This March 7th you’ll have your chance to vote for the player to grace the cover of the game box. Only you may want to choose carefully.
Legend The First. John Madden Football/Madden NFL
The history of the videogame goes back to the early days of videogames in general and industry giant Electronic Arts. Ceo Trip Hawkins had already begun pursuing sports games with big names with the company’s runaway success, “Dr. J and Larry Bird go One on One” released in 1983 and Hawkins wanted to follow with a football title in 1984. Madden initially agreed, but then put the game on hold. The reason? Personal Computers and Game Consoles couldn’t put enough animated graphics objects (known as sprites) on-screen for two 9 player teams, they could only handle 7 players per side. That wasn’t realistic enough for Madden to put his name on the game, so it took until 1988 for a product Madden would approve to be developed and released. The second version was released in 1990 and a new one has come out annually since.
It was John Madden Football to start with, and the game lacked actual NFL team names or players because initially Electronic Arts didn’t have the rights from either the NFL or the NFL Players Association to use them. The deal finally went down in 1993 (probably after the first four demonstrated longevity in the market, high game quality and higher earnings potential) and the name changed to “Madden NFL.” Despite Madden’s retirement from broadcasting in 2009, he and the title keep on cranking along. The game is one of EA’s most consistent and highest selling titles.
Legend The Second. The Madden Cover Curse
In 1999, Electronic Arts began to feature players, rather than Madden himself, on the cover. Starting in 2001 though, “honored” players began suffering career setbacks after appearing on the game box. Hamstrings, Fibulas, MCLs, Wrists and feet have all suffered. Career stats have tanked. Some of the more dramatic declines included Daunte Culpepper, who threw 23 interceptions and broke the record for fumbles the year he appeared on the cover and Brett Farve, who was supposed to have been retired when he was featured, returned to a lackluster season and a sexual harassment scandal. LaDanian Thomas’ fans put up a campaign to keep him off the Box, with its own website, in 2007. For a full blow-by-blow of the victims and the indignities they suffered, hit the Wikipedia article for Madden
This year, for the second time, EA and ESPN have teamed up to allow fans to vote for the cover player. Over thirteen million people voted and Peyton Hillis won. Or perhaps lost, since he didn’t have such a great year.
Hillis himself even seemed to blame the game for his poor performance, saying late in the season: “Things didn’t work in my favor this year. There’s a few things that happened this year that made me believe in curses. Ain’t no doubt about it.”
I’m voting for Tebow. Up to you to figure out why.
Stephen Jacobs has written on technology and entertainment for almost 25 years. His work has appeared in old school publications like Videomaker, Washington Post’s Fast Forward, Television Business International and Television 2.0 and in new tech venues like Wired and CNET. He’s currently a professor of Video Game Design and Development at RIT.
