The better football game debate will spark more heated exchanges between 2K and EA fanboys than a meeting between the Crips and the Bloods. Well, it the Crips and the Bloods were folks who have actually uttered the phrases “pwned,” or knew what the hell “All your base are belong to us.” means.
The point is, it really doesn’t matter which company is really better. What matters is that there is no incentive to improve.
Do you think if EA had competition in NFL football gaming, they would continually allow a glitch where a guy will run straight out of bounds on patterns in the flat, or a 5 yard drag pattern somehow always resulted in a 2 yard loss? Probably not.
Would they year after year produce a college football game that is so cheesetastic in its on-line play that it has resulted in the deaths of approximately 42,800 controllers at the hands of angry gamers every year? Doubt it.
Would 2K annually produce a baseball game that has players looking like Hannibal Lector wearing the cop's face? I say no.
Just look at what has happened in the NBA games. EA decided to start from scratch on its Live series for the latest installment because it got tired of getting its butt kicked by 2K. That would never, ever have happened had there have not been any competition forcing them to re-evaluate what they do.
Exclusive licenses are the single worst thing to happen to sports gaming since Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball. Gamers who love sports games are left with fewer choices than ever, and stuck with games that are considerably less innovative than they could be.
What really gets me is that, even as I right this, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of NCAA Football 10. I already know what’s going to happen. I’m gonna play a season or two, get fed up with the same glitches that have been around for years, and stop playing it. I’ll swear that I won’t get suckered in again (until NCAA Football '11).
What does EA care? They have absolutely no reason to try to better their game other than to update a roster and introduce some new gimmick. They already have my money. And, thanks to exclusive licenses, they have nobody who will be trying to compete for it.
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