OT: EA abandons PC Football - no Madden '09 for PC

[redwolf1]

For better or for worse, there will be no Madden '09 for the PC this coming year.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8718657

Actually, I think it is good in the long run to get EA out (and yes, at times I have loved things about Madden, at times I have loathed Madden - still play '08 in coach mode a bit (some good things about it)).

Anyways, I would expect this move to have a positive effect on Maximum Football - to what degree, I'm uncertain.


{edit..fixed link [:)] - DW }

[WallysWorld]

I still play Madden 2005 and consider it the best of the Madden games.

[local8h]

Ive been stuck in Madden 2004 But i have almost all the Maddens and been disappointed on 2005,2006,200,2008. I think Madden 2004 is thier best release. I guess i wont have 2009 PC. Thank god for Maximum Football!

[Tbird]

I don't know what to think about this

but atleast EA won't be looking for a way to take Down Maximum Football [8D]

[GlennN]

While I hate to see options shrink, this is not necessarily a bad thing. All Madden for PC has been for some time now is a console port with no effort to use the unique capabilities of the PC. I am always tempted to buy Madden (mostly because I am tempted to buy any football and hockey game for the PC - hard to go broke doing this these days!), but I am always disappointed. Now, I will not have this temptation. I guess for the sales it generates, it is too much trouble to port the game to the PC. Plus, the community always complains about the crappy porting (go figure). I've said it before, and I'll say it again, before MaxFB, the last good football game on the PC was FBPro. Long live MaxFB!!

[BigJ62]

Long live the death of ‘EA’.

[therhino]

It would be nice if a lot of he old Madden players would jump to Maximum Football. I am glad to see Madden leave the PC. It was a good game for a while, before all they did was update rosters. Is EA Sports going to stopping making games for the PC? I am suprised they are going to try a new Head Coach, maybe it will be better than the last one. Hopefully Maximum Football can really take off now with less competion.
therhino

[Tbird]

ORIGINAL: therhino

It would be nice if a lot of he old Madden players would jump to Maximum Football. I am glad to see Madden leave the PC. It was a good game for a while, before all they did was update rosters. Is EA Sports going to stopping making games for the PC? I am suprised they are going to try a new Head Coach, maybe it will be better than the last one. Hopefully Maximum Football can really take off now with less competion.
therhino

Someone mentioned that only fifa would be ported over to the PC in another forum

this could actually be a big blow for PC games in general

For Maximum Football it will definitely be good because the community will grow and maybe we'll see more rosters, playbooks, Uniforms and other goodies [8D]

[therhino]

I really enjoy Tiger Woods PGA golf for the PC. I hope they don't get rid of that.
therhino

[Marauders]

Competition is always good, but Madden on the PC was based on the PS2 version and was actually less featured than the console versions.
 
 

[Lucas718]

It's probably for the best. They were no longer interested in developing Madden on the PC anyway since they've basically re-released the same game for the past 5 years.

[bassman58]

Some of you may be enjoying the demise of EA sports games on the PC but will you enjoy it when there are no new games to play. EA has no competition. There will not be another developer to take up the slack. I don't like the way EA has treated PC users as second class citizens by porting last years console game or releasing games that are basically roster updates. Fortunately the modding community creates roster updates, gameplay improvements and more for these games. MVP Baseball 2005 is still going strong with a 2008 patch forthcoming and other classic seasons available. FIFA has good modding support for gameplay, rosters, kits and cyberfaces. NHL has similar support. NBA Live has good support for the current and past versions. Tiger Woods has addon courses and more. Fortunately these games are moddable (if that's a word). Unfortunately Madden doesn't have much more than roster updates and playbooks. For me, the community has made the games more realistic and enjoyable. But without someone to create the game in the first place we would still be playing Pong on our Atari 2600s since many of use can't even program our VCRs or Tivos. I salute David Winter for creating a game that allows us to add to the game. I'm a sports junkie and I play all of the EA sports titles plus NASCAR Racing Season 2003 (which is still going strong), rFactor (also developed with modders in mind) and GTR2. I like making uniforms, rosters and paintjobs. I enjoy using the creations of other modders. Without the efforts of modders PC games would be just like console games. We'd be waiting for next years release after we get bored with the current season. Modders have kept some games alive for more than five years. Without solo developers such as David Winter and corporations like EA we would not even have a game to complain about. (gets off of soapbox)

[garysorrell]

I can definately agree with bassman58. But I do think a lot of the anti-EA sentiment is normal. I wont miss Madden, because I havent bought anything past 2004. However, I hate to see any established franchise leave the PC. I sold MVP 05 at a yard sale, and am kicking myself 'cause there isnt much else other than High Heat. Nothing new for the PC from the graphical game side.

My beef with EA was the need to crush the competition. Maybe all's fair in love and war and video gaming, but their monopoly on the NFL license no doubt kept anyone else from making a football game. Other than a small developer like David, nobody is going to sink money and time into a game that doesnt have the NFL license.

My hope, however, is that we see a few more people like David make games. Love to see baseball, hockey, and soccer done MaxFB style. I dont need a license....if it's moddable and I want real stuff, I can make it. Or someone will.

[Brockleigh]

While I will admit that competition is good, in this instance, I will disagree with bassman58 and others in my content with EA not releasing a PC game.

Everytime I see a discontented post on this forum, it's always "The graphics suck. It's nowhere near as good as Madden". Asif that were all there was to a football game. I will fully admit that I was a Madden junky in the late nineties and early this century, hating anything that 989 Sports and others would put out (you could call me a fanboy). And I will be buying the EA releases for my PS3 this fall, purely for eye candy when I want a brain-dead football experience.

But I'm so sick and tired of kids coming on here and criticizing MaxFB because of what it isn't instead of realizing what it is. This is a damn good football sim. Most of my experience playing it is to act more as a GM, get the team set, and watch the games play out. That's how good this is, that my enjoyment comes out of NOT actually playing it.

I bought this game for the Arcade mode, so I could finally pick up my gamepad and play CFL-style football. I now have about 5 different leagues running in all different kinds of rule-sets, and derive a hell of  alot of pleasure out of trying to maximize match-ups and building teams.

So circling back to the topic at hand, then I'm glad EA isn't releasing a PC game, in that perhaps we'll stop having all those Madden-junkies (like I used to be deriding) a great game, and instead appreciating what it offers.

Just my two cents.

[Marauders]

I like Madden well enough, but EA put out junk for the PC and then complained that people didn't purchase it.  I remember when EA was on the forefront of PC development for the PC and Amiga.  They now don't even understand the PC market.
 
I would go as far to say that if EA actually designed a version of Madden for the PC market, there wouldn't be a need for Maximum Football, Front Office Football, or Football Mogul.  EA has become a console game manufacturer, and they likely do not want a revamped Head Coach game to go head to head against Madden on the PC.
 

[Tbird]

It's not just about the graphics

I admit sometimes The graphics of a game make me wanna buy the game, but then once I get past all the eye candy most of the time I'll just stop playing the game cold turkey after 1 or 2 weeks. 

I notice my little brother who grew up on consoles does the samething but then he comes back to games like Morrowind and OBlivion because of all mods that are available for those games and those graphics are outdated now.

It sucks that PC games are slowly dying

[garysorrell]

And you guys have hit it on the head as to part of the problem. At least for the near future, the PC is a far more dynamic gaming machine than any console. The things you can do with content, official and mods...it's fantastic.

Look at FBPRO, Civilization, C&C, The Sims, Half Life, our beloved MaxFb and many more communities. And even the (of course I had to go there)Star Trek genre with SFC, Armada, and Bridge Commander. Old games kept going but a loyal fan base that buys the new versions.

I remember a post on a EA forum somewhere, years ago after madden 2003. A few of the grognards were upset the custom leagues were taken out and some semi-official person replied that their polling(or whatever)suggested the custom features were a rarely used part of the game and future man-hours would be better spent making the core NFL simulation the best out there(read, only out there). And those extra man hours have brought us SuperFans and cribs or whatever. I speak from ignorance since I dont have any post 04 versions.

[redwolf1]

Confirmation - it's dead:

http://itsinthegame.ea.com/

"We knew that our decision to not develop this year’s Madden for the PC would be an unpopular decision in some circles. But I’ll reiterate what I said a couple of weeks ago in this space…the PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. We are committed to shipping a limited number of our games on the PC this year, but we’ve also had to cut a few of our games from the platform. We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform, and we’ll continue to explore those."

[therhino]

Thanks Redwolf, a few days ago I went to some of my old Madden forums and they were talking about how great 09 would be. That must have killed them. When they found out most said they would try to make more Madden mods, but some said they were switching to Maximum Football. I think this may really help Maximum Football. I guess the problem with modding Madden is you can't access certain files. I am just glad we have a Maximum, I don't know what i would do without it. Thank you David for bringing us this great game.
therhino

[Marauders]

The King is dead ... long live the king!
 
This could actually help Maximum Football sales.