Something that I learned over the last couple days surrounding EA' s X360 ports. The ports are only stripped-down versions of the same games currently available on Xbox/PS2/Gamecube. This was initially brought to my attention when I discovered that in NBA Live 2006, you can play only one season with any one team. Apparently the lack of features in the upcoming X360 ports of the EA Sports games done end there and the raping of these games apparently includes all sports games that EA is porting to X360.

Apparently, EA is stripping almost all of the deeper modes and features from the games. Depending on the game, anything from create-a-player, to create-a-team to proper stat-tracking and career modes have been ripped completely from the X360 version of the games. According to EA, these features will be added into later versions of the game. And in the case of some of the lesser features, EA states, " will be made available at some point on the XBL Marketplace." No word yet from EA if these downloads will be free of charge or if you will have to pay for these purchase. Whether EA is now in the business of creating incomplete games, overcharging for them at retail ($60 a pop) and then charging gamers to purchase the missing pieces later, is yet to be seen. However, the bottomline is, what you' ll be paying for at retail will be EA Sports Lite - definitely not the game perspective buyers are expecting.

Seriously, if you are a fan of the EA Sports line, you are actually better off spending the cash and buying them now on the current gen than purchasing them on X360. The only thing you are going to get in the X360 versions of EA Sports games are graphical upgrades. Considering that almost everything else to give sports videogames longevity is being stripped out, plus EA is charging a full $10 more per title (vs. the current gen versions which have all features intact), your better off skipping sports this fall and spending your hard-earned money on any of the other awesome games coming to the X360 launch and waiting until next fall before getting your EA Sports, next generation fix.

These days, with the price of gasoline so high (we all have to work and most of us drive and I know that the pump is already putting a serious hurt on my gaming budget) and the price of games expected to hit $60 each (plus $400 for the systems), being tricked into paying extra for the ' privelidge' of purchasing incomplete software is the last thing a gamer needs.

If you still wish to go ahead and purchase X360 games from the EA Sports line, then by all means be my guest, but the least I felt that I could do is warn as many gamers as possible that they are better off buying the current gen versions if they want all the game features. If in the end you are unsure, there is always Hollywood Video and Gamefly - rent it before you buy it if you have to, but don' t blow your wad on games that can be beaten over the course of a weekend if you don' t have to.

For my part, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham 3 and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion have my attention. And now that I have decided against purchasing Madden and Live 06, I can either pocket the extra $120 or spend it on two other games this holiday - probably King Kong and Saint' s Row, both of which are looking pretty awesome.

No matter what you do with your money, consider yourself warned.

What the hell? EA has really lost it. Isn' t it usually the other way around? You' d think that with all the extra power and overall capabilities of the X360 they' d release a superior version on it - and then proceed to provide even more content on the the Live Marketplace.

I hope EA doesn' t start a trend, whereby developers can slack off, release absolute garbage and then finish later via the Marketplace....

I have always knew that EA isn' t a good entertainment. Every game, no matter how great, becomes worse through EA.

i' ve always been a 2k fan myself.

Could we get some proof of this like a link to an article? Not that I dont believe you, because I know EA is nothing but a money hungry corperation that churns out mediocre games.

i' ve always been a 2k fan myself.

With that in mind, and knowing EA' s BS ways, I made sure that I secured all ESPN licensed 2K games for 2005 on XBOX.

Even picked up MLB from Take Two...since it' s basically an ESPN title.

For Golf, I re-acquired Links 2004...way better than Tiger Woods Golf.

About the only EA title I even own is Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and I bought that for $10 from Wal Mart' s bargain bin.

With that knowdlege in mind, I' ve buyed Oddworld: Stranger' s Wrath. Why? I thaught a game of that entertainment can' t be worse. I was wrong.

I' d really like to see a link to this, this just makes no sense at all, I cannot imagine EA, a company that as much as we hate them, has made millions because their sports games are so well reknowned for those exact features that are supposedly being ripped.

I think the people who aint gamers see games like Halo as a higher niveau. Because of that they buy popular crap like GTA (sorry 4 the fans) and NFSU. You know what I mean?

What the hell does that have to do with this thread, naked snake? Anyway, 3rdEchelon, please provide proof before posting stuff like this, which for the moment, I must assume is utter bullshit for lack of proof after two requests for it.

I don' t have a link but I' ve heard such news at other forums.

EA sells things the same way sony does. They have the name. There have been madden and nba live games for a long time. They were actually decent games when they first got started with them. Eventually people just bought that version because it was always a good game and they could trust the it. So once they get that base they can just put out whatever crap they want and people will buy it, they won' t even consider the alternatives.
Of course when other games are so good people who haven' t always been buying the same thing will start spreading the word. Such happend with the Sega ESPN NFL 2k series and EA had the shit scared right outa their asses because it was selling so well. Thats why they bought the exclusive rights to the NFL. For further security they bought the exclusive rights to ESPN. Even though they don' t seem to use it in their games.
Luckily the NBA aren' t money whoring assholes like the NFL and refused to accept any exclusive deals. NBA games aren' t nearly as poppular as NFL games though. We' ll have to see if 2k sports is agressive and make as good a game as sega did. Maybe they can break EA in at least one area.

So anyways, this is why EA pulls this kind of shit. They can get away with it. I don' t know if it is true they won' t have all the features but it wouldn' t surprise me at all. Madden 2006 on xbox is one of the worst games i' ve ever played. On PSP the franchise mode has a glitch that makes it unplayable.

NHL 98 is the best sports game i ever played,how the serie could then went to hell i have no idea.
EA is very weird...

From IGN

" EA' s games, on the other hand, shine in some areas, but fail to impress in others. Madden 06 features some of the best character models on the 360 to date. The level of detail on each player, each field, and seen in the volume of animations, is impressive from a strictly graphic standpoint. FIFA also displays excellent facial expressions and emotionalism from each player. But there is no owner mode or create a team or character in Madden on 360, and only a single season mode in NBA Live, and in all of the sports titles, from Madden to Live to FIFA to Tiger Woods, the games all look and feel like they' re half way done. They' re relatively empty of features, bells, whistles, and whatnot, and those are all the things EA has trained us to look forward to and enjoy annually.

EA' s five launch games show EA' s inability to deal with such a high volume of games simultaneously on a new system, coupled with very late final dev kits, which is a common and very real complaint among all developers. Additionally, EA has admitted their games are building blocks for the future, meaning the next iterations will be significantly better. Guess that means Madden 07 on 360 and PS3? Sure doesn' t seem like that monopoly on the NFL franchise is working out so hot in its first year."

Thanks for a source, Lotus. I found and read that article and then hung my head in disgust knowing that Madden 06 on 360 would still sell like crack.

While I' m not a member of the EA hate-wagon, I think one of the sickening things they did recently was with the PSP version of SSX On Tour... I haven' t played the game yet but from various reports, the PSP version is basically a port of SSX 3 and not of the console versions of SSX: On Tour... I have no idea who was responsible for that decision but YOU' RE FIRED!!!1! (echos) FIRED!! FIRED!! FIRED!!