posted 2007/08/14 at 21:30
Playing football on a video game console has never really been too high of a priority for me. There are some games I like, and there have been times when I bought the games themselves. I can still remember going with Mom to the local Montgomery Ward back when the first Joe Montana Football came out for the Genesis, and buying that instead of the just-released John Madden Football because Montanta was five bucks cheaper. I bought Joe Montana II a year later, the first console sports game to have an announcer call all the plays. After that I didn't care that much for video game football, but right after I got my PlayStation 2 (the day it came out) two of the first three games I bought were NHL 2001 and Madden 2001. I picked up NFL 2k1 for the Dreamcast in the system's dying days when all the new games were being sold for real cheap, and then the last football game I bought was NFL 2k3 for Playstation 2 when it got discounted down to ten bucks, and even then I bought it less because I was desperate for a football game and more because I was so astonished it was down to ten bucks.
Although I don't play video game football that much, it's kind of hard to avoid how it seems to have developed its own culture in recent years, particularly around the Madden brand. The fact that people playing Madden actually got its own series is kind of astonishing, and with every year it seems like the release of the latest Madden game becomes more and more of a mainstream event. I don't think that stores opening at midnight to sell the game is that big of a deal, but this year in particular news stories about Madden's release seemed to hit every mainstream news outlet I keep tabs on, even in the Business sections. I'm not sure what exactly this says about how mainstream video games are getting, but it has to say something.
Still, in recent years I haven't exactly been that thrilled with Electronic Arts. First, I think it was kind of nasty of them to get the NFL and NFLPA to sign an exclusive licensing arrangement for them, especially given that everyone I know who plays a lot of video game football says that over the years the 2k Sports football games were getting better and more innovative than the Madden games. Then a couple of years ago I read the EA Spouse LiveJournal, and that kind of made me very uneasy about Electronic Arts, to the point where I've deliberately avoided buying any of their games ever since. I mean, I know the tech industry pushes coders to the breaking point and beyond -- that's one of the main reasons why I never thought about pursuing a computer science degree, even though I seem to have a knack for that sort of stuff -- but Electronic Arts seems to go above and beyond the call of duty to make their workers' lives a living hell. It's not a big loss for me, but I do wish that the choice in video game football this year didn't boil down to Electronic Arts and a company that licensed O.J. Simpson for their game.
I do wish that the choice in video game football this year didn't boil down to Electronic Arts and a company that licensed O.J. Simpson for their game.
If it makes you feel any better, Ron Goldman's family gets every penny from the licensing of OJ's name.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon