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Madden commercial campaign features three players
ESPN has posted a “Clues to the Cover” article, which offers more speculation as to who’ll be on the cover of Madden NFL 08. Of course the news has already broken that Vince Young is the one that has been chosen, however something very interesting is mentioned within the article that everyone should take notice of.
We know that Devin Hester, Chicago return-man extraordinaire, is the first player to ever achieve the maximum 100 Speed Rating in the game, and we’ve heard that Hester joined Titans QB Vince Young and New Orleans RB Reggie Bush to film a series of Madden commercials that are slated to run during the Draft.
So Reggie Bush and Devin Hester are joining Vince Young to help promote the game. What do these guys have in common?
All three are coming off their rookie season and they were seen as explosive, game breaking players.
Is this a sign of the theme or a certain feature that will be showcased? It’s safe to say that having those three involved together is more than a coincidence.
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What to think of the Vince Young choice?
Taking a look at the decision to put Vince Young on the cover of Madden NFL 08, initially I figured the reaction would be split and it has been. He is an exciting player that helped lead his team to wins but he only has the rookie year under his belt and his numbers paled in comparison to some other stars.
After becoming the starter for the 0-3 Titans the team turned the season around going 8-5 from then on and challenging for a playoff birth. He had 12 TD passes and 13 INTs with a 66.7 QB rating but also rushed for 7 TDs. He helped the Titans to multiple come from behind victories and a stretch of 6 straight wins which ended on the final weekend of the season. Honors included the Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl selection.
He didn’t seem to be regarded as one of the favorites for the cover of Madden this year. Just at QB there are several who put up better numbers or had more team success. However Young brought a level of excitement and interest last season that maybe was only matched by fellow rookie Reggie Bush.
Interestingly this likely means that the cover athlete hasn’t been chosen to showcase a specific feature to their position. That was recently done for QBs with the ‘Vision Cone’ in 2006. It seems that this year it may be more along the lines of a general theme that Young can help represent. A good example of that is EA giving Jared Zabransky the cover of NCAA Football 08 more on the merits of what the team accomplished than on his personal achievements.
This decision has taken many people back to remembering the year of Michael Vick as Madden 2004 is arguably held as the best version of the game to date. That year had a certain element of excitement and pure fun that has been lacking since. Hopefully this is a sign that Young has been picked to help recapture some of that.
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Vince Young chosen as cover athlete for Madden 08
The Nashville City Paper has revealed that Tennessee Titans QB Vince Young will grace the cover of Madden NFL 08. The official announcement will come Tuesday night on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Young won 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and became the first QB to play in the Pro Bowl in his rookie season since Dan Marino.
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How to make a fool of yourself…
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.
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Madden cover athlete to be announced Tuesday 4/17
According to ABC the cover athlete for Madden NFL 08 will be revealed on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show Tuesday night 4/17.
There is a good chance however that the news of who has been chosen for the cover will slip before the broadcast. Check back for updates as news breaks.
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NCAA Football 08 menu screens leaked
Two images of NCAA Football 08’s menu screen have found their way out, originating from a post on ncaastrategies.com. Click the thumbnails below to view full size.
A couple observations to make from examining these.
- Obviously these are from the early stages and unfinished, given that Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson is in the pictures while the team listed below is Ohio State.
- They likely represent the current generation menus, notably these specific ones coming from the PS2 as the button symbols are present. The main menu has already been described to feature “My Shrine” on the 360 and PS3 and this looks to be a generic version of the menus.
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GamerNet to “set a trend” for EA Sports
A recent article on the Next Generation website went into some detail on the new GamerNet feature that will be unveiled in Tiger Woods 08. The outlook is that GamerNet, and the user created content that it represents, will become prevalent in future titles from the company. We’ve already seen that materialize with the initial news out on NCAA Football 08.
An EA rep said that GamerNet is “not necessarily” something that will be implemented into every EA Tiburon game, but “as for the future of EA… it’ll definitely set a trend.”
Not surprisingly also noted is that GamerNet will only be available on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
The recent annoucements have brought about a great deal of positive reaction and excitement. These elements of user produced content will create a whole new way to enjoy the games.
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Weekly Newsletter
I’ve added a weekly newsletter signup on the sidebar of the page. Simply enter in your email address and confirm the sign-up in t
he email that is sent to you. You can always opt-out of the newsletter by clicking the link within them or by contacting me and I can do it manually.The newsletter will contain the title and link to all the articles that have been posted over the course of the week. This way you can stay up-to-date with the news and make sure you didn’t miss out on anything important!
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