I'm bored at work so I might as well start a thread... It looks as though VC/2k sports are going to be releasing a legends 2k football game after all. Thank god, because madden and it's slower than planet formation frame rate have got to go. Madden just sucks period. http://sports.ign.com/articles/750/750189p1.html December 8, 2006 - December 14, 2004. If you're a sports gamer, that's the day the music died. It's the day the NFL and EA announced plans for an exclusive licensing agreement that would change everything you thought you knew about the videogame industry. It wasn't about playing games anymore. Button mashing was big business, and with big business, that meant the rules (and the game) were about to change. Without fear of competition, EA Sports could coast into next gen and still be top dog despite Madden's lack of current-gen features (Owner mode, fantasy draft), not to mention the perplexity that finds us two games deep in the 360 cycle, and Madden's still only running at 30 frames-per-second. Anyone think Madden 07 would've excluded Owner mode if NFL 2K7 was on the shelf? Anyone think EA Sports would've held onto gang tackling as an exclusive feature for the PS3 if gang tackling was already a feature on 2K's 360 football game? If you answered yes to either question, you're new nickname is Matt Millen and your comprehension of competition is about as deep as Millen's comprehension of the NFL draft. What I'm here to tell you (actually I broke the 2K Legends story back in 2005, but I'll tell you again) is that this year is going to be different. Competition is coming back in 2007, and that means two things. 2K fans need to brush up on historical players (how can you play a game with legends if you can't tell Steve Young from Steve Bono?). And EA Sports is going to come out blazing with new features in Madden to try and hold off the throwback phenomenon Visual Concepts will finally announce sometime after the new year. I have no idea what the 2K game will be called, look like, or feature beyond historical players, but I can tell you this, the surprising (I would even say shocking) sales numbers of Blitz: The League prove that the market is ready for some football outside of Madden. Should that worry EA? I'd be shaking in my cleats.
I thought EA had a 10yr license with the NFL? Was it shorter? Or are retired players outside EA's agreement (which would explain lack of legends name in Madden historic teams). Loophole or not this is good news for the gamer.
