it's official: EA sucks ass
not even a month into it and all versions of Madden 08 are glitched to hell. every publication, blog, and uservid site is chock full of the shit EA pumps out to be slobbered over by people who will eventually get their 5th DUI by age 24.
what's almost as ludicrous is how they do this not only in their sports titles but their other games as well. the Sims, for example. there's no question that theyre completely shafting their customers with little more than extra graphics packs and an added AI script, but because that particular crowd isn't excessively tech-savvy, they have no problem shelling out $30 for less content than other games' mod communities put out for free.
Neverwinter Nights sucked ass as well (not an EA product), but the mod community made it playable and almost enjoyable, due not in small part to the publisher's desire to have the consumers actively involved with both development and support by providing very responsive websites and forums and simultaneously releasing an editor. Same thing with Dawn of War, which by itself (and with its marginally worthwhile expansions) was worth the purchase price, but for the same reasons as NWN, the mod community helped make it into a game that was easily 5x the value including massive additional content, better graphics tweaks (not just tons of re-colored/re-textured mipmaps), and AI improvements.
the sad thing is, as i posted in my old LJ, the people who play sports games and enjoy sims like... like The SIms, just aren't the people that are into complex modding that requires more than cursory knowledge of a $10 paint program; thus we are stuck with either doing without or spreading our cheeks every august without the benefit of lube. personally, my two-year madden celibacy doesn't look to have any chance of terminating.
what's almost as ludicrous is how they do this not only in their sports titles but their other games as well. the Sims, for example. there's no question that theyre completely shafting their customers with little more than extra graphics packs and an added AI script, but because that particular crowd isn't excessively tech-savvy, they have no problem shelling out $30 for less content than other games' mod communities put out for free.
Neverwinter Nights sucked ass as well (not an EA product), but the mod community made it playable and almost enjoyable, due not in small part to the publisher's desire to have the consumers actively involved with both development and support by providing very responsive websites and forums and simultaneously releasing an editor. Same thing with Dawn of War, which by itself (and with its marginally worthwhile expansions) was worth the purchase price, but for the same reasons as NWN, the mod community helped make it into a game that was easily 5x the value including massive additional content, better graphics tweaks (not just tons of re-colored/re-textured mipmaps), and AI improvements.
the sad thing is, as i posted in my old LJ, the people who play sports games and enjoy sims like... like The SIms, just aren't the people that are into complex modding that requires more than cursory knowledge of a $10 paint program; thus we are stuck with either doing without or spreading our cheeks every august without the benefit of lube. personally, my two-year madden celibacy doesn't look to have any chance of terminating.