20 Years Of Playstation Football Games

Once considered a failure due to slow development and limited technology for the majority of home users, Madden NFL has come a long way since its initial release in 1988. To date, the software title has sold better than 85 million copies that total will over 3 billion dollars in sales. Using the names of real players, real plays from professional play books, taking advantage of graphics capabilities and a real game feel are just a few of the reasons Madden football games have come to be one of the most popular playstation football games ever.

Madden was actually not the first professional approached by the developers of the game back in the 1980's. One of the top Quarterbacks at the time and other coaches were actually offered the opportunity but turned it down either though lack of interest or prior commitments. The game has evolved over the years and adds new features to each new release. Franchise mode was added to the game in almost a decade after it's creation. This allowed players to do more than just control the players. They could actually manage the rosters by trading and drafting players for their virtual teams. This was already being done with some baseball games available at the time but was a first for any football offering.

More game modes were brought to the user with the release of the 2003 version. Of course a player could start the game and choose to simply play a single game, only now they had the options to play an entire season and even multiple seasons. It was in this version that online play was first offered, initially exclusive to uses of the playstation 2 console.

In the version released in 2004, the playmaker tool was introduced. This was an exciting new feature that gave players the ability to use joystick control to change the direction of plays at the line of scrimmage. This allowed for better audibles to be chosen after the defensive alignment was seen and greatly enhanced the realism for the game.

The playmaker tool was made more robust in the next version released in 2005. In the previous release, this feature was only available for the offense, and that put players on defense at a decided disadvantage. With the addition of this feature on defense, the playing field become level again, and as with the 2004 version, game play become even more realistic. Later released added more new and exciting features such as the trick stick, the ability to control lead blockers for enhanced running plays, a new weapons control for superstar players, and league play. League play allowed for up to 32 people to play an entire season week by week on the internet. Newer versions are moving Madden to a true-to-life football simulation making it more than just a game. Playstation football games have dominated pc and console football games for more than 2 decades, and the vision for the future promises even more innovation. Playstation 3 Madden football games promise a unique experience, whether you are playing against the computer or a friend, either using the same console or across the internet.