EA gets the ESPN License ( link inside )

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/17/news_6116473.html

This could be a good thing, a very good thing actually. If ea is able to take the best features of the ESPN games and keeps on doing what they are doing right now, then we could have one serious basketball game in Nba Live 2007.

discuss.

my wish has now come true. EA quality gameplay with ESPN presentation i guess EA will drop NBA live TNT broadcasters and hopefully they stick with madden and michaels in madden just drop michaels keep madden. hes a genius.

This is a great find JP Frost good work! I wonder what that means for Marv and the Czar? Will they still be the commentators? Or better yet, add another two and have four!

Very nice find. I'll post it on the main page
I'll coment on it later when I get the time

damn ESPN LIVE??? I don't know about this one... I'm not a big fan of ESPN's presentations of NBA on TV, I like TNT better. and for 15 years??? that's a long time...

http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580401p1.html

"This relationship was created to benefit consumers who are passionate about sports games," said EA CEO Larry Probst. "EA SPORTS recreates the real life experience fans enjoy while watching or playing their favorite sport; while ESPN programming captures the look, sound and excitement of the sports they follow. Together, we believe we can significantly grow the interactive sports category."

I think that this will be good for basketball fans in general, not just the live fans. Sure, part of the competition is gone and we will have to pay whatever EA charges us, but just think about how good these games could be.

btw...I stumbled upon a topic over at mvpmods.com, so technically it wasn't my discovery, just thought I'd post it here

THis will be awesome...i hope!

damn ESPN LIVE??? I don't know about this one... I'm not a big fan of ESPN's presentations of NBA on TV, I like TNT better. and for 15 years??? that's a long time...

Yup... Imagine now... My sons playing "NBA Live 2020" and the opening credits screen filled with EA's ESPN's and dozens of others EA is adding to its games lately...

Nevertheless Live 2005 is great, so lets hope The next EA Basketball title will be even better. And please... box scores for the entire season with the option to check the beginning games scores at the end of the season as well, and because ESPN' logos flying around ADD PLAYOFF BOX SCORES

But yeah, a change in commentary would also be good, kinda would get fresh look and sound.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1969067

here the link to ESPN's article. this is the best news this year so far.

Hopefully this will eliminate all those "ESPN is better" threads

This could mean no competition for Ea which would be a bad thing, I hope another brand picks up the slack and brins out a competitive Nba game.

This'll be great! The only real problem I've ever really had with Live was it's presentation.

damn ESPN LIVE??? I don't know about this one... I'm not a big fan of ESPN's presentations of NBA on TV, I like TNT better. and for 15 years??? that's a long time...

Yup... Imagine now... My sons playing "NBA Live 2020" and the opening credits screen filled with EA's ESPN's and dozens of others EA is adding to its games lately...

Nevertheless Live 2005 is great, so lets hope The next EA Basketball title will be even better. And please... box scores for the entire season with the option to check the beginning games scores at the end of the season as well, and because ESPN' logos flying around ADD PLAYOFF BOX SCORES

But yeah, a change in commentary would also be good, kinda would get fresh look and sound.

in 2020 its gonna be all virtual reality, or the players will look like they do in real life. look at the difference from 99 to 2005, and thats only 6 years. imagine 15 years from now

IDIOTS!

God damn, EA! The ESPN license was all the 2K series had. EA has to go kill all their competition with their ESPN and NFL rights. They can go to hell!

This is totally wack.

Oh fuck it. Good luck to hearing Stuart Scott do your intros for the next fifteen years. It's still gonna be the same game, I'm still gonna buy whatever VC/Sega puts out.

I don't think it's good for gamers.

It kills the competition and I don't think EA will put more effort on the game later on.

Although I believe SEGA will try to create a new production line of their sports games without ESPN features, they still need a couple of years to run on the right track.

The other worries are EA will probably overdone the ESPN presentation and will probably not do anything we've put on the wishlist on NBA Live 2006...

I am truely a Live fan but don't think this deal is good for us, the gamers.

Oh Fuck....

I just realized.....There goes Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith on All Star Weekend.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo


*cries in a damn corner*

It is good for me dont know bout console players, but for PC players there never was any competition anyway so this will enhance my PC game experience

Will the first time we see anything change be in the next NBA Live? or the one after? because it says ESPNs contract runs out in 2006 with Sega and NBA Live would come out later this year, just wonderin.


~J

EA is taking over ESPN's print, telecast and online content as well as the other ESPN media properties for the next fifteen years starting 2006

It is good for me dont know bout console players, but for PC players there never was any competition anyway so this will enhance my PC game experience

actually I heard a rumor before said that the next product of ESPN 2K series will release on PC.

I do really hope It'll come true and this can stimulate the competition, however, SEGA cannot do it in the near future since their priority is changed.

I really don't want EA monopolized the sports game, especially NBA games...

It was either that, or buying the rights to use the NBA exclusively. Either way, Sega would've been f-ed. I really enjoyed the shooting animations in 2K5. Oh well. It'll be interesting to see how everything comes together.

They did try and buy the rights for NBA, but they got denied...

EA is taking over ESPN's print, telecast and online content as well as the other ESPN media properties for the next fifteen years starting 2006

Starting in 2006...I'm assuming that would prefer to the production of NBA Live 2007.

I'm kind of on the fence between it being a good or bad idea. I personally like the direction that NBA Live is going in and I've always played the NBA Live series, so I'm not too upset about the elimination of competition - I think NBA Live will continue to deliver what I'm looking for. I don't have any bad feelings about it myself.