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Electronic Arts, ESPN hook up in exclusive 15-year deal

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by RC Cola, Jan 17, 2005.

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  1. RC Cola

    RC Cola Member

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    Boy, EA is going all out. 1st, the NFL license, then the AFL license (ok, maybe not really a true step), and now they have ESPN locked up. Guess I'll have to go back to calling it the 2K series instead of ESPN.

    One weird thing is the length of the license. 15 years?!:eek: That could mean this deal is still going by the time the PS5, Xbox 4, and Nintendo whatever are around. This seems like some kind of joke really.
     
    #1 RC Cola, Jan 17, 2005
  2. Fatty FatBastard

    Fatty FatBastard Member

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    15 years ago, the Super Nintendo came out. 1995 PS1. 1996 N64. 2001 PS2. 2002 GC. 2003 X Box. 15 years isn't that long.

    But it is funny to look at a 1990 Madden game these days.
     
    #2 Fatty FatBastard, Jan 17, 2005
  3. Uprising

    Uprising Member

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    wow, crazy stuff. Hopefully EA's games will get that much better.

    That's the only reason I liked some of the sega games was the fact of the ESPN part. So now....back to EA I guess. (only went to sega cause how cheap they were this year)
     
    #3 Uprising, Jan 17, 2005
  4. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Well, I guess I'll be buying FOX SPORTS NBA 2k6 or NBA on TNT 2k6; as long as VC makes a better game I could care less whose brand the presentation follows.
     
    #4 SamFisher, Jan 17, 2005
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Member

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    I'll be buying the better product. I dont give a **** who's lable is on the from. ESPN doesnt mean much to me at all.


    I am however a little worried about these smaller games companies being taken over....alot of them provide a better product then the larger companies.
     
    #5 Christopher, Jan 17, 2005
  6. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    Hopefully this means, ESPN2k5 style Cheerleaders, and Half Time Shows.
     
    #6 Gummi Clutch, Jan 17, 2005
  7. Dave2000

    Dave2000 Member

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    EA is the devil

    I hope Sega does get TNT rights as I would rather have EJ/Kenny/CB4 more than Stuart Scott's annoying ass. Plus Marv and Steve Kerr is a hell of alot better than Walton anyday... :)
     
    #7 Dave2000, Jan 17, 2005
  8. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    What, you mean you don't want to listen to "E-Steven A. Smith"? :eek:
     
    #8 SamFisher, Jan 17, 2005
  9. rrj_gamz

    rrj_gamz Member

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    This doesn't mean anything...ESPN didn't bring much to the game...Sega Sports is still the best, although, they don't have NFL...
     
    #9 rrj_gamz, Jan 17, 2005
  10. mfclark

    mfclark Member

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    Wonder if this is the next step towards dropping the Madden name from the NFL franchise, as some have suggested would happen after the NFL license...
     
    #10 mfclark, Jan 17, 2005
  11. Dave2000

    Dave2000 Member

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    I dont see why they would, Madden is an establish franchise and would be like dropping Tony Hawk's license from Activision's skateboard game. Plus dont they have exclusive rights for like the next 10 years?
     
    #11 Dave2000, Jan 17, 2005
  12. Preston27

    Preston27 Member

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    His contract is up this year. I think they're negotiating right now.
     
    #12 Preston27, Jan 17, 2005
  13. moligity

    moligity Member

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    I feel your pain, but I prefer EA regardless. Although I don't like all of these exclusive deals -- I prefer more competition.
     
    #13 moligity, Jan 17, 2005
  14. mogrod

    mogrod Member

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    The one thing I thought was pretty weak about the Madden franchise was the in-game presentation. This will help ALOT, especially going to the new generation systems. Sucks for Sega as they lose the BIG name brand associated with their game. I always thought TNT would be a a good source for a basketball game, so I hope NBA2K.. can hook up with them. Kenny did a real good job with the 'Inside Drive' series. The problem for Sega is that there is not another network that hosts all other sports so that their games would be associated with each other.
     
    #14 mogrod, Jan 17, 2005
  15. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Ehh, the exclusive branding is no biggie, as long as the games get made, unlike w/NFL.

    Those of you old enough to remember back when EA Sports was first starting out, in the 16 bit days, they had their own presentation brand for Madden and basketball (then called "Lakers v. Celtics/Blazers v. Bulls/Lakers v. Bulls etc), the "Electronic Arts Sports Network", (EASN), complete with a Red logo and a sportscenter type (2d sprites, of course) highlight show.

    That lasted about 5 minutes until ESPN sued them for copy & trademark infringement.
     
    #15 SamFisher, Jan 17, 2005
  16. UTweezer

    UTweezer Member

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    where are the anti-trust laws when you need them? First soccer, golf, Nascar, NFL...they tried to get the NBA and NHL..


    EA even bought 20% of UBISOFT, wdf is going on...stop these makers of mediocre games...
     
    #16 UTweezer, Jan 17, 2005
  17. RC Cola

    RC Cola Member

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    It seems pretty long for an exclusive contract though. I already complained about what the NFL 5 year deal could do, but this just adds to it. In fact, it would be kind of funny if in 5 years time, the NFL signed to another publisher/developer, along with maybe the other sports leagues. Then, ESPN would be stuck with a game without the NFL. Of course, I guess that's where they were now anyways, but still, a lot could happen in 10-15 years.

    I did read stuff about Madden not coming back. I saw somewhere where there could be "ESPN NFL Football" by EA, and "Madden Football" by Sega/Take Two.

    Another thing mentioned was how EA is gobbling up smaller companies or forcing others to go under. I'm not really sure how the 1st video game crash went, but a lot of people are worried that the actions performed by EA may be leading to another one. It would suck to have average games that cost $60-70, which EA can do now without competition.

    I'm not sure what I'll do from now on. Obviously, whatever game is the best is what I'll get, which has, IMO, been the 2K games, but I'm not sure how much longer they can stay in the mix of things. I read that Take Two could possibly end the deal with them if they didn't secure licenses, which they haven't been able to do. I thought I read somewhere that their budget under TT grew quite a bit, so losing them could be a blow in addition to all the other bad news. Hopefully, someone in EA can lead them to make good games that keep getting better so I won't have to hate all this too much.

    On a somewhat related note, there are some pics of some more next-gen expectations from EA, although these seemed to have made their way on to the Internet unintentionally, unlike the other pics: (I posted this is another thread, but it probably is better suited in a thread like this, plus the original pics are down/gone)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    These are doubted much more so than the NFSU and Madden next-gen pics that were shown a while back, and rightly so, considering how life-like these look. However, I also read that EA is expecting to be able to use 30,000-50,000 polygons per character on the PS3 and Xbox2. Considering the Unreal Engine 3 models were only around 6,000-10,000 polygons and that the engine is geared towards the PC, maybe they could get somewhere around there, especially later on in the generation (kind of like how the PS2's latest games are either equal to or greater than the PS2 tech demos graphically, even though the launch games weren't quite on that same level). I still am not sure if I will believe these will be actual in-game graphics though until I am actually playing the games myself. They are making me hold out a little bit of hope though.
     
    #17 RC Cola, Jan 17, 2005
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