Does anyone really pay attention to the covers of videogames? You can’t judge a game by its cover. I mean some covers have cool images or crazy looking characters, but does that make it a good game?
Does that even tell you much about the game? Even titles can be disconcerting. Grand Theft Auto, for example, is not a game where your main objective is to steal lots of cars.
Why then has the mass media covered the Madden cover athlete in great detail? So much so that the dude on the cover gets a spot on Letterman. It’s still a football game, and the only game officially licensed by the NFL. Hell, I could be on the cover and it would sell the same.
This year’s cover athlete is Brett Favre. A first for EA, but I’ll let Peter More (head of EA Sports) talk about that.
"It is with great pride that we take the bold step of featuring a retired player on the front of packaging, an honor normally reserved for a player at the peak of his game. I say with great pride, because some may question the marketing strategy behind this (and many at EA did just that, quite frankly). I don’t for one minute."
The real reason for using a retired player? The only way to end the Madden curse. It’s the 20th anniversary of Madden, might as well end a curse while you’re at it.
I’m just kidding. We both know there really is no such thing as a Madden curse. That’s just an old wive’s tale you tell your kids to get them to do their homework. I mean, if the Madden curse was real then John Madden wouldn’t be in the broadcast booth anymore. He adorned the cover of his game from 1988 – 1999. If there was curse work to be had, wouldn’t it have taken its wrath out on a old broadcaster who states the obvious and tortures us with Tinactin commercials?
Wait. Maybe that’s the curse. John Madden himself is cursing us with his very existence. Go, everyone. Retreat to your underground bunkers and don’t forget your tinfoil hats. Without them John Madden can see into your very soul.
