EA, stop stealing my stuff.

Well, today I felt like I should get into actual game site author mode and write about something a little bit more complex. And, of course, being an author, I plan to write about something that doesn't really affect me or any of our readers, but complain anyway.

So, EA Sports bought out the NFL rights. If I would have said that a few years ago, the entire gaming industry would have had a good laugh at me. EA Sports now has exclusive limitations to the biggest sport in America, meaning no-one else can touch it for as long as they hold it according to the contract.

Now, let's do a quick recap of what's been happening to the NFL, game and publicity wise, the last few years. First and foremost, it's become pretty blatantly obvious that a decent number of players in the NFL have been using steroids, (Just like in seemingly every other sport), and as a result, there's been bad publicity. ESPN, the biggest sports network in America, started a show known as "Playmakers", which "Exposed" the real side of a fictional team, obviously basing the show off of problems in the NFL. Obviously, the NFL didn't like this, and got it off the air, but not before most damage was done.

Game-wise, the games have been pretty mediocre. The best NFL game to come out in years has been NFL Street, and even that didn't exactly procure rave reviews. The obvious reason for this is simple: It's very hard to repackage the same game, same playstyle, and same attitude year after year and not make it tiring. Think of it this way- if Nintendo put out the same Mario game with the same levels year after year and didn't change a thing except for Mario himself and a few graphics updates, people would obviously get bored. Needless to say, the NFL doesn't change every year, so game developers like EA are stuck trying to invent new ways to make the games unique.

Why were the old games so great every year? Well, two real reasons. The first one is obviously that you've got a contingency who will pay for an updated roster every year. The same guys who masturbate over their Fantasy football standings are the guys who will pay an extra $50 every year to see their favorite players in new uniforms. There are people like this in every sport, be it Football, Hockey, or even Golf.

Second off, it USED to be because the games were so different. If you look at the gameplay movies from the beginning of the Madden franchise to the end, the first few Madden NFL games were diametrically different every year. Maybe the animations were better. Maybe the 3D versions became actually playable. Maybe they added the full list of players to the game. You get the idea- with the technology came the ability to actually recreate the game as it was.

So, more recently, EA saw a spanking so far as football games. Last year (the 2005 releases), 2K sports WHIPPED the Madden franchise quite well by not only making a superior game, but making it cheaper than the Madden games. It gave the whole impression that 2K Sports ran a sweatshop, but it all paid out when EVERY SINGLE 2K SPORTS FRANCHISE ended up better than the EA Sports counterpart. And of course, EA wet their pants.

So, EA goes and buys the NFL license, and obviously 2K Sports and Midway Games are rather pissed. Midway was a player with the "Blitz" series, but obviously they didn't show up for a while. So Midway, probably from all the money they made off of their Mortal Kombat series, goes and talks to the guys who did the show "Playmakers". And the problems start.

So, EA's biting the bullet now. When you spend a lot of money to buy a franchise and realize that you still get your ass kicked, you know there's a problem. I personally think EA makes mediocre games. Some people may believe that it just means the NFL is getting old to gamers (Hah!). But realistically, you have to look at this as a serious issue for EA. If other series continue to dominate regardless of what teams they're using, it's going to either do one of three things:

- Force EA out of the sports business (Very unlikely, as that's how they were founded, really)
- Force EA to make decent sports games (Happiness for all!)
or - Force the NFL to do something new.

So, it's going to be interesting. It's suprising to see how much controversy is over some of these games. There's a lot of money trading hands to play games that most gamers I talk to call "Mediocre". Maybe EA will pick up the pace so I actually have the incentive to play the games?




Very unlikely.