EA gets the ESPN License ( link inside )

[Username123]

ESPN LIVE 2007, sound cool. U knw how they have the Ea sports thing in the intro "EA SPORTS ITS IN THE GAME" what would they say in 2k7??

[MaD_hAND1e]

ESPN + EA, that has gotta be sweet, We'll be seeing a virtual Stephen A. Smith shouting at halftime

[Andrew]

ESPN + EA, that has gotta be sweet, We'll be seeing a virtual Stephen A. Smith shouting at halftime

OK, it does have one downside.

[dsigns]

I dunno, it just seems to me that all this means is that instead of TNT stuff its gonna say ESPN. I dont see a huge change in gameplay or anything like this which is a good thing in my opinion.

[Metsis]

This was basically a whack at Sega... EA took the brand name from them so they can't use it... Sega will nail some other brand to streamline their games to don't worry... It just might make a bad year or two for Sega sports games as their well known title names will be linked with EA.

The union of Sega and EA would have been sweet... Those boys could have given us something else all together. The two teams working together as one and really pushing the limits on our current equipment...

EA is trying to get rid of the competition... And I have a bad feeling about Segas chances after this... What's next??? I don't think that EA's bag of tricks is empty just yet... I think there's more to come that will really devastate competition.

But for the GAME this does mean one thing... We will be getting a more tv-like presentation in the game and thus a better atmosphere at least...

I think EA will deliver the quality games they have in the past still in the future even if Sega throws in the towel... We'll just have to wait and see.

[iKe7in]

Lets hope they still make a PC version. Of course, even if they're is, they changes in formats over the past few years haven't been patcher friendly, and I can't see it getting any better.

[addz]

i think this deal will improve presentation of the game
but gameplay improvements dont really come out of this just because they can use the name ESPN.


imagine the new commentary crew of tom tolbert and bill walton....lol
i dont mind the ESPN commentators (since its the only NBA we get in Oz)..they got personality..so it could be good..
plus marv albert and fratello werent that great in nba live 2005 or maybe thats because EA just recycled lines from 2004..

[Goldberg]

From past experiences, those types of deals have resulted in a lost of realism for more "pop" stuff. EA baseball franchise was at first, based on realism, then it moved to the Triple Play series and it became a pop game, based on home runs and high score rather than realism.

And High Heat became the first baseball game on the market over EA's Triple Play even with the more marketing from EA. If I recall correctly, EA bought High Heat and High Heat staff make the current EA baseball games.

Anyway, it went from 3 baseball games (High Heat, Microsoft, Triple Play) to only one. Same will happen to baseketball. But the move toward ESPN was innevitable. Their intention was never to compete with EA but to force EA into some kind of deal. Without being a competitor, ESPN did not have much negotiation leverage. By being a competitor, taking a huge market share from EA by selling the game at such a low price as they did, they forced EA into negotiation or confrontation. EA made the right call for EA, and ESPN for ESPN, but only time will tell if it turns to be a good move for the customers.

My opinion is that EA will no longer have a stong desire to innovate and improve the game to beat the competition. NBA LIVE's budget will be reduce, staff will be reduce also, and with it, the number of improvements. The ESPN game pushed EA to spend a lot of resources on innovation and reworking the Dynasty mode from scratched this year, but get used to the current design because it is the way the game will be for the next 3 to 5 years. It will take another competitior or huge drop in sales (disatisfaction from customers like us), to motivate them to raise budgets for NBA LIVE and innovate again.

Man, it felt like I was in business school again.

[End Boss]

EA are just plain evil.. they are the microsoft of the new millenium.. I hope their entire upper management dies of cancer

and metsis.. who do you think you're kidding with that union of EA and sega rap.. EA would buy them out and shut down them down (wouldn't happen instantly but it would happen) just like Vivendi Universal has shut down the original Sierra studio that produced so many classics such as space quest, kings quest, leisure suit larry, etc.. whenever EA buys out a developer they impose their shitty will and gestapo finance tactics to everything... just ask Richard Garriot who had his Ultima series mamed by EA

[Alvin]

good for business.. bad for gamers...

[Metsis]

No matter what you say, I still think that Tim and rest of the production team will keep the game going unless they get serious cut backs...

BTW... Andrew, could you get in touch with Tim about this issue... I'm sure that I ain't alone on this one, but I'd like to hear what he has to say about this EA-ESPN alliance...

We're his "ex"-community for crying out aloud... We should be entitled to hear something from him about this.

[darch]

its bad news for gamers
EA spend their money on that rather licences than for new developers
(im so happy they coudnt buy NBA rights)
it doesnt mean nothing for gamers if there is no dramatical change in terible gameplay.

[JP_Frost]

terrible gameplay? ... have you even played live '05?

Besides, if they keep on going in the direction they are going now, along with an ESPN type of presentation, then we'll be in for some good games.

Like somebody else mentioned, sega didn't put out their games for pc anyway, so for me it only gets better

[fgrep15]

Why didn't EA just get TNT? Going after ESPN just seems like a way of attacking the competition. I prefer the TNT guys anyways, and I'm assuming Sega will probably go after the TNT rights.

....or you could see EA go all out and get TNT, and ABC, and they'll have different presentation stuff for different games.

[darch]

terrible gameplay? ... have you even played live '05?

Besides, if they keep on going in the direction they are going now, along with an ESPN type of presentation, then we'll be in for some good games.

Like somebody else mentioned, sega didn't put out their games for pc anyway, so for me it only gets better

Off course i played ,and it was so boring after week of play
i realy felt i waste my money(after one day i was just dissapointed)
so many stupid main things they didnt improve at all just changed small thing
no step foward just tweaking bad things to iven worse in some cases
i can write all day long how bad this game is
this directin you are saing ,are you crazy??

[Old School Fool]

Man. EASPORTS has had a connection with TNT since Live 97. If you think about it they were "Imitating" TNT sine 2000.

[galvatron3000]

TNT would have been better to me, they have Marv, Collins, D.A., Sager, Stockton(Dick)etc, etc

[JP_Frost]

look darch, I don't wanna turn this into a live is good vs. live is boring thread, but if you got bored with it after playing just one week, then maybe basketball games aren't your thing. Besides, you can't possibly have seen everything this game has to offer in just 7 days.

not saying that this game is perfect, it's far from it actually, but it's easily the best live game since '99 and/or 2000, if not then possibly the best in the series, so if you don't like this one then I don't know what type of b-ball game would satisfy you.

You might be sour for ea getting the espn licence, but take those thoughts elsewehere and let's not continue this discussion in this thread.

[Sauru]

this entire thing bugs me. compitition is good. madden slacked off before gameday and then bounced back big time. then espn came along when madden slacked a second time and yet again madden bounced back huge. espn also helped push nba live in the right direction. i dont think any of us would sit here and say live was not starting to slack off. basicly all i am saying is compitition is good and now that there is none i am a bit worried. my opinion is year 1 will be good but then i think both series will stack going down hill til another rival comes along.

[ignatu]

EA bought rights to the ESPN name and properties and look etc. That has nothing to do with Sega's game, which simply used the ESPN name and look etc. The game is still the same, and it will still sell as well under a different name such as "NBA on NBC" or "NBA on TNT" or "TNT/TBS NBA 2KWhatever."

[Goldberg]

If, and I say IF, Sega does not drop basketball from their many many games they offer, then they will either name it Sega's NBA 2K7 or use an athelete or coach... maybe Phil Jackson's NBA 2K7... kind like Tony Laroussa was in baseball... or maybe a clever name like EA's Triple Play for their baseball game of a while back. Something more managebale. This way, having their enitre brand name stolen by the competition will not happen again.

But I still feel they are considering dropping basketball, unless they can come up with a significant improvement that EA has not done or decide to continue their strategy of being the price leaders by selling their game at $20 every year. Who knows except Sega of course.

[Matt]

man i got a bad feeling about this.....EA has slacked off big time in recent years, they still havent tackled the most annoying gameplay problems (blocking).

i reckon if we're not happy with 06 we should boycott 07 and bootleg it instead (and give it to all friends)

[Osei]

I called this...

[set_rule]

TNT still does the Allstar Weekend!! TNT & ESPN its all good young'ns........ESPN broadcasts sports programs totally,TNT is no threat at all.This is just a game yall!!! Presentation is everything, i seen it mentioned here before.......dont we all watch ESPN after a game on TNT and vice versa...... Ernie Marv Kenny, Stephen A., Greg, Tim,Bill W. and a host others that would be ill!!!! If its in the game let it really be in the damn GAME!!

and OH YEAH : put that WISHLIST up in the game for safe measure too

[ludacris06]

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.

If the AI is still bad, it really wouldn't matter.