Madden 12 News Post

John Madden Rips Into Developers Early in Development, Didn't Like 7 on 7 (NSFW)

10:12 PM - May 12, 2011 by Steve_OS

I'm not sure how big of an impact John Madden has on the Madden series nowadays, but he sure did have an impact early in the development process when Trip Hawkins was still there.

Check out what he said to the developers when he was shown an early version of the game. Quotes were found in the book http://www.amazon.com/All-Your-Base-...=operasport-20 by Harold Goldberg.

Quote:


	"In a chapter detailing how Trip Hawkins started Electronic Arts, it mentions that Trip dreamed of making high art that would have players crying. At some point that took a back seat to EA�s true calling: being the biggest sports game maker in the world. Early on the company paid big money to sports legends to give authenticity to their games, and when Trip decided to make the definitive football game, he enlisted legendary Oakland Raiders coach and commercial pitchman John Madden to be the (giant) face of the game. When the developers showed Madden an early version of the game that could only display seven players per team, John wasn�t shy about sharing what he thought. �** that and you people. Either we do it in� right or we don�t **in� do it at all.� The team was pretty shocked to hear him saying things he�d normally keep confined to the locker room, but it ultimately pushed the team to get their football game as close to perfect as possible. They toiled for years, even as some in the company wanted to cancel the seemingly unending project, and when it finally did launch it created a dynasty that will probably exist as long as people throw footballs and the NFL gives exclusive contracts."

Source - Harold Goldberg's book is filled with game development anecdotes worth sharing (Gamesradar)

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Member Comments

# 1 PantherBeast_OS @ 05/12/11 10:22 PM

Man you got to love John Madden and the way he got things done back then. I don't blame Madden one bit for using that kind of language back then to get the Madden crew to make his game close to been real as possible. John said if his name was going to be on the cover of a game like this. Then the game should feel and play close to real football as it can. Good for John for he said back then. Maybe John needs to do it again for todays crew to get them really moving like they did back then.

# 2 rspencer86 @ 05/12/11 10:35 PM

That is an interesting story... might have to pick up that book.

# 3 videlsports @ 05/12/11 10:42 PM

I'm glad he did that.. Just like the other posters says it's time for him todoit again.

# 4 Philliezfinest @ 05/12/11 10:52 PM

He need to give dat speech again lol

# 5 wildinkc @ 05/12/11 11:49 PM

This is a great book to read. I just finished it a couple of week ago. Very informative of the gaming industry. It was pretty cool reading about how the game developing company's were in the 80's like how I think it was Atari who worked out of an old skating rink. It was really cool. I could not put this book down.

# 6 wildinkc @ 05/12/11 11:50 PM

oops I mean I could not put my kindle down.

# 7 CKA15 @ 05/12/11 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philliezfinest


	He need to give dat speech again lol

He really does

# 8 acts238shaun @ 05/13/11 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philliezfinest


	He need to give dat speech again lol

I know thats right

# 9 Dazraz @ 05/13/11 04:17 AM

Great read. I doubt JM gets so passionate about the game now. I doubt even he can't get the big boys at EA to listen anymore.

# 10 Aggies7 @ 05/13/11 07:03 AM

And that is why the game still has his name on it folks. Hopefully that will quiet the folks who say I wish they would just take Maddens name off it. For that they should put Madden back on the cover next year.

# 11 K_GUN @ 05/13/11 08:13 AM

I wonder if those would be his words when seeing skating LB's

# 12 Only1LT @ 05/13/11 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_GUN


	I wonder if those would be his words when seeing skating LB's

Lol

Character minimum

# 13 Only1LT @ 05/13/11 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggies7


	And that is why the game still has his name on it folks. Hopefully that will quiet the folks who say I wish they would just take Maddens name off it. For that they should put Madden back on the cover next year.

His name is on the game today, for the exact reason why they sought him out in the first place. Not for his Football acumen, but to capitalize on name recognition.

Madden isn't the mega broadcast star that he was, but his name on the game is etched in pop culture consciousness.

It has very little to do with any benefit of the input that he might bring.

# 14 blklightning @ 05/13/11 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggies7


	And that is why the game still has his name on it folks. Hopefully that will quiet the folks who say I wish they would just take Maddens name off it. For that they should put Madden back on the cover next year.

why? the game is a shadow of its former self. if i were madden, i'd get out of the contract to get my name off the box. then again, his paycheck is probably good enough to warrant sidestepping this moral landmine.

# 15 turftickler @ 05/13/11 10:57 AM

John Madden should watch this video. Then let's see how many swear words he can come up with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYsW3q3yZrY

# 16 Yankees_CT @ 05/13/11 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Only1LT


	His name is on the game today, for the exact reason why they sought him out in the first place. Not for his Football acumen, but to capitalize on name recognition. Madden isn't the mega broadcast star that he was, but his name on the game is etched in pop culture consciousness. It has very little to do with any benefit of the input that he might bring.

Well, he was also known as a pretty decent head coach (as I am sure you are aware) who does know the game of football and I am sure has brought a little more then name recognition to the game (although I am aware that is one of the obvious reasons he was used). Broadcasting came after the fact. Let's cut the guy a little slack.

# 17 Only1LT @ 05/13/11 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yankees_CT


	Well, he was also known as a pretty decent head coach (as I am sure you are aware) who does know the game of football and I am sure has brought a little more then name recognition to the game (although I am aware that is one of the obvious reasons he was used). Broadcasting came after the fact. Let's cut the guy a little slack.

You are correct, I am aware that he was a great coach. My point is that EA, first and foremost, put his name on the box to sell copies. Any input that he could lend was a very distant second to that fact.

The fact that he was a big time coach, gave the game more credibility, real or perceived, ie his name could leverage more sales. This could be accomplished without even one iota of input on his part.

This is also the reason that his name is still on the game. Again, the name Madden is now almost synonymous with videogame Football.

Make no mistake. There are people that have more X and O wherewith all than Madden. If that were chief among the reasons for selecting a spokes model if you will, there is probably some lesser known coordinators who would have been better in that role. They wanted his name. Anything else was gravy.

This game could have just as easily turned out to be Don Shula Football, or Tom Landry Football, or Bill Parcells Football, etc...

# 18 spankdatazz22 @ 05/13/11 12:01 PM

He ripped into the Dev team back in 2005 after seeing how over the top the game was in 2004 (when they tailored the gameplay around Michael Vick) - I remember seeing a piece on ESPN about it. It'd be cool for them to put him back on the cover, but only after they get the game right

# 19 roadman @ 05/13/11 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blklightning


	why? the game is a shadow of its former self. if i were madden, i'd get out of the contract to get my name off the box. then again, his paycheck is probably good enough to warrant sidestepping this moral landmine.

Do you really think Madden feels the game is lousy? His name is on the box and they go to his ranch once during the making of Madden, plus he is in constant consultation with them. He's not going to get out of the game, he feels the game is fine.

# 20 Only1LT @ 05/13/11 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Do you really think Madden feels the game is lousy? His name is on the box and they go to his ranch once during the making of Madden, plus he is in constant consultation with them. He's not going to get out of the game, he feels the game is fine.

We really don't know what he thinks of the game, good or bad. And even if we did, I'm not sure that I would put much stock in it.

He isn't a gamer. He may know Football, but he doesn't know game mechanics. I would think that his critiques would be more along the lines of are these real NFL plays, versus something simply gameplay related.

For example, I'm sure he was thrilled with the product back in 89. It was 11 on 11. Had real teams, players, had pro type plays. Did that game play realistically? Not so much.

Now obviously tech was different back then and not as capable, but somehow I doubt if John gets into what is capable today and really demands that the game reflect that.

Bottom line, I'm not sure if we should be really put too much stock in whether Madden is happy with the state of the game, considering he gets paid. There's probably a lot of Miller Lite endorsers that drink Bud Lite.

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John Madden Rips Into Developers Early in Development, Didn't Like 7 on 7 (NSFW)