Over the past few years, it seems like EA is the company in the gaming industry to bash.
While they used to be king of the gaming industry, they have fallen due to poor company
management and releasing average games. As of late, I started to gain a little more
respect for EA. They have a few new IPs they are working on, and they have released
some decent games for this generation of consoles. I thought Army of Two was decent, and
Dead Space looks like an interesting game. But I lost all integrity for them when I watched
this video.



In case you don't know what the video is, or you just don't feel like watching it, it is a trailer
for Madden 09. In the trailer, it features the New England Patriots playing against the
(edit) New York Giants (sorry, not a big football fan), a rematch of the recent Super Bowl.
And if you have played Madden in the
past, you will realize that this new version looks exactly like the previous ones. This is why
EA disappoints me.

I'm not a big sports gamer at all. I did enjoy MVP Baseball '05. The way you could manage
your teams was great fun, and it was the perfect mix of arcade and simulation that made
the game a little realistic, but not as boring as the real sport. I also enjoy the FIFA series,
and the new FIFA games are actually pretty good. I'm not a big Madden fan. I've only
owned one version of Madden, the 2005 version with Ray Lewis on the front. But this video
makes me mad, and I'll tell you why.

If you watch the video, you will notice that the only thing it looks like they changed was the
presentation. There doesn't seem to be any improvement to the animation, AI, or graphics.
I'm really upset about this. Don't get me wrong, they have made some improvements. The
new lighting system looks pretty neat, and so do the stadiums. But that doesn't really
matter when the gameplay on the field isn't that great. I think the thing I'm most upset with
is the animation. There are plenty of games that show dynamic animations can work, not
pre-scripted animations. I'm talking about GTA IV, Force Unleashed, and the new Indiana
Jones game coming out. Euphoria is the future of physics and animation, and I wish EA
would realize that. I don't think they realize how big of an opportunity it would be to get a
license for Euphoria. Not only would they be able to cut down on the number of animations
they would have to program, but the game would look a lot more realistic. The main reason
I want to try the football game Backbreaker is to see the tackling. It looks awesome.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Madden football. While Madden is the biggest
selling game, it definitely is not the best. It is disappointing to know that a company like EA
can put little effort into a game and make a ton of money. I'm not saying EA has slacked
off for the past year, but I know they could improve the game in many more ways then
they do every year. It disappoints me as a gamer and as someone who wants to make
games someday. But hey, as long as people are buying Madden, EA doesn't care, right?
Well I wish they would care. I can only hope they are working on a tackling system similar
to Euphoria. That would be neat. Otherwise, I don't think Madden will ever be truly
phenomenal. Come on Peter Moore, challenge your developers!