Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Because We Desperately Need to Make Our Money Back on This Damn Deal Somehow

Thanks to Juan Font for tipping me off about this:
In this special, gamers will get a jump on all their friends and would-be competitors with a look inside this year's release. EA game designers, world-ranked top players and more will lead them on a guided tour through new changes and advances in all aspects of the game. Exclusive to ESPN Pay-Per-View, order Inside Madden NFL 07 today.

Premieres Friday, August 4th at 8:00 p.m. ET
Suggested Retail Price: $19.95

Available on TV and Online. To order call your Pay-Per-View Provider or log on to ESPN.com, search: Madden. *

Or search: dumb ass*.

Since I seem to be using the word "context" quite a bit lately, allow me to put this in context for you: two years ago, we paid $19.95 for the game. Now we pay $19.95 for a video preview of the game.

The game, of course, was NFL2K5, not made by EA, and it was the best professional football game ever made. That game also had an ESPN tie-in and included a Sportscenter with dynamically-generated highlights of the day's action. It was so good and sold so well that EA had to quickly and deeply cut the price of Madden that year to compete.

Then EA scratched a really big check to the NFL so they wouldn't have to compete again. Now we have $19.95 pay-per-view previews.

If you ever wondered if exclusive licenses were Satan's spawn, there's your answer.

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