Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

IGN: Madden NFL 06: Where Do You Stand?

Here's the deal: I hate sports. Since I hate sports, it should come as no surprise that I hate the Madden games. When EA Games announced last year that they had acquired a five year exclusive rights deal with the NFL, I was mad as heck. While I do not play Madden, I was furious because this deal essentially created a monopoly on football games, and it was as bad as if Valve had acquired exclusive rights to the FPS genre. It just didn't work for me, and this meant that companies like Sega and Microsoft XSN were, all in all, screwed. EA made this deal shortly after "ESPN Football" started to steal some of "Madden 2005's" thunder. What happened shortly afterwards is pretty obvious: EA bought out the competition.

Some of my friends and brother were excited, saying that EA made the best sports game ever, so this deal wouldn't effect them at all. I warned them that it would, saying that EA will have no reason to make the perfect football game anymore, as they have a monopoly. After all, why worry about quality when you have the only product on the shelves? Well, "Madden 06" (as they're calling it now) is out, and the reception has been lukewarm at best, with people claiming its still a good football game, but that it offers no improvement over previous Madden games. Gee, I wonder why THAT is?!