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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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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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Your p.m. roundup for Oct. 14, the day the hipster cop came to save the day. Photo via Twitter. And yes, he knew we would post this. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors. More »
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Bit of a speed bump here in just the second week of what I'd hoped would be a regular feature. Our commentator is AWOL. I'm still uploading the video so you can see what Madden NFL 12 predicts for this week's marquee matchup between New England and San Diego. More »
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Remember Demetry James? The man whose breathless narration of Greg Jennings 99-yard, broken leg touchdown in Madden NFL 10 amassed 5 million YouTube views has joined Kotaku and Deadspin to announce our video preview of the NFL's biggest game each week this season. [NSFW language] Today, we're going back to the matchup that started it all: Saints vs. Packers. But this time, the Saints are without a key piece of their defense. 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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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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We all remember this, right? One Madden player's profane, exultant play-by-play of virtual Greg Jennings' gamebreaking score. Real Greg Jennings gets in on the fun with a family-friendly reenactment, with narration by Larry Fitzgerald. 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 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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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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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 »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5799523&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 »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796348&view=rss&microfeed=true In the two and a half months since he traded Canada's weather for Florida's, and titles like FIFA for Madden, Cam Weber has read that he delayed Madden's release for three weeks because of the NFL lockout; that he's adding… [Kotaku] More »
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Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: forget the Super Bowl MVP — it's down to Peyton Hillis and Michael Vick. More »
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Traditionally arriving by the first or second Tuesday of August, Madden NFL 12 will be released three weeks later, Aug. 30, in a move EA Sports says will carry into… [Kotaku] More »
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When ESPN and EA Sports announced that they would team up to let fans select the Madden 2012 cover boy, we predicted that the angry loud people would quickly sound off about the selections. The pool is now down to 16 selections, and the shit-stirring has begun: in a totally unoriginal outcome, the loud angry people are PETA and the selection under fire is Philadelphia's Michael Vick. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5787619&view=rss&microfeed=true Remarkably, Madden NFL 12 will depict players suffering concussions, according to the president of the NFL Players' Association, but apparently in a manner that reinforces the seriousness of the injury and the message that playing through one is not a… [Kotaku] More »
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Madden NFL 12 is the most important video game of all time, topping previous title-holder Madden 11, which usurped the title from Madden 10, etc, etc. Same game, a couple new features, and most notably, a new cover athlete. The Madden Cover jinx is a thing of the past, but it's still quite the honor. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5784088&view=rss&microfeed=true Soldier Field, one of the more storied venues of the National Football League, has never appeared in the Madden NFL series, or any other NFL series. It's always been a generic venue under the name "Chicago Stadium," or "Chicago… [Kotaku] More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5781512&view=rss&microfeed=true Typically, these were unlockable items - prototypes of avatar awards, you might say. You earned them by accumulating points in gameplay, or found a cheat code that handed over all of it. Either way, there was some means of getting… [Kotaku] More »
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Back in October in the virtual realm, Packers WR Greg Jennings scored a 99-yard touchdown on a broken leg in Madden. The gamer's voice-over went viral — it has been viewed over four million times on YouTube — but Jennings himself hadn't yet responded to the most famous play of his career. At ESPN The Weekend at Disney World last weekend, a fan officially got "inside the mind of a Greg Jennings." More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5778631&view=rss&microfeed=true The week 9 Madden 11 update is announced, and Donovan McNabb's stamina has dropped eight points. Sounds like EA trusts Mike Shanahan more than anyone in their right mind should. More »
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Getting beaten by an 11-year-old while he flings racial and homophobic taunts is annoying enough. Now there's a faster way to get a headache from playing Madden 11: 3D! More »
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Yeah, he knows he's Internet famous now. Or maybe this is all viral marketing for crappy Vizio TVs. [NSFW language] More »
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Greg Jennings goes 99 yards on a broken leg. Exciting, if it were real and not a video game. But that doesn't stop him from creaming his pants over it. [VERY NSFW LANGUAGE] More »
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Theory: Today's NFL rookies are way smarter about football than previous generations because they were raised on Madden games. Conclusion: Lock your kid in his room with a PS3 and a P90X and starting booking your retirement today. [Wired] More »
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We get it; you love Madden. You buy it every year. But wouldn't it be awesome if there were another football game available? Join this class action suit against EA, and you might get one. Or at least some cash. More »
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