Madden NFL is an American football video game produced by Electronic Arts (EA). The first version of the game was released in 1989 and one has been released every year since.
The game is named after John Madden, a well-known football commentator and formerly a successful football coach during the 1970s. Madden insisted that he would only give his endorsement to a game that was as close to real life football as possible.
The game has grown, refined and matured over the years, adding many new features. Among these is voice commentary, allowing players or watchers to hear the game being called as if it were a real game on TV. The commentary is by John Madden teamed with his regular broadcast partner, which meant Pat Summerall until he retired; the role is now filled by Al Michaels, John's regular broadcast partner on Monday Night Football.
There are multiple modes of play, from a quick head-to-head game to running a team for a whole season or even multiple seasons. Online play is a new feature, available only for users of the Playstation 2 console or a Microsoft Windows PC.
In recent years there seems to be a "Madden curse." The curse is that the player featured on the box will have a weaker season. The first to fall victim to this was Eddie George of the Tennessee Titans, who graced the 2001 box. The next to fall victim was Daunte Culpepper, of the Minnesota Vikings, who had a lackluster year and feuded with his star receiver Randy Moss. Marshall Faulk, of the St. Louis Rams, who was on the 2003 box suffered an injury. Finally Michael Vick, of the Atlanta Falcons, suffered a broken fibula in a pre-season game against Baltimore.
