We just previewed Madden 10 and it seems like the team has been hard at work scrapping elements that haven’t worked for the series and creating new features in order to produce the most realistic feeling hard-nosed Sunday football game to date.  Let’s blitz through the top ten changes Madden 10 makes to famed Madden formula.

1.  Madden 10 lets players “Feel The Pressure” in the pocket and avoid It.  Since the beginning of time, Madden players have played passing offense the same way:  Running 20 yards or more into the backfield, away from the pocket, and firing a huge bomb to a downfield receiver.  They either complete that miracle pass or they’re sacked for an absurd loss.  Real NFL quarterbacks don’t do this, by the way, they stay protected in the pocket created by the offensive line.  The developers of Madden 10 found that when players were looking downfield for a receiver, the pocket didn’t feel safe because they couldn’t sense when the defense was rushing them, hence the running into the backfield.

One of Madden 10’s goals is to make the pocket feel safe again.  When looking downfield for a receiver to pass to, the controller will rumble when the quarterback is under pressure.  A quick flick of the right stick lets the quarterback execute an avoidance move to shrug away a potential sack and give the player an extra moment to complete a pass.  The avoidance moves will work better with elusive quaterbacks, like Big Ben, but even then they won’t work all the time.

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You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Behind the scenes wheeling and dealing can generate tasty bargains, but sometimes those bargains come with a nasty aftertaste.

In this case, it appears that EA and the NFLPA along with Players Inc. struck a deal for retired NFL player rights that was significantly below fair market value. A class action lawsuit was filed by the players in question against Players Inc, but the fun didn’t stop there. In a letter crafted by 51 year old former Buffalo Bills safety, Jeff Nixon, Madden was asked to come to the aid of his fellow Hall of Famers.

Jeff’s “Dear John” letter to the former Raider’s Head Coach is laced with incriminating quotes, the most shocking being that EA’s total cost to produce Madden each year is apparently no more than $200,000!! Read more…

E3 08 bestowed upon us a great gift. Madden 09. With the ability to do backyard-football-like “do-overs” and an emphasis on teaching newer players how to play football, it looks like the Maddenest Madden yet. What more could two Italians straight from the old country wish for?

Actually, I’m only one fourth Italian and Range only works at an Italian restaurant. But i didn’t lie about Madden. It looks fantastic. Capiche?! Have at the video after the jump. Read more…

Justin Blankenship, a former FTC lawyer, expresses concern regarding the potential EA and Take-Two merger. Specifically, he believes that the merger may violate antitrust laws due to the hold the company would have on the videogame sports sector. Read more…

The news out of Redwood, CA is in, and it doesn’t look good for fans of NFL branded videogame football. The contract end date that many of us had been counting down to, has been extended through the 2012 season. Read more…

Just like its advertising campaign, EA is BIG. The company made net revenue of over 3 billion dollars in 2005 and continues to grow. The recent acquisition of BioWare will only continue to drive this monster forward. This along with its near-monopoly on professional sports games could prove to be a bottomless well for future earnings. Read more…