The days of having a ticker are gone?
Immersion in the game is all but gone. What happened to the ticker? Something so small was one of the things that kept me LOVING NFL games. The best NFL game to date was ESPN NFL 2k5. ESPN licensing their name to that series put a huge amazing draw to the game. I would line up for a play and have the ticker come on to see that it was half time, and the team that was first in my division was down by a touchdown! I would see that and silently say "YES" to myself. Being a stat whore, I really miss the ticker, the half time show, and that amazing sports center broadcast in game they did after each week of football. Good time.
Now, EA Sports Madden NFL 2009 is not a BAD game by any standards. It's simply what you would expect. Its football, the franchise mode is well done as usual, and the online has big improvements. But it makes me completely shocked there is no damn ticker. What happened? Something so small, that was there in every series since 2000. When did it go away?
Immerse me EA, make this stat whore run every play thinking "That should help that running back get rated higher this season" or "That amazing pass will make the highlight reel this week!". All of those feelings are gone, no longer do I have the urge to play each game of the season to make sure the QB or the RB or that one LB is taken advantage of. I'm not immersed, and that does not make me want to get next years copy.
But I love football, and there is no competition. Well played you greedy company owners... well played.