2 Decades Of Playstation Football Games

Once considered a failure due to slow development and limited technology for the majority of home users, Madden NFL has come a long way since its initial release in 1988. To date, the software title has sold better than 85 million copies that total will over 3 billion dollars in sales. Using the names of real players, real plays from professional play books, taking advantage of graphics capabilities and a real game feel are just a few of the reasons Madden football games have come to be one of the most popular playstation football games ever.

In fact Madden was not the first professional consulted for the game. There were players and even coaches that turned down the change at being the games name sake and guiding influence, however they all have prior obligations or simply were not interested. Fate came in to play and Madden, who is a super bowl winner and well known announcer, is probably most recognized through the game. The game has evolved over the years and adds new features to each new release. Franchise mode was added to the game in almost a decade after it's creation. This allowed players to do more than just control the players. They could actually manage the rosters by trading and drafting players for their virtual teams. This was already being done with some baseball games available at the time but was a first for any football offering. More variations to game play were added in 2003. Players could still play a single game, however they could now play a whole season or they could play more than one season. Initially created solely for the playstation 2, online play was implemented as well, meaning people could play one another across the world wide web.

A new feature called the playmaker tool was included in the 2004 version. This was a feature that enhanced the realism of the game considerably. Players could now make changes to the direction of plays after they broke the huddle. Previously they were limited to 4 audibles, but now they could be more flexible and could send receivers on hot routes too.

When the 2005 version was released, the playmaker tool was implemented for the defense. This was an important addition since in the previous versions the offense could make changes that were difficult for the defense to adjust to. Now, the defense could use the joystick to make adjustments just as the offense could. This made the game more fair on both sides of the ball and once again enhanced it's realism. Versions that have been released in the last years have contained other unique aspects of play like the trick stick, control of lead blockers on running play calls, and a weapons control used with superstar players. Even league play is now possible, giving up to 32 people the opportunity to play an entire season from a single console or through the internet. Playstation football games have been extremely popular for both the pc and the console for more than 20 years, and the enhanced features for the future promise to keep it on top. Playstation 3 Madden football games give players a game that is as close to the real thing as any sports simulation game being sold today.