For several weeks now, we’ve been getting a great response for our Madden NFL 10 producer blogs, where the development team has been going deep on things like procedural awareness, improvements to the QB, tuning being done to the wide receivers and DBs, and more. I hope you’ve been enjoying the level of engagement the team is offering up. If you’re a Madden fan, and have any questions about the game in development, I urge you to visit the blogs and engage with the team.

For those following along, hopefully it’s already apparent that as we close the books on an incredible two decades of Madden NFL football that we’re ushering in an exciting new era for the game with the most detailed and comprehensive edition of Madden in the history of the franchise.  We’re hitting the real sweet spot of development for this generation of consoles as the team is really hitting its stride in squeezing every ounce of power and capability from the hardware. In fact, the Madden team is taking such dramatic strides this year that we’re in the position to go deep on features and details earlier than we’ve ever done before.

While we have a number of announcements and updates to come over the next several weeks leading up to next month’s NFL Draft, I’m excited to debut the first screenshot from this year’s game right here this week.  The old adage says, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and that is certainly true in this fantastic shot.  How many improvements can you pick out?  The Madden dev team will call each one out in their blog later this week.

Over the next several weeks you’re going to be hearing more about how this year’s game is going to continue to push the boundaries of authenticity in gameplay, presentation, and art style.  It’s the fight for every yard in the NFL that makes the battles playing out on Sundays throughout the fall and winter so compelling.  From everything I have seen in Madden NFL 10 so far this year, the authenticity of gameplay is showing striking improvement in physics, realism and responsiveness. Having recently sat through a full product review from our team in Orlando, it’s abundantly clear that this could be the deepest, most graphically-rich Madden ever, and a stunning testament to the talented development team who have had a maniacal focus delivering a landmark title to Madden Nation in 2009.

Of course, now’s usually a good time of year for the debate to begin raging about who will be on the cover of this year’s game.  I’ve probably been asked a couple of dozen times already over the past month in interviews.  You’re not going to get any hints here from me (or are you?), but soon we’ll begin highlighting a number of fine candidates who represent that fight for every yard as we build up to late April’s announcement.

I know who I want to see…but who would you choose?

Cheers,

Peter

PS…spectacular win for Liverpool yesterday versus Aston Villa, on the heels of Man Utd’s debacle at Fulham on Saturday. Too little too late, or are Man Utd about to implode? Either way, the Premier League is going down to the wire, and squad depth and injuries will ultimately be the deciding factor.

NCAA bracket? Like my Golden Bears, I went down in the first round and now I am staving off being once again in the bottom spot in the EA SPORTS bracket.