Yup, this happens. We all like freebee’s and this might not be the exclusive one. But the idea is (as per now) handed to Electronic Arts. You see, this started in the very early morning when I saw the image below pass by. So basically whomever created that image is to blame/congratulate on the idea I just had.
You see, that person made an awesome cover. Or that person has way to much free time on his/her hands. But it got me thinking. My connection to Madden is sparingly and not that much. It started somewhere in the 90’s with Sierra On Line Front Page Sports.
We had a collection of players and we all played our games and then we compared statistics. I choose the San Francisco 49ers. I got nowhere near the top 3, but it was fun for all around. I then stopped playing the game until Madden NFL 2003 (I think) which I got on the original Xbox. It had the cool option to change the desktop depending on your favourite team, and as such I chose the 49ers. I got one additional version about a decade ago and that was it.
My largest issue is not on the makers, well perhaps it is. I have little to no knowledge on Football and the NFL and that results in the game not having a learning curve for those with little or no knowledge of the game. If someone objects that this is my flaw, I will accept that. But the opportunity to get a larger following on the game is lost and that is on Electronic Arts. Especially as streaming systems are starting to grow, giving players a game with a learning and educations curve will be important, that is pretty much a given and that applies to all sports (NBA, NFL, NHL, FIFA). The time to cater to merely the devoted fans comes to an end, too much needed to be vested in any game to rely on ‘self education’ to get ahead in a sports game. There is also the need to connect to others in a multitude of manners. Scores sharing (to a multi player pool) multiplayer when the two teams meet and so on. Parts can be done now, but it is (as far as I could tell) pretty limited.
So the idea comes from the cover and that is the fat that more could be done. In this case an evolution in commentators. For example a celebrity could comment on the game. In the season there would be a 10% chance, during the playoffs 25% and the Super Bowl will have a 100% chance and there we get the larger issue. We know that Taylor Swift will have a vested interest to commentate on the Kansas Chiefs (a tall order if ever there was one), Jeremy Renner is a devoted 49ers fan, Arizona Cardinals has its own Oklahoma based fan Blake Shelton, George Clooney is a die hard Cincinnati Bengals fan and that list goes on and it would be up to EA to find the willing and right celebrity for the 32 NFL teams. I am amazed that no one thought of this before. Perhaps they did, but until the PS5 and Streaming systems there wasn’t enough options to implement that and that is fair enough. The nice part is that the next Madden is roughly 8 months, 22 days and 15 hours away. As such Electronic Arts does have enough time to consider and implement (or reject) the notion of adding to the franchise. I also believe that the personalisation that the original Xbox version had should return and a much better or enhanced educational system for those not struck by NFL devotion. There is off course a stage that this could apply to the other franchises, but that would be up for Electronic Arts to consider.
Whether they do or don’t (it is up to them) my creative vibes remain active and now they went in a direction I didn’t count on. Perhaps all the newspapers focussing on the Gaza clambake was cause of all this. I don’t know, but whomever posted the initial Madden 25 file, thank you. It gave me something to think about and start Monday on a non work related cause.
It happens to some of us, the brain shifts into overdrive and will not stop. For me it happened this morning as I was contemplating a few things I saw on YouTube. There are so many expectations, so many people heckling non released products that I wonder where they are coning from. Is their expectation of games that low? I heckled Ubisoft (for good reason) but I also gave them credit when credit was due (and they did several good things). So as we see the next batch of comic book heroes games, I wonder what happened to the old classics. Now I am not stating that they need to be remastered but they could be revamped into a new coat. So let’s take a gander on some of these
1. Commandos This game was awesome, especially 1 and 2. But instead of doing the same thing again, we could consider redoing the game based on Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children (by Ransom Riggs) and make the game more accessible for the younger players. Maps where you can release the birds that create the time loops and those you can visit to gain more peculiar children.
2. Suspended Basing an existing game in a new jacket on a book is not new, it has been done before. Does that make it a bad idea? I do not believe it to be the case, yet how many games are based on a game? When I grasp back to my first week with the CBM-64, I ended up buying three games. The Microsoft Flight Simulator, the very first one with 4 maps and a manual that looked like a novel ($199), the second game was Loderunner (I never stopped loving the original) and the third is todays discussion ‘Suspended’ by Infocom. It was one of the hardest games I ever played in those days and I was unaware that it was one of the hardest games to do, even by Infocom standards. But the setting is actually decently unique, so what happens when you control Iris, Whiz, Waldo, Auda, Poet, and Sensa? What happens when you see what they see? What happens when you take control of a global management system? What happens when the earthquake comes and you have to get things back to some level of normal? Not an easy task is it?
3. Knights of the Sky There has been an avid following of Flight Simulators, there is no denying this and those who want to go up against Microsoft, good luck. One does not cross near perfection, yet that does not mean that there aren’t stages where we can become active. In 1990 Microprose did a swell job of introducing WW1 to the gamers and there was a stage where we would welcome the simplicity of a Sopwith Camel. The game also allowed you to choice either the Germans or one of the Allies, a setting that was pretty unheard of and I do get it, there is nothing novel about the resolution of the CBM-Amiga, yet this on a PS5 would be a lot different, that and the fact that the PS5 disc could contain the entire WW1 map from France to Germany as well as have the updates in place for every year of that war.
We are so overwhelmed by console shooters of mach speed vehicles, we forgot the reality of WW1 where the maximum speed was no more than 180km/hour. It is not specifically the game and stage, it is the realisation that we look at making things fast, we forget that there is still a load of thrill and suspense in a stage where things were not as fast as they could be. In this there is a whole league of Flight Simulators out there that are often forgotten. Yet, we should avoid to redo the same wheel. Knights of the Sky is 30 years old, so it feels that the stage can now be shown more like it was. There are some remakes and some of them are finding their way into the Apple store, we can now get arcade precision and even better graphics on a tablet and it is a great idea, the more people and game developers are exposed to those titles, the larger the chance of an actual new and innovative game will be set upon us all. Even as games like Midwinter are now surpassed by what Ubisoft offers in Far Cry 3+,
4. Manhunter New York Even if the location is not important and should consist of a new location, the game spoke to the imagination of gamers, even now in Abandonware the game scores 4.9/5, high praise and the stage of the story has options. One of the games that Sierra on Line would produce in the 80’s and the ten years that followed it. King’s Quest, Space Quest, Manhunter, Police Quest, and Leisure suit Larry, all games that spoke to the imagination of the gamers and what is important here? The story, the story pulled the gamer in and even as we not have more graphic games, more direct control and several other active elements, the stories were often not equalled and that is a shame, the stories were good (for the era), so why do we see a lack of stories in too many games?
I mentioned before that one of my very first games was Suspended (Infocom), they also made Starcrossed that I saw much later in my gaming days. It would be surpassed by ‘Rendez Vouz with Rama’ and that made sense, the CBM-64 is no match for a decent PC with a CDROM drive. And now? That is beside the point that games like Wishbringer (1985) are seemingly forgotten. This is important, because we all (me included) seem to steer to the games that tickle us, but there is a whole generation behind us that is forgotten, a stage of gaming younglings that seem to get pushed into the Epic foundations of Fortnite, why is that? There are decades of games out there that could see a new coat, a new interface a graphic world and a stage that parents have no issues with for the gaming not blood driven youthful masses. It matters because it is the one place that is almost completely owned by Nintendo, kids go there because there is no alternative and it seems to me that Sony (Amazon too) need to wake up to that small gemstone of information.
The stage is filled with options that are ignored, forgotten and discarded, but there were real treasures there and the makers need to consider that these abandoned IP could use a new paint, some additional bells and whistles and it will fuel the imagination of the gamers of tomorrow. Most of them are at present getting trained to become the Navy Seal graduating class of 2029. There is more to life (yes, I will admit to this).
And this is all based on forgotten and/or discarded IP. And whilst I am typing this, I wonder what happens when we add to the stage with new IP? IP set to younger players, and a stage is given where the player is given their chance towards immortality. To do this the player will have to set traps in tombs (a cross between Infocom: Infidel and Dungeon keeper), the longer the sarcophagus is not transgressed upon, the larger the time reward gets to be. So consider a stage where you get to ‘design’ traps in graves and pyramids and the longer they stay out, the more power you get and the larger the reward ends up being. The stage is not that simple. You see, you design the traps in the time they are build, yet over time technology advances, so you need to go old school there. And every time you redo this, you get the chance to improve on what was and create a new level of protection, just an idea that popped into my head.
You see that new IP is easily created, but to make it worthy for a game is not stated here, it requires the creative soul to design it. And am I wrong? Consider that Magnetic Scrolls is releasing remastered versions of their games 30 years after initial release. I reckon that they are seeing what I was seeing as well. There is a $135,000,000,000 spending on games on an annual foundation. Why should you not gain some from that granary? It is open season and when you are in lockdown you can stare at the ceiling or find a way to grab some of that cash, it is up to you.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 