Talk:Madden NFL

Missing Year?

There was a year that the game was not produced. I'm almost certain it was the year that the original PlayStation was released. They had difficulty setting up the 3D graphics and missed the deadline. It resulted in everyone being fired and nearly ended the franchise. Does anyone know what year this was? It may have been 1991.

1991 was the year before Madden was even released for Sega. 1996 is the year you are thinking of. I actually however have the Super Nintendo version of this game, it wasn't released on Playstation.Vinnyxvincent 21:35, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Where are the sales figures?

An article of this length, on the biggest games franchise around, and there are no sales figures? Good grief people! Get to work! - Posted by Anon

I wanted to say that actually the Madden series has been a yearly thing since 1992 not 1997 as noted on the article here.

The Madden NFL Curse section is plain sad

--So you argue, despite the fact that ray lewis did get hurt and the curse has held true more times than not, that It can't be valid. Go back and look at all the covers again... Eddie George was a joke for the rest of his career after his madden cover, constantly getting injured year after year. The rest speak for themselves.. __________

That section is just a joke. This year pretty much confirms that there isn't a "curse." A couple of months ago, a contributor added was trying to find a way to make the "curse" still alive by saying Ray Lewis had a bad year which isn't true because he had a minor injury near the end of the season. I removed it. Ray Lewis had a "decent" year for himself stat-wise.

The last contributionthat I just deleted said that the Ravens were cursed because they weren't in the playoffs. The AFC was competitive that year so it would be hard to be in the playoffs. However, the Ravens were in contention during final games of the regular season despite having no offense. They lost their top 2003 wide reciever to free agency (Marcus Robinson) and still were in playoff contention. I consider that no curse. --Anonymous Cow 02:53, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Amen to that! ---

In response to that^, the article was written to inform. The reader has to know the facts, and they can decide whether the curse lives or not. Ray Lewis got hurt during the Colts game. If you saw the game you would know he was kept going to the sidelines. They ended up losing that game, and the next, and that took them out of their run for the playoffs. Ray Lewis was a big factor, as he always is. His wrist caused them to miss the playoffs. The reader must decide if the curse caused this, not you. -MaddenDude

--- The curse is still on: Ray Lewis was injured, along with before that not playing anywhere near up to his old calibre of football, being pushed around by blockers left and right.

Don't be fooled by his jumping and jawing-- while still in the upper echelon of MLBs, Lewis wasn't half the player he used to be, last year. -FYI

lol, guys, its something to joke about. No one truly believes in the Madden curse, its just kinda curious to see if it keeps happening. Who is going to be the first to break it? And yes, Ray Lewis had a bad year after the Madden cover.

some speculate that due to Terrell Owens performing the Ray Lewis dance, the curse became confused and Roy Williams was the vessel through which the curse's might was exacted. This, of course, refers to the 2005 cover. -Nod 02:51, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Adding arguements against the curse should be considered. For example: In order to be on the cover, a player must have had a "successful" season, often based on statistics. So if the his'/his' teams statistics are high, there is less room for statistical improvement and more room for statistical failure. Therefore it is likely he will have a "bad" or "jinxed" season and this phenomenom will be attributed to the Madden curse. MafiaCapo 20:57, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

MafiaCapo - excellent point. Perhaps we may want to point out that it's only the 3 QBs (Culpepper, Vick, and McNabb) who have all seen major injuries in the season in which they were the cover athlete. The "regression to the mean" idea is a good one, combined with the "unlucky QB injury" effect. The most striking thing may actually be the lack of team success in the cover year, which is universal (every team did worse in the cover year than the year before). Again, regression to the mean, but it's so consistent that it may be worth pointing out. Thoughts? Thesurfshop19 13:58, 17 May 2006

Wait, are you trying to imply that sports players and/or fans AREN'T superstitious?? What planet are you from?? Seriously, yeah it's a joke, but with sports people being more than normally interested in that kind of thing, it makes perfect sense to leave the section in about "The Madden Curse" completely aside from the fact that it's a pretty well-known phenomenon. You can argue all day long about whether it's "true" or not, but the fact is, it's a piece of folklore that has now been tied to the Madden football video game so we might as well at least document the details. 71.251.91.27 23:52, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

It's being reported that Shaun Alexander has a broken foot and is out indefinitely, should this be added to the curse section? --67.165.6.76 21:41, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

NO, he is only out for a few weeks, which may not put a damper on his or the team's season, and until it does, it should be left off, as the injury is minor, and the team is still playing very very well without as much help from him.--Indiearmy 17:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Don't bother editing into this if your not going to be mature enough to sign your additions--Indiearmy 12:10, 10 October 2006 (UTC) Shaun Alexander continues the curse

Alexander definetely continues the curse, last year he set a record with 27 touchdowns... How many does he have this year? Look at his yards. In Fantasy Football getting Shaun Alexander screwed nearly every owner. Whether you believe in curses or not this is valid information to have on this site.

Barry Sanders on the '00 Cover?

I remember having my N64 copy of the game and I see John Madden and no one else on the cover. Is there any truth of this or are my eyes pretty bad?

I have the Macintosh version and Barry is indeed on the cover, though behind Madden. SonicAD 21:27, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Behind Madden? I'd bet a million dollars that move was made because Sanders abruptly retired and Madden didn't want to be caught between a rock and a hard place (Having a player on the cover who doesn't play for a team is just crazy, and if Barry decided to return, they could always argue that Barry was still their cover player) JurgenHadley 22:16, 28 September 2005 (UTC)JurgenHadley

Can someone please upload the one with Barry Sanders on the cover? Thanks. --Josh 03:50, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Criticism POV?

The criticism section is basically a rant against the Madden games and would be better off deleted. John 00:48, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

it's not all that POV. There are definitely some legit gripes in there. I don't think a wholesale removal is called for.--Alhutch 02:52, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Maybe not ALL POV, but about 90% is... i would say it needs to be cleaned up. Newper

you're welcome to clean it up.--Alhutch 03:03, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

It does seem to be a lot of ranting, and there are as many opinions as facts in there. Hardly objective. Xeller

I'm not as familiar with editing to ensure NPOV, but my opinion is that anything regarding non-realistic aspects of the game should be kept in (my edit, a few others). The article presents the game as (implicitly) as some sort of bastion of realism and I think the gameplay features that are not realistic should be mentioned (special teams flaws, etc). Things like the lack of some features such as Build-a-stadium in some versions of the game and EA's monopolization of the football game market should be kept out, IMHO -VetteDude 15:25, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Guys, we at least have to admit that the engine has been reused, well, maybe a couple thousand of millions of times. Either the series starts selling for $10 on release, every new release starts being distributed as abandonware or EA writes a new Football engine. Sometimes I even wonder if there's still Sega Genesis code in the XBOX Madden games. I bet you could run Madden 2006 using Kega and get some sort of message like "the prettier graphics require a new machine" or something. I know new machines can do more than what madden games do. It's just a matter of EA wanting to do something that doesn't appeal only to the Wal-Marters.

But some of the information is just wrong. There is a career records section. Anyone who can proof of this (I know it's true, I have the game, but I haven't found any place that verifies it) please do. John 17:01, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia isnt the Soviet Union; there many, many legit complaints you can file against the series. -Oyeah

There are legitimate complaints to be made, especially since EA has bought exclusive license for NFL games, but I agree that the section is not as NPOV as it could be. There are specific instances of blatant serious bugs in various platforms over the last couple of years (2006 PSP version had a season-ending save-game bug, and 2007 Xbox 360 version has serious QB bugs when playing in Superstar mode) that could be pointed out as shoddy QA from a company that perhaps doesn't care as much as they could if they had competition. 71.251.91.27 23:46, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Bill Belichick?

Is the reason Belichick is not featured in the game ('NE Coach' instead) the same reason as Parcells'? Haven't been able to find any info on it... -VetteDude 18:47, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

He's not apart of the NFL coach assocation which is the reason why he isn't featured I believe.

Number of Madden games

How many Madden games has there been? From the first paragraph it sounds like there has been about 15. 1 in 1989 and then one a year since 1992. Is that right? -- OoberMick 12:14, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, that's correct. I remember hearing that at least 1 had been skipped since the game's inception (perhaps 1990 + 1991 is what I'm thinking of...) -VetteDude 22:24, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Curse section incomplete and faulty

Before Eddie George in Madden 2001, there were two more cursed items :

-- Garrison Hearst in Madden 99 (appears on PAL Playstation cover), who promptly barely survived a heavy car crash. -- Dorsey Levens in Madden 00, who quickly got from All-Pro to a journeyman backup.

I got photos of both somewhere if proof is needed.

"After regularly averaging nearly 4 yards per carry in his first five seasons and rushing for over 1,300 yards in each one, he averaged only 3 yards per carry and rushed for career lows of 939 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 2001 season." That sentence is quite misleading. Can somebody edit it please. Also he only had 12 TDs in 2002, not 14 as the paragraph would suggest.RealFerrari 22:19, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Criticism?

Why is there a section bashing Madden here? One of the criticisms, that the game lackd career records, is false; the career records function has been added for Madden 06 on Xbox 360. I own the game and I have seen the career records. Overall, this section is irrelevant and should be deleted. John 01:27, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

No way, the comments about late-game comebacks and the CPU teams becoming unstoppable within the 2 minute warning is definately noteworthy. I can't tell you how many times over the years i've been playing Madden that a running back/receiver has suddenly become superman and broken 8 tackles on his way to the end-zone. Not to mention terrible quaterbacks morphing into Joe Montana.

Maybe you just need to improve your skills. I can't tell you how many times i've been in a game that got worse for the CPU over the last two minutes. I mean, there is a difference in that the CPU is going to strike for the win by throwing touchdown bombs instead of running it up the gut, but I don't beleive that there are any significant AI changes.

Anecdotes aren't reputable sources. 72.200.135.229 20:56, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

agreeed I got rid of that 2 min "catch up AI" section and unless crediable sources are cited i suggrest it stay gone

Stormfront

shouldnt it be noted, that Stormfront previously had the license?

History section is woefully short

Currently, there about 50% space in this article dedicated to the supposed Madden curse than to the history of the franchise, which I would think would be the most important thing for the article to cover. A lot of stuff in the section isn't specifically history. It covers the business side okay, but has almost no info on how the game itself has evolved. I'm going to make a chart of all the games so far and which systems they were on, but if someone more knowledgeable could include information about when key features were introduced and its rivalry with other NFL titles, that would greatly imrove the article. Ace of Sevens 07:01, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Removed from article

many believe that it was done in order to prevent their main competition, SEGA and Take-Two Interactive/2K Sports ESPN NFL 2K series from making another game. When the NFLPA/EA Sports contract expires in the 2009-2010 season, unless prevented by a contract extension between EA and the NFL/NFLPA, the series will be known as 'NFL 2K--', due to EA's purchase of ESPN rights in the series.

• I removed this because it's unreferenced and the claim is dubious. The 2K name is not part of the ESPN brand. The 2K sports titles were known as such before the ESPN license and continue to be known as such now that they no longer have it. Ace of Sevens 02:44, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

References?

This article has 3 references. Also known as pitiful. Thanks for your attention. Axem Titanium 22:11, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Hey, look! It's been 5 months and the number of references has actually decreased. Axem Titanium 01:58, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Stop adding shaun to the madden curse chart

missing a few weeks in not severe enough to be classified as "the madden curse"—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Indiearmy (talk • contribs) 08:16, 26 September 2006 (UTC).

If ESPN and other major sports media brings the subject of the "Madden Curse" regarding news about Alexender's injury, Wikipedia has an argument of placing the probably non-season injury in the article.[1] --Oskar Mayer Nguyener 15:56, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

A 2-3 week ingury is minor compared to the others, and may not be much of a damper on his or the teams season, so until it is, it should be left off.--Indiearmy 17:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

He should be added,he has a broken foot! Out for 2-3 weeks, hes not going to be the same after. This article has Eddie George as being cursed, even though he had no injury at all, infact he had career high rushing yards. So this injury dosn't 'qualify' but Eddie George not getting injured does? Coasttocoast 22:44, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

how should i know, i just know that shaun's injury isn't enough to qualify as the curse, as he wont be out for a long period of time, and it probably wont hinder his performace, or the performance of the team, when he returns. you can edit whatever you want with the other coverplayers, i'm just editing what isnt true, and that is that shauns injury is enough to be the curse--Indiearmy 06:21, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Umm.. so he is out from a range of "indefinitely" and "1 game", can you guys please just use something vague and stop changing it until he gets his next CT scan?

which is why i suggest leaving it off altogether until we know for sure its severe enough to be classified as the curse.--Indiearmy 06:53, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

"Coming off a record-season, Alexander had gotten off to a slow start in 2006, failing to reach 100 yards in any of his three games. He has rushed for 187 yards on 65 attempts (a 2.9 average) and two touchdowns. " Quoted From Yahoo Sports. If last season's mvp only has 2.9 avg on a loosing team then I think we can fairly say he IS important to the Seahawks and he IS injured. By the way, injury keeps him out till Oct 22nd game. That's more than 2-3 weeks!

Thats not more than 2-3 weeks, the hawks have a bye this week, so he will have missed 3 games, which when talking about weeks in football terms, is 3 weeks.

He is coming back to play against the Vikings on 10-22. By then, he will have only missed two games (Bears and Ramms), since week 5 is a bye. However, Yahoo! Sports claims Alexander will possibly undergo an MRI scan on 10-9, so we may as well wait till then for an update. --ShadowJester07 13:58, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Alexander should be on the curse list, and if you have to, include "it is speculated" at least. A 2.9 average yard per rush is horrible for the mvp and it is obvious that he has been hurt since the begining. We'll have to see until afterwards, but until then, add him, and show that it's just speculation.Jemijohn 18:05, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Shaun absolutely needs to be on the Curse List. Whether he misses 1 week or 16, an injury is an injury, and it occured after being on the cover of Madden. User:Minizilla 14:00 14 October 2006 (EST)

thats the point, the curse isn't just about an injury, which is why he should be left off for now, because so far, it is just an injury. we wont be able to see if his or the teams season was ruined by it until the season is over, but even then, the hawks are still ahead in their devision, and obviously didn't miss a beat without shaun, only losing to the undefeated bears while he was gone.--Indiearmy 08:08, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Indiearmy, please stop. It is obvious that Shaun has an extensive broken foot injury. He is once again out for another week. 1- 2 months is a significant injury. Let it be known that Vick came back after his broken leg also. Yea, Shaun will come back, but he wont be the same. And a bye week does count as a week in your so called 'football terms'.

If he isn't considered "cursed" like the others, Indiearmy, then what can you call this? Currently it is November 20 and Alexander still hasn't returned, not to metion that the Seahawks quaterback, Matt Hassellbeck, is injured and has missed the past few weeks as well. And one more thing, pre-Madden Alexander missed a total of 0 games in his 6-year career. Post-Madden he has missed already 6 games. So if this series of events can't be considered to be a part of this supposed "curse", then I have no idea how to classify it.

No kidding look at his stats last year and then look at him this year... Alexander was the biggest bust in Fantasy Football this year. People take Fantasy Football very seriously as usually there is quite a large stake of money to be had, and I for one will not draft anyone from the Madden Cover and I am not alone. You must be crazy to not think Alexander is not carrying on the curse. Tyler

He missed 6 games, and played 3 with an injury, and still almost got 1000 yards....which most RB's don't do playing every game, and you're trying to tell me he was cursed? 24.17.186.152 04:52, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

QB Vision

Whats the status of the QB Vision on all consoles. It is on or off? I have the PC version where it is on.

I don't think the "QB Vision" section in the criticism makes any sense whatsoever.

On PS 2 the QB Vison Cone is optional, that is untill you decide to go All Madden and then it is on default (Must use). I agree with the cirticism on the QB vision cone. In the manual (purchased at $16.99) it refers to an (optional) trigger to control the vision cone. I use the standard PS 2 hand held which does not have a trigger or if does, the writer was refering to something else as a trigger which was not made clear to users (Is there another type of controller that has a trigger?). I would like for someone with experience to provide an explanation as to what was ment to be the trigger on the hand held controller, how best to use it or other tips in being able to best use the vision cone to throw passes before being sacked on every pass play. Not being able to pass because of the vision cone makes the game useless to many that want to play at the All Madden level because you are going to lose to the computer which does not have a humans problem in using the vision cone. What about it? Anyone got an answer?

Screenshots of Every Madden Game Here

Here's a link I found that shows a couple screens from every Madden game. Please use this link to embed pictures in each section of the new Madden Sections of Wikipedia. Thanks!

http://www.consoleclassix.com/gameinfo_johnmaddenfootball_gen.html

Madden Sucks Now?

Right under The QB Vision control. I can't find it when I try to edit the page...