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Brett Favre (
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Posted
Aug 08 2008, 01:46 AM
As we all know by now, Brett Favre is a New York Jet. And if you believe the simulation we ran using the Madden NFL 09 engine, Jets fans should get ready for the playoffs. Our prediction has the Jets winning 11 games, their most since the 1998 season, and New York earning a wild card berth in the playoffs. It’s going to be fun to see Favre in the AFC East, but I’m sure my fellow Patriots brethren will tell you that we’re still not scared of the Jets.
Get a look at #4 in green and white. Going to take a while to get used to this, huh?
Meanwhile, our team is in LA making final preparations for Maddenpalooza. We can hardly wait to get down to the Rose Bowl for next week’s launch.
Chris Erb, our director of marketing for Madden and the brains behind the incredible flurry of launch activities, checked in earlier today with these pictures to give us a sneak peak from the Rose Bowl, where we’re expecting thousands of fans to turn out on Monday to see Good Charlotte, Busta Rhymes and buy their first copies of the game. Most importantly – admission is free. Get there early.
A couple of other important announcements we made today:
• An online roster patch featuring Brett as the Jets starting QB will be available by launch day, and hopefully even Monday Aug. 11. As we’ve said before, the final packaged version of the game that you can buy in stores beginning next week will feature Brett on an “NFL Greats” roster. In Franchise Mode, players can transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, and pick him up on any of the 32 NFL teams for the 2008 season. Or, go online and download new rosters (that include other changes as well) after you buy the game on Tuesday.
• As we’ve previously confirmed, Madden will hit stores on Aug. 12 with Brett in his Green Bay Packers uniform. We don’t plan to re-issue the game with new packaging, but will offer a free downloadable cover in the coming days on easports.com featuring Brett Favre in a Jets uniform. Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of Madden NFL 09. Look for it by Tuesday.
• The Madden demo is now available. We’ve been reading lots of feedback on it. Make sure you download it and preview the new Virtual Training Center and Madden IQ test. Our producers are in the forums answering your questions, and they’ve posted this story for anyone wanting more about the demo.
Read article
See you next week in Pasadena.
Posted
Aug 07 2008, 12:06 AM
On the road this week for business, I was excited to pick up my copy of USA Today this morning and see a terrific story on the history of Madden.
Click here to read it.
As I’m quoted as saying in the story: “We don't so much as launch Madden any more, we celebrate its arrival”, and it’s quite a celebration at Tiburon this week. Our Madden development team has put together a truly breakthrough game this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this great franchise – something we’re extremely proud of. And it's nice to see the critics agree. Madden was named best sports game of E3 in the official “Game Critics Best of Show Awards” that were announced yesterday. Congrats also to EA’s other nominees for this category, including: NBA LIVE, Skate It and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR.
And so much for what I said in yesterday’s post about welcoming Brett back to Green Bay. As we all continue to watch this saga unfold, reports have Brett heading to Tampa Bay next year. Who knows. But since I’ve had many people asking, I just want to set the record straight – Madden NFL 09 will hit stores next Tuesday with Brett wearing his Packers green and gold, as we celebrate his legacy as one of the great QBs to ever play the game and someone’s who’s been with us from the early days of John Madden Football. But what’s most important is what’s in the game – and by the start of the season, we’ll have a roster patch that will ensure that, in the game, Brett is on whatever team he’s playing for this season.
Who could have imagined the offseason would be this fun?
We’re under a week to go until Madden launch. Don’t forget to look for me next week at Maddenpalooza.
Posted
Aug 05 2008, 07:31 PM
What a fascinating story that continues to unfold with the cheese heads in Green Bay.
We’ve obviously been close observers of the ongoing Brett Favre saga that has now been unfolding for weeks, so it’s with great interest that we stay glued to ESPN.com to learn the latest on what’s happening at camp today after last night’s long meeting with Favre and Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy.
Interestingly, you might remember from a previous post that I mentioned that there was controversy even within the halls of EA about putting Brett on the cover of the game. Ironically, there was concern that once he announced his retirement that he would return home to Mississippi and never be heard from again until he showed up in Canton to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. How wrong we were! Looking back to the day we announced Brett on the Late Show with David Letterman, it was clear then he was not totally convinced that he would never step foot on another NFL field in uniform.
All the drama aside, here’s what you really need to know about Brett Favre in Madden:
Brett is in the game. Just as we do every year, we’ll release a roster patch the day before the game hits stores with all the changes that have been made in the offseason since the game went final. Thus, Brett will be a Green Bay Packer when rosters are updated on Monday, just as Jason Taylor will be a Redskin instead of a member of the Miami Dolphins. We’ll also release another roster update before the start of the regular season.
Here’s hoping things get resolved one way or the other for one of the game’s true legends.
PS. Don’t forget to let me know if any of you are coming to Maddenpalooza, so that we can meet up…
Posted
Apr 27 2008, 07:53 PM
Following our unveiling Thursday evening of Brett Favre as the Madden NFL 09 cover athlete on The Late Show with David Letterman, we followed up with a luncheon in New York City honoring the legendary quarterback on Friday.
Sponsored by EA SPORTS, we brought in Sterling Sharpe, former teammate of Brett's in Green Bay, as the MC. Also present were Steve Mariucci, who was Brett's QB coach in the early years, as well as Matt Hasselbeck, who was back-up to Brett in Green Bay before moving to Seattle.
I've attached some exclusive pictures of the event, including the presentation to Brett of a limited-edition Xbox 360 featuring the cover artwork. Great event, honoring a tremendous athlete and human being.
Posted
Apr 25 2008, 08:14 AM
As you may have heard by now, we tonight announced Brett Favre as our cover athlete for Madden NFL 09. Brett unveiled the new packaging on The Late Show with David Letterman, and I was proud to be present at the taping to see the announcement first hand.
It is with great pride that we take the bold step of featuring a retired player on the front of packaging, an honor normally reserved for a player at the peak of his game. I say with great pride, because some may question the marketing strategy behind this (and many at EA did just that, quite frankly). I don't for one minute.
In this, the 20th year of this storied game franchise, as far as I was concerned there was only one choice. As we look back over the past couple of decades in the NFL, Brett stands out to me personally as a beacon for everything that made me a huge fan of this great game from almost the moment I arrived from the UK in the early eighties (and became a fan of the LA Rams, with Vince Ferragamo at QB, but that’s a story for another posting…).
Forget all of his record-breaking stats – it was his approach to every game he played, his leadership and spirit on the field, his “gun-slinger” style in an era of robotic QB’s, and most of all the way he wore his heart on his sleeve for us all to see. I can’t forget the Monday night game versus the Raiders the night after his father unexpectedly died, when he threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns. Unless you were wearing silver and black that night, you both cheered and cried for him.
His fight with addiction to prescription drugs, his wife Deanna’s battle with cancer soon after his father died…all of this makes this good old boy from Mississippi one of my favorite players of all time. Nobody deserves more to be on the cover of our game this year than Brett Favre. So you can question whether having a retired player on the cover is a smart move, but we made this decision for one reason, and one reason alone… because it was the right thing to do.
