Few things are better than Sunday mornings in Fall. The changing leaves, the dew in the grass, that perfect crisp temperature, and the untapped potential of an entire day of NFL football to come. Ah the good life.
Historically, I've never been much for NFL pregame shows. The two most "valuable" parts of the show - the injury report and the "expert" fantasy football advice usually just end up being exercises in frustration. 95% of injuries seem to result in the dreaded "game time decision" call - which is about as useful as a 50% chance of scattered showers forecast. Thanks. Thanks a lot. And I'm not sure what constitutes a fantasy expert, but personally it makes me crazy to hear people ask questions like "which all star should I start". Am I the only person that plays in a Fantasy league with more than 4 people? Make a call between a 2nd string fullback and a 3rd string tight end. Then you can call yourself an expert. But I digress...
Despite my nitpicky frustration with NFL pregame shows, my obsession with Fantasy Football has driven me to salivate over any little nugget of wisdom that I could over-analyze to death, and so I've found myself watching ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown more and more of late. Its a good show, all things considered, if for no other reasons than Chris Berman going "woop!" and The Mayne Event.
But as I tuned in yesterday for the first Sunday of the NFL season, I noticed something very interesting. Tom Jackson, one of the show's co-hosts, was diagramming a play on the set's mini field. This in and of itself is nothing special - the crew will do this every week to try and explain some of the nuances of players or schemes to NFL fans. But this particular week, Jackson was walking through a field which had been overlaid with virtual players from the Madden '09 video game (Merrill Hodge shown below)
The feature is known as the EA Sports Virtual Playbook and though you might think it would be gimmicky, it was actually surprisingly cool - and even better, helpful as a means of explaining some of the finer points of football 101. It also opens up the door to being able to kick Monday Morning quarterbacking up a notch using Madden to recreate plays, yard for yard, and ask the "what if" questions that can really help you understand and dare I say learn some of the strategy behind the game. Hmm... that sounds sort of familiar...
Last August I made the prediction that games like Madden had the potential to become an interactive film room. Not too bad if I do say so myself =) And I havent even gotten to the "Madden Moments" feature which lets you play through some of the most exciting moments of the 2007 NFL season - virtually recreated.
Good. Very good. But lets bring it up to the next level. Take a look (and a listen) at what some of the major players in this initiative have to say.
ESPN Executive VP of Content, John Skipper via the New York Times:
“It’s a way for us to remain relevant. We want to make sure we remain connected to lots and lots of fans, and using the language that gamers understand is one way.”
EA Sports President Peter Moore via 1Up:
"The story here is that our industry is impacting mass media. Video games are often treated as a villain, the 'boy in the bedroom'. Now games are leading the way."
And of course, John Madden himself:
"We want the game on television to look like the video game"
Games represent a piece of the future.
Its too early to know how the Virtual Playbook will be received - this is only day 2 of its existence. But rest assured, I'll be following this with keen interest.
Games. Football. And the future of entertainment and interactive analysis. I guess I can think of something better than Sundays mornings in the fall.
Image from nytimes.com
Historically, I've never been much for NFL pregame shows. The two most "valuable" parts of the show - the injury report and the "expert" fantasy football advice usually just end up being exercises in frustration. 95% of injuries seem to result in the dreaded "game time decision" call - which is about as useful as a 50% chance of scattered showers forecast. Thanks. Thanks a lot. And I'm not sure what constitutes a fantasy expert, but personally it makes me crazy to hear people ask questions like "which all star should I start". Am I the only person that plays in a Fantasy league with more than 4 people? Make a call between a 2nd string fullback and a 3rd string tight end. Then you can call yourself an expert. But I digress...
Despite my nitpicky frustration with NFL pregame shows, my obsession with Fantasy Football has driven me to salivate over any little nugget of wisdom that I could over-analyze to death, and so I've found myself watching ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown more and more of late. Its a good show, all things considered, if for no other reasons than Chris Berman going "woop!" and The Mayne Event.
But as I tuned in yesterday for the first Sunday of the NFL season, I noticed something very interesting. Tom Jackson, one of the show's co-hosts, was diagramming a play on the set's mini field. This in and of itself is nothing special - the crew will do this every week to try and explain some of the nuances of players or schemes to NFL fans. But this particular week, Jackson was walking through a field which had been overlaid with virtual players from the Madden '09 video game (Merrill Hodge shown below)
The feature is known as the EA Sports Virtual Playbook and though you might think it would be gimmicky, it was actually surprisingly cool - and even better, helpful as a means of explaining some of the finer points of football 101. It also opens up the door to being able to kick Monday Morning quarterbacking up a notch using Madden to recreate plays, yard for yard, and ask the "what if" questions that can really help you understand and dare I say learn some of the strategy behind the game. Hmm... that sounds sort of familiar... Last August I made the prediction that games like Madden had the potential to become an interactive film room. Not too bad if I do say so myself =) And I havent even gotten to the "Madden Moments" feature which lets you play through some of the most exciting moments of the 2007 NFL season - virtually recreated.
Good. Very good. But lets bring it up to the next level. Take a look (and a listen) at what some of the major players in this initiative have to say.
ESPN Executive VP of Content, John Skipper via the New York Times:
“It’s a way for us to remain relevant. We want to make sure we remain connected to lots and lots of fans, and using the language that gamers understand is one way.”
EA Sports President Peter Moore via 1Up:
"The story here is that our industry is impacting mass media. Video games are often treated as a villain, the 'boy in the bedroom'. Now games are leading the way."
And of course, John Madden himself:
"We want the game on television to look like the video game"
Games represent a piece of the future.
Its too early to know how the Virtual Playbook will be received - this is only day 2 of its existence. But rest assured, I'll be following this with keen interest.
Games. Football. And the future of entertainment and interactive analysis. I guess I can think of something better than Sundays mornings in the fall.
Image from nytimes.com
Keith Olbermann, usually great on his Countdown program on MSNBC, was awful in an attempt to reprise his Big Show days on ESPN. Cris Collinsworth is almost unlistenable at times. And "The Players' Lounge" segments that they had during FNIA were drivel that offered little to no insight or intrigue to the telecast.