Madden Player Ratings

[Atog]

I thought of this recently and I'd like to know how you guys feel.

I was reading an article on how they detirmine player ratings in Madden, and they said that they set a benchmark (like Randy Moss' 99 Speed) and base the other players' ratings around that.
This got me thinking: Why are they based around current NFL players, and not historical ones?

Let me put it this way:
If Mike Ditka or Kellen Winslow were in Madden 2007, they'd be rated 99 overall.
Meanwhile, Antonio Gates is rated 99 overall in Madden '07. Is Gates as good as Ditka or Winslow? Absolutely not.

Don't get me wrong, guys like Peyton Manning, LT, and Ray Lewis should be in the high 90s. But who really thinks that Gates will be remembered as a Top-5 TE of all time?


I don't think that this would ever happen, though, because high (inflated) player ratings pretty much sell games for EA.

What do you guys think?

[bobbing_headz]

I see your point, but, if all players are high in your opinion then it evens out. Besides, who would really want to buy a game where the best players are 90 or 91 and the average player is 70s. I guess EA could balance it to make everyone just as good but lower ratings but still wouldn't be as fun. Plus there's no way you can really compare players now with players from before since they've never played with each other.

[BrutallyHuge]

Let me put it this way:
If Mike Ditka or Kellen Winslow were in Madden 2007, they'd be rated 99 overall.
Meanwhile, Antonio Gates is rated 99 overall in Madden '07. Is Gates as good as Ditka or Winslow? Absolutely not.

How can you saw that Ditka or Winslow is unequivocally better than Antonio Gates?

You are looking at Ditka or Winslow in a historical perspective...taking into account their entire HoF careers. With Gates, you can only use a few years of data.

I find many people are very quick to look to the past with rose-colored glasses and immediately discredit contemporary athletes. Superstars from different eras are extremely difficult to compare. More often than not, people side with the previous era for some unknown reason.