EA offers "Work Around" for Madden PSP crash
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Oct 4th 2005 at 2:00PM }
Last week we received word that Madden NFL 06's Franchise mode was causing
a number of PSPs to crash. Late last night, an EA forum moderator posted a "Work Around" for this glaring flaw.
Unfortunately, since no mention was made of a re-release, downloadable patch, or refund opportunity, we're left to
believe that this is EA's permanent solution. In addition, EA claims that after a thorough investigation, they have
determined that the shutdown-issue "isn't a widespread problem." What they're sayin' is, if you're unfortunate enough
to be one of the few gamers affected by this issue then just "work" with it.
[Thanks, Vagabond Artist]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The "workaround" requires you to erase your franchise, which I did. Then it requires some additional nonsense for you to do when in the menus, which I did. And guess what? That game still locks up. And locks up for all my friends too. It must just be widespread amongst everyone I know with the game.
Louis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Is EA serious? that's their solution to this problem? come on my psp copy of madden keeps crashing every 2 games in franchise mode I was hoping to at least be able to download some game fix for this, not a freaking work around, gaaah give me a break EA!
Jason @ Insomnia Radio @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
AND....what about the severe online problems? I plunked down 50bucks for an expresso sized coaster?
Fuzz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
http://forums.easports.com/mboards/forum.jspa?sls=2&start=0&forumID=44
cruise the forums. Sounds like it doesn't work. The game must be pretty boring without being able to play a season. Oh, don't try going there with Firefox, either, cause it is a jumbled mess. Is this what we have to look forward to the future of gaming? Like EA can't afford to bite the bullet, and send out new UMD's to everyone. What do they cost, $5.00? Serious PR blunder here. An oportunity to show that EA actually cares about gamers, and instead the release a worthless "workaround." Nice. Boycott, I say.
Spanky @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Return it. It's defective software. Under most state law AFAIK you have the right to return it to the store where you purchased it for a full refund. Send all those crap UMDs back to EA and let them figure out what to do with them. Never buy EA again.
Efrain @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Haha...things like this makes me happy that I and go *why do I hate EA* oh yeah...lol
Chiablo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I think The Pwnerer (www.purepwnage.com) said it best in episode 3:
"Like EA sucks my balls... E like sucks this ball here, then the A sucks my other ball here. So the E and the A suck both my balls."
OTAM @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Wow,and everyone badmouths Microsoft for being a company that treats their customers poorly? Jesus,at least they'll send you a replacement power cable if you need one.Same with Sony.
EA is really,really starting to get on my last nerves and it all started when they took the candyass way out and bought an NFL license.
Rumble Bottom @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
And coincidentally, all of this happens the year that the NFL sells (-out) exclusive rights to EA...
Nossy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
LOL, man when I saw that $49.99 price tag on EA Madden for the PSP, I just walked away. Didn't you guys noticed that ALL EA games are ten bucks more expensive than the regular titles other company put out? Now a company that big won't even do recalls. This is just hilarious. We gamers shouldn't succumb to EA's ridiculus prices and under par quality of games. We should boycott, I'm happy with the previous version of Madden anyway, anyone in?
Dmnkly @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Wouldn't know anything about this bug. After MVP Baseball seized up like Kate Hepburn watching the Power Rangers, I decided to avoid all EA Sports titles for a while.
Chris_C @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I've never understood people who stick up for EA, they've got more money and resources than Grawp, you'd think every single title they release should be top shelf "AAA".
booger @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Does this surprise anyone? There known as "Evil A**holes" for a reason.
They dont care.
OtakuCODE @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
You suck the devil's dick, you deserve what you get you pigskin-addicted soulless jerks.
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"We greatly appreciate your continued support of our products."
translation:
We continue to mess up bad games, but you still buy our crap... suckers!
ZildjianKX @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
OTAM - The Microsoft reference was weak. The powercords weren't defective, the powersupplies were. The only reason they sent out new power cables was so that the power cable would cut off before the powersupply caused a fire, costing them money in lawsuits. Of course, if the replacement power cable worked as they planned, your Xbox would still be broken and they won't replace it.
Womack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Knowing this, I won't even buy the the damn game. This sh*t really pisses me off. Why the hell did I even buy this damn PSP?!
LaughingTarget @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Finally EA did something new with the series. Sure, it isn't a good thing, but it IS new.
Feeble @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Hahahaha.
what going to be more hilarious is when the next madden comes around, you will need your madden fix, and buy it probably without hesitation.
Beau @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Omg! tHiS nEVER happenS tO EAA!!
BaTTLEfiELD II is PErFEct! NveR crASHes.!!!!11one
Hating EA more by the day...
nod @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I'm sure Madden 2007 won't have this bug. What's the big deal?
Ed @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Hey, maybe EA is starting a new fad with this. Treat your customers as well as your employees.
Oh wait, if they didn't insist on slave labor for their employees they wouldn't have these problems to begin with.
Vagabond Artist @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Thanks for following up with this news post, guys.
I wrote the NFL licensing office and they are compiling email complaints and are going to present them to their boardmembers at their next meeting.
details on filing complaints with EA's handling of the NFL license can be found here: http://forums.easports.com/mboards/thread.jspa?threadID=7036&messageID=46460땼
I encourage those affected to write.
PorkTr33 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The work around doesn't work anyway. Anyone with issues should contact the NFL (per the previous message) they're the only ones with enough leverage to get anything done.
umuhk @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
once upon a time, long ago, I worked at EA.
on the PC, at least, EA had an unwritten policy of shipping games according to the marketing schedule, whether or not they were even complete. the first revision would go out, and "customer support" would be given a list of pointless things to have the customer do ("did you try booting with a clean disk? do that, and see if it helps"). meanwhile, the developers would work frantically squashing bugs and otherwise finishing up the already-shipped game. when the customer had jumped through all the "checks" and "workarounds", the customer support rep would say, "sounds like you got a bad disk. we'll send you a replacement right away." and what was on that "replacement" disk? the now-completed game.
this little ploy usually bought a month or so of extra time past ship for the developers to work out the final bugs. in some cases, the bugs being fixed were found by customers in the first place...making your $59 game investment more of an admission ticket to beta-test land.
and to think I got out of EA *before* it went all gulag.
Paco @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Wow..i'm glad i hate madden games.. and them charging 50 bux for a engine that is well used and already on 3 other platforms it deplorable.
I would suggest everyone that has a problem to take a couple minutes and write a VERY angry but professional email to the NFL like stated.
Tracy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
EA does not care about your petty little game issues. They have stockholders that must be kept happy & well paid. If you got a buggy game too bad. You can't get an NFL game anywhere else for the next six years. Too bad, so sad. You will take what they give you & like it.
Twitch @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
One could argue that "EA made Burnout Revenge"... which, no matter which way you cut it, is an amazing game, but the fact is, Criteron made that game with all the love they could muster.
I work at Gamestop, and about a year ago, a customer came in asking for Madden '05 on the XBOX. I suggested Segas' own stellar NFL 2k5 or whatever it was at the time, as it was much cheaper, and a much better game.
The kid replied to this with,"Oh, I already have that one", to which I replied,"Why buy this then?", to which HE replied,"good point. I'll be back in a minute". He left.
I turned and explained to my co-worker why I hated EA so much, and I turn around again to see a man in a businiess suit holding a card that read "GameStop Regional Manager".
"So WHY don't you sell EA games?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes, I do."
"Because they're fascists."
I don't work at GameStop anymore.
Jay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Penny-Arcade pointed to the following link for those disgruntled with Madden PSP...
http://www.maddenrecall.us/
Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The real irony here is that as Madden's quality has declined, EA's NCAA Football game continues to improve. This year, it's the best version yet. But their NFL material just continues to dive.
Chad Cunningham @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I bought Madden for the PSP the day it came out. After it crashed 6-7 times, I decided to check out the web, and sure enough, its all over! Are they sure this is not widespread? I have already contacted the store where I purchased it, and they seemed like they will take it back for me. EA better hope they do, or they will be hearing from me directly.
e2go @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Making note to self to never buy Madden for PSP. Way to go EA. Nice public relations.
Gabor @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
[i]Last week we received word that Madden NFL 06’s Franchise mode was causing a number of PSPs to crash. Late last night, an EA forum moderator posted a “Work Around” for this glaring flaw.[/i]
There is no "work around" for this glaring flaw. EA, for reasons unknown to me, is playing some nasty game with its costumers. I had FIFA 2005 on the PC, which constantly crashed to the desktop. I looked for "work around", which I found in form of many forum suggestions, none really worked (they did for one usage, or for a short period of time, but the problem kept returning). So, I stopped using FIFA 2005 on my PC, thinking that there is some inherent incompatibility between something I have and the program.
Many months later I bought some other EA Sport products, namely the Nascar 2004, Madden 2004 (several sport games in one package), golf,baseball, hockey. They ALL crash to the desktop after normal installation, otherwise totally normally working computers.
EA is must be using some programming routine or something in all their current games, which causes this. At least, this is what I thought after seeing all these problems. Now, reading that it crashes the PSP too, I wonder whether there is some "evil something" behind all this. Surely, the technology got to the point where software producers can produce software without such obvious and common errors.Why am I going as far as thinking of something "evil"? Well.....I am following FIFA soccer from the very first version they came up with, back in 1995. First it was just weird an unusual, that the next version contained faults which the previous version didn't have. Later, each and every version (one every year) contained a selection of elements (within the game itself) which were simply wrong, but something which were not wrong in previous versions. Why would they do such a thing? Simple. If they would make any version as perfect as technology would allow it, people would not buy the next year version, but rather keep using their current one, until the technology changes enough to create a perceivable difference. This way, all the fans rush to the store, hoping that "they must have fixed this and this problem". Which they do, except they include a selection of new problems, those which were not a problem for years before. With FIFA soccer I could prove this, since I used every single version since 1995. With other EA products I couldn't, but I suspect that they are using a similar strategy. This crashing issue maybe a planned fault (fault by design) which somehow "got out of hand" somehow.
Gabor
GetMoreTesters @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I have been involved with software testing for some time now. This is the situation that software publishers dread. No doubt after the discovery of this issue the folks at EA were thrashing to find a solution. After a bug like this has shipped it is intensely expensive to fix, and the lawyer teams at these companies formulate responses that are designed not to admit fault. This is their major intent.
It is not that EA does not want to help. They would help, but that would mean admitting fault, and they can't do that. There will never be an outright admission of fault /w appropriate fix on this issue unfortunately, don't wait up for it.
Although I have no knowledge about EA's actual testing resources, I have been monitoring the quality of their products for some time now. Crashes aside, there are some blatant and irritating issues with many of their games. Many of them are design related. The UI menu systems in most EA sports games are hilariously bad with options never in the right place, strange menu hierarchys that don't make sense, autosave/no save nonsense, and a boatload of other things. They do not seem to test with the customer in mind, or customer type scenarios. That is probably how the franchise mode bug got missed. What is different between a franchise game and an exhibition? Probably nothing the tester might have thought, and the franchise mode takes too long to test. In reality, well... you know the rest.