Proudly Buying Madden Every Year

(Except when pre-order codes don’t work right!)

Now that that "other" football is finally out of our minds for the rest of summer, I can finally get ready for the only football that matters in this country. This is the week that I look forward to more than any other. We have the Hall of Fame game on Sunday night (which I admit wasn’t that exciting,) my annual trip to St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, PA for Steelers training camp, and of course, the annual launch of Madden.

And unlike other Madden launches, I was lucky enough to have the day off so I can play it. But go figure that once again when I go to pick up my copy I have to deal with those "individuals" who whine and complain about why I buy the game every year.

What you "geniuses" might not get is after the Super Bowl is over I trade in that year’s copy because that’s when the trade-in value is still quite high, and I’m not spending my money on the latest release, but rather trade-in credit. I have done the same thing for the past five years, and it’s worked fine for me.

You might not like people like myself who do get the latest Madden every year, but I don’t care. It’s my purchasing rights, not yours. Just like if you want to buy every new add on to any MMO when it consists of the same gameplay elements. I don’t complain about them, so don’t complain about the new Madden release!

If there is anything that should be complained about regarding Madden, it’s something that needs to be looked at it in a broader sense: the overkill of micro-purchases and the butchering of the used game market. Madden 11 isn’t the first game to do this, but it really is unfair to have to purchase a license to play online. Mass Effect 2 was the first game that I noticed that required me to purchase a code to gain online access. This was because I rented the game from Gamefly and unless I purchased the game used I would have to pay the extra points to get all the features. Now THAT is something to complain about.

EA’s not the only one guilty of this. THQ did the same thing with UFC 2010 Undisputed, and other publishers are joining into the fold.

But that’s not the only returning factor about Madden 11 that is a concern; it’s the integration of purchasing cheats. Even spending points to just allow a retiring player to return for one more season is a joke. Who would ever want to spend money on something like that, even if it’s just worth 80 points? I’d rather use that money to download a song on the Rock Band Network.

The micro-purchases this year have taken a whole new turn with the new Ultimate Team mode. By obtaining coins in the game, player cards can be purchased and collected to build a team of your liking, similar to a fantasy football team. EA is even offering coins for purchase similar to the cheats above, and one retailer offered 20,000 coins as a preorder bonus.

However, despite me being one of those preorders, when I entered my code on the game’s Redeem Code screen, I am greeted with a message saying, "You have entered an invalid code. Please check your code and try again." I entered the SAME CODE on my receipt three times and it came up with the same message. And to make matters worse, when I call their customer service hotline to see about a replacement code I am greeted with an automated voice message saying that "due to a large number of calls, we cannot assist you at this time." Nice way to treat your customers! I should have known that once again, the preorder would be screwed up. No wonder I don’t preorder all the time!

Thankfully when I play Madden it’s only for the Franchise and Be and NFL Superstar modes. I can live without the Ultimate Team feature. But what about those who want to fulfill their preorder and they can’t get their codes working? Are they going to be screwed over like I was? I hope not.

Oh well, I guess it’s back to working on my offline franchise and building up my NCAA Road to Glory player and still enjoying all the good elements of this year’s Madden.

Currently Playing: Madden 11 (360,) Bayonetta (360)

Waiting For: Metroid Other M (Wii)

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