Playstation Football Games Lead The Charge

Once considered a failure due to slow development and limited technology for the majority of home users, Madden NFL has come a long way since its initial release in 1988. To date, the software title has sold better than 85 million copies that total will over 3 billion dollars in sales. Using the names of real players, real plays from professional play books, taking advantage of graphics capabilities and a real game feel are just a few of the reasons Madden football games have come to be one of the most popular playstation football games ever.

It is no secret that Madden was not the original namesake for the game. The designers had reached out to a few other high profile players and even some other coaches, but none were able to participate due to other agreements or a simple lack of interest. Madden came on board and educated the designers, and ironically, it is the game and not his professional career as a coach and announcer that has brought him the most recognition.

The game has certainly grown in both style and features over the years. Updated features and new ones are implement with every game release. One of these was known as franchise mode. It was presented almost 10 years after the game was originally sold, and while other baseball games offered general manager features such as drafting and trades, Madden was the first football game to bring these options to the screen.

More variations to game play were added in 2003. Players could still play a single game, however they could now play a whole season or they could play more than one season. Initially created solely for the playstation 2, online play was implemented as well, meaning people could play one another across the world wide web. In the released version from 2004, online play was enhanced and a new addition called the playmaker tool was implemented. This feature gave the offense the ability to expand from only 4 audible options to the ability to change the direction of plays and assign hot routes at the line of scrimmage. This was a big step for the realism of the game.

In 2005, the playmaker feature was added to the defensive side as well. This leveled the playing field between the offense and the defense and gave the defenders the ability to match audibles called by the offense. As with the 2004 release, the addition of the defensive playmaker tool did much for the realistic playing style of the game. Versions that have been released in the last years have contained other unique aspects of play like the trick stick, control of lead blockers on running play calls, and a weapons control used with superstar players. Even league play is now possible, giving up to 32 people the opportunity to play an entire season from a single console or through the internet.

Playstation football games have dominated for good reason and have become as much a simulation as they are a video game. Playstation 3 Madden football games have been super popular for over 20 years, and future development promise to make the simulation even more true to life.