Sqrl said: Whats with these analyst with "-achter" last names?

I believe they are all derivatives of the word "sphincter" as in a-hole.

I suspect the reasons why this is such a bad thing for the PS3 is that:

1. Madden is a monster series in North America (selling over 8 Million copies every year)
2. Only 2.5 Million Madden fans have bought a current generation console (1.5 Million XBox 360, 0.5 Million PS3, and 0.5 Million Wii) which leaves 5.5+ Million to choose a current generation console
3. the PS3 is much more expensive than the XBox 360
4. The XBox 360 gives the impression of greater performance
5. EA and Microsoft are advertizing the XBox 360 and Madden together

On its own this is nothing major, but if it occurs in various EA sports titles the XBox 360 could be the default home of the sports game junkie; not a particularly loved gamer in the gamer community but not a trivial segment either.

The Wii is not really that important for this comparison because the Wii version of most sports games will be different enough that it will sell both to a different segment of gamers as well as provide enough incentive for sports junkies to play both versions.

albionus said: Sony does have the advantages that a) not many people own both a PS3 and 360 so most PS3 owners won't have a choice in versions and b) I don't think many people buy a system based on Madden 08 framerates. Then again maybe they do, we'll see.

Nicely put.

Gamefaqs did a poll a few weeks ago (something like 100k responses) of which systems people owned.  "PS3 AND 360" had the fewest response with something like 2.5%, so the effect will probably be minimal.  (Unless people hold off on buying entirely, but Madden gamers are willing to line up for hours to plop $60 down on annual roster upgrades, so I doubt that will happen.)

HappySqurriel said: 2. Only 2.5 Million Madden fans have bought a current generation console (1.5 Million XBox 360, 0.5 Million PS3, and 0.5 Million Wii) which leaves 5.5+ Million to choose a current generation console

 

As long as EA continues to make PS2, Xbox, and GC versions of Madden (probably the last year for the Xbox and GC), current owners do not need to upgrade to a new system. While there will certainly be some owners who do upgrade, I believe the majority of owners will either stick with their current copy (i.e. Madden 07 or earlier) or will buy the new version for their current system. And if EA makes Madden 09 for PS2 (which they undoubtedly will since it prob. won't be hard to port it from the PSP and/or Wii), that gives users even another year to put off their upgrade.

I think this will be mostly a non-event. In the grand scheme of things, when people talk about the 360, there is always that nagging hardware issue that is its achilles heel. If this news makes it into enough popular media (and it is likely with more coming like NHL), it could be something that is a footnote to consider by the masses but not one that sways too many people.

Still, a superior X360 version might play out as a great thing when December rolls around. The RROD issues will probably be forgotten in the most party by the public, and when the 500,000+ people that bought a copy of Madden during last December, a few might get the X360 version.

Either way, even if it doesn't help hardware, it helps licensing revenue for MS, and thats a great thing for them.

ckmlb said: People are not going to buy or not buy a system based on frame rates in Madden NFL sorry mr analyst and fishyjoe :)

I know someone who bought a PS3 just because he expected it to be the best platform for Madden. He's probably furious right now.

 

While it may seem alien to a lot of us, there are a bunch of people that make a HUGE deal out of Madden and for them, it's the only game that really matters. 

Non Sequor said: ckmlb said: People are not going to buy or not buy a system based on frame rates in Madden NFL sorry mr analyst and fishyjoe :) I know someone who bought a PS3 just because he expected it to be the best platform for Madden. He's probably furious right now.   While it may seem alien to a lot of us, there are a bunch of people that make a HUGE deal out of Madden and for them, it's the only game that really matters.

Lol at above. To let out how old I am, I remember playing Madden 93 when I was single and actually had friends to play games with. I bought a Genesis just for the EA sports games because they handled the animations so much smoother -- i.e. framerates. My SNES had prettier colors for sure, but madden NHL and madden NFL were staples in my life and I owned a Genesis just for them. I'm sure there are a few this gen, too.

Steve 3.2 said: HappySqurriel said: 2. Only 2.5 Million Madden fans have bought a current generation console (1.5 Million XBox 360, 0.5 Million PS3, and 0.5 Million Wii) which leaves 5.5+ Million to choose a current generation console   As long as EA continues to make PS2, Xbox, and GC versions of Madden (probably the last year for the Xbox and GC), current owners do not need to upgrade to a new system. While there will certainly be some owners who do upgrade, I believe the majority of owners will either stick with their current copy (i.e. Madden 07 or earlier) or will buy the new version for their current system. And if EA makes Madden 09 for PS2 (which they undoubtedly will since it prob. won't be hard to port it from the PSP and/or Wii), that gives users even another year to put off their upgrade.

I don't disagree that it will take years for everyone to upgrade, but I do think that Madden will factor into people's system purchasing this year ...

Suppose for a moment that 1 Million people are going to buy into a HD-console this year (in part) for Madden; we'll leave the Wii version out simply because it is not (necessarily) going to be in direct competition in this example. With the XBox 360 being less expensive and fairly popular in North America it should have already received the majority share of these Madden fans, but with it (also) having the superior version it should solidify the dominance.

For argument sake, let's say that 3/4 of the Madden fans choose the XBox 360 ... This means that there will be 2.25 Million fans that have choosen the XBox 360 as compared to 0.75 Million fans who choose the PS3; to what extent will having 1/3 as many Madden fans impact the need for the PS3 version to be properly optimized next year? Wouldn't their money be best spent optimizing the XBox 360 version?

I have a question : WHO CARES . Casual gamers dont , and they will not research about Maddens framerate problems on the internet before buying a PS3 .

I wonder what next years big news will be afther the PS3 gets Killzone 2 , MGS4 , FF13 ... let me see , games ( on the 360 ) look crap compared to FF13 ? I wonder ...