ESPN NFL 2005

fightingcamel · Post by **fightingcamel** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:23 pm

Wow! This is starting to sound really good!

http://sports.ign.com/articles/510/510528p1.html

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:36 pm

Okay. ....we have wood....Sounds great.
2k4 was already my favorite Football game ever.....sounds like 2K5 is my NFL dream...

I was also glad too see that Sega has ditched EAs approach and gone with UBIs...................

"Every year the game was designed with the PS2 as the lead platform, then ported over to the Xbox. This move obviously didn't take advantage of the Xbox's superior graphics engine, so this year, the Xbox version was designed as the lead SKU, enabling the designers of the game push the Xbox engine to the max."

fightingcamel · Post by **fightingcamel** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:52 pm

I really like the sound of the draft and the weekly preparation aspect. Can't wait to see if it's as good as it sounds!

Gman33 · Post by **Gman33** » Sat May 01, 2004 12:02 am

I'm amazed by that article. Fall can't come here soon enough.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Sat May 01, 2004 12:41 am

Oh my word! If they pull it off, this will be the deepest, most realistic, best football game ever made! I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on this one! Great stuff!

Kevin

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Sat May 01, 2004 3:17 am

I thoroughly enjoyed the article. Hopefully all of Segas 2005 games will be designed for the Xbox and ported to the PS2.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Sat May 01, 2004 4:42 am

Wow! The additions they are shooting for sound amazing. The draft features and the online changes alone are worth salivating over.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:15 am

I don't know what living rosters means but it sounds like they will finally have updated rosters for online games. Not only that, you can do trades and have those trades reflected in the online rosters? If they add that to last year's online leagues, you pretty much have online franchises.

Trades as we've found out this offseason, mostly occur during the offseason. So it sounds like multi season online leagues.

The other things to look for are whether they have custom playbooks or some ways to use saved audibles online. Also independent cameras online would be nice after they've been promised for years. Of course, overall better performance of the PS2 online code would be a must.

The graphics are amazing. Real muscle definition including veins! Nice folds on the uniforms. Only thing they could add is to animate these details. They refer to muscles flexing so maybe you have the uniforms moving naturally too in the cut scenes.

Maybe 720p this time for the Xbox, although with triple pass rendering, it might tax the frame rates.

I can't wait until we get to pose questions to the producers.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:15 am

Lord, have mercy: This sounds like the closest thing to Championship Manager in a console "big four" sports game that I've seen in a long time.

I'm also quite stoked that Sega is building for the Xbox first and then porting down to the PS2. About damn time ...

Take care,
PK

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:20 am

Whether or not past NFLs were ported from the PS2 really does not matter to me, because as far as presentation and visuals, the game has always been a notch above Madden. I hope they concentrate more on gameplay and on the AI that can still be taken advantage of, rather than pushing the Xbox's 3d graphics to the max. You don't need to design for a specific system to make the game more solid in these areas. Although I'd like to see them take advantage of the smooth online play that the Xbox allows for, and offer more features like integrated leagues and online franchises. Last year, the features were still pretty barebone.

CincyReds1 · Post by **CincyReds1** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:25 am

Holy Crap!

This game looks like it has the makings of the best football game ever.

And finally my Bengals will be decent in a video game!

Can't wait for this one!

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:29 am

CincyReds1 wrote: And finally my Bengals will be decent in a video game!

Can't wait for this one!

Dont go getting crazy ..........

Waddupcouzin · Post by **Waddupcouzin** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:31 am

"And finally my Bengals will be decent in a video game! "

LOL. I guess the jungle faithful have been waiting a long time to have a decent team in a sports videogame, classic.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat May 01, 2004 11:43 am

Actually, with "living rosters," the team in the game should reflect what the team on the real gridiron is doing.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Sat May 01, 2004 12:23 pm

OH MY GOD.

This sounds absolutely AMAZING. Living Rosters means that ONLINE leagues operate like a Fantasy Football league, where you can trade players with fellow owners to improve the fortunes of a befallen franchise. Play the games, and suddenly it's more than game skill that determines winners and losers, but team management as well.

New graphics; new gameplay, new options, and a slew of new features...WOW...

Start the sign up for the DSP ESPN Football LEAGUE. I'll take the Patriots.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sat May 01, 2004 1:21 pm

Sport73 wrote:OH MY GOD.

features...WOW...

Start the sign up for the DSP ESPN Football LEAGUE. I'll take the Patriots.

oh oh oh I wanna play too........gimmie the Rams so I can avenge Moron Mikes

humiliation

at the hands of the actual smart coach in SB XXXVI.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat May 01, 2004 1:39 pm

The thing is, trades have to work with the salary cap, doesn't it? I'm sure in offline franchises, the cap numbers are accounted for, which makes some trades difficult if not impossible. As is the case in the real NFL.

But does the online trades allows for such considerations?

We may be ever closer to online franchises. Even though there is talk about supporting the PS2 HDD for saving highlights of other league games in your franchise mode, Sega would probably have to host online franchises on their servers. So a lot of storage.