Madden NFL 08 to use real-time content

Soon, players of Madden NFL do not have to quit their game to know what’s happening in real-life football.

Thanks to a deal between ESPN, Electronic Arts Inc. and The Weather Channel, football console games are going to be infused with real-life events. Imagine this: If you’re playing a Madden game in Pittsburgh Steeler’s Heinz Field home stadium, it will be automatically set to rain if it’s actually raining over there in that part of Pittsburgh. Or how about this one: if a player is currently suffering an injury, his video game counterpart will be incapacitated from playing as well.

Aaron LaBerge, senior vice president of technology and product development for ESPN better explains this new feature: “So if a guy in the real world twists his ankle, you can’t use him in the game until he gets back.” Hmm, interesting.

Of course, fans of sports games are exhilarated, knowing that this new functionality is also applied in actual player statistics, which means you don’t have to stop playing just to check on how your favorite quarterback is doing. More importantly though, this move should somehow quiet the issue about manipulation or miscomputations of stats in video game sports.

This new feature will be included with Madden NFL ’08, scheduled to be out this August for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 platforms. As  for the moment, there are no specific news whether this will be implemented in other Electronic Arts sports games. As always, we will be keeping you updated, so stay tuned!

Via The Denver Post

Soon, players of Madden NFL do not have to quit their game to know what’s happening in real-life football.

Thanks to a deal between ESPN, Electronic Arts Inc. and The Weather Channel, football console games are going to be infused with real-life events. Imagine this: If you’re playing a Madden game in Pittsburgh Steeler’s Heinz Field home stadium, it will be automatically set to rain if it’s actually raining over there in that part of Pittsburgh. Or how about this one: if a player is currently suffering an injury, his video game counterpart will be incapacitated from playing as well.

Aaron LaBerge, senior vice president of technology and product development for ESPN better explains this new feature: “So if a guy in the real world twists his ankle, you can’t use him in the game until he gets back.” Hmm, interesting.

Of course, fans of sports games are exhilarated, knowing that this new functionality is also applied in actual player statistics, which means you don’t have to stop playing just to check on how your favorite quarterback is doing. More importantly though, this move should somehow quiet the issue about manipulation or miscomputations of stats in video game sports.

This new feature will be included with Madden NFL ’08, scheduled to be out this August for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 platforms. As  for the moment, there are no specific news whether this will be implemented in other Electronic Arts sports games. As always, we will be keeping you updated, so stay tuned!

Via The Denver Post