FirstCuts: More Madden News And Notes, Vol. Oh C’mon Isn’t It August Yet?
↵Today I’ve triple-loaded the Madden news cannon because evidently nothing can be announced at the same time. It must be staggered. I’m beginning to think the Madden franchise deserves a daily update show on TV.↵↵The biggest news of the day on Madden is the most predictable: EA Sports plans to re-up its NFL license. Unlike the owners and the NFLPA, EA sees no reason to jump out of this exclusive relationship. And why would they? They’ve got the football game on lock at this point and can do pretty much whatever they want. (That isn’t necessarily intended as an indictment, because quite frankly I’m geeked about a few new features this year coming off of last year’s improvement.)↵
↵↵So for now, those of you pining to play the NFL 2K franchise again will have to continue playing 2K5 online with the other people who just aren’t willing to let it go.↵
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↵The other bit of news out of the Electronic Gaming Summit is that EA Sports head honch Peter Moore showed off an alpha build of an All-Play version of Madden. All-Play is the name they're giving to titles that are built from the ground up and simplified for the Wii's casual gaming audience rather than ported from one platform to another like they are with the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and other traditional consoles.↵
↵↵Electronic Arts’ ability to build simulation and authenticity into their sports titles isn’t just their greatest strength, it’s also their greatest weakness, Moore told those in attendance according to Kotaku.↵
↵↵Chief among the features that caught my attention: five-on-five mode and scaled-down user menus that are less complicated. Also, I found it interesting you could pause the game, create waypoints for a receiver to run and essentially create plays on the fly. Without having seen it in action, it sounds like a solid use of the Wii Remote.↵
↵↵Versions of the FIFA, Madden, NBA, NCAA and Tiger Woods franchises will all get the “All-Play” touch.↵
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↵↵And lastly Sony announced a special edition of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) that will drop on Aug. 12 and will be part of a Madden-exclusive package. The Madden 09 PSP Entertainment Pack will include a PSP, Madden 09, a UMD video titled NFL: In Just One Play, a credit to download Beats, the PSP’s music game, plus a 1 GB Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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