Jess 1110 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 This topic is a thing because of EA's announcement that they've reached a deal with NBC Sports for their NHL series. That means that starting this year , they'll be using NBC-style graphics and the announce team of Doc Emrick and Eddie Olcyzk. (I mangled that name, I know.) So I kind of wanted to look at that. Broadcast presentation is one of the things the video game companies try to do on every sports title every year, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail miserably. The commentary on WWE games has always been BEYOND horrible, but they go to admirable lengths to make the VISUALS look authentic. For example, WWE 2K14 has a 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode. Depending on what Wrestlemania you pick, they'll display the graphics WWE used during that time period. Pretty sweet. NBA 2K had a mode like that a few years ago (the graphics would accurately mimic the time period), and the commentary (they use one of TNT's teams) is one of the franchise's greatest strengths. The announcers even ramble on like in real life! And then there's Madden. Madden has a certain stigma attached to it, and has had it since 2005. That's when the NFL awarded the exclusive license to EA Sports, meaning Madden would effectively be the only American football game, ending the chief competitor, NFL 2K. Unfortunately, ESPN NFL 2K5 was and is one of the greatest American football games ever released. And its presentation is still damn near perfect, even ten years later. EA's first game under the exclusive contract was Madden NFL 06, which was a complete turd. They're still fighting the taint. Madden's presentation continued to lag behind 2K5 for YEARS. On the PS2/Original Xbox, they had semi-sort-of-decent commentary by Madden and Summerall, then Madden and Michaels. On the 360/PS3, they bizarrely decided to go with a no-name radio announcer for the team you were playing as. When they realized how stupid that idea was, it was Tom Hammond, then Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, then Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth. Each team was worse than the one before it. The last two Maddens have been the first football games I've enjoyed since NFL 2K5, and the first ones with half-decent presentation. They brought in Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to do the commentary, and it's much better, but still not at 2K5 levels. Plus you get to see creepy video game models of Nantz and Simms. Despite Madden's name, it's basically NFL on CBS these days. The music is very much inspired by Posthumus Zone, and 13's presentation was essentially NFL on CBS without the CBS logo. Madden NFL 15 looks like they're finally getting the presentation beyond 2K5 levels, which is encouraging. I have a pre-order in. Let's see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'm gonna miss Gary Thorne and Bill Clement calling the games but this is looking to be really cool. From the way the announcement reads, you're basically getting the NHL on NBC in video game form which will be pretty cool. If they really do it right I'm sure you'll get William Goldstein's awesome theme and the NBC sports graphics not bastardized like a lot of video game franchises do (it wouldn't surprise me if NBC just gives them the templates to work from). Definitely going to pick this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieboy247 42 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'm gonna miss Gary Thorne and Bill Clement calling the games but this is looking to be really cool. From the way the announcement reads, you're basically getting the NHL on NBC in video game form which will be pretty cool. If they really do it right I'm sure you'll get William Goldstein's awesome theme and the NBC sports graphics not bastardized like a lot of video game franchises do (it wouldn't surprise me if NBC just gives them the templates to work from). Definitely going to pick this up. I don't have a problem with Doc Emrick, but I always liked Gary Thorne calling NHL games, especially during the days of ESPN National Hockey Night, and it's ashame that Thorne will not have any involvement with the NHL anymore. However, I'd have to agree that the NHL on NBC presentation in EA Sports NHL 15 will be truly awesome. Even though the Xbox 360 is the only video game system that I have at the moment, I'll still consider picking up a copy. But I think it would look a whole lot better on a PlayStation 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToriElectra 291 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The only real good game I have is MLB 07 The Show for PS2, and it's got a good team of Matt Vasgersian, Rex Hudler and Dave Campbell; I believe that Matt's ESPN, not sure about the rest. The graphics are original, and they're pretty good for the PS2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrustyGem 1 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 This topic is a thing because of EA's announcement that they've reached a deal with NBC Sports for their NHL series. That means that starting this year , they'll be using NBC-style graphics and the announce team of Doc Emrick and Eddie Olcyzk. (I mangled that name, I know.) So I kind of wanted to look at that. Broadcast presentation is one of the things the video game companies try to do on every sports title every year, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail miserably. The commentary on WWE games has always been BEYOND horrible, but they go to admirable lengths to make the VISUALS look authentic. For example, WWE 2K14 has a 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode. Depending on what Wrestlemania you pick, they'll display the graphics WWE used during that time period. Pretty sweet. NBA 2K had a mode like that a few years ago (the graphics would accurately mimic the time period), and the commentary (they use one of TNT's teams) is one of the franchise's greatest strengths. The announcers even ramble on like in real life! And then there's Madden. Madden has a certain stigma attached to it, and has had it since 2005. That's when the NFL awarded the exclusive license to EA Sports, meaning Madden would effectively be the only American football game, ending the chief competitor, NFL 2K. Unfortunately, ESPN NFL 2K5 was and is one of the greatest American football games ever released. And its presentation is still damn near perfect, even ten years later. EA's first game under the exclusive contract was Madden NFL 06, which was a complete turd. They're still fighting the taint. Madden's presentation continued to lag behind 2K5 for YEARS. On the PS2/Original Xbox, they had semi-sort-of-decent commentary by Madden and Summerall, then Madden and Michaels. On the 360/PS3, they bizarrely decided to go with a no-name radio announcer for the team you were playing as. When they realized how stupid that idea was, it was Tom Hammond, then Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, then Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth. Each team was worse than the one before it. The last two Maddens have been the first football games I've enjoyed since NFL 2K5, and the first ones with half-decent presentation. They brought in Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to do the commentary, and it's much better, but still not at 2K5 levels. Plus you get to see creepy video game models of Nantz and Simms. Despite Madden's name, it's basically NFL on CBS these days. The music is very much inspired by Posthumus Zone, and 13's presentation was essentially NFL on CBS without the CBS logo. Madden NFL 15 looks like they're finally getting the presentation beyond 2K5 levels, which is encouraging. I have a pre-order in. Let's see. Even though I have a PS4 I'll probably get madden 15 for PS4 only, until I get a Xbone (I'm neutral in the console/PC/Tablet market as I own a Wii U and PS4 atm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoadStar 363 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The only real good game I have is MLB 07 The Show for PS2, and it's got a good team of Matt Vasgersian, Rex Hudler and Dave Campbell; I believe that Matt's ESPN, not sure about the rest. The graphics are original, and they're pretty good for the PS2. Matt Vasgersian is MLB Network and FOX Sports. He also does freelance stuff for NBC Sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronQ 259 Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 This topic is a thing because of EA's announcement that they've reached a deal with NBC Sports for their NHL series. That means that starting this year , they'll be using NBC-style graphics and the announce team of Doc Emrick and Eddie Olcyzk. (I mangled that name, I know.) So I kind of wanted to look at that. Broadcast presentation is one of the things the video game companies try to do on every sports title every year, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail miserably. The commentary on WWE games has always been BEYOND horrible, but they go to admirable lengths to make the VISUALS look authentic. For example, WWE 2K14 has a 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode. Depending on what Wrestlemania you pick, they'll display the graphics WWE used during that time period. Pretty sweet. NBA 2K had a mode like that a few years ago (the graphics would accurately mimic the time period), and the commentary (they use one of TNT's teams) is one of the franchise's greatest strengths. The announcers even ramble on like in real life! And then there's Madden. Madden has a certain stigma attached to it, and has had it since 2005. That's when the NFL awarded the exclusive license to EA Sports, meaning Madden would effectively be the only American football game, ending the chief competitor, NFL 2K. Unfortunately, ESPN NFL 2K5 was and is one of the greatest American football games ever released. And its presentation is still damn near perfect, even ten years later. EA's first game under the exclusive contract was Madden NFL 06, which was a complete turd. They're still fighting the taint. Madden's presentation continued to lag behind 2K5 for YEARS. On the PS2/Original Xbox, they had semi-sort-of-decent commentary by Madden and Summerall, then Madden and Michaels. On the 360/PS3, they bizarrely decided to go with a no-name radio announcer for the team you were playing as. When they realized how stupid that idea was, it was Tom Hammond, then Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, then Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth. Each team was worse than the one before it. The last two Maddens have been the first football games I've enjoyed since NFL 2K5, and the first ones with half-decent presentation. They brought in Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to do the commentary, and it's much better, but still not at 2K5 levels. Plus you get to see creepy video game models of Nantz and Simms. Despite Madden's name, it's basically NFL on CBS these days. The music is very much inspired by Posthumus Zone, and 13's presentation was essentially NFL on CBS without the CBS logo. Madden NFL 15 looks like they're finally getting the presentation beyond 2K5 levels, which is encouraging. I have a pre-order in. Let's see. You failed to mentioned that EA is using Ray Ferraro from TSN in Canada to do the "Behind the Glass" report for NHL 15 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bammy9 26 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 You failed to mentioned that EA is using Ray Ferraro from TSN in Canada to do the "Behind the Glass" report for NHL 15 as well. Thank God it isn't Pierre McGuire... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skbl17 188 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 From looking at E3 gameplay videos, it looks as if Madden NFL 15 is essentially going to be the "NFL on CBS", but all of the CBS logos are replaced with EA Sports logos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I didn't realize that EA is going to use NBC-style presentation with their games. That's pretty funny considering they make these games up in their studios in Vancouver. Figured they'd rather work with Rogers (the new owners of the Canadian TV rights to the NHL) to incorporate their presentation into these games instead. I don't think NHL on NBC has a big following north of the border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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