Madden NFL 2000

Electronic Arts Ships MADDEN NFL 2000 For The PC And NINTENDO 64

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., August 31, 1999 - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world s largest interactive entertainment software company, today announced that it has shipped Madden NFL 2000 for the PC and Nintendo 64. The PC version features the ability to play a robust and responsive game over the Internet for the first time in the history of the franchise. Madden NFL 2000's multiplayer Internet capabilities eliminate the necessity for users to have a dedicated phone line to connect with a fellow Madden player anywhere in the world.

A simple Internet connection, along with the EA SPORTS matchmaker service at www.easports.com is all a football fan will need to play the PC game via the Net. It is also possible to launch the Internet connection directly from within the game. Madden NFL 2000 shipped on the PlayStation earlier this month, and will ship on the Game Boy Color later this fall.

John Madden, Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and former Super Bowl -winning coach, explains why the Internet feature will enhance Madden NFL 2000: "When I do my football broadcasts I try and explain things so that it's easy for people to understand what is happening on the field. I don't want to exclude anybody by talking over their heads. I like to include people by opening up the NFL to them. That's why I love the Internet feature in my game this year. It brings people together. If you are a football fan and you want to play my game with somebody from another city, or even another country, you can do it. It's great! You can even talk to your opponent and tell him why your team is better than his team. And after you get done telling him your team is better, you can prove it by playing him over the Internet and knocking the stuffing out of him!"

Madden NFL 2000 marks the ten-year anniversary for the John Madden Football franchise. The first Madden football game from Electronic Arts shipped in 1989. Ten years of experience has helped Madden and the team at Electronic Arts create the best playing and best looking game in the history of the franchise.

"We've been working with John Madden on this game for twice as long as any of our competitors have even been around," said John Schappert, executive in charge of production, Electronic Arts. "The depth of gameplay shows that it is a well tuned game. A newcomer to this market can come in with a flashy looking game that turns heads, but it takes time to get the artificial intelligence correct. We work with John every year to improve how the defense moves as a unit, and to make sure each player carries out the correct assignment. The offensive lineman hold their blocks so the running game can work, and the skill position players show incredible athletic ability due to motion capture work with All-Pro football players. This game looks the best, but more importantly it plays the best."

New route-based passing helps a quarterback lead a receiver and throw the ball to the spot a receiver will be in, before the receiver makes his cut on the covering defensive back. The new "Madden Challenge" enables the user to gain access to secret teams, stadiums and other treats if statistical goals are met. An enhanced play editor lets the user design custom plays with new receiver routes, and more control over motion and play-action passes. An expanded franchise mode allows multiple users to trade players and juggle the salary cap over multiple seasons.

For those new to PC and video games that want a quick, easy, fun game with a short learning curve, Madden NFL 2000 delivers. The game's revolutionary One-Button Mode enables a user to hike the ball, hand off to a running back, throw the ball to the open receiver, make a big tackle, spin the ball carrier, throw a stiff-arm or hurdle to avoid a tackle by simply hitting the "X" or "action" button.

New dynamically enhanced audio and play-by-play help bring the game to life. Improved on-field graphics include more detailed playing fields, nets behind goalposts for kicks, TV-style first down markers, and players, coaches and other personnel on the sideline.

New player taunts to get under your opponent's skin and rattle his nerves bring the "in-your-face" aspect of the game to new heights. Cutting edge player models feature high-resolution graphics so that hefty lineman, sleek wide receivers and stocky linebackers now have body types proportionate to their real life counterparts. The weight and height of each player is now factored into collisions to help determine how much ground a ball carrier gains as the tackle is made, so that a small defensive back will have a tough time knocking a big bruising fullback down. New Player Hot and Cold streaks enables a player to get "in the zone" and stay hot to make great plays, or get cold to keep dropping passes, fumbling and hurting his team.

The PC version of Madden NFL 2000 is optimized for use with the 3dfx Voodoo3 family of cards using enhanced Glide programming and supports other major Direct3D accelerator cards. The 3dfx technology allows the game to achieve faster, smoother gameplay and detailed player and field texturing, Helping to convey accurate, real football sounds is the Creative Labs' Environmental Audio technology. The quality of this technology can be heard throughout the game, such as when stadium noise echoes around the stadium or when the quarterback calls an audible.

The suggested retail price is (U.S.) $39.95 for the PC version, and $49.95 for the Nintendo 64 version. Consumers may purchase the game directly at the EA Store (http://eastore.ea.com) or by calling EA Direct Sales at 1.800.245.4525. The game carries an ESRB rating of "E" (Everyone).

EA SPORTS is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world. Its top-selling titles and franchises include FIFA 99, John Madden Football , NHL Hockey, Knockout Kings , NBA Live Basketball, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Golf, Triple Play Baseball and NASCAR 99.

Source:

Press Release - Nintendo 64 and Windows.

No major breakthroughs, but plenty of refinements peg the next Madden as a serious competitor for the crown of football sims.

With two earlier N64 Maddens under its belt, EA Sports has steadily increased its mastery of the world's most potent console. Framerates and player movements are both markedly improved from Madden '99, while the number of player animations has doubled.

In FIFA '99, EA Sports inaugurated player models with different heights. Madden 2000 continues this trend, with sleek wideouts, tall quarterbacks and stocky tackles all having appropriate body shapes. Because football is a full contact sport, it makes sense that the developers have put a lot of thought into collision detection. Brawny running backs can gain extra yards by driving through diminutive defensive backs, while looming linebackers can stop svelte wideouts dead in their tracks.

EA Sports is going all-out to simulate that TV feel. New details include nets behind the goalposts to stop kicked balls and TV-style first-down markers. After a big play, the camera cuts to player celebrations and sideline reaction shots. John Madden's commentary is typically exuberant, but somnolent broadcast buddy Pat Summerall sounds like he still hasn't recovered from January's Super Bowl shindigs.

Aspiring Randall Cunninghams will welcome new route-based passing that allows a QB to lead his receiver. Ball carriers now have an expanded repertoire of jukes and moves. This being a Madden game, though, you'll have to wade through a mind-boggling array of options before you reach the point of taking a snap.

Virtually every aspect of game play is configureable, including game speed, fatigue, injuries, momentum, weather effects and quarter lengths. You can set the refs' aggressiveness in calling 12 different categories of penalties. You can tweak the CPU-controlled team's AI to your heart's content in such arcane categories as conservative or aggressive play-calling, run/pass ratio, QB accuracy, defenders' ability to shed blocks and kicking teams' accuracy. Whew!

Eight basic offensive formations and six defensive formations undergird each team's unique -- and mammoth -- playbook. Offensive and defensive teams can audible and set players in motion. Mix in the seemingly endless variations on the basic formations (How does the Bears' Singleback-Big formation strike you?) and you're inching into brain-meltdown territory. Still not satisfied, you gridiron wonk, you? Then chart your own destiny with Madden 2000's terrific play-editor.

Madden 99's franchise mode, which allowed you to build a multiseason dynasty, has been enhanced with support for long-term salary caps and trades involving multiple players.

Madden and his broadcast brethren love to natter on about mental preparation, the psychology of momentum and being "in the zone." At long last, a developer has finally factored this New Age mumbo-jumbo into game design. Madden 2000's Hot and Cold streaks enable a sizzling star to make one great play after another, while an ice-bound athlete will keep dropping passes, bungling handoffs and doing just about anything else to gum up the works.

Madden fans will be licking their chops when they feast their eyes on the All-Madden Millennium Team, made up of the announcer's favorite players to ever don a pair of cleats. Given that the NFL is less than a century old, that "All-Millennium" moniker sounds a mite overblown. But what else would you expect from John Madden?

Source:

www.nintendo.com – Nintendo 64

MADDEN NFL 2000

Gnadenlose Action mit EA SPORTS legendärem American-Football-Spiel. Pünktlich zur neuen Meisterschaftssaison kehrt MAdden zurück und liefert tolle Grafiken, spannende Zweikämpfe und einen Kommentator, der kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt.

Madden NFL 2000 für PC-CD und Sony Playstation.

www.easports.com

www.ea.com

Source:

EA Product Catalog Winter 1999/2000 - PSX / Windows (Ger)