John Madden talks about the success of Madden NFL

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Even though Brett Favre is unretiring for the umpteenth time, don't expect John Madden to head back into the broadcast booth anytime soon.

"I'm not going to unretire," Madden told me today. "Mine was a final final."

Instead, Madden is just going to have more time to work on his eponymous video game franchise, which celebrated its 21st year with the release last week of Madden NFL 10. That should cheer Madden NFL fans who continue to flock to the series year after year.

"I watch the trends, what's going on in the NFL and how they're playing it," Madden said. "I've always done that as a broadcaster and now I'm able to watch even more."

Madden said he's humbled by the success of the franchise, which began on the PC in 1989. Twenty-one years later, the franchise has sold 80 million units and become arguably the most cherished sports video game ever. "To say that when I started this, I knew where we'd be, I had no idea it would become like this," he said.

The 73-year-old Hall of Famer said he's still committed to adding as much realism as he can to the game, a seemingly never-ending task. In the latest edition, he added features like the ability for the quarterback to roam a little in the pocket, to buy a little time for longer plays. He also tweaked the way runners barrel through tacklers and added huge gang tackles, to counteract power runners.

"That's the way game is played and that's what we're adding now," he said.

Madden said he's encouraged to see game technology emerging like Microsoft's Project Natal, which captures full body movement with a 3-D camera. He said he's open to anything that can better recreate the fluidity of football, something he said his game still needs to work on.

In keeping his eyes on trends in the game, he's been able to incorporate newer things like the Wildcat formation which has become popular recently. He said that will be something the Eagles can use now with Michael Vick, though it's going to be a little tricky incorporating him into the game and figuring how he should be used.

"You can download Vick and get him in the game as an Eagle, but I don't know where you're going to put him," he said.

Despite his years working on the game, Madden said he's not that good at it. And he sloughs off concerns about a possible Madden Curse for the game's cover athletes, which include two players this year Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu.

"I talk to players and none of them believe there really is a curse," said Madden. "I was on the cover for 12 years. Hell, if I believed there was curse, I wouldn't have been on there."

Posted By: Ryan Kim (Email) | August 19 2009 at 03:02 PM

Listed Under: Video games