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Madden NFL 09
The Madden NFL 09 cover featuring Brett Favre as a Green Bay Packer
Developer(s)	EA Tiburon
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Series	Madden NFL
Engine	Proprietary
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360
Genre(s)	American football simulation

Madden NFL 09 is the 2009 edition of the American football video game series published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. The game was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 consoles.

Madden NFL 09 is the last commercial game to be released for the Xbox in the United States.

The Wii version of the game is titled Madden NFL 09 All-Play and was launched under EA Sports' new All-Play brand exclusive to the platform, taking a slightly different approach to the game and taking advantage of the motion controls.

The 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition of Madden NFL 09 includes NFL Head Coach 09, an alternative case, an exclusive version of John Madden Football '93 with updated teams and rosters and bonus video content and clips.

A demo of the game was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. The standard version and the anniversary package were released on August 12, 2008.

Features

Note: Some of these features may only apply to the PS3 and X360 versions of the game.

Presentation

• New Booth Commentators: The game featured the two man broadcast team of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, but the PS2 and Wii versions still retained the broadcast team of Al Michaels and John Madden.
• Broadcast Plus Presentation Styles/EA Sports Ticker: Starting line-up banners, New coin toss and pre-game introduction, brand new Banner System, Pre-game visuals such as Stadium fly-in and exterior. The game will be branded with EA Sports Broadcast look including new camera angles. Also a new ticker that drives home the new broadcast look.
• Enhanced Play Calling System: Picture-in-Picture play calling system that streamlines important information to the user that includes Instant Replay, Stats and Accessibility hints. Also on demand access and the ability to make substitutions directly on play call gives more flexability to the play call screen.
• New Cameras: New playable cameras keep more of the action on the screen as the screen will make sure you can see all your receivers. It also focuses on big moments such as break-aways & hard hits. Also a variety of new pre-play & post-play cameras
• Improved sidelines: More people on the sideline, including a variety of security, coaches, and players. These Characters have more activity and emotions than previous versions of the game.

Online

• Video Highlights: capture moments and create a highlight clip that can be uploaded to EA Sports World to share with friends.
• Improved online leagues: server-based leagues, supporting up to 32 players, with full schedules including the playoffs and the Super Bowl as well as draft and trade support. Schedules can be played in a round-robin style as well.

Graphics

• Revamped Graphics: Improved stadium models, new weather effects such as snow, rain & "movie weather", new lighting models, new realistic player models, field goal nets, and clear visors.

Supporting features

• Revamped franchise mode: Simulated stats have been improved (e.g. fewer running backs gaining 2,000+ yards in one season)
• Return of Last-Gen Features: Grudge Match, Bluff Play Art, Set Audibles, Slide Protection, Formation Subs on play call.
• Madden Moments: re-play through a number of real-life situations that you will recognize from the 2007 season.
• Rivalries: rivalry games have special value, play-off games have more crowd and television intensity & different presentation elements.

Gameplay features

• Total Control Animation System: this feature gives you the ability to break out of a tackle when a defender has you in his grasp. Use special moves such as Spin or Stiff Arm to break out of the tackle.
• Playbook Renovation: including team specific defensive playbook & new offense playbooks.
• User Celebrations: celebrate how you want with total control of your player (eg. Lambeau Leap, dunk ball over goal post, etc.)
• Gameplay Tuning: lots of tuning items and smaller features aimed at getting gameplay feeling better and more realistic.
• Weather Specific Animations: weather will have visual effect on gameplay with slipping, sliding, and other animations specific to bad weather conditions.
• Other features: return missed field goals, bobble catches, pass tuning, set audibles, slide protection, bluff play art, smart routes, post play continuation, post play help-ups, ball carrier combo moves, live pre-play defense, new wrap-up tackling system, improved foot pinning, new catch system, gameplay slider, realistic fatigue, improved gang tackles, true penalty based animations, new fumble system, new player weapon types, new tackling engine & animations
• New Running/Ball-Carrier Engine: total control system, new transition system, character grounding with foot-plant, new procedural animation system, realistic momentum, new locomotion system, improved visuals and animations, left and right stick moves, directional diving....

Wii exclusive features

Madden NFL 09 All-Play for the Wii has several new exclusive features:

• 5 on 5 Mode : A new, faster paced arcade style football mode played on a smaller field. Ironically, one of the main sticking points John Madden demanded in a football video game before he put his name on it was that it had to be "real", 11-on-11 football.
• All New Playcalling: Three unique playbooks are available based on difficulty, ranging from Easy to Advanced.
• Call Your Shots: Call Your Shots allows the player to create his or her own plays on the fly and direct receivers where they should run, using the pointer function of the Wii Remote.
• Celebrate Your Success: Allows the player to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to trigger celebrations after a touchdown or sack.
• Improved Tackling System: Swing the Wii Remote to deliver big hits.

PSP exclusive features

The PlayStation Portable has many features different from other versions of Madden '09.

• Rookie mode : A feature for players that allows them to use only the X button to perform passes, Tackles and Big Hits.
• All New Defensive Camera : A new camera when you're on defense flipped 180 degrees from the original view. Instead of the camera facing the offense when you are playing defense, it faces the defense to immerse you in the action.
• All new player indicators : New Receiver icons that tell you if they are open or covered (shown green if open, red if covered. A new indicator tells you when to evade defenders or tackle a opposing player. A green dot indicates open receivers in Rookie mode, and red dots indicate covered receivers. Press X to evade and tackle in Rookie mode.

Soundtrack

Cover athlete

On April 24, 2008, David Letterman revealed that then-retired former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre would be the cover athlete of Madden NFL 09 on the Late Show with David Letterman. Despite Favre's later unretirement and subsequent trade to the New York Jets about five days before Madden NFL 09 was officially released in North America, the game's cover still features Favre wearing a Packers uniform. Instead of reissuing the packaging, EA has made available a free alternate cover of Favre in a Jets uniform from their website that players are able to download and print. The alternate cover is available for all the consoles except the Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Wii, which use an alternate cover.

Favre is a playable character in every version of Madden NFL 09 except for the PS2 version on the "NFL Greats" roster. On the PSP edition, he is not on the Jets roster, but is available on a historic team, the 2007 Packers. Players can transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, and pick him up on any of the 32 NFL teams for the 2008 NFL season. A roster update on August 12, 2008 places Favre on the New York Jets roster as their starting quarterback.

Like all other games of EA Sports' 09 Season, the "All Play" version of Madden seen on the Wii features a different photograph of Favre with different artwork than all other versions of the game.

The Anniversary Collector's Edition does not feature a cover athlete - it has a larger version of the Roman numeral XX logo shown in the top-left corner of the game's standard cover.

Roberto Garza, the starting guard for the Chicago Bears, will be the cover athlete for the the Spanish language version, Madden NFL 09 en Español.

Presentation

Play-by-play and color commentary is provided by Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, respectively. Al Michaels and John Madden are still the play-by-play and color commentary for the Wii, PS2, PSP and Xbox versions. EA designers have confirmed that John Madden does play a part in Madden 09 as the person describing instructions to the Madden IQ. Madden guides the player on advice and other things to help raise his or her Madden IQ. Madden also appears in Mii form in the Wii version of the game, suggesting plays to run in the game's "Madden's Pick" feature.

EA's relationship with ESPN also enables tie-ins with different ESPN shows.

Reception

Madden NFL 09 for the Xbox 360 received a 9 out of 10 rating from Xbox Magazine, as well as four out of five stars and Game of the Month from PlayStation: The Official Magazine. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions got an 8.8/10 from IGN and the Wii version got an 8.6 out of 10, receiving only 0.2 points less than it's Sony and Microsoft counterparts from IGN.com X-Play gave Madden 09 a 5 out of 5. GameSpot gave Madden NFL 09 an 8 out of 10, for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. GameSpot gave the Wii version 7.0/10.

Bugs and Issues

There are also freezing issues on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions that make the franchise mode unplayable until a patch is produced to fix the freezing (Madden 08 had the same problem and was never fixed). There are also numerous Wii bugs reported with the 'Buzzing Screen of Death'. There have been posts on EA's website forums about the freezing bug, but EA has failed to acknowledge it, instead, they just deleted the thread. This Bugs and Issues Section here in Misplaced Pages has also been removed before by EA, in a lame attempt to 'cover it up'.

See also

• NFL Head Coach 09

References

1. ^ "EA Press Release, Business Wire".
2. "Amazon.co.uk: Madden NFL 09 (PS3): PC & Video Games".
3. "Madden NFL 09 Page". GamePro. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
4. "itsinthegame.ea.com/archive/2008/04/01/madden-20th-anniversary-and-more.aspx".
5. "EA SPORTS Unveils Wii-Specific "All-Play" Line of Games". 2008-06-27.
6. "Features: Madden NFL 09". 2008-06-27.
7. "Features: Retro/Active".
8. ^ "New Madden NFL 09 Packaging Available Now!". EA Sports. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2008-08-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
9. "xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14251057.html".
10. "ESPN - Favre chosen for Madden 09 cover - Videogames".
11. "EA Forums: Madden NFL 09 Gameplay FAQ".
12. (September 2008). Xbox Magazine. Issue 87, p. 66-67.
13. (September 2008). PlayStation: The Official Magazine. Issue 10, p. 74-75
14. "Xbox 360 and PS3 IGN reviews".
15. "Xbox 360 and PS3 IGN reviews".

External links

• Official website
• Madden NFL 09 at Xbox.com
• Madden NFL 09 at Playstation.com
• New Printable Covers

Template:MaddenNFL-Athlete

• Madden NFL
• 2008 video games
• PlayStation 2 games
• PlayStation 3 games
• PlayStation Portable games
• Wii games
• Xbox 360 games
• Xbox games
• Electronic Arts games