Tag: PS2

Madden is Losing It’s Exclusivity Deal With the NFL, Which Means NFL2K is Coming Back!

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Yahoo – For the first time in over 15 years, “Madden” is getting some competition in the world of football video games.

The NFL revealed on Tuesday morning that it’s ending its years-long exclusivity deal with Electronic Arts on football games. “Madden” will continue to be produced in partnership with the NFL, but the NFL is also working with 2K Sports — the company behind the smash-hit “NBA 2K” franchise.

That new arrangement encompasses a “multi-year” deal that includes “multiple future video games” — the first of which is expected to arrive next year, in 2021.

The worst thing that ever happened to Madden was the exclusivity deal EA signed with the NFL because it removed any real competition. Madden was always the best football game on the block, but only because it actually had to be. 2K closed the gap when I was in high school and a ton of people still argue that NFL 2K5 was the best, albeit 2K’s last, football game ever made.

Thats not just me looking back fondly on the PS2 days either. NFL 2K5 got a 9.2/10 on GameSpot, a 9.4/10 on IGN, and a 92% on Metacritic, which bested Madden reviews in two out of three as Madden 05 actually got a 9.5 from IGN. Still pretty damn good for a game that just ended up getting shelved a few months later.

So once 2K was no longer there to keep pushing Madden, things got a little stagnant. Madden was always introducing new features with every version of the game, some more beloved than others (I actually enjoyed the Vision Cone), but just look at this run of iconic additions.

  • Madden 99 – Franchise Mode introduced
  • Madden 03 – Online head to head play
  • Madden 04 – Vick God Mode/Playmaker Control/Owner Mode/Mini Camp
  • Madden 05 – Hit Stick
  • Madden 06 – QB Vision Cone/Superstar Mode
  • Madden 07 – Truck Stick

Madden was always trying things out because they had to keep the game fresh. Once any shred of competition was removed, Madden was able to just update the graphics and the rosters each year and sell you the same old shit for $59.99 every August. Madden 07 (released in 2006) was the last year any substantial feature was added to the game in my opinion and that was FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.

I would love for these two giants to go head to head like the good old days, but it seems like 2K may try and go in a slightly different direction.

Notably, 2K says the games it’s creating are “non-simulation football game experiences” described as “fun, approachable and social experiences.”…EA issued the following statement in response to Tuesday’s announcement: “EA Sports is the exclusive publisher of NFL simulation games, and our partnership with the NFL and NFLPA remains unchanged. Our agreements have always allowed for non-exclusive development of non-simulation games on various platforms.

Whatever the hell that means, your guess is as good as mine. It seems like, through 2021 at least, 2K won’t be able to create a true “simulation game” so we may not get a direct competitor to Madden right out of the gates. Perhaps something thats officially licensed by the NFL, but maybe a little…different? Something a little more…arcade style. Something like…

Now we’re talking!

But so help me god if 2K tries to pass off some card based garbage mobile game. Just give us something that will make the folks at EA a little nervous so we start getting legitimately innovative games once again.

There is a Documentary on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Coming. Yes, Please.

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Polygon – The film was first announced back in August; it began as an unsuccessful Indiegogo campaign in 2017. Mic reported on Wednesday that Pretending I’m a Superman ended up getting independent financing. Mic said the film “tracks how the broader skateboarding industry was in a perilous place in the early 90s,” and that the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games were a big part of mainstreaming the sport and lifestyle.

Sign. Me. Up.

For anyone around my age, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a momentous video game when it first came out in 1999. Sports games were always fun, but oftentimes were more like managing a fantasy team than actually playing the sport. THPS made a game that was FUN to play and introduced an entire generation of kids, myself included, to skateboarding. Think about that for a second. A fringe sport that was traditionally a California burnout beach bum activity went mainstream because Tony Hawk tapped into something no one saw coming.

THPS came out in ’99, which is so long ago that I had it on my Dreamcast. I honestly doubt most of my younger coworkers would even know what a Dreamcast is if I mentioned it. This game should probably also be credited with getting an entire era of kids into punk rock and ska with an absolute banger of a soundtrack. It’s the first game I can remember playing that you actually looked forward to the music. In a way it created the blueprint for music in a game that the likes of NBA2K have adopted and still follow today. With tracks from The Dead Kennedys, The Vandals, and of course Goldfinger’s Superman, this game slapped.

THPS 2 doubled down on the soundtrack too with the addition of bands like Rage Against the Machine, Bad Religion, Papa Roach, Anthrax, and Powerman 5000, which I still have stuck in my head 20 years later.

This whole blog also just reminded me of the store-brand version of THPS; Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX. Am I the only one that played that game? Just doing double back flips on a bike while listening to Sublime and Peaches. Those were the days.

Poor Sean Bean, the Video Game Hitman 2 Now Even Lets You Kill Ned Stark

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Engadget – Movie producers have seemingly gone out of their way to kill Sean Bean in whatever role he plays, so it only makes sense that you could off him in a game, right? IO Interactive certainly thinks so — it has revealed that the first Elusive Target in Hitman 2 is none other than the perpetually ill-fated actor. Bean plays Mark Faba, an ex-MI5 agent who has become a freelance assassin. He’s nicknamed “The Undying” due to his knack for faking his own death, but you’re clearly there to put an end to that streak.

This guy gets axed in *spoiler alert* EVERYTHING. Now he’s even going to get gatted in video game form thanks to Hitman 2. Count me in.

Sean Bean’s got 131 acting credits to his name on IMDB and I would guess he dies in no less than half of those. I’ll also never forget Papa Giorgio just straight up ruining Game of Thrones for me, despite himself, never having watched an episode. Back in 2014 I’m finally diving into Season 1 of Thrones and burning through it when he walks in and says “Oh he’s still alive?” Well the next 5 episodes were just me waiting for the inevitable Sean Bean death scene.

PS – Hitman was an absolute BANGER back in the day on my PS2 in high school, but after about 5 minutes of sneaking around every mission turned into this:

Madden Pro Going Nuts Reminds Me of The GOAT Madden Meltdown I Saw in College

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Look we’ve all been there. I’ve smashed more clickers than I care to admit and so have all of you. Glass houses guys.

But, this dude flipping the fuck out reminded me of the GOAT Madden meltdown I witnessed in college. I was playing my roommate and I was feeling myself so I picked a shittier team, knowing it would drive this kid up a wall if I took it to him with the 2008 Raiders.

You know the unbeatable 2008 Raiders that went 4-12 behind stud No. 1 overall pick, and my boy, JaMarcus Russell. If there ever was a guy built for a fucking video game it was this dude. Absolutely awful in real life, but in a video game he had an absolute cannon and he could run his balls off. Thats all I need boys.

So in case you forget just how truly shitty this team really was back in 08, here was the starting skill position players:

QB: JaMarcus Russell
RB: Darren “Run DMC” McFadden
WR: Javon Walker, Chaz Schilens, Ashley Lelie, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Ronald Curry
TE: Zach Miller

Not exactlyyy Murderers Row, but the Raiders did also have Nnamdi Asomugha before he fell off a cliff and DeAngelo Hall patrolling the secondary. (Thats called foreshadowing guys)

So anyways, I am scoring *at will* on QB scrambles out of the shotgun, HB screens, and 70 yard bombs in the air. If JaMarcus Russell saw how much better he was in Madden than in real life I think he might actually kill himself. But to top it all off the Oakland defense is smothering my roommate with interception after interception after interception. My roommate is fucking BOILING and I’m not a huge trash talker so I’m just waiting for the straw to break the camel’s back.

Well that would come in the form of my SEVENTH interception of the day, which also happened to be a pick-six that put me at 70+ points on the afternoon…in the 3rd quarter.

“FUCK THIS GAME!”

Roommate stands up and absolutely Gronk spikes the $50 PS2 clicker into the fucking floor. Let me tell you, I have never seen a piece of hardware fly into so many pieces as that Playstation clicker did. We had to have a closed casket funeral for that PS2 clicker.

And that my friends is why you don’t stream yourself playing a game of Madden because we are all one bullshit play away from rifling a clicker through the goddamn window.