Tag: EA Sports

Jul 21, 2019; Miami Beach, FL, USA; A general view of gaming controllers on display during the Call of Duty League Finals e-sports event at Miami Beach Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

EA Sports to bring back college football video game

Posted on | by Field Level Media

EA Sports is bringing college football back to video game consoles.

The company on Tuesday introduced EA Sports College Football, the successor to its NCAA Football, last produced in 2013.

While the company’s social media post didn’t provide any detail about the pending game, Daryl Holt, EA Sports vice president and general manager, told ESPN the time was right.

“It all starts with the passion of our fans and the opportunities of what they are interested in,” Holt said. “I don’t think there’s a visit where I go outside wearing a piece of EA Sports-branded apparel that someone doesn’t go, ‘Hey, when is college football coming back?’”

Holt said the new version of the game will include more than 100 teams. EA Sports is pairing with CLC, the collegiate licensing company, to get the rights to publish the teams’ uniforms and such.

“We want to make sure we deliver what our college football game players would want in a game,” Holt said. “And that starts with just a very immersive experience, and there’s lots of things we can do to bring the true college game play and game day to the virtual world.”

The release date has not been set. It will be geared toward next generation platforms such as the Sony PlayStation5 and the Xbox Series X.

EA Sports hasn’t published a college football game since NCAA Football 2014. On the cover of that release was Denard Robinson, the Michigan quarterback at the time.

–Field Level Media

Antonio Brown Announced as Madden 19 Cover Athlete

Posted on | by Mitch Reames

EA announced today that Antonio Brown will be the cover athlete for next year’s Madden, set to release in August. The cover of the game is highly coveted by NFL players, requiring both skill and widespread fan recognition. It has been a super-superstar every single year, except 2012 when EA allowed the internet to vote and ended up with Browns RB Peyton Hillis. 

“I am beyond honored to be on the cover of both Madden games,” said Brown in a press release. “There’s a lot of milestones athletes dream of… appearing on the cover of this year’s games, it’s clear that business is not just booming, but I’m also among the all-time greatest with these honors.”

The list of past cover athletes includes Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Barry Sanders, and Brett Favre. It’s effectively a list of some of the top players throughout history. 

Brown is the fourth wide receiver to be honored after Larry Fitzgerald in 2010, Calvin Johnson in 2013 and Odell Beckham Jr. in 2016. Since Eddie George became the first player on the cover, after they ran out of good images of Madden himself, there have been seven QBs, five RBs, four WRs and three defensive players. 

“AB has taken the league by storm the past few years and is arguably one of the best wide receivers to ever play in the NFL,” said Joshua Rabenovets, Sr. Brand Director at EA SPORTS in a press release. “His game is hot, he’s got a ton of personality on and off the field – he was an easy choice for the Madden NFL 19 cover.”

One thing possibly on Brown’s mind could be the Madden cover curse. It’s a funny topic and likely entirely coincidental but a large percentage of the players who have graced the cover have had serious injuries in the following two years. Recently Richard Sherman (Madden 2015, injured 2017) Odell Beckham (Madden 2016, injured 2017) and Rob Gronkowski (Madden 2017, injured 2017) have all fallen victim to the curse. Maybe 2017 was just a bad year in general though. Hopefully Brown doesn’t fall victim to the curse because there is no doubt he is one of the most electric players in the NFL.