things could still work out ok. Sega didn't produce a college football game the last few years. Maybe, they could focus their efforts on the college game and just kick the crap out of EA. That being said, I really like EA's college football...

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

What do you expect out of the box? It's called sliders and they put them in the game for a reason.

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.

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

Man you guys clearly dont know your football games.

Madden:
Terrible Secondary play
Terrible WR play

ESPN:
Just underdeveloped.
Franchise AI sucks.

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

[Demonpenz]

ea's hockey games make me puke

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

ea's hockey games make me puke

Yeah.... haven't played '05, because it can't possibly be better than ESPN's ('04 or '05)..... With '04, EA had had this bright idea to have all 10 skaters just chase the puck, and not care where they were on the ice...... you can't say your defensemen pinch when they're constantly going in deep. Don't know how many times I'd be skating along with a forward, and Adam Foote would end up behind the net, passing to Peter Forsberg, who was on the blue line But the big hit feature was cool

Franchise mode in '04 sucked, but it got much better this year.... haven't been playing much of anything lately, but ESPN's NHL might have to get me through '05, too