The Legend of NFL 2K5

Clark Kent

Clark Kent

Reporting the latest in Sports Video Game News!
Staff member

Lex Marston has delivered a masterpiece for this legendary game we all know as ESPN NFL 2K5.

He walks us through the history of Visual Concepts and leads down the path of NFL 2K's birth all the way down to the last game developed for the NFL.

This is a tragic story of how this great game was established with a foundation of gameplay, followed by improvements in presentation and every other aspect as the game progressed through the years. It was a commendable effort at taking down the king, Madden.

This documentary is a perfect example of just how ugly the business world can be and what a great company with a vision has to overcome to make it in the Football gaming industry.

I encourage you to take the time to watch this masterpiece and share your thoughts here!
 
King Javo

King Javo

King of APFe
Staff member
LexMarston said:
Thank you for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed the vid and thanks for featuring it on here. It's much appreciated.
Click to expand...
The thanks is all on the community's side! This type of effort shows how strong the SimHead community truly is and how passionate we are about our sports games!
 
Blackadder

Blackadder

Rookie
Mr Marston, you are the greatest gunslinger in the West and a wonderful film maker too, thank you!

Very professional and well made, brilliant.

You say in your docu that the story of 2K8 is for another day, well if I could add anything, there is one more aspect to all this that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Your name reminded me of it (Red Dead Redemption). What about the games being exclusive to the console hardware itself?

The thing about NFL videogames that made me despair almost as much as the EA/NFL contract, was when they stopped releasing these games on PC. As much as I still love 2K5 as it is today, just think of all the things we could've done with it if we had a PC version? Just think of all the ENB series tweaks and mods we could've had, much like the final Madden on PC (08 I think?) but you know it would've been so much more.

Ironic, since everyone nowadays can simply hook their gaming PC's and laptops to their TV or projector screens via HDMI, plug in a couple of gamepads and that's it! We shouldn't be forced to buy endless extra chunks of plastic taking up space just because different games are "only on" such and such a console. What about those of us who don't have the space for even more consoles in a custom built amusement arcade in our garage or west wing of our medieval castles in Scotland?

I like and respect 2K Sports don't get me wrong but did they really have to ignore the PC as a gaming platform for American Football? Why wasn't APF 2K8 released on PC? And why did they continue their hugely successful NBA 2K series on PC then? Or was it all just a corporate exec SEGA thing at the time? I can understand EA Sports doing a low blow move like this with Madden since after all "they are EA" and of course did the same with all their other sports games like NHL, Golf and Boxing. I also "get it" that Sony would obviously have their great MLB The Show series exclusively on their own consoles since they made the game in the first place! But still...

I always thought it was a bit of a sad joke, since the videogames are originally developed on PC's in the studios, no??

I'd love to see a future documentary along the lines of, "The Corporate Console Exclusivity of Sports Videogaming" or something. The very thought of it is almost as chilling and corporately distasteful to me as EA's exclusive contract with the NFL and NFLPA. Oh well, just four more years to go isn't it? That is, until the next deal...
 
LexMarston

LexMarston

Rookie
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed watching.

You bring up a good point. I think, for the most part, when APF2K8 was released... PC's just weren't looked at as viable options for sports games anymore. I think we, as a gaming community, are much more open-minded when it comes to playing games on a PC these days. And that's much because of what you said about being able to hook up our PC's to our HDTV's. I'm not sure why 2K didn't put APF on PC, to be honest. Not sure if I could even find that info out with lots of research.

However, the good thing is that the future is EXTREMELY bright for sports games on PC's. I think with all the game creation engines available to the public these days, it won't be too long before we get a great football game for PC, even if it's not licensed. We already have some very solid text sims available. But we have to be willing to support those willing to attempt what the big publishers, with all their money and name recognition, are too scared to do.
 
bigdave2820

bigdave2820

Rookie
So sad 2 say goodbye 2 the greatest football game of all times. I almost teared up 4 a second. Excellent job and presentation, spoken like a true NFL 2K fan.
 
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