For nearly three decades, the video game faithful have been able to live out their dreams of gridiron glory through the excellent football simulation Madden NFL. A game that was once little more than Tecmo Bowl on a maintenance dose of D-bol has become an incredibly feature-rich game with a level of detail seen in few other console games. Rosters, playbooks and motion captured animations rival what’s seen between the lines on Sundays in autumn. Each year, the developers at EA Sports seem to find another way to add an additional degree of realism to Madden. This year, the focus will be on concussions.
Injuries in the Madden game are nothing new. For many years, the game has presented random injuries to increase the game’s level of realism and, recently, head injuries have been a part of the game. But, in the past, a head injury just meant the player would be out for a quarter before returning to the game — if the player had to leave the game at all. In Madden 12, players who suffer a concussion will be unavailable for the rest of the game. In-game announcers, Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth, will then deliver an educational message about the seriousness of head injuries. Ultimately, the concussions in Madden will be similar to some other injury experiences in the game. However, the education component will be new.
[Read the rest of Dave Banks’s excellent article, published on Tuesday, and please leave any comments you may have on the original.]
