Madden 2004 has rocked my socks.

[PhixedDice]

Unless Sega's football game absoulutly owns, and I mean OWNS like the Terrel Owens sharpie celebration, Madden wins me over this year for the first time since Sega started making football games.

The new, and biggest improvement in the Owner's Mode, where you... own a team. You can set ticket prices, charge however much for beer, hot dogs, pop, hats, parking, ect. Just like at a real football games, the fans get to pay up the ass with everything. However, turning a profit isn't that simple, depending on your market and success from previous years, you can easily go into the red and be forced to sell your team. A few winning seasons and some playoff games will raise your attendance, thus making you more money.

Currently, I am the Panthers (an old favorite of mine) and am in my second season after a 13-2-1 year, an NFC championship, and a SuperBowl loss to the Steelers. (Damn you Bus!). I made a cool $40 million dollar profit, got a local media contract, which will net me $6.6 mil over 2 seasons. In the upcoming off-season, I'll probably re-name my stadium for cash, and add a few cool features, like cupholders, or more luxury boxes!

In ownders mode, if a team is doing shitty, and is constantly losing money, you have the option of moving them to another location if you own the team. The computer will also do this in owners mode. I suspect the Cards or Vikes, or even the Colts to pack up and move within a few years. They're playing at half capasity.

The typical "Madden 4th Quarter Screw" doesn't appear to be back... thank god. The new playmaker mode is a nice addition. But I really dig owners mode, thank you Madden, you fat repetitive bastard. You've made 2004 enjoyable, and the series enjoyable once again. Sorry Sega.

[Gunpei]

Sports games arnt worth paying 50 bucks for just to get a new roster and some new features every year.

[Prince]

If i want to sell hotdogs I'll work in a supermarket.

They need to fix the same tired shitty ass gameplay and bring it up to the excellence level of the 2k/ESPN series. Fix the graphics and music and commentary as well, its all shit.

btw, ESPN Cribs mode > Madden Owner Mode




(Oh and EA Sucks)

[Notedog]

What do u say when u play a video game "Wow it would be so cool if I can do that in real life" that is why I dont buy sports games because u can do it in real life and unlike shooting games u have a WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY lower chance of getting hurt

[Shayde]

The music sucks? Wtf..EA tracks is awesome.

I used to like the 2K series till this year also. I realized how unrealistic it was (like diving 10 yards).
Madden '04 is just awesome, like the realism. Manning calls audibles every play, McNair runs up the middle whenever there is room..its awesome.

[PhixedDice]

I should of added, I didn't buy the game, my brother did.

And the music does suck. Too much rap, way too much.

Also, what's this Cribs mode you speak of?

[dncardman]

You get a house and get to have like a pinball machine and you can play it and crap like that, I dunno i'm sure someone else knows more.

[dn03]

i hate the sega football games it's not even on par with madden

[Hobo Moe]

Woah. I wouldn't even have thought that Phixed would be the one who would like a football game, let alone a Madden Football game. I don't mean this as a bad thing, I love Madden 2004. I just didn't think that you would love it too.


I am playing with the Cowboys, and I did I cheated last night by turning the game of when my starting QB (Carter) fucked up his head for 2 weeks. I couldn't afford that, so I cheated. I feel so low.

I have never played any Sega 2K game besides NBA 2K2, so I don't know how good the NFL gameplay is. But I really don't care. Madden gameplay works just fine for me, it is what I grew up with. I couldn't see myself changing to something else, even if that something else is better.

From what I've heard though, ESPN 2004 has better defense and running than Madden.

But as anyone could tell you, Madden has so more features than ESPN 2004 that work. I would like to play that 1st person football shit though, that has been a dream of mine for awhile.

I already love the owners mode, even though I haven't finished my first franchise season because I only play about 1-2 games a day.

Some questions for Phixed:

What system did you get if for?
Do you sim your games, or do you play everyone for you team?
Have you adjusted the AI Sliders at all?

[Prince]

The music sucks? Wtf..EA tracks is awesome.

No way. The music sucks hairy nut sacks. Luckily there was custom soundtrack support for the Xbox version but I shouldn't have to do that shit anyway.

EA's sports games are garbage. Sega owns them in every sport.

[Hobo Moe]

Tell us why the games suck, and why they are owned by every Sega sport. Don't just say it and not back it up.

[Generic Wheaties]

Now I want to get this game even more, I loved 2003, my friends would come over and play almost every saturday and sunday, it rocked and it got really competitive to the point where one of my friends (Karl) would jump on dan to mess up his feild goal, lol its fecking hillarious. I'm gonna buy this one and i'm sure its gonna be worth every penny of $50.00

[smellslikenintendospirit]

EA sports games are for the casual gamers. Sega's sports games are for more hardcore gamers, and they're better. Either way, both companies rip people off. Every year they release the same game with slightly better graphics, more "music" and tiny tweaks in gameplay. It's like I've been playing the same games since the SNES days.

So now I just rent them when they come out. And because Sega wants people to buy the same game every single year, they cut their support for cube. :rolleyes: EA might not make sports games as well as Sega, but at least they're not desperately poor.

[Hobo Moe]

No one is being forced to by the game. You buy it if you want to. Of course, you are rewarded when you buy a new football game with new features, updated rosters, tweaked gameplay and better graphics. But if you really don't want to buy a new one every year, you certainly don't have to. It's really hard to even call it ripping people off, because most people know what they are going to get, and that it is going to be alot like previous versions, but they don't care.

And I've always thought of Sega being more of the casual gamer type of game, and Madden being more sim-like. From what I've heard, Sega NFL games are more arcadey and have a faster pace to them, while Madden is slower and has better franchise options for simulation purposes.

And smellslikenintendospirt, maybe the sports games aren't for you anymore. Major updates and changes for sports games have always been very rare, it's not like it just started happening a few years ago.

[Generic Wheaties]

The think I don't like about Segas NFL2k- series is the play choosing, you have a cursor and you go to the play you want, and your opponent can see your play! at times i waited a long time with my bro telling him "You go!" it was just retarded, atleast for NFL2K3, I hope they change it, otherwise the games alright, but madden will always own in football games.

[PhixedDice]

I've been playing football games since the Genesis, and even the NES. I have the game for PS2, and I play all my games in the regular season, I find with simming, you get a lot of injuries.. especially in the pre-season which is the only thing I sim. I still play on rookie to get a hang of the game, and all the AI sliders are at their highest point. It's a good difficulty for me, since I still lose some games if I don't play well.

[dn03]

theres one thing i realy hate about the sega sports games and thats the leaders stats there too unrealalistic qb's have too many yards and rb's dont have enough,if a rb does have alot of yards he only has like 3.2 ypc and on madden they have there stats as good as they can get

[Prince]

Its true. Sega Sports > EA Sports

World Series Baseball 2k3 > MVP Baseball 2003
ESPN Basketball 04 > NBA Live 2004
ESPN Football 04 > Madden 2004
ESPN Hockey 04 > NHL 2004

oh and just for good measure...
Sega Soccer Slam > FIFA ;)

EA doesn't make Tennis games because Sega already owns in that genre and EA has no chance of competing.


The only game thats debateable is Madden. Everything else Sega owns EA no questions asked.

[dn03]

no rugby for sega? they would screw it up anyways

[PhixedDice]

Its true. Sega Sports > EA Sports

World Series Baseball 2k3 > MVP Baseball 2003
ESPN Basketball 04 > NBA Live 2004
ESPN Football 04 > Madden 2004
ESPN Hockey 04 > NHL 2004

oh and just for good measure...
Sega Soccer Slam > FIFA ;)

EA doesn't make Tennis games because Sega already owns in that genre and EA has no chance of competing.


The only game thats debateable is Madden. Everything else Sega owns EA no questions asked.

You haven't played half those games.

Let's be honest here, I don't think people care about your opinion.

[Hobo Moe]

Seriously. He is just saying things without backing up anything.



Madden > ESPN Football 2004


See, I can do the same thing as you, Prince.

[Galcian]

Yo, I heard if you had the NCAA 2004, you can upload your characters/graduates and draft them into Madden, that is freakin awesome.

[dn03]

u could do that for years

[PhixedDice]

I thought that was only available in Madden '03 and this year.. oh well, doesn't matter to me, I've never played NCAA.

Also, Hobo, have you had a Fan Appreciation Day yet? If so, what did you give out? I gave out team scarves on mine.

[dn03]

does the gcn version of madden keep career stats this year

[Hobo Moe]

Yeah, I had fan appreciation day. I was too dumb to know what it was though, and I had it early in the year when my team was in a slump, so it really didn't do much. I forgot what I gave out...Is it too late to find out now?

You can add more stuff to your stadium in the off season?

[PhixedDice]

Yeah, you can only do 1 fan day a year though.

And you can only add 1 stadium upgrade per year I think too.. I haven't done any yet, I might do some upgrades this year, depending if I get some home field advantage in the playoffs this year.

What's your record this year? I'm 7-3, good for 2nd place in my division behind the Bucs.. Cleveland is 0-10 and has nearly zero fan support..

[smellslikenintendospirit]

This is from msnbc.com

Madden NFL 2004
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, (Game Boy Advance and original PlayStation version have not been considered in this review.)
Rating: E (suitable for players of all ages)
Price: $49.99 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube; $34.99 for PC
Score: 4 stars out of 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Though Sega and Electronic Arts have long battled for control of video game football, there has never been much of a competition. Think of it as similar to a feud between the Seahawks and their west coast rival, the 49ers.
Sega has published some great football games through the years -— "Joe Montana Football," "NFL 2K2," and most recently, "ESPN NFL Football" —- but Electronic Arts’s "John Madden NFL" often outsells the competition by a margin of 10-to-1.
"Madden NFL 2004" will win this year, too, but the competition is getting tight.
First of all, give Electronic Arts credit. When it comes to the "Madden NFL" series, Electronic Arts does not rest on its laurels. This year's "Madden" has an all-new Owner Mode that lets players hire coaches, build stadiums, and set ticket prices. It has improved audio with Madden adding his color commentary more than ever. On the gameplay side, it also has a new audible play system that provides more options before the snap. All-in-all, Electronic Arts has added a lot.
Fortunately, Electronic Arts has not forgotten about the fun factor. "Madden NFL 2004" still has multiple levels of difficulty—from "easy" to "All-Madden" -— providing good value for players of all skill levels. The PlayStation 2 and PC versions of "Madden" support online play.
When it comes to the basics, "Madden" is still a bankable commodity.
Visually, "Madden NFL 2004" is no big deal. The game looks like last year’s edition. For graphics, Sega's "ESPN" has the edge this year. "ESPN" also has a slight advantage on innovation. Sega has added a new first-person perspective mode to the game that is really quite cool.
Overall, though "Madden" still rules the gridiron, the competition is keen. Next year's Super Bowl may be a different story.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution

Publisher: Sega
Platform: PlayStation 2
Rating: T (suitable for players ages 13 and up)
Price: $19.99
Score: 4.5 stars out of 5

[Prince]

Avg Ratings:

Football
NFL 2K3 (XBX) - 90.2%
Madden NFL 2003 (XBX) - 87.1%
= Once again only game thats debateable. Just wait till ESPN 2004 comes out :).

Basketball
NBA 2k3 (Ps2) - 86.2%
NBA Live 2003 (PS2) - 82.4%
= Ouch!

Baseball
World Series Baseball 2K3 (XBX) - 90.0%
MVP Baseball 2003 (XBX) - 83.0%
= Sega rapes EA in baseball - sad truth.

Hockey
NHL 2K3 (XBX) - 88.7%
NHL 2003 (XBX) - 75.2%
= Pwned.



The press agree with me that Sega is better then EA when it comes to sports. You'll have to ask the majority why Sega Sports owns EA Sports :).

[Gunpei]

Not many people take reviews seriously.

[PhixedDice]

Oh no, percentages!

I will now change my opinion. Thank you.

[Hobo Moe]

We all know the majority right. The majority is never wrong, and if you don't agree with there opinions, then you are always wrong.

Prince, actually say something. Don't find review scores from websites, tell us something that you actually know. Some information. Your just throwing out some numbers, tell me what you know.



And Phixed, I think my Cowboys are 7-4. I'll probably make it to the playoffs, but not make it very far. I know that my first draft pick will have to be a HB, because Hambrick isn't the kind of back I want. He is more of a heavy bruiser that will run inside, I want someone with speed that can go to the outside and make tacklers miss.

Do you use the Playmaker controls? I rarely use them in passing. I ususally use them when I need to switch my runningbacks route before a running play is called.

[Shayde]

NBA2K3 was one of the best basketball sims I ever played (Street vol. 2 is probably my favorite [EA Big ;)).

I just think Madden is better..and the soundtrack isn't that bad..atleast it has a variety.

Anyways for my franchise I'm the Cowboys and 3-2 first 2 games I played on All-Pro and got killed, so I switched to Pro.
Two of the games were close, but the other one I slaughtered the Giants :)

[PhixedDice]

Yeah, I use playmaker whenever I see the line favorite a side, then I'll make my HB run to the opposite side to try and gain a few more yards. I've used playmaker a couple times passing to get away from double, or sometimes triple coverage. It's pretty usefull.

I really like how with drafting this year, you can't see the rookie's ratings. More realistic that way.