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It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp – EA Sports Loses $27 Million In Class Action Suit

As we approach the launch of Madden 13 it should be noted that EA Sports still has exclusive rights to the NFL license. There are a few things in gaming that truly drive innovation and the primary motivating factor is true competition. EA has found out the hard way that monopolizing the market to fix prices is the wrong way to go about this not only with fans of sports gaming, but now with the Federal Court system.

hustle-pimplo — It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp

For a detailed run-down of the decision check out this article at Kotaku.

If you want the real moral of the story, it is that EA Sports will be banned from exclusive deals ONLY with NCAA Football and Arena Football League. Which in all honesty is simply a slap on the wrist. The real competition they faced was from 2K in the NFL 2K series.

What this really means is that you shouldn’t hold out hope that 2K (or any other developer) will get a chance to make an NFL game. However, if they do get that chance, it will probably be on the next generation of consoles (if ever).

What about the Class Action Lawsuit?

In terms of what you ‘get’ out of it… $2 for any 360, Wii or PS3 American Football Title (AFL, Madden, NCAA) and just under $7 for PS2, Gamecube and XBox games that came out after 2005.

Bottom Line

EA Sports is being hit where it counts – the wallet. This isn’t the type of punch in the face that knocks them out of Exclusive Rights in sports gaming, but it is a sign that what they have been doing isn’t right. EA has potential to make some of the best sports games out there and when they had to fight against NFL 2K5 it was the best iteration of Madden (2005) ever.

Analogy Time

In 2005 it was like watching Rocky 2. Two developers were busting their asses trying to prove that they had the best game out there. In the end you see both of them fall to the ground in the last few seconds. 2K5 came out with a great game for $20 and after seeing this, EA released Madden for $30 rather than $50. EA came out on top and then just like Rocky they were the world champs.

Then after 2005, EA Sports turned into Rocky in Rocky 3. They got lazy and lost a lot of their motivation to train hard. They started doing stupid promotions and simply got full of themselves because everyone they would fight would be a push-over (if there was anyone to fight).

The biggest fear that EA has right now is for a game like NFL 2K to come back around like Clubber Lang and “crucify them, real bad.”

While it seems that we might not like EA Sports games… it is to the contrary. We love EA Sports titles, but we loved them more when they were trying harder. It isn’t fair to EA Sports that they have no competition, it makes them look soft and it prevents them from improving. We want to see a good fight between developers that makes us get excited again.

Open World RPGs – What Else Can Be Done?

Games like Skyrim and Fallout have done a fantastic job of bringing otherwise disinterested people to the RPG scene. Yet, it feels like once you finish the main quests the games can lose their luster titles that are more action-packed. Some games like Borderlands do a really nice job of taking the boring exploration for explorations sake out of the mix and inserting crazy bad guys and mutant creatures for you to shoot and explode at your leisure. Even after a couple hours of that type of gaming you will find yourself bored of treasure hunting and shooting random baddies.

slaythedragonlol — Is this what your character is saying?

What else is there to do at this point?

You can kill things, you can amass wealth and you can even find relationships with other digital ‘people’. Granted, when all is said and done – you are still roaming a world that doesn’t seem to have a reason to be booted up. Sure, there are side-quests and random things you can do for people… like kill a guy for the Night Mother or maybe collect a trinket for some lazy scared guy. Regardless, it is an important question that might not really have an answer.

Outside of turning open world RPGs into another version of Second Life – what can really be done at this point? Leveling up doesn’t matter after awhile. Not to mention to never-ending stream of DLC that seems to seduce people regularly into forking over another $10-20. Some DLC is well worth the payment but at what point are we going to expect something more and realize that there really isn’t more to be had?

Is it a sign that perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if games started having some sort of finality that pushed to you play through the story again and again in different ways? Mass Effect did this and it was nice that they actually tied Achievement Points to playing through the game multiple times. Even games like Diablo 3 and Borderlands give you multiple character types to build up and roam around with.

What is your take? Is there anything more that can be done for open world RPGs? If you say yes, what are your suggestions? Post in the comments below!

The Dark Knight Rises – Could It Change How People Want Games To End?

If you consider how the upcoming movie The Dark Knight Rises it is a distinct possibility that Batman could die. This isn’t really much of a spoiler. You can look up any of the Batman vs. Bane battles and see that Bane actually breaks Batman’s back. This isn’t really meant to be a rundown of Batman’s comic history however.

bane — Could this movie change the entire landscape of entertainment if Batman either dies or ends up eating through a straw?

It should be known that the target audience for the new Batman movie is also the same target audience that many gaming companies push their products to as well. As much as fans of the Dark Knight series seem to worship the story and characters involved with Christopher Nolan’s epic trilogy they don’t really question the story – they enjoy the movie for what it is and go on to buy it on blu ray and tell everyone how great it is/was.

This drives us to wonder what will happen if Batman either dies or ends up like Christopher Reeve… Will fans keep their unwavering support? That question then branches into a new direction. If people love the ending of The Dark Knight Trilogy with Batman either dead or a vegetable – how can they keep getting annoyed with games like Mass Effect 3 when they pretty much end in tragedy as well?

The point is that we have turned into a society (especially in gaming and film) that demands for the hero to save the day, kill the bad guy or simply wait for the credits to end for some hope that we will get to follow the trailers to yet another sequel.

Is it a cop out for people to write a story that ends with a brief glimmer of hope after the credits? Is it considered a failed story about a heroic journey if the hero dies in the process of saving everyone? That strategy seems to work well for The Bible (the best selling book of all time) and even The Matrix (check out a nice rundown of that series over at The Cool Ship) or does it simply not translate to games?

Without spoiling anything (too much) we will leave this as an open discussion but also provide you with some games that have some of the best endings.

Red Dead Redemption Game of the Year
– One of the best games available on this generation of consoles. The story is well written, the voice acting is top notch and the side-quests are numerous enough to keep you playing forever. Without spoiling the ending we can tell you that it is pretty much perfectly scripted in every way a western can be.

Batman: Arkham City (Game of the Year Edition)

– It is hard to tell you that any game is the best you will ever play, but in the spirit of Batman… this is hard to pass up. The game plays smoothly and the story and voice acting is amazing. With the likes of The Joker, Harley-Quinn, Two Face and others it is a game that demands your time.

Battlefield 4 Beta – Does It Cheapen Medal of Honor?

Now that it has been confirmed, why does it seem like bittersweet news?

Battlefield 4 is coming out at some point and the Beta will be open to people that Pre-Order Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

All of this seems rather questionable considering there are plenty of people subscribed to Battlefield 3’s Premium service. It almost puts people into a position where they have to plan on buying a new game while they are in the middle of enjoying one they are already preemptively paying extra for through DLC.

Medal of Honor Warfighter is the unfortunate ‘vessel’ that will be looked at by many people as a $40 game with a Beta they would pay $20 for rather than the $60 they will actually pay for it.

Many Battlefield fans are still wondering where the Bad Company sequel is. That happens to be a good question if you consider the fact that Battlefield 3 is pretty much designed to be a multiplayer game rather than some sort of story mode that you anxiously await to see what happens in the next chapter.

Bad Company has a cast of characters that you actually develop an interest in, but Battlefield 3 is a game that lacks any sort of draw in the story mode. The terrorists are bad and they want to destroy everything… yeah… got it. What happens in Battlefield 4? Do the terrorists come back as zombies?…

Sorry, that is more of a Call of Duty thing.

Limitations On NCAA and Madden 13 Push Both Games to Stand On Their Own

There was a lot of flack after the announcement that Madden and NCAA Football would pretty much have nothing that brought them together.

“Hello Friends!” Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are just part of a new direction for Madden this year.

For five years they both gave you the ability to pretty much continue the careers of players that you had used, faced or competed alongside during your seasons of NCAA Football. Not to mention the fact that if you downloaded fully-named rosters for NCAA you would also be getting to draft some of your favorite “real” college players in the future!

However, there was a big downfall to that ‘perk’.

When you wouldimport your draft class from NCAA to Madden you would notice that the best players in NCAA that were coming out in the draft would be scattered. Not to say that this doesn’t happen in real life, but the ratings simply didn’t translate well enough to be imported into Madden without scratching your head in wonderment.

This year it is different and it is a good thing.

After many articles and thoughts on the subject of Madden and NCAA 13 it has finally clicked that these games finally get to be games unto themselves. NCAA Football has a hardcore audience that either prefer college football to pro football; or they just can’t stand Madden football and choose to roll with NCAA every year. Regardless of the reasons for one over the other (or even buying both) you are now playing two different games this year and it is a good thing.

GymratNCAA — NCAA Football has a hardcore audience and the ability to take screen-shots during Instant Replay… This picture was taken and posted on Operation Sports by Gymrat8168

Madden’s Connected Careers is a good direction for at least a little bit of change in the formula for Franchise Mode, etc. NCAA has Road to Glory and Dynasty still going strong, but the fact is that you won’t be playing one of these games and wondering if it would be better if you had both of them instead.

Playing a game of video game football can take you anywhere from 40 minutes to over and hour (depending on your settings, play-style and bathroom breaks). It is difficult to play a Dynasty and a Franchise Mode at the same time. If you consider the fact that just in regular seasons alone there are at least 28 games that need to be played; then take into account all of the off-the-field duties you have to do in order to have any depth to your experience… it is one heck of a task to run careers on two different titles.

Madden finally gets a chance to step up and be the big brother the NCAA hasn’t had on this generation of consoles. NCAA finally gets a chance to be more than just a place to get draft classes from for Madden’s Franchise mode.

Either way it goes, this year is different for football gaming and both titles are better off for it.

Medal of Honor Warfighter – Is It Going To Be Another Feeble Attempt?

*NOTE – It has been mentioned elsewhere that Medal of Honor Warfighter is going to give players an opportunity to have access to the Beta for Battlefield 4!

The Medal of Honor series has been one that shows tremendous promise in the past (during its World War 2 renditions especially). However, in recent years it has either disappeared or come out and tried to be a direct competitor to Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare Series. The last time Medal of Honor came out it seemed that there was between one and two months where it peaked a few people’s interest and then it was lost in the rubble of Bad Company 2 and the Call of Duty series.

Now it seems that EA is trying to continue pushing Medal of Honor in the modern setting. This is with the knowledge that they have a great consumer-base in Battlefield 3. Not only that, but they are still developing an enormous amount of content for that game.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter wants to compete directly with Black Ops 2. This means, it will feature smaller maps and more fast-paced action than Battlefield does with its enormous maps and battles that rage on for 40+ minutes at a time. (Granted, BF3 also has Team Deathmatch modes that are similar, but it isn’t a truly good use of their gameplay or controller mechanics to play it in such a loose way.) It should be hoped that Medal of Honor has a different feel than Battlefield as far gunplay and other direct movement goes.

The benefit that Medal of Honor has over Black Ops is that you can choose to one of multiple nations and see who is ‘the best’. Granted, when it all comes down to it, will anyone care about that as the drawing feature when all they want to do is shoot digital weapons? Who knows. All that can really be stated is that the bullets will start flying (again) in October and here at NoobTubeTV we are as excited as ever.

Madden 13 ‘Legends’ – I Think I Played This Game Before

Madden 13 is coming to your console with Legendary Players. If you are excited about this – more power to you.

On the other hand, you could pop in a game that is five years old tomorrow and use quite a few of the same players such as the great Reggie White.

It isn’t really a question of whether or not Madden or 2K Football is better. It really is apples and oranges when you start comparing how the games play and other nuances that are too numerous to discuss in this article.

However, the real issue at hand is that EA Tiburon is putting this ‘feature’ in a game and almost acting like it is an original idea. 2K Sports (out of desperation) to please their hardcore football fans and with a feeble attempt to jump into the football gaming foray early on in this generation of consoles tried to grab a foothold with the inclusion of legends such as the aforementioned – Reggie White. As well, they had players you can see here on 2K’s website.

APF_COVERPS3CASE_507 — The Original ‘Legends Game’ can be had for cheap. You will be amazed with the gameplay and animations that might not even be in Madden this year… or ever.

The issue at hand also makes the controversial Connected Careers Mode a little more strange in that it allows these legendary players (Barry Sanders, Ronnie Lott, Troy Aikman, etc.) as well as Legendary Coaches! It is puzzling that they can’t allow people to do something like edit rosters, but they can allow legendary players onto their teams.

To compound the confusion there is also another vital question that needs to be asked –

Since when does the coach matter in Madden football?

Legendary Coaches is also a nice enough feature (and one that isn’t in APF2K8) but coaches have never mattered in Madden NFL. You could have gone to the Super Bowl with Romeo Crennel’s ‘I’m Thinkin’ Arbys Cleveland Browns All Stars’ and it wouldn’t matter a bit. Your coach means nothing in Madden and that has always been the case.

Madden 13 is on par to impress with their usual growth this year, but the inclusion of legends and marketing of their presence in Connected Careers (as well as Ultimate Team) is something that makes a lot of people look at EA with confusion and wonder if they will ever understand that gimmicks (especially those that have been done by another company) don’t sell games or make their game more enticing. They are cheapening the ‘experience’ and making it feel more and more like it should be Downloadable Content to mess around with like a toy from a Happy Meal and then forgotten forever in the annals of Epic Sports Gaming Fails.

If you want a great game with classic players that requires a more simulation approach than Madden, please follow our link to a bargain of a fantastic football game!

All Pro Football 2K8

Borderlands 2 – Might Be A Must Buy

Pre-Order Borderlands 2 At Amazon and Get $10 Towards A Future Amazon Purchase

For a game that had a niche market on its initial release, it seems like Borderlands 2 might be angling for a bigger hold on the FPS/ACTION/Quasi-RPG market.

It uses cell-shading presentation that makes the game look rather cartoonish, but in the end it is still a fantastic game for you to look into for teaming up with a couple friends either on the same screen or online. This game focuses on dominating the world around you with weapons that are as numerous as they are deadly. You can have a sniper rifle that fires electric charged rounds of toxic acid or a bazooka that fires rockets with other crazy abilities.

The bottom line is that you will be able to jump into the Planet of Pandora (again) and rain down hellfire with a smile on your face because you know that you have hours upon hours of amazing gunplay at your fingertips… and a month before Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Limited Edition comes out!

Madden 13 – Pre-Order and Get $15 In Amazon Credit!

We are entering the time of year when a lot of the most anticipated titles are coming out. One thing that tends to make it tough on gamers is making the choice of which game you have to skip out on.

Amazon does a nice job of enticing people by offering this sweet deal that basically means if you pre-order four games, you get the 5th game for free! Take it upon yourself to jump on this when you can!

Keep in mind, if the price changes (gets cheaper) before release like NCAA 13 did, you will get that price and the $15 credit to your Amazon Account!

Madden NFL 13

Grand Theft Auto V – Los Santos (Los Angeles) – NOT Miami (Vice City)

*NOTE – Our initial post was that GTAV was going to be in Vice City. However, it was brought to our attention that it is indeed in Los Santos. It was an unfortunate error on our part and we do apologize for anyone that got too excited about a new Vice City game.

Grand Theft Auto V (5) is rumored to be coming out either late this year (2012) or early next year (2013). With the trickle of screen-shots coming out of Rockstar’s studios it does drive fans of the series to wonder about what they should expect from the next iteration of one of the most controversial games ever developed.

The biggest question for a GTA game is where it will be taking place.

That was answered awhile ago and it is their old version of cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and even San Francisco (called San Andreas). There are some people that all but worshipped Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (a close friend of mine will probably buy a console just to play this game if it is even similar in its beach settings, etc.).

: If you look closely you can see that LeBron James is in the background wearing a Yankees hat and cheering for anyone that doesn’t call him a villain. We are holding out hope that he is the actual villain you have to face in GTA V.

The most intriguing part about games from Rockstar is that they almost never disappoint when it comes to story, voice acting and the ability to explore and wreak havoc all over their world.

There are a lot of people that can’t wait to take their talents to Los Angeles (again), but even more seem to want Vice City. Chances are good you will have to wait another 4-5+ years for that.

What is your favorite Grand Theft Auto City? Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City or somewhere else?