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Mark Little flicks the joystick and opens a special developer's menu in Major League Baseball 2K12. The screen jumps to an empty ballpark, with a few lines representing the trajectory of a pitch and the timing of the batter trying to hit it. Little starts fooling with some ratings, creating a situation involving a high-contact hitter with not much pop. More »
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In past years I've used the Saturday before the Super Bowl to handicap the field for the next cover of Madden NFL. Since the last time I did that, EA Sports put the honors up to a fan-voted, 32-player tournament in 2011, and on Thursday announced it was doubling that field to 64 for 2012. More »
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Of all ironies, it's Electronic Arts now asking a judge to rule that some video game depictions of real-life names and symbols and products don't need a license. More »
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So much is made of NFL 2K5 and the blaze-of-glory conclusion to its rivalry with Madden NFL that it's easy to forget another title once threatened EA Sports' glamour franchise. In fact, the Madden team also feared NFL GameDay until the end. More »
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A walk-on running back; a dad who couldn't tell his kids what he did; a fat kid who started going to the gym and never stopped. A guy who came to know his sport's greatest venue in ways some champions never will. The top man at sports video gaming's dominant publisher, and a college student who considers himself a "virtual athlete," watching every out from his wheelchair. More »
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For the past two years, Stick Jockey has, at the end of the season, used EA Sports' NCAA Football to supply an alternate-reality simulation of a postseason involving a true college football playoff, one that invites every conference champion. I've become resigned to the utter fantasy of this idea ever happening in my lifetime. More »
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For a short time this summer, Florida State was the rumored target of a Southeastern Conference raid on the Atlantic Coast Conference, in the protracted and sometimes absurd realignment that still is reshaping college football's landscape. Ben Haumiller, a proud Seminole alumnus, knew that change was unlikely in the real world. Florida State burned a bridge when it chose the ACC over the SEC in 1992. But on his Xbox 360, FSU was already lacing up in the nation's premier league. More »
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Rarely considered for overall video-game-of-the-year honors, the uncommon diversity of sports video games support a class of awards unique to the genre. These are Kotaku's Stick Jockey Sports Video Games of the Year. More »
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This March will mark the third straight year in which Tiger Woods is not the sole star on the cover of a video game named Tiger Woods. But that shouldn't suggest that the golfer, winless since an embarrassing marital scandal broke two years ago, is being eased out by EA Sports. More »
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For 18 months, Dave Ross surfed forums and blogs and dreaded what he'd find. He couldn't tell his kids what he was working on, lest they say something at school. Every day, when Ross booted up his computer at EA Sports, he clicked on the shared drive over the studio's intranet, and then on the folder marked MADDEN PLAYBOOK CREATOR. More »
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As a 10-year veteran of the Madden NFL series, Ian Cummings has plenty of experience building video games with bears in them. More »
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As multiple lawsuits have been brought in multiple venues by multiple former college athletes—some of whom are actually more recognizable as professional stars—I've tried to pull back to the big picture of what really faces video gamers and (principally) EA Sports in the parade of litigation over unauthorized use of likenesses in sports video games. More »
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Let's just say if you're going into the corner with Winnipeg's Nik Antropov hot on your tail, be prepared to pay the price. More »
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When you put out a football game every year (American or European), you're faced with the difficult task of keeping it fresh. To that end, one of the most hyped additions to FIFA 12 is the heralded Player Impact Engine. It's an "advanced procedural animation system tied with accurate collision physics," meaning players are going to actually interact when they collide. It sounds great. But judging from demo play videos making their way around the web, it might be one of the bigger mistakes the EA team has made. More »
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As the NFL lockout dragged all of the spring and much of the summer, Madden NFL 12 figured to be the only football coming to your TV this year, until a month before its release. From its conception, the game was meant to be a salve for the hurting hardcore fan, not a song for those who tune in only for Super Bowl commercials. Freed of the need to build features marketed to the indifferent, this was supposed to be the Madden for a lifer, if not a lifetime. More »
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Earlier this week I got several versions of a small talk question I always field this time of year: "I haven't played Madden in X years. Should I buy it this year?" More »
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In the online multiplayer era of sports gaming, I have been a Grinch-like hermit, rarely venturing forth into it except to ragequit and rant that none of what they do reflects reality, and to get off my lawn. Madden, which has a culture of elite play spanning about a decade, television shows celebrating it, and a cottage industry of strategy advisors supporting it, is one of the more intimidating environments for a newcomer. Brutal experiences early on can kill not only fun, but a desire to return. More »
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Previewed this spring, the list of Madden NFL 12's improvements to its Franchise campaign read like a letter to Santa written by the hardcore football fan. Wished-for features like draft-pick trades, custom playbooks and training camp cut days join new concepts like a fast-paced free agency period under the hood of Madden's most popular mode. But do they assemble into an engine, or are they a collection of useful parts? More »
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This has been an obsession of mine ever since Cowboys Stadium appeared in Madden NFL 10—hit the Jerrytron, the arena's massive scoreboard, with a punt. Tennessee's A.J. Trapasso did in a pre-season game in 2009, causing a brief foofaraw over its size and how low it was hanging over the field. More »
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Simulation-quality sports video games all now ship with some kind of solo career mode, in which you create or control one player throughout his entire career. By far, this fantasy experience is most underserved by the football games. NCAA Football 12 made a substantial effort to upgrade its career this year, and although Madden NFL 12 does add some new features with "Superstar," it remains inexcusably neglected next to the rest of the product. More »
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Some executives, when they take over, try to keep it low key. The big leather chair and better office is good enough for a while. No need to go erasing all memory of your predecessor, especially if he's still lurking about the corporate campus. More »
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They have all the secrets to make you a better Madden gamer. "SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE OVER THE COMPETITION," says the website. "DOMINATE ONLINE." More »
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In 2007, the NFL staged a regular-season game in London for the first time ever. The night before, the American ambassador invited several VIPs to the U.S. embassy there. Even diplomatic cocktail parties do not proceed without some formality. More »
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The National Football League's players approved a deal with the league owners this afternoon, ending a four-month lockout that had threatened the regular season and cast a shadow over development of one of the NFL's signature licensed products, EA Sports' Madden NFL. The game is on shelves Aug. 30. More »
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In any discussion of the greatest video game athletes, the Michael Vick of Madden NFL 2004 always makes the cut, and is usually the most recent name on the list. In the eight years since his appearance, sports simulations have fine-tuned their realism, closing the era of logic-defying performances by the likes of Griffey, Roenick, and Tecmo Bo Jackson. [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5814656&view=rss&microfeed=true Gameplay impressions are difficult to form under the lights, sights and cacophony of E3 in full swing, where you never have enough time to see all of what you want, and there's always an appointment five minutes from now. It's… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5813326&view=rss&microfeed=true The executive producer of Madden NFL quietly stepped down this week after less than a year on the job. He is the third senior-level Madden developer to leave the title in the past two months. But Phil Frazier and his… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5813238&view=rss&microfeed=true At E3 this week, the sight I was least prepared for was that of Ray Lewis in full Baltimore Ravens uniform: eye-black, skullcap, gloves, wristbands, everything. This was an appearance for Madden NFL 12 but to him, it didn't look… [Kotaku] More »
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Without fail, every time I bring up this job with folks outside the business, the topical jokes start rolling. Whatever the latest controversy or embarrassment is in sports, people ask if that's going to be simulated in the next edition… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5808592&view=rss&microfeed=true You may have heard of him. (This video, uploaded in March, has more than 6 million views.) Sexy Sax Man is quite the guerrilla artist, barging in bare-chested on food courts, laundromats, Walmarts and college classrooms to belt out… [Kotaku] More »
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Beat on a quarterback for 45 minutes of an NFL game and you'll see a different guy in the fourth quarter. Some start forcing every throw. Some will run like hell. Some go catatonic.… [Kotaku] More »
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Ben Haumiller's got a job for me. Several jobs, actually, but they're all in NCAA Football 12's new career mode, the "Coaching Carousel." Haumiller, the game's producer, explains it all using an offensive coordinator named Owen O'Cain as an… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5806666&view=rss&microfeed=true About this time last year, at E3, I was chewing the fat with a 2K Sports representative about NBA 2K11 which already looked to be the monster it would become. Long dominant in the pro basketball genre, the game with… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5806548&view=rss&microfeed=true The Big Ten's ridiculous division names will be getting a makeover—probably thousands of them—thanks to NCAA Football 12.… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5806092&view=rss&microfeed=true Alex Howell was the only freshman in the tunnel that Saturday, his chinstrap so tight it fused his jaw shut, 89,000 people packed into to the last row at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium. Earlier in the week the graduate assistant… [Kotaku] More »
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Madden NFL 12 will present concussions realistically - as realistically as removing a player from the game, forbidding his return, and delivering commentary that highlights the seriousness of the injury. The game will not include suspensions for players who dole them out. [Kotaku] More »
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A federal judge on Monday threw out a former college quarterback's claim against EA Sports, regarding the use of his likeness in past versions of NCAA Football. While the ruling clears Electronic Arts in a legal sense, Samuel Keller's claims… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5798723&view=rss&microfeed=true He's the first Madden cover star from a losing team. The first with no Pro Bowl appearances at the time of his selection. He led NFL running backs in one statistical category last year - fumbles.… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796899&view=rss&microfeed=true EA Sports uploaded - then quickly yanked - a YouTube video teasing Madden NFL 12 Madden junkies love to pick these things apart for clues about this year's new features. In so doing, they also found the Buffalo Bills' new… [Kotaku] More »
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Fans selected Peyton Hillis, the Cleveland Browns running back, to grace the cover of Madden NFL 12. Hillis prevailed in a five-week, tournament style vote-off that drew nearly 13 million votes, and was the final round winner over Philadelphia Eagles… [Kotaku] More »
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