Just in case you missed it, ESPN add a cool little feature to this season’s NFL Countdown pregame shows: their in-studio talent interacts with player models from Madden ‘09. Brooks Barnes captured all the gritty details in a NY Times piece earlier this week – it’s certainly worth a read.
ESPN has played a big part in Madden’s presentation the last few years (and likely paid handsomely for the privilege), so this isn’t an enormous deal for either party. And I think I first saw live actors interacting with in-game models in Time Traveler way back in 1991.
What makes the NFL Countdown activation particularly exciting is that ESPN benefits from the experiment much, much more than EA. This may be the only franchise in all of gaming that I can say, without a doubt, stands totally on its own, and gives an established force in media like ESPN a leg-up by simply sharing airspace.
The fact is, the NFL Countdown is already full of annual Madden buyers. I think its a safe bet that anyone who tunes in and HASN’T bought the game in the last few years is kind of a last cause for EA. But ESPN may be able to grab some eyeballs, and most importantly stop gamers from switching on their console for a bit, by throwing some of the familiar Madden ballers on the screen to interact with Berman, Keyshawn and Ditka.
Personally, I hope it works out for all involved. After all, how cool would it be to see a virtual Zeterburg deke out Barry Melrose during the hockey season?
1 response so far ↓
Wagging Madden’s dog « The Liquid Architecture blog // February 2, 2010 at 11:19 am |
[...] course, long time readers (all 3 of you) will remember yours truly covered how ESPN more overtly incorporated Madden into their NFL highlights show. So Madden imitates life imitates Madden. Possibly related [...]