• EA SPORTS Season Ticket Launches Today

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    cdj
    Published on 08-02-2011 07:05 AM
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    EA SPORTS is launching EA SPORTS Season Ticket, a new subscription based service that will allow members to download full games early, a discount on DLC, free premium web content, and membership recognition.

    Available starting today in the X-Box Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network Store and exclusive North American retail partner GameStop, gamers can purchase a yearly membership for $24.99 (or 2000 MS Points) that will allow them to download full EA SPORTS titles over three days before the full retail release. The games confirmed to be part of the program at launch include: Madden NFL 12, FIFA 12, NHL 12, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13, and NCAA Football 13. More titles may be added at a later date, but NBA Jam: On Fire Edition is confirmed to not be part of the program.

    Beginning at 6 PM ET on the Friday before retail release, gamers will be able to download the full version of participating EA SPORTS titles. This download will remain active with full online features (except Ultimate Team) until 6 AM ET on release day and at that point the download will expire. Gamers will then need to purchase the game at retail to continue their experience. All in-game achievements will carry over to the retail version of the game.

    EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers will receive a 20% discount on all DLC, including Ultimate Team packs, accelerator packs, gear upgrades, and more. They will also receive free premium web content available for the duration of the subscription. For example, non-subscribers will have access to a basic version of the FIFA Creation Center while subscribers will have access to premium Creation Center packs. Subscribers will be given visible membership recognition in-game and also on their EASPORTS.com profile.

    The subscription is valid for 12 months from the date of purchase. Should Madden NFL 13 return to its normal mid-August release date, an EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscription purchased in late August 2011 would allow subscribers early access to Madden NFL 12 and Madden NFL 13. Online Pass is not required for EA SPORTS Season Ticket. All online features (except Ultimate Team) will be available for play during the early weekend download access. The program will be available on X-Box 360 (North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand) and PlayStation 3 (North America).

    There will be no change for gamers who do not become EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers as they will still be able to purchase the full retail version on launch day with full game features. The program exists for gamers who - as the program's tagline reads - wish to 'Play early, play more, and play better.'

    What are your thoughts on the EA SPORTS Season Ticket program? Share your thoughts and feedback below.
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    Comments 138 Comments
    1. NatureBoy's Avatar
      NatureBoy - 08-03-2011, 07:42 PM
      Back in my single days, I would have been all over this. I used to buy every sports game EA released every year. Now with me being Married and a Father, I just don't have that kind of time and money anymore.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 08-03-2011, 07:48 PM
      Since NCAA is the only EA title I regularly play, I'm probably going to be a 'no' on this. For me, it'd be essentially $25 to rent Madden, FIFA, etc for three days each. That's actually not a bad deal considering rental prices, but still not something that I feel like I'll get.
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 - 08-05-2011, 01:01 PM
      Read an interesting point on another site.... HOW BIG IS THE MADDEN 12 FILE??? You mauy have three days to play but what if it takes close to a full day to downloadbased on your internet connection. These files will be absolutely MASSIVE I suspect.
    1. bdoughty's Avatar
      bdoughty - 08-06-2011, 06:44 PM
      Not really if you have a descent broadband connection and download off XBL. It will be a file in the 6GB range. I downloaded Red Dead Redemption on the 360 which only took a couple hours. Not bad since I live in the boonies and have an average, at best, internet connection. As for PS3 owners, I have heard some nightmares, just downloading demos. Though I have heard other PS3 owners with no problems. If anything the amount of people trying to download the game at the same time will create more havoc than the file size.

      360 File size for Madden

      Madden NFL 06 5.7 GB
      Madden NFL 07 4.1 GB
      Madden NFL 08 5.8 GB
      Madden NFL 09 6.7 GB
      Madden NFL 10 5.7 GB
      Madden NFL 11 5.3 GB

      Note: Madden 09 was right before MS had an Dashboard update allowing game installs to the hard drive to be smaller


      Now for the size of the PS3 versions all I could was look at the torrents to see how big the files were, since you do not have the option to install full versions of previous Maddens. This was only available after the jaibreak of the PS3 you only have Madden 11 to go by. There are options to check the file sizes of the content on each PS3 game but alas, I do not own one.

      Madden NFL 11 Most were 4.6GB saw one that was 5.20GB

      Safe to say that the PS3 version will be similar in size to the 360.
    1. I OU a Beatn's Avatar
      I OU a Beatn - 08-06-2011, 09:05 PM
      If I give in and do this the Friday before Madden '12 launches, I'm going to have to punch myself right in the face.
    1. bdoughty's Avatar
      bdoughty - 08-06-2011, 10:03 PM
      One thing is for certain, based on all the polls (here, OS and other places) this is either going to be one spectacular failure or there are a lot of people in denial.
    1. Paakaa10's Avatar
      Paakaa10 - 08-06-2011, 10:14 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by bdoughty View Post
      One thing is for certain, based on all the polls (here, OS and other places) this is either going to be one spectacular failure or there are a lot of people in denial.
      I don't think that anybody is deluding themselves into thinking that this is going to be a program that everybody signs up for and pays into. Everything I've read and heard from EA on the topic has emphasized that this is for a targeted group of people who tend to play the five "core" EA SPORTS titles--Tiger Woods PGA TOUR, NCAA Football, Madden NFL, NHL, and FIFA--as well as purchase DLC on a yearly basis. They're not expecting it to be something that people join across the board.

      The real "test" on the consumer/community side is going to come when we get close to the "pre-release" period for Madden NFL 12. A lot of people are saying "no buy" now, but as they get excited for Madden to come out, you know some of them are going to bite the bullet and put down $25 to play Madden three days early instead of paying $40-50 extra or traveling 50-100 miles just to get a copy before August 30th. If at that point people still feel like the program's not for them and don't buy in, then it'll be a program for a small market.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers - 08-06-2011, 10:15 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by bdoughty View Post
      One thing is for certain, based on all the polls (here, OS and other places) this is either going to be one spectacular failure or there are a lot of people in denial.
      I'm gonna guess B. Bet a good chunk of people loved to bitch about it, but were first in line to get it.

      Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
    1. souljahbill's Avatar
      souljahbill - 08-07-2011, 09:33 AM
      I wonder if EA can arrange it so that if you have PS+ and you're a member of the program, it'll download automatically.


      ---
      - Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 08-07-2011, 11:16 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by jaymo76 View Post
      Read an interesting point on another site.... HOW BIG IS THE MADDEN 12 FILE??? You mauy have three days to play but what if it takes close to a full day to downloadbased on your internet connection. These files will be absolutely MASSIVE I suspect.
      Burnout Paradise was only 3.5 gigs or so. Last night I downloaded about 8 gigs worth of videos from PSN, and it took a couple hours.

      The thing to worry about, in my opinion, isn't the download size ... but how hardly hit are Sony/Microsoft's servers going to be the day this goes live? If they plan ahead, they might do something like the MMOs do when they have a massive patch ... open it up for download a week or so earlier, and just don't turn the content on until launch day. So, for example, allow people to start downloading it on Tuesday or so, but they can't actually play it until Friday.

      (Of course, they'd have to figure out a way to not allow those people to just set their clocks earlier and start playing immediately)
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt - 08-07-2011, 11:23 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      (Of course, they'd have to figure out a way to not allow those people to just set their clocks earlier and start playing immediately)
      Just make a mandatory 100kb file that isn't available for download until the game is actually live.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross - 08-07-2011, 11:52 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by gschwendt View Post
      Just make a mandatory 100kb file that isn't available for download until the game is actually live.
      Yeah, that's what I thought too. The question is how to communicate that and make it effective. It'd be easy with Playstation Plus users ... not so easy for regular users.

      The other possibility would be, assuming the game is going to be performing some kind of check to verify you're a member, have a date/time check against EA's servers. Not the best idea, but at least it would guard against early play.
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 - 08-08-2011, 12:56 PM
      Okay people, time to fess up... who has purchased Season Ticket??? I am willing to bet at least one member of this community has thus far...
    1. cdj's Avatar
      cdj - 08-08-2011, 07:17 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by jaymo76 View Post
      Okay people, time to fess up... who has purchased Season Ticket??? I am willing to bet at least one member of this community has thus far...
      I'd guess most of the informed people who said yes or are on the fence will wait until the around the 25th or 26th to do so since that could help them get Madden 12 and Madden 13 under the program to get more bang for their buck. There will be a lot of people who are last moment purchases - it will be tough for the real hardcore fans to stay on the sidelines when they see their friends and fan sites talking about their favorite EA SPORTS game(s) and they know it's a download away.
    1. skipwondah33's Avatar
      skipwondah33 - 08-12-2011, 09:02 PM
      I'm likely going to get it Thursday the 25th because thats when I get paid next and my said I could haha.

      Unless i get the game early via someone else which is doubtful.

      My question is will it have online capability through the download? If a few of my friends have the disc version could I play them? Or if they have the dl'd version
    1. cdj's Avatar
      cdj - 08-12-2011, 09:41 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by skipwondah33 View Post
      I'm likely going to get it Thursday the 25th because thats when I get paid next and my said I could haha.

      Unless i get the game early via someone else which is doubtful.

      My question is will it have online capability through the download? If a few of my friends have the disc version could I play them? Or if they have the dl'd version
      It will have full online features (except Ultimate Team) so you should be able to play any and everyone.
    1. I OU a Beatn's Avatar
      I OU a Beatn - 08-12-2011, 09:48 PM
      Yeah, I'm probably going to give in and get it. I can't help it. Madden '12 is pure dynamite. It's the game I've been waiting for since 2007.
    1. skipwondah33's Avatar
      skipwondah33 - 08-12-2011, 10:21 PM
      Oh hell yeah I'm getting it then. I don't mess with Ultimate Team so I could careless about that.

      Thanks CDJ
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 - 08-12-2011, 11:29 PM
      Was really thinking about it... BUT... leaving for a family weekend getaway on the 26th and won't be back until the 29th. Decisions, decisions...
    1. I OU a Beatn's Avatar
      I OU a Beatn - 08-13-2011, 12:19 AM
      Someone let me know if my thinking is correct. You'll be able to download on Friday evening, and then you'll be able to play Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then it expires sometime Tuesday evening - the day Madden releases, right?
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