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The Courts Government Entertainment Games News

EA Sued Over Madden 06 Feature 46

Posted by Zonk from the stealing-is-bad dept.
von_blapp writes "EA is being sued over the Super Star feature that is included in Madden '06. Pernell Harris, owner of Virtual Jam is suing EA over a confidentiality violation. Harris claims when he met with EA in '03 he discussed a game called Heart Of A Champion, in this game players take high school athletes from the schools to the pros insuring their grades are kept up and even picking their parents for the optimum gene pool. This is the same feature as in the current game released by EA."
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EA Sued Over Madden 06 Feature More

EA Sued Over Madden 06 Feature

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  • I picked my parents and I'm no NFL football player.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • EA could just as well be a porn company... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03, 2005 @05:04PM (#14174926)
    ...because everyone who deals with them gets fucked eventually.

    Oh, and their games blow.

  • Slight correction (Score:4, Informative)

    by Pluvius ( 734915 ) <pluvius3@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Saturday December 03, 2005 @05:15PM (#14174969) Journal
    The part where you take your athlete through college is simulated in Madden's sister game, NCAA Football 06. You export your college character to Madden 06 if you decide to enter the draft (usually at the end of your senior year, but you can cut a year off if you win a Heisman). Not that anyone here cares, but I thought I'd point it out.

    Rob
    • Is there a part where you can choose to fail english but still get to graduate because you are a good athlete? :P
      • Not yet, but the Ladanian Tomlinson Expansion Pack will be out soon enough.

        Seriously, my sig-o had three classes with him at TCU and saw him a grand total of 4 times within the confines of a classroom. I wouldn't say it was because she was skipping classes, either...
    • You had this ability in Madden/NCAA 2005 as well. I wonder why Harris waited until now?

      I've never actually used the feature but I think it's a pretty cool concept. What I'd like to see even more though is the ability to take my team or player from Madden 2005 or Tiger 2005 and use him in the 2006 versions. I spent a lot of time conquering these two games and it would be cool if I could reap the reward in the next version.
      • You had this ability in Madden/NCAA 2005 as well.

        No, you didn't. The only thing that's even remotely similar is the Create-a-Player option, which has been in both franchises for quite some time now. These new features ("Race for the Heisman" in NCAA 2006 and "Superstar Mode" in Madden 2006) are very different animals; you actually play the "extracurricular" aspects of the game from the perspective of the player, not the coach. In Superstar Mode, you have regular practices, movie offers, a fan website, ag
        • Ah, my mistake. I didn't realize it was so detailed and from the player's perspective, not the coaches. On the Sony Playstation II, if you have both NCAA and Madden 2005, as the coach you can "promote" a player out of NCAA to Madden. It doesn't have all the interaction that you mentioned but I've not seen 2006 so I didn't realize how different it was.

          Still wish I could take my Tiger 2005 character and play him in 2006. He rocks :-)

  • In other news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by failrate ( 583914 ) on Saturday December 03, 2005 @06:36PM (#14175254) Homepage
    ...Art is being sued by Life for imitation. Art is countersuing Life, also for imitation.

  • Asinine (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EnglishTim ( 9662 ) on Saturday December 03, 2005 @07:39PM (#14175519)
    Ideas for games are cheap. Everybody's got an idea for a game. Everybody's got hundreds of ideas for games. It's the implementation that counts, and getting that right is damn hard work.

    I'm certainly not EA's biggest fan (especially as I work for a competitor!), but I find it difficult to believe that this case has any merit.

    • Ideas for games are cheap. Everybody's got an idea for a game. Everybody's got hundreds of ideas for games. It's the implementation that counts, and getting that right is damn hard work.

      Tell that to Hasbro [slashdot.org].

      • I think you'd have a point if Hasbro had sued him just because he was making a 'world domination game'. As it is he copied their game almost exactly and used their trademark.
    • Sorry that's the whole reason of getting someone to sign a Non-disclosure/Infringement agreement before you pitch an idea. Because the NDA is supposed to protect you from someone like EA ripping off your idea's/I.P.

      There are too many companies out there that just steal ideas so that they can make a little extra cash. It is sad state of affairs when R&D starts meaning Rip-off and Duplicate. Remember the old days when it actually meant research and development.... [sighs]
    • I would very much like to play a game of Adult ADD. The whole point of the game is to keep your 'character' on task and on time, all the while, the game fights to make sure you get as distracted as possible...

      I would say it could be called "The Game of Life", but clearly, that would cause some confusion.

      • I would very much like to play a game of Adult ADD. The whole point of the game is to keep your 'character' on task and on time, all the while, the game fights to make sure you get as distracted as possible...

        Nintendo already made that. It's called the WarioWare series.

  • Dime a dozen... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Skreems ( 598317 ) on Saturday December 03, 2005 @09:19PM (#14176015) Homepage
    I know two people from college who had the exact same idea (seperately of each other) a couple years ago. I'm sure tens of thousands of people have had the same idea across the country. Did any of them do it? No. EA did. I'm all for "fuck corporations" as much as the next guy, but this is just ridiculous. Ideas are worthless until you actually implement them. I have some ideas that I'm convinced would make fantastic games, but I'm not in a position to make it happen right now. If someone beats me to the punch, I might be a little pissed that I didn't get to do it first, but it's stupid to sue over it.
    • "I know two people from college who had the exact same idea (seperately of each other) a couple years ago. I'm sure tens of thousands of people have had the same idea across the country. Did any of them do it? No. EA did."

      Did any of them present their idea to EA, and get EA sign an agreement to not use the idea without licensing it from them?

      This isn't about having an idea first -- it's about entering into a contract with a company, and that company breaching the terms of the contract.

  • pretty weak stance (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This isn't the same as somebody sueing because they had an idea. This guy was actually discussing with EA this game and feature that he was at the time trying to develop and get backing for, EA turned it down but (supposeably) stole the idea. This is akin to stuff Microsoft pulls where they find out all the in depth stuff from some small company and they go do it themselves instead of paying them (AKA Windows).

    Now, the big thing this suit will rest on is how much information did he give them and did that
  • Overheard in the EA Boardroom: "Ohhh, so THAT'S where we got that idea from. I told you guys it sounded familiar."
  • even picking their parents for the optimum gene pool

    [sarcasm] Eugenics... Not just for Dogs and fine horses any more! [/sarcasm]
  • The could have added a scene were you see John Madden doing one of the women from Desperiate Housewives. "Hot Coffee" meats Monday Night Football. --AUGH! MY EYES!

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