So my favorite video game blog Kotaku has a post today about the Madden games moving towards more real time content. The big draw of course being...real time weather?
"Beginning in August, thanks to a deal with The Weather Channel, a Madden '08 NFL game at the Baltimore Ravens' stadium automatically will be set in the snow if it happens to be snowing that day on Maryland's Atlantic coast. Similar innovations soon will allow an option to incorporate current sports news and statistics from ESPN into the game."
Um...that is the best you can do EA? C'mon guys, lets be a little more inspired. The post also notes that EA is looking to incorporate real time injuries into the game, so that if Daunte Culpepper has his left leg fall off during a game, next time you boot up Madden you'll have an even gimpier QB for the Dolphins. Or something like that. Also, if a player goes on a hot streak his stats will improve in the game. Sounds pretty cool and all but...
Don't they already have this?
Is it just my imagination, or do the roster updates for Madden already cover the injuries and stat updates? All this sounds like is EA tooting their own horn and making the updates more frequent, and then trying to get some publicity by calling it "real time". And the worst part of this? Note this quote from the original Denver Post story:
"EA Sports said it doesn't know if the changes will mean price increases for games now costing about $60 for Sony PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 owners."
EXCUSE ME? You want to charge me even more for this game? What a joke. The only way I would pay more for Madden is if they...
1. Put the play creator back in the game: I loved it back in the day when I could design my own plays on football games. This doesn't seem like such a hard thing to put in...so why is it gone? And why does that dumb Head Coach game have it and Madden doesn't?
2. Put all the teams in: This is something I have always wanted to see more of in sports games. I would love it if Madden had an option to play a NFL Europe season, or an Arena Football season. I mean, EA does have the rights to all of those...
3. Gave me $10: Seriously EA? More than $60? For just a standard video game? Please...
