By Adam Thomas
Madden. If there is a franchise that can grab
casual and hardcore, the sports enthusiast and the guy on the street, this
franchise can. As one of the best selling franchises worldwide, it has dominated
living room after living room and is now known as the summer classic that has
its own day contributed to it.
This week we are taking a look at some of the news
that’s flowing around on the franchise, the cover controversy, and a glimpse at
some of the new items that may have slipped under your nose. In the Played
section, we go back in time to Madden ‘96, and we’ve got some good reasons why NFL Head Coach 09 should be on your radar for September.
Big News
Cover
Change Up?
In light of the recent acquisition of longtime
Packers quarterback Brett Favre to the NY Jets, many wondered what would become
of the title cover. The current cover has the former Packer QB in a Green Bay
uniform. EA Sports has stated that there will be no cover change before release
as the incident happened too close to the street date of the title. However,
those who wish to change the cover will have an opportunity via Online Download
according to Game Pro.
Speaking of
Favre
EA Sports has announced that there will be a
roster update to reflect the major moves made in the NFL in the last few weeks,
including names like Brett Favre, Jason Taylor, and Byron Leftwich. This
download will be available on launch day, so fans worry not about waiting to
see the new NFL.
Madden
Curse?
It’s no secret that there is bad luck that
accompanies cover athletes for the Madden Franchise. For example, Donovan
McNabb and Michael Vick - both of their careers took a downward spiral. Brett Favre was currently retired when he was given the cover, perhaps showing a new direction with the cover athletes. Now it’s simply a watch and see, since he is now a starting quarterback once again. Will the curse return?
PSP Package
Many people love Madden, but only on home
consoles. EA looks to change that this year, by releasing the title on both PSP
and Nintendo DS as well as giving the PSP a special bundle that has the game, a
memory stick, In One Play, a UMD, and a coupon for Beats. The total price is $199.
Gameplay features
Star Trek
Online
Set your
phasers to play. Lame I know, but I had to do it because the long delayed
title Star Trek Online finally will see the light of day according to CNET. It will feature a create-a-character mode that will let you be any race you like, from Klingon to Human, create your own races, and will let you lead your own ship to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Extended
Life Battery Kit Axed
Sony has decided to give the axe to the Extended
Battery Life kit only after nine months. This unit had the ability to add 80%
to the original battery’s life. No reason has been given, but some suspect that
the kit has the ability to let hacker’s retro mod. They will find their own
way.
NCAA Football 09 Patch Released
NCAA Football 09 would be the best college game of all time, if the glitches weren’t so apparent. EA has finally done something about it by releasing an update almost a month after release. Hopefully it will make the best game it
could be.
Played
Madden ‘96
Publisher: EA Sports
Release Date: January 1996
Whenever a game takes a series, and launches it
into the next level several years after its first game, it deserves to be
recognized. Madden NFL Football 96 is just that game. The inclusion of such game modes as the Create a Player mode (we all remember that 40-yard dash and the sore thumbs it could produce) as well as secret teams (Jacksonville being the now always available EA team) it just felt like the complete package.
It also marked the time where EA and Visual
Concepts (the creators of the 2K franchise) had a falling out. It was definitely a turning point in the creation of the Football game, because not but a few years later, the 2K series was released, and was the biggest competition to the Madden franchise since Tecmo Bowl’s popularity back in the early ‘90s.
Even with the split, this game is memorable as it
was the last premiere Madden release
on the SNES and Sega Genesis systems, before the franchise made the step into
3d. You can play this one and remember the good times that the lack of depth
perception could create. Besides, how can you go wrong with Pat Summerall.
Pre
Order
NFL Head Coach ‘09
Publisher: EA Sports
Platforms: Playstation 3 | Xbox 360
Release Date: September 2009
There are some things that are novel ideas that
just need complete follow through. One such idea is Head Coach 09. Its predecessor Head
Coach was interesting, and tried to cram the whole experience of being a
head coach into a single disc. The result was a game that featured some
highlights but more boredom and some obvious glitches.
EA decided to try it again with Head Coach 09, and has said that they have streamlined the process. Gone are the forced off-seasons and team meetings. In are its own intricacies, such as Free Agency and Coach and Player relationships. Seeing that is packaged with Madden and available as a stand-alone title, this one may be something worth checking out, especially for those wondering just how much work it is getting to gameday.
Programmers discuss the game: