ESPN Outside The Lines - The Franchise - Madden NFL Football

[JBHuskers]

Good article front and center at ESPN.com today....

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/etick...=100805/madden

[Kwizzy]

Just read that & came here to post it. Really good article! Never realized how far back it all went & just how challenging it must've been to start a game like madden from scratch!

[skipwondah33]

Great article, definitely enjoyed reading. Some of it I already knew about but didn't know about the Joe Montana thing

I remember playing the hell out of that game.

[JeffHCross]

Wow. Great article. Definitely going to be keeping that one.

[JeffHCross]

I didn't know about the Montana thing either. Damn! That explains why that game sucked so badly ... every other Sega Sports game was really well done, but that one just sucked.

[skipwondah33]

I didn't know about the Montana thing either. Damn! That explains why that game sucked so badly ... every other Sega Sports game was really well done, but that one just sucked.

Haha true

[JBHuskers]

I had no idea that the guy who founded of EA was one of the first Apple employees. I spent a good chunk of my lunch today reading this article....it was awesome.

[JeffHCross]

One of my goals in life/career (to be fair, I have many, many, many) is to meet Trip Hawkins. To be able to work with him on something would be mind blowing, but I'm constantly amazed by the stories I read about him.

[Rudy]

Wasn't Joe Montana Football the first game with commentary? That was cool.

The article was really interesting. One thing though - Ian needs to stop whining so much. He's always whining about how critical fans are and how it stresses him out. Then don't go on twitter and open yourself up for criticism! He's in a high profile position. Those positions get criticized far more often than praised. How often do you read how good a job a referee does? Rarely. But when they screw up you hear all kinds of it. Fair or not it goes with the territory so stop whining or quit the job as creative designer for Madden already.

[cdj]

I think it's a fine line though, Rudy. I'd rather he read forums and get 'upset' versus ignoring forums and the community. From the brief mention in the article, I gathered the impression it was the ridiculous stuff that probably gets to him most - the personal comments & insults, etc. ('You're an idiot and should live in Siberia', 'f EA') versus game-related feedback ('I don't like the Strategy Pad and feel it's too tedious.').

I do agree 200%, you really need thick skin and can't be on sites too often. I believe he said he checked some feedback while out with his wife? Don't ruin a good moment by doing that...don't bring work into personal time unless need be. That's just asking to get upset.


This was a great read. ESPN can do some great stuff when they put their mind to it.

[JeffHCross]

I agree with cdj's assessment.

[jaymo76]

Man seeing that Genesis console brings back some good, good memories...

[UGA14]

My dad had the very first one and we've had every one of them since. Truly amazing how far this game has come... I used to think the Sega edition was the greatest game I'd ever played... Madden '96 especially.

[Rudy]

I do agree 200%, you really need thick skin and can't be on sites too often. I believe he said he checked some feedback while out with his wife? Don't ruin a good moment by doing that...don't bring work into personal time unless need be. That's just asking to get upset.

The fact he checks feedback while out with his wife is a bad sign. It shows he cares but he takes criticism way too personally.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think I would take all that criticism well either and there is a lot of mean spirited stuff out there, but it IS expected from the Madden community. He does have the premier job in video games so the constant whining about negative comments gets old for me.

[ebin]

Wow, that was a trip. Fascinating read. Its easy to forget, but these games really have come a LONG way in the last two decades (typing that makes me feel old!).