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Revolution Gets A New Name

EA Has First Original Idea In Years

EA Sports Somewhere out there are pigs looking for a landing spot and devils looking for snow shovels because Electronic Arts has had its first original idea in a long, long time.  The company is at work on a new version of their Madden football franchise for the Nintendo Revolution.  EA has long been criticized for releasing slap-dash titles based on licensed properties and repeated iterations of the same basic sports games that "only" include updated play rosters from year to year, but with this new Madden players will actually be able to throw and kick and catch with the new controller.  GameSpot has the story and a few words with EA's John Schappert.

Players will hike the ball by mimicking a quarterback receiving the ball from the center, and then pass it to a receiver by making a throwing gesture with the free-hand controller. The faster the passing motion, the more of a bullet pass it becomes (in previous Madden editions, bullet passes were made by holding the passing button down longer).  Kicking the ball will be accomplished by sweeping the controller up as if it were a kicker's leg striking the ball. A fast, level swing will make for a hard, straight kick.

Like a lot of announced Revolution concepts, I'm curious to see this game in action.  I can't help but wonder if it will put fans of the conventional Madden titles off.  As much as critics lash out at Madden for unoriginality, it does sell a bundle each year.  Obviously a lot of people like playing football by pressing buttons.  Will this audience embrace having to actually move in order to play the game?

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