To Madden, Or Not To Madden

Happy Madden day!
Today I am faced with a dilemma… to Madden, or not to Madden. But before I go on, a warning to the people who frequent my blog for music and movie rants… this is neither… this is a video game rant which is so inexplicably nerdy that I will not blame you for just moving on… but I digress. Today, John Madden Football ’06 comes out and I am completely torn as to whether to pick it up or not. This dilemma is deeper than the mere wanting of a video game; it’s a matter of principle!

First, some background. I am a football addict. I freely admit it. More specifically, I am a football VIDEO GAME addict. In my opinion, no other professional sport translates to the small screen the way football does. It is more about your ability with a controller, it’s the strategy in your play calling, your ability to read the defense, to pick up that blitz, to see the safety creeping up, knowing when not to go over the middle because the linebackers are in zone coverage. One of my very first video game obsessions was Nintendo’s “Play-Action Football” for the NES. Not only did I learn the game, I learned football. As many of you know, I never actually played competitive football on any level. In high school, at 5’9” and 140 lbs I just wasn’t big enough, or fast enough to really get out there an compete. So I was a band and choir geek (yes I admit it). But I still played “sandlot” football on the weekends with my friends, most of which were on the team. Was never fast, but I could throw a mighty tight spiral that was fairly accurate for up to 20 yards. Again… band and choir geek, not a football player.

Anyways, my love of the video grid iron progressed with the advent of “Tecmo Bowl” on the NES. I still have fond memories of destroying the defense with the unstoppable video Bo Jackson (arguably the most unstoppable video game athlete in the history of video games). From there it was “Tecmo Super Bowl”, then “Super Tecmo Bowl” on the SNES. Finally, the panicle of football games, was the day I got my SEGA Genesis and the very first, “John Madden Football”. This set new standards for football realism and strategy. Unfortunately, that realism was lost on my Dad who would just hoof the ball down field EVERY PLAY and usually end up beating with that lame ass approach. (That’s right, I know you’re reading! It was cheap and you know it! :P )Sometime later in High School I became addicted to the stats and the management aspect of the game. That’s when I discovered “Front Page Sports Football” for the PC. Gone were the days when I played the game… now I just sim’d the games and managed my team. As I entered this new phase of geekdome, surprisingly I still managed to have a girlfriend. Shocking, I know :)

Sometime in 1998, I was introduced to “Front Office Football”…. Hands down the BEST text based football simulation ever! You don’t even have the option to play the games because there were no graphics, just text. I lost so many hours and so much sleep over this game that it is beyond even talking about. At this time I thought I would never want to actually play a football game again. Then… in 2001, I got a PS2 with “John Madden 2002” and my life changed once again. Football on the next gen consoles added more realism and control than ever imagined. It wasn’t until my third year of law school however, when “NCAA Football – 2003” came out that I was a complete addict once again. Then it became a party game. One by one, my law school colleagues started coming over to play, until it got to the point where it where we had full blown tournaments that would last well into the morning. The “girls” would call us up to go out on a Friday night and we would actually CHOOSE to stay in and play video games. And it was great. One night in particular, I think I had about 8 guys crammed into my tiny Spartan Village apartment in an epic tournament. We had a TV set up for the video game, another for the Pistons game, case after case of beer and about a half dozen pizza’s. Well the festivities went late… and about 2:00 in the morning we were greeted by the Michigan State Police at my door after a bunch of noise complaints.
“You boys having a party in here?”
“No officer, just a bunch of law students playing video games on a Friday night”.

So we move on… Just this past year I left the Madden world and moved on to “ESPN: NFL Football 2005”. Great game, plus it was only $20. Not bad for a game that was actually BETTER than Madden which ran about $50. Played the hell out of that game last year. Of course it wasn’t as fun without my classmates to talk trash to, but still a very solid game. However, this past Spring, EA Sports (the makers of Madden) bought the EXCLUSIVE rights to all NFL video games, effectively eliminating the ESPN Football franchise. This is where my dilemma kicks in. I hate not having the choice. I hate monopolies. I hate big business. And now, the game I love is big business, bullying the other companies out. This just doesn’t sit right with me. The sad thing is… we all know I’ll end up getting “Madden ‘06” because I’m an addict… However, out of protest to EA Sports’ incredulous business tactics, I did not Pre Order the game and did not wait in line when it went on sale last night at midnight… so there!