Gridiron and vid game icon ‘Madden’ Mania All Over Again

By Damara Popoola

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/13/07 – For true football and video game fans Tuesday can be summed up in one word: Madden. No not the Hall of Fame coach and sportscaster, but his video game “Madden NFL 08” that reaches shelves Aug. 14. The football series, now in its seventeenth year, has sold over 60 million copies and annually tops the video game sales charts.

Publisher Electronic Arts Inc., one of the world’s largest video-game makers, sold 7.4 million copies of “Madden” in North America alone last year, including 2 million in the first week, making it the top-selling title in 2006, according to market research firm NPD Group. Each copy retails for $30 to $60, depending on the game system, which adds up to guaranteed profit for EA at a time when they really need it having just recently seen first-quarter losses widen by 63 percent amid a seasonal slowdown.

Obviously other football games exist, but EA hasn’t had much competition when it comes to realism on the virtual field because of deals it struck in 2005. They include an exclusive agreement with the National Football League and its players’ association that prevents other publishers from making games that include actual NFL teams and players and exclusive rights to use the ESPN brand in its video games. That makes things difficult for rival games like “All Pro Football 2K8″ from 2K Sports, that can depict historically important players like Jerry Rice and John Elway, but can’t use current players like “Madden” can.

But for many hardcore gamers and real life NFL stars, it’s not just a game – it’s a lifestyle. In anticipation of “Madden’s” release, former players including Eric Dickerson, Warren Moon and Marshall Faulk will meet with fans in New York’s Times Square Monday evening. Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber will even make time to hand out the first copies of the game to rabid fans Monday at midnight at Toys “R” Us.

Steve Williams, a 35-year-old “Madden” devotee from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, explained the appeal of the game, saying, “You’re playing as opposed to just watching; it’s like chess.” He told AP, “You are the coach, the general manager, you’re everything that you’ve always wanted to be.” Williams is such a big fan he even runs his own Web site, where he posts a podcast with insider Madden game tips. He recently was among a handful of “professional” Madden-heads chosen to participate in season three of ESPN’s “Madden Nation” reality TV show.

Additions to the 2008 “Madden” include special icons that identify the strengths of franchise players like Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and another new feature, called “Family Play,” which is designed to make the game easier for Madden newbies on Nintendo’s Wii console by simplifying the controls. And the visuals are just as stellar as ever. “We’re beautiful,” Tennessee Titans quarterback and current “Madden” cover star Vince Young said of his team’s digital likeness in the game.

With actual NFL players playing as much as anyone else, Bryan Intihar, news editor of the video-game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly, is certain that “Madden” has transformed into something quite similar to America’s obsession with real football. “They call baseball America’s pastime but in the realm of video games it’s football,” Intihar said. “It’s become like a Mario. Madden is in many ways a video-game icon.”