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Sunday Comics: Dead Island Game company EA has announced that it will be shutting down online service for “some older EA titles”. Included in the list is football game Madden NFL 09 (PS3 and Xbox 360), which was released in August 2008.
Contrary to popular belief, Madden does not sell itself. Some people need convincing it’s an improvement over last year, some people need reminding it’s time for a new Madden and some, like myself, need convincing it’s any better than NFL2K5. In order to get the word out (the word being “BUY MADDEN”), then, EA need to spend money on advertising. And they spend a lot. For Madden 09, for example, they spent over $US10 million on marketing. For one game. $US5.5 million alone was spent on cable TV advertising. Guess an email just reminding everyone “hey, new Madden is out” can’t get the job done.
Throughout the month of October, a limited edition Madden NFL 09 Pink version will be available, with proceeds going to the Deanna Favre HOPE Foundation. This is coinciding with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and will be available only at Target and NFLShop.com. Besides a new box art, there will be no other changes to the actual game itself. It’s still the same Madden 09 you probably already bought (and traded in). Two things of note, though. They didn’t use the new Jets uniform packaging, and there will be no PS3, PS2, or PSP pink editions, either. Just 360 and Wii. Also, Brett Favre has gone through a lot of Madden covers this season already and still hasn’t suffered a horrific injury. Way to go, Brett! Click the jump for more details.
The estate of John Facenda, the “Voice of God” of highlight-reel narration famously misquoted as calling Lambeau Field “frozen tundra,” has won yet another appellate victory against NFL Films for its unauthorized use of his voice in a promotional video for Electronic Arts’ Madden football franchise.
The NPD figures for the month aren’t out yet. We don’t know ‘em. Think that’ll stop EA Sports boss Peter Moore from calling the results? It won’t stop Peter Moore from calling squat. He’s disclosed EA’s own internal estimates for the game, and since we’re on a bit of a roll with internal EA estimates, we’re going to roll with these ones too. Mainly because, in all probability, they’ve already got hold of the actual figures. But also because of this quote from Moore: “In the month of August we may be bigger than a certain Eastern European gangster”. He’s basing that off “estimates” that the game’s done $US 133.5 million in sales, which is not only a 6% increase over Madden 08, but for those who like to think games revenue and movie revenue are somehow comparable is more than Tropic Thunder, Mamma Mia! and Pineapple Express did for the month at the box office.
Interview: EA Sports’ Moore Calls $US 133.5 Million Month For Madden ‘Vindication’ [Gamasutra]
Once was a day rappers could settle their fueds with bullets. That or lyrics. But that would be asking a little too much of Bow Wow & The Game, who are instead settling their beef (prompted by The Game’s boast he was the world’s best Madden player) via a game of…Madden 09. A game of Madden 09 which will be thrown straight up on YouTube, and which will see the loser donate $US 100,000 to the winner’s charity of choice. Charity? Good deeds? This rap game’s changed, yo.
BOW WOW AND THE GAME GAMBLE $US 100,000 IN HEAD-TO-HEAD [contactmusic, via GameArena]
Alright, if you bought Madden ’09 for Xbox 360 and want to participate in the new Online League feature with me and your fellow Kotaku-ites, here’s your chance. I’ve set up a 32-team league on Xbox Live, and I’m taking one of the slots, plus we have three others I’ve invited to the league on board too. That means there are 28 first-come first-served slots available. The password for getting membership into the league is on the jump, followed by some house rules.
Ah, football and August — fresh cut grass, training camp, two-a-days, puking, pre-season football, the release of Madden and, about 3 seconds after that, the reports of the first Madden glitches. Unlike last year’s bugfest, it’s been reasonably quiet so far. But paging through YouTube on Friday I found a plethora of classic, often hilarious Madden glitches, plus one of him perhaps subconsciously drawing a wiener on the telestrator in real life.
We lead off with the Madden Ambulance Montage (love that title card) above. You can watch the health care professionals (oath: “First, do harm”.) in John Madden Football ’92 cut a path of destruction through the uninjured players on their way to pick up the crumpled halfback — with slo-mo replay, too. Many more clips after the jump.
It’s odd to talk about EA Sports’ Madden franchise, with the features it’s touting in the 09 release, now making itself more of a social gaming experience. For the better part of two decades it’s been one of the top titles to play with friends, offline or, lately, online. But the pattern of features that were added, upgraded or unchanged from last year points to a major push that’ll expand the game’s social appeal, especially to demographics well outside the paunchy, balding thirtysomething. In other words, EA is going where the growth is, and its marketing of this game absolutely tips that hand.
Sam’s Club? You don’t need Sam’s Club to print your Madden covers off. Or EA, for that matter, because we know you’re lazy, and have trouble navigating the homepages of monolithic publishers. So we’re giving you the option of getting them right here, with these watermark-free, printable copies of the new Packers-less, Jets-orientated box art. There’s one for each version – 360, PS3, PSP and PS2 – and they should be big enough that, when printed, they’ll look indistinguishable from the copies of Madden 08, Madden 07 and Madden 06 next to it on the shelf. Oh, except Wii owners, there’s no cover for you. Don’t take it as a sign EA don’t think you care, take it as a sign EA know you don’t care.
