Madden Next Gen unveiled to the world @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on April 23, 2005

News: The commercial has aired, now it's time for the endless commentary, speculation, rants and fanboyism.

At roughly 12:12 PM EDT during the first commercial break of the NFL Draft, EA Sports unveiled the first public footage of a next-generation video game. Madden NFL Next Gen is coming. We don't know when. We don't (officially) know for what system. But it's coming and now we've seen it. Color me unimpressed. Allow me to explain.

The commercial opens outside of a stadium, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles we soon learn. We are told EA Sports Presents The Next Generation of Madden NFL as it flashes on screen before the kick. The whistle blows and the Giants kick off. The ball hurtles through the air after a nice camera shot of the kicker lining up the ball on the tee.

An Eagle receives the ball and is quickly smothered by a Giant Special Teamer. The screen then does a close-up and X-ray of the fallen Eagles shoulder. A box lights up informing us "Injury Analysis, Diagnosis: Torn Rotator Cuff".

Next we go in the huddle (literally) as the Eagles decide their next play. The score, time remaining, down number and yardage needed are lined up across the top of the screen like any football game, television broadcast or video game alike. On the left is a list of plays that highlights a small snippet of what it should look like as the player goes down the list.

The music kicks into gear and we are shown quick cuts of the next several plays. A Giant sacks Donovan McNabb. The camera quickly zooms up to the Jumbotron as the words Sack-Cam! appear on screen. The instant replay comes up on the Jumbotron. A coach tells McNabb you've got to protect better as the next play is selected.

We go back to the line of scrimmage as Michael Strahan snarls at McNabb. The ball is snapped and after some patented McNabb shake and bake he lets the ball fly. We see the ball spiral as Terrel Owens Superman leaps for the catch. A green force field shimmers as he flies through the air to let viewers know that the ball has broken the end zone. Touchdown!

Owens cheers, drops to his knees and fireworks go off. The logo comes up. The EA Sports voice intones "Madden NFL Next Gen. Product not yet rated. EA Sports, it's in the game!" 60 seconds and out.

So why am I not impressed?

Simple, aside from the play selection screen, none of this looked like actual game footage. It all likely came from that highlight reel that plays at the beginning of every EA Sports game that every player in the world presses Start to skip over. Sometimes without even watching it once.

I'm sure some enterprising soul has captured the commercial and has already placed it on his website for the perusal of those that missed it. Actually, I'd imagine EA will either make sure IGN and GameSpot have it soon or host a copy themselves (UPDATE: Looks like EA did just that). Hype is the best marketing tool there is. So we'll all see it, so you can judge the video for yourself.

Yes it was pretty and yes it leaves me very excited for what the next generation of systems will be able to do. But it was just an intro movie. There's no reason to get all riled up just yet.

Yet.