Kotaku: madden 2008

Madden Wins Kids' Choice Award

Mike Fahey — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:40:00 MDT

The 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards have come and gone. and it was yet another glorious year for children young and old everywhere. Highlights include a celebrity sliming performed on Orlando "Immensely Overrated" Bloom, Hannah Montana desperately trying to get her own name back, and the Naked Brothers' Band once again receiving condemnations from NAMBLA for false advertising. From a gaming standpoint, my nephew narrowly avoided getting a sympathetic smack upside the head as EA's Madden 2008 inched out High School Musical: Sing It! for the coveted Favorite Video Game award. It's nice to see that children faced with a crappy selection of titles went for one of the lesser evils.

2008 Kids' Choice Awards [Nickelodeon]

Madden Curse Strikes Again

Mike Fahey — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:20:11 MDT

It's beginning to get kind of spooky now. Madden 2008 cover boy Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans had to retire as quarterback for the remainder of Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a quadriceps strain, and it's too early to tell if he will be fit enough to play in next week's game against Houston. Not being a doctor, I looked up quadricep strain on InteliHeath.com, where I found this:

Most Grade I or Grade II strains begin to feel better within a few days. In most cases, symptoms are either totally gone, or very much improved, within 8 to 10 weeks. Symptoms of a Grade III strain may last until the torn muscle is repaired surgically.

A little more research suggested 10 days as a minimum for recovery, so at the very least Young will miss one game. Perhaps next year players will finally wise up and the Madden cover will just have a picture of a football on it, causing footballs everywhere to explode.

Young leaves Titans loss to Bucs with strained quadriceps [Yahoo! Sports - Thanks Brandon]

Frankenreview - Madden 2008 (Xbox 360)

Mark Wilson — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:00:22 MDT

My hand is already played; I'm admittedly not a sports fan. But I am a fan of using sports games as a litmus test for how comfortable developers have gotten with specific hardware.

Madden 2008 for the Xbox 360 has taken a huge leap in quality of generations of yore. Hit the jump for the full story in our Frankenreview: your life gifted back to you, from Kotaku. It's that freaking efficient.

IGN
The biggest and most notable improvement this year is in the animation and tackling system. Gone are the majority of pre-canned animations. Just because you see Ray Lewis wrapping his meaty arms around Shaun Alexander doesn't mean the same overused tackle animation is about to kick in. The new branching animation system works in tandem with some new, more realistic football physics...Depending on a player's skill, positioning, and momentum, a large variety of animations become possible. The end result is some of the most varied tackling ever seen in a football game.

1UP
The new "weapons" feature has a two-pronged effect. First, these onfield icons make it supereasy to identify a team's key players and their strengths. And more importantly, these classifications bring some much-needed variety to each position. So running the pigskin with elusive Saints running back Reggie Bush feels way different than using Chiefs power back Larry Johnson.

Gamespot
These new weapon designations even go beyond basic techniques...After a single play or coverage scheme has been called four times, a quarterback like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady can actually see exactly what the defense is going to do, whereas a smart defender can get a glimpse of where the offensive play is going to go.

Game Informer
Fans have lamented the drop in features in past Maddens, but 08 pulls things back up to speed with extensive scouting/draft options and pre-game training for improving players. Overall, there are more draft tools at your disposal - including being able to manually rearrange your entire draft board, although the process itself of scouting and drafting is a little cumbersome.

Sportable
Something that is a lot more difficult about this game is Superstar mode. In years past, your "Superstar" would collect achievements based on randomized genes from parents...Instead of a randomization, you have to compete in several drills including the 40 yard dash, running back drills, catch and cover drills, and a bench press. If you don't do well in the events, your ratings will take a definite hit.

It sounds like Xbox 360 owners have finally gotten their taste of a "next-gen" Madden title. Kudos to EA for getting it right...on the 360.