Madden 2006 - Purchase, Rental or Wait

[Badgun]

Gamestop has the 360 price at $59.99. Is that the official price or are they speculating?

I was at EB yesterday and the guy showed me all the 360 titles they had in their computer. There must have been 25 or so launch titles and all were $59.99. There were a few titles listed at $49.99, but they were ports of games that are already out. The ship date on all the launch titles was listed as 11/2/05 so that kind of confirms the 11/4 release date that Wal Mart is circulating.

But it does look like that all the games will be $59.99...at least initially.

[Danimal]

Pre-ordered.

I got both games every year anyway.

Best thing about this thread is we now have a list of people who we know should not be posting in the Madden Impressions thread or else they are a bunch of liars

[pk500]

But it does look like that all the games will be $59.99...at least initially.

Another good reason to wait on the Xbox 360 ... $60 for a game that probably will have less depth and fewer features than an Xbox or PS2 game. Oh, joy.

But I am very curious about how much further advanced the XBL functionality is in the Xbox 360. That excites me more than any graphical advantage the console has.

P.S.: Did I say I LOVE NCAA 06? Man, that game is good and fun.

Take care,
PK

[ubrakto]

I get two free rentals a month at Blockbuster for using their online service, so I suspect I'll rent Madden to start (my last July coupon expires on Aug. 10th). If I really take to the game I'll buy it, if not I'll stick to using my two free rentals a month to keep playing it until I've had enough.

I so liked the idea of Race for the Heisman and Superstar modes when I first heard about them, but RftH turned out to be a joke and the details on Superstar mode make it sound just as bad (which is fine so long as the on-the-field play doesn't have the wholes that NCAA does).
---Todd

[lexbur]

I'll be buying it next week. I've got a few games I'm ready to trade in towards it, including Forza.

I'm looking forward to Madden this year since last year was the first year in a long time that I literally did not even touch a copy, thanks to the d*ckhead EA chose to put on the cover.

Hopefully taking a year off from it it will make it feel a little fresher to me this year.

[icvu42]

I'll be purchasing Madden for the PSP.

Rick

[anchester]

just renting. I own madden 2005. EA football games move at a glacial pace and there is no reason to own a copy every year. Last year's version was the best playing madden I have played. I don't think it can get much better with the same engine.

Plus I hate to support EA and their lazy, monopolistic tactics.

[Jayhawker]

boycott

[kicko]

i going to buy it, you need to pre-order, my EB has signs that they will NOT sell to anyone on release day without a pre-order, is that even legal? so i'm dropping $5 on it this weekend just to cover my ass. i figure if it sucks i can always trade it in.

[Sudz]

bill simmon's gives a review of it in his COWBELL blog...

[Danimal]

i going to buy it, you need to pre-order, my EB has signs that they will NOT sell to anyone on release day without a pre-order, is that even legal? so i'm dropping $5 on it this weekend just to cover my ass. i figure if it sucks i can always trade it in.

No it is not legal and they are pre-order Nazi's over at EB.

What is even better is the gurantee they are trying to sell for $3, the usually ask you if you want it and I say no. Last time I went into one, the guy (manager, big jackass) says we are now including the gurantee with purchases. I'm like, ok whatever. Then he rings up my sale and I look at it and he charges me $3 bucks twice for the two games I was buying.

I'm like dickhead, don't use the word we are including it and then charge someone it is dishonest.

[Danimal]

From the Simmons article regarding the vision cone

As for the "Madden" game, what can you say? Just having the updated rosters alone makes it worth the money, although they added one feature that I hated (repeat: hated) -- this passing cone where you can only throw to receivers in your quarterback's specific line of vision. Translation: You can't run the Geoff Gallo offense anymore, where you sprint 10 yards backward, run around and heave the ball downfield right before getting sacked. Now you have to designate a specific receiver, look to his side of the field, and then, if he's not open, press a series of buttons to find another open receiver. Or, you can just heave it to someone outside your vision spectrum, which is a bad idea because those passes aren't accurate. See where I'm going here? This is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too complicated. This device was the equivalent of the Manny near-trade -- why mess with something that was already working? Fortunately, you can turn it off.

[Badgun]

From the Simmons article regarding the vision cone

As for the "Madden" game, what can you say? Just having the updated rosters alone makes it worth the money, although they added one feature that I hated (repeat: hated) -- this passing cone where you can only throw to receivers in your quarterback's specific line of vision. Translation: You can't run the Geoff Gallo offense anymore, where you sprint 10 yards backward, run around and heave the ball downfield right before getting sacked. Now you have to designate a specific receiver, look to his side of the field, and then, if he's not open, press a series of buttons to find another open receiver. Or, you can just heave it to someone outside your vision spectrum, which is a bad idea because those passes aren't accurate. See where I'm going here? This is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too complicated. This device was the equivalent of the Manny near-trade -- why mess with something that was already working? Fortunately, you can turn it off.

I agree about the vision cone. Great idea in theory, but there is no way you will have time to look around like that, especially online. Hell, most of the time you barely can get a pass off if you take a three step drop.

EB had a dvd playing yesterday with all the new features and tutorials from Madden 06. The developer said that the cone can be turned off, but at the cost of accuracy. He said the penalty for not using the cone would be incremental such as hardly noticeable on rookie, but almost mandatory on the highest level. What I think that will drive people to do is use the teams with the biggest qb cone online. Peyton Manning's and Brett Favre's cones almost cover the entire field so prepare to play the Packers and Colts a lot online. On the other hand, Vick's cone is one of the smallest in the game so while you still might get cheesed with Vick, it probably won't be through the air.

So while you can turn the cone off, it isn't without a penalty.

[JRod]

bill simmon's gives a review of it in his COWBELL blog...

Link?

[bdoughty]

i going to buy it, you need to pre-order, my EB has signs that they will NOT sell to anyone on release day without a pre-order, is that even legal? so i'm dropping $5 on it this weekend just to cover my ass. i figure if it sucks i can always trade it in.

No it is not legal and they are pre-order Nazi's over at EB.

What is even better is the gurantee they are trying to sell for $3, the usually ask you if you want it and I say no. Last time I went into one, the guy (manager, big jackass) says we are now including the gurantee with purchases. I'm like, ok whatever. Then he rings up my sale and I look at it and he charges me $3 bucks twice for the two games I was buying.

I'm like dickhead, don't use the word we are including it and then charge someone it is dishonest.

Actually if they were to do this it would be LEGAL. A business has the right to refuse service to anyone. All they have to say is they got enough stock to cover preorders and nobody else. I just do not believe that is EB's policy, just what some managers use as scare tactics. I have seen no such signs at my EB. Now it is possible he mistook the sign as a "Midnight Madness" sale where they are selling the game at Midnight only to "people who PREORDERD the game" which makes sense. EB employees are going out of their way to take care of customers by doing this. It's not like the managers are getting paid extra to do it. Yes they are definately pre-order crazy but no more then Gamestop. All you have to do is say no thanks. It's not like the $5 is going to some special fund for corporate outings, it goes toward the game.

As for the game play gaurantee that was a pretty cheesball tactic by the manager. You should have had him ring up the games again w/o the extra $3. To me the gameplay gaurantee is a waste but everytime I am in there people are always taking it.

[wco81]

I agree about the vision cone. Great idea in theory, but there is no way you will have time to look around like that, especially online. Hell, most of the time you barely can get a pass off if you take a three step drop.

EB had a dvd playing yesterday with all the new features and tutorials from Madden 06. The developer said that the cone can be turned off, but at the cost of accuracy. He said the penalty for not using the cone would be incremental such as hardly noticeable on rookie, but almost mandatory on the highest level. What I think that will drive people to do is use the teams with the biggest qb cone online. Peyton Manning's and Brett Favre's cones almost cover the entire field so prepare to play the Packers and Colts a lot online. On the other hand, Vick's cone is one of the smallest in the game so while you still might get cheesed with Vick, it probably won't be through the air.

So while you can turn the cone off, it isn't without a penalty.

On the pass protection thing, you can do OL blocking schemes presnap. Supposedly helps somewhat and especially with some of the pass rush schemes from last year. However, if you try to drop way back to buy time, you will be in trouble.

Maybe if the blitzes are effective, the cone will handicap your ability to make a hot read quickly and get the ball to the WR right away.

As for the pass accuracy, that would be the Precision feature, which lets you aim the ball low or high, even supposedly to the front or back shoulder of the WR so that you can actually run real fades. You do this by moving the left stick as you release the pass.

Now with Vision off, you don't get Precision since it only works to WRs within the cone. But does that mean you get the old Pass Sensitivity back where you can still lead WRs?

They've added a lot of features, especially presnap options. Supposedly more playbooks too. In fact, there seems to be a bit of feature-creep or feature-bloat. A lot of these adjustments, you may not have time to make or remember. Kind of like how most people use only 10-20% of all the features in Office.

So there are a lot of things on paper which are new but in practice, many people may not use a lot of them.

The difficulty of passing has supposedly encouraged some people with the game to go to the run more in online games.

[Badgun]

I agree about the vision cone. Great idea in theory, but there is no way you will have time to look around like that, especially online. Hell, most of the time you barely can get a pass off if you take a three step drop.

EB had a dvd playing yesterday with all the new features and tutorials from Madden 06. The developer said that the cone can be turned off, but at the cost of accuracy. He said the penalty for not using the cone would be incremental such as hardly noticeable on rookie, but almost mandatory on the highest level. What I think that will drive people to do is use the teams with the biggest qb cone online. Peyton Manning's and Brett Favre's cones almost cover the entire field so prepare to play the Packers and Colts a lot online. On the other hand, Vick's cone is one of the smallest in the game so while you still might get cheesed with Vick, it probably won't be through the air.

So while you can turn the cone off, it isn't without a penalty.

They've added a lot of features, especially presnap options. Supposedly more playbooks too. In fact, there seems to be a bit of feature-creep or feature-bloat. A lot of these adjustments, you may not have time to make or remember.

If you ask me, they've designed the game for the Mortal Kombat crowd. He who can pull off the correct button presses in the required amount of time wins. My 15 year old son is amazing with all the new controls for 2 reasons...dexterity and memory. He doesn't have the football knowledge or the understanding of the playbooks that I do, but he can kill me simply because he remembers what each button does and executes it flawlessly.

While I don't think being overly dexterous or incredibly clear minded is required to play a dynasty, playing online is a different story. My son can move linebackers around, swap sides with a cornerback, and then speed blitz around the corner before I can even get to the line and run a play.

I long for the days of simplicity of just calling a play, maybe having the ability to audible or put a guy in motion, and then running the play. There's just too many things going on pre-snap and too many button presses that you have to make if you're going to be competitive.

[bdoughty]

Best thing about this thread is we now have a list of people who we know should not be posting in the Madden Impressions thread or else they are a bunch of liars

Cancelled my preorder today. I am just going to rent it (which still gives me "ranting rights") NCAA 06 and ESPN 2K5 will suffice until then.

I only hope my willpower will strong enough to prevent me from getting a launch 360. I plan to get the next-gen Madden but want to wait until Christmas or early 2006 so I can get it as a gift.

[dbdynsty25]

I only hope my willpower will strong enough to prevent me from getting a launch 360. I plan to get the next-gen Madden but want to wait until Christmas or early 2006 so I can get it as a gift.

I'd say the same thing except my birthday is November 1st, so I'm covered on all fronts when it comes out. I won't be out a dime.

[bdoughty]

See you are lucky. My dads birthday is on Nov 3rd. Wonder if he will let someone buy him an Xbox 360 and then give it to me? Nah I have plenty of good games to tide me over to next year, plus I still plan on keeping the Xbox as I just got it less then a month ago.

[Spooky]

i going to buy it, you need to pre-order, my EB has signs that they will NOT sell to anyone on release day without a pre-order, is that even legal? so i'm dropping $5 on it this weekend just to cover my ass. i figure if it sucks i can always trade it in.

No it is not legal and they are pre-order Nazi's over at EB.

What is even better is the gurantee they are trying to sell for $3, the usually ask you if you want it and I say no. Last time I went into one, the guy (manager, big jackass) says we are now including the gurantee with purchases. I'm like, ok whatever. Then he rings up my sale and I look at it and he charges me $3 bucks twice for the two games I was buying.

I'm like dickhead, don't use the word we are including it and then charge someone it is dishonest.

Actually if they were to do this it would be LEGAL. A business has the right to refuse service to anyone. All they have to say is they got enough stock to cover preorders and nobody else. I just do not believe that is EB's policy, just what some managers use as scare tactics. I have seen no such signs at my EB. Now it is possible he mistook the sign as a "Midnight Madness" sale where they are selling the game at Midnight only to "people who PREORDERD the game" which makes sense. EB employees are going out of their way to take care of customers by doing this. It's not like the managers are getting paid extra to do it. Yes they are definately pre-order crazy but no more then Gamestop. All you have to do is say no thanks. It's not like the $5 is going to some special fund for corporate outings, it goes toward the game.

As for the game play gaurantee that was a pretty cheesball tactic by the manager. You should have had him ring up the games again w/o the extra $3. To me the gameplay gaurantee is a waste but everytime I am in there people are always taking it.

Unfortunately, these managers jobs rely on how many of these things their store sells. It sucks but there is a HUGE pressure put on these guys (and gals) to sell ‘Gameplay Guarantee’s’, ‘EB Edge’ discount cards and Pre-Owned games. While I definitely do NOT condone that particular managers tactic (our store would NEVER do anything like that), I do understand the reason they are trying to hard sell those things. I ask EVERY sale (unless I know them or can tell they are ‘serious’ gamers) if they want a GPG on their games. You’d be surprised how many people think it is a good deal, especially if the game is a hot new title.

I also ask people if they want a discount card for pre-owns if they are purchasing anything used. My record is 10 Edge cards in a 4 hour shift. However, I absolutely refuse to ‘hard sell’ and badger these people. But, I have also seen my manager, who is a REALLY good, solid guy, get written up by our regional manager for not selling enough Edge cards and GPG’s. So, I am doing it for him. I have a different full time job fortunately, but this gig is all he has and he is a diabetic and needs the insurance. So while I might not like the companies tactics, I will do the best I can to sell the hell out of those ‘extras’ without pushing my moral boundaries.

One thing I do to make sure our pre-owned sales are high is to always direct the customer to the pre-owned version of the game and if they never specify that they want a new copy, I’ll just sell them a pre-owned one if we have one of the title they ask for. Most of these people are parents who have no idea if the game is new or used and don’t care as long as it is the right game and is cheap. I do always explain our return/exchange policy and let them know our pre-owned games are guaranteed to work like new.

Anyway…the early word from my EB staff is that Madden ain’t so great. The new features are not very well implemented and the rest of the game is the same old stuff. So, once again, nothing has changed in the Madden series.

[bdoughty]

I spent most of my time at Gamestop trying to get people to play ESPN NFL 2K4 in the Xbox Kiosk.

Unfortuantely consumers have no idea what is forced on the EB/Gamestop manager/employees by their DM's and higher up's. Especially those who have never worked in retail (lucky SOB's) The preorder thing is not a big deal to me. You either say yes or no. Just don't come in complaining that EB won't sell you a game when you passed on the preorder and they only got enough to cover perorders. It is how they determine how many copies each store gets. On tthe bright side once they get the merger going you will probably get to add, "selling magazines" to your job description. Just make sure and not take any home. That is a big no-no at the house of G.

[Danimal]

Well Spooky if he had simply asked like they do every other time I am in there I would have said no thanks as usual.

But don't tell me, hey we are including the gameplay gurantee now and then charge me for it, that is being dishonest.

[slyguy]

I preorder already and i will be picking up the PSP and 360 versions as well.When it comes to sports games i have no will power.I'm like a junkie that needs his fix

[ddtrane]

I preorder already and i will be picking up the PSP and 360 versions as well.When it comes to sports games i have no will power.I'm like a junkie that needs his fix

You and I both. I pick up the XBOX version for play at home. And I pick up the PS2 version for play on the road of all the sports titles.