:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/1834061/GYI0063309591.jpg)
It's nearing May, which means it's nearing June, which of course means ... OK, well you get the picture. That sentence is supposed to build up to August, when EA Sports puts out its yearly release of its Madden franchise of video games with Madden NFL 13 for all major consoles. We've already talked a bit about the cover vote, tracking San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis to the semifinals, where he was finally eliminated by Cam Newton, now it's time to focus on other matters.
Like how the legendary football game franchise will build on it's 2011 release, which this writer believes was the best iteration of the game in years. Of course, it wasn't perfect - not by a longshot - but it did a lot of things right. It's anybody's guess as to whether or not it got things right totally by accident, or it was something by design, given that the pre-release hype was the same ol', same ol' in recent years.
The developers spent months talking about features that were little more than catchy headlines, same as they always do, but seemingly by chance, it all worked this time around. But there were still a lot of issues with the game, from gameplay all the way to the audio. Ah yes, the audio ...
Getting Gus Johnson to do the game's commentary alongside Cris Collinsworth was considered to be a huge move for the franchise. But it hasn't worked out. Johnson's commentary is flat, and uninspired alongside Collinsworth's, and when they do have some sort of excitement, the audio mixing is among the worst of any sports game ever, including past Madden iterations.
And now it's looking like there's a change: it's a couple days old at this point, but Pasta Padre reports that Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will take over the game's main commentary. At face value, it's a great move, even if Nantz and Simms are an unremarkable combination. They're used to eachother, and that's significant: there should be able to be some actual recording with both guys in the room.
Most would probably regard the two as "so so", but that's a lot better than the absolute rage inspired by Collinsworth drawling on about his favorite bath robe. That's actually a thing. That happens in the game. And Johnson does the "Batman" theme song. No foolin'.
At any rate, it's unclear if this will result in Johnson and Collinsworth being scrapped altogether, or if the game plans to utilize two broadcasting teams, but it's certainly seeming like the former. At any rate, EA Sports has detailed a release schedule for planned features, as also noted by Pasta Padre. Wednesday, April 25 (that's tomorrow) is the next target date for some big "presentation" reveal. Should be interesting to see.
Speculation says that it could be related to how the game presents the NFL Draft, given the fact that the feature reveal is, you know, a day before the draft gets started. We shall see.