How to make a fool of yourself…
by 
Occasionally I stumble across an article that I think is poorly written or has an uninformed opinion. Most are tolerable and forgettable. This piece though by Stan Donaldson of the Detroit Free Press, a supposed “mini review” of NCAA March Madness 07, is the epitome of poor journalism and a great example of how to make a fool of yourself. Speaking or writing on topics you have no idea about.
First of all he states that March Madness 07 is worse than the 06 version. As ridiculous as that sounds, everyone has a right to their opinion no matter how inane it is. Apparently he felt the game had “questionable graphics and gameplay” although he offered no specifics as to what is wrong with them.
However it’s when he attempts to offer an explanation of why March Madness may not have turned out as well as it could’ve that blew me away.
There’s been some talk in the gaming community that EA was so focused on creating a superb “Madden 2007” that game developers lacked focus for some of its other sports titles.
In 2004, the company signed a contract with the NFL for exclusive gaming rights. The “Madden 2006” version was poor for the Xbox 360, and it is widely believed that the league put pressure on EA to create a spectacular “Madden 2007.” (And it did.)
All this game does is make you believe that theory.
It’s amusing that he states “talk in the community” when really he means his imagination. Madden and March Madness have absolutely no effect on one another.
Madden is developed at the Tiburon studio in Florida. March Madness is developed at the EA Canada studio in Burnaby BC. No, the same people do not work on both games genius. They aren’t even developed in the same freakin country!
To imply that a focus on Madden ultimately hurt March Madness is as bad as the message board posters who complain that EA shouldn’t be putting up wallpapers on the official website because it’s taking time away from fixing gameplay issues. Sorry but I don’t think Lead Developer David Ortiz and his team are spending their time in photoshop producing graphics for the website instead of working on the game.
I had never heard of this Stan Donaldson before reading this review, and hopefully none of us ever have to read another video game related article from him again.