Jaxxson Mayhem

February 12, 2008 - In 2004 EA Sports shocked the world of videogames by announcing a deal with the National Football League that gave them the exclusive rights to publish games under the NFL brand. Gamers everywhere cried foul over the agreement that essentially took one of our most beloved football franchises, NFL 2K, out of the yearly grudge match. The original deal was signed through 2009 but today EA Sports announced that it's completed negotiations with the NFL and NFLPA (NFL Players' Association) to extend the exclusive license through the 2012 season. IGN: So how does everyone at EA Sports feel about extending the NFL license through 2012 rather than the original 2009 season? Peter Moore: Couldn't be more delighted. It allows myself and my teams to further invest in football on a longer-term investment horizon, to get after some new extensions of the NFL brand into interactive entertainment on top of our core Madden franchise which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming season and allows us to invest a little more globally as well. The NFL is very interested in increasing its global footprint around the world and sees us as an important partner in distributing games and being able to educate people as to how the game is played and allow them to have a broader base than just the North American that they enjoy right now. IGN: Speaking a little more on the creative side and gearing your answer towards the consumer: how does this exclusivity deal benefit them to make Madden... Peter: ...as good as it was this year! IGN: Right, right exactly, but I mean back in the day with 2K and Madden it just seemed like their was more of a creative push for forward-thinking innovation. Moore: Well, to be clear, remember it wasn't EA that demanded the exclusive relationship. The NFL requested it and did a research process for exclusive bids and so EA bid, as did other companies, and we were very fortunate to be able to get that exclusive arrangement. So, I want to make that very clear because I think there are some misconceptions sometimes that EA demanded the exclusive licensing for the National Football League and nothing could be further from the case. I think what's happened since then we've continued to invest; once you do get an arrangement like this clearly there's a price to pay for that and you need to make sure that you're continuing to build your franchise so that you can sell more copies so that you can obviously defer your costs from being the licensor. This year, and I jokingly said, "As good as this year," because it's been a phenomenal year and it's going to allow me with the team back at Tiburon in Orlando to now have a five-year strategy to not only continue to build on the MetaCritic ratings that we've enjoyed this year for Madden but also what kind of brand extensions can we do around the National Football League that, quite frankly, will bring in people that might classify themselves as non-gamers but are big football fans. It's a big untapped market for us. I look at it from two levels: I think of people who look at playing a sports game as way too complicated, we have under-indexed on sports on the Nintendo platforms and we need to change that. And I also think that we need to bring football fans into our industry because I think it's a relatively easy portal to bring people into interactive entertainment because, you know, there's literally 120 million -- according to the NFL -- football fans and yet I can probably only count 10 million Madden Nation fans. So somewhere along the line there's something that I'm not offering that big group of people that I need to change. And you know the NFL is a huge proponent of doing that. We'll get better access to NFL Network and NFL Films content that might ease people into it but, you know, we've gotta bring more football fans into our industry and that's our commitment as EA Sports to do that. IGN: I know that just recently EA Sports and EA in general has been gearing their efforts a bit more towards the casual market. Does this deal have any impact or ramification on that at all? Moore: I wouldn't characterize it as "casual" because that's such a loaded term. I use the term around here of approachability. As a guy who has been around for a few years I watch people who look at a videogame console and then look at the people playing it and they stand back. It's not that we're getting people to sit in the couch and get the controller in their hands and having a go. I think that people are just intimidated by what we do as an industry because it just feels too hard. And then you look, in particular, and we're more guilty than anybody of this, you look at some of the menus that pop up during a sports game and it looks like the heads-up display on the space shuttle. I mean, you don't know whether you're calling a cover-two defense or accidentally blasting off into orbit. It's too complicated. Now, having said that, there's no intention of dumbing down the games for the 10 million people that love and actually thrive on the complexity of what we do in sports games and in Madden in particular. But I think we've gotta find, and we started doing this with Family Play, alternate entry points for consumers that love the idea of playing a football game but it's just too complicated for them as it currently stands. IGN: You just mentioned Family Play on the Wii. Are we going to see a more family oriented approach branching out from the Wii and workings its way onto Xbox 360 and PS3 but maybe slightly less over-handed than what's on Nintendo's system because of the different target audiences for the respective systems? Moore: The answer to your question is yes, and details to follow, but I think what we've learned is that, you know, I'm probably the best example, my son who is now 21 and a senior at Cal he and I have been trying to play Madden against each other for the better of a dozen years and it ranges from him toying with me and making me think I'm playing against to him absolutely crushing me. There has never been a way that I can have fun playing against him and this goes back to the PlayStation. And so Family Play allows me to, at least it allows me to think I'm having a good game but having different control mechanisms and recognizing skill levels is something we at EA Sports and I think the industry as a whole has gotta do if we're going to bring in broader consumers. It can't just be a dumbed down version of the game. IGN: Right. Well, today we're obviously talking heavily about exclusivity and deals and whatnot. With Backbreaker showing -- I take it you're familiar with Backbraeker a little bit? Moore: Oh yea. IGN: Well they seem to be pushing technology forward a little bit, I don't want to say more so than Madden has, but they're hoping to reinvent the way football is played on consoles and they're doing this through new technology. I'm sure you're away of the new technology they're putting into it. Any aspirations of one day signing that technology to use in Madden or looking elsewhere for new technology ideas? Moore: Yeah, I mean one thing we are working on -- again, no announcements here -- but I can tell you that we continue to look at physics engines and we're still not quite in the world of football videogames in true physics with regard to a player hitting a certain player at a certain angle and a certain speed and what have you, I think we're very good... IGN: Definitely. Last year's game was as good as it has ever looked. Moore: I've seen some things, and no announcements yet, but I've seen some things that will continue improving [on that]. It's the one thing that we look at every year, "How do we improve the physics of collision? How do we make it feel like it's truly a football game?" It's sometimes the one Achilles heel when you're watching a videogame versus watching the real game, I think we've got the graphics down pretty good but the physics are still, because it's such an interesting game in regards to the different angles you get hit at, it feels like no two tackles are ever the same and, you know, we've gotta be able to replicate that within our physics engine and we're on that. And with that, I've gotta run unfortunately. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/851/851316p1.html

AP Top 25 1. Tennessee (69) 25-2 1,797 2. Memphis 26-1 1,682 3. North Carolina (2) 26-2 1,668 4. UCLA (1) 24-3 1,593 5. Texas 23-4 1,478 6. Kansas 24-3 1,368 7. Duke 23-3 1,344 8. Stanford 22-4 1,264 9. Xavier 24-4 1,228 10. Wisconsin 23-4 1,175 11. Georgetown 22-4 1,101 12. Indiana 23-4 969 13. Louisville 22-6 828 14. Butler 25-3 752 15. Connecticut 21-6 688 16. Purdue 21-6 655 17. Notre Dame 21-5 630 18. Vanderbilt 23-4 627 19. Michigan State 22-5 625 20. Drake 24-3 621 21. Marquette 20-6 389 22. Washington State 21-6 364 23. Kent State 23-5 125 24. Gonzaga 21-6 94 25. Saint Mary's 23-4 77 Others Receiving Votes Miami (FL) 62, Davidson 40, Clemson 26, Texas A&M 21, Brigham Young 20, South Alabama 14, Kansas State 14, Arizona 11, USC 11, Mississippi State 8, Pittsburgh 7, Stephen F. Austin 7, Virginia Commonwealth 4, Western Kentucky 3, Kentucky 3, Florida 3, Arizona State 1, Cornell 1, UAB 1, New Mexico 1. Dropped From Rankings Texas A&M 22, Kansas State 24.

Ya, I had it. It was alright. Pretty damn spicy tho.

It's true. It's got 6 strips of bacon, ancho chipotle sauce, jalapeños, 2 pieces of pepper jack cheese.

People actually go to PWI? Why waste your time there when dozens of other sites are paying people to fish through the ads and steal the content for you? I check wrestlingdb but they just link you to PWI. What site are you talking about?

Wow. Fuck PWI. They have shit now that wont let you read stories if you have ad blocking software. Oh well. I'm just gonna use Opera.

My CRT is 1920x1080 but its interlaced (1080i) since its a CRT. Odds are good on a flat panel that would be 1080p. and it will be at least 10 years, if not longer before 1080p broadcasts happen given bandwith constraints on OTA, Cable and Satellite. It will almost certainly never happen OTA since the government sets limits on the bandwith a station has (19mbps) and the amount needed for 1080p is higher than that. A satellite company would probably need to launch an entire satellite just to handle 1 or maybe 2 1080p channels. Cable doesn't have the bandwith either due to high speed cable internet and technological barriers. Two Words.... Fiber Optics.

Holy shit. This piece of fucking shit fight went 12 rounds. Wladimir Klitschko won by Unanimous Decision.

This fight REALLY fucking sucks.

Whoa.

Klitschko vs. Ibragimov unification fight tonight on HBO. Right now, they're showing the Taylor vs Pavlik fight from last weekend.

Little Penny wasn't that long ago, was it?

Good George Mason vs Ohio game goin on. George Mason - 48 Ohio - 52 4:43 in the 2nd

This movie is actually really good. Gotta check it out if you get the chance.

Ya. From Indiana. You?

Damn. How could I forget about the Chronic? Anyway.... This is pure insane greatness. Best live album I've ever heard, and one of the best albums I've heard. Their performance is great and extend songs by just jamming in some. It's great.

Politics, religion, current events, the weather, etc. etc.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1803223/ Getting ideas from The Amanda Show?

Famous for being on Myspace.

The Megan girl is seriously on every reality show on TV. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Hauserman She was on Beauty and the Geek. She was a Playboy Playmate. Appeared on The Girls Next Door. She's on Rock of Love 2.

Sounds hilarious. Have you done a virus scan?

"Knife goes in, guts come out" "'You have to answer 1 question about Japan' \ 'Is the answer Japan?' 'Actually, it is.'" Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo is one of my favorite episodes. The George Takai cameo is great.

Cause I already have a long ethernet cable running from the router to my desktop. This way, less cables running along the floor.

Anyone?