A little surprised there's no thread on the passing of John Madden

Obviously the man was a titan in sports video games. Not only did he lend his name and commentary to one of the biggest franchises in the world (possibly the biggest game franchise named after a real person; unless you lump in all the Clancy games together) but he helped design the initial versions of the game and make sure it was realistic and true to football.

Like a lot of people I no longer play Madden, but I did put tens of hours in every year for like a decade and a half and I loved a lot of those games. I was a real football fan back then too, but Madden will always be associated with the video game that bore his name, and presumably will continue to do so now that he's gone.

I'm sad to hear of his passing. He was a unique and eccentric fellow, criss crossing the country on a bus because he was afraid to fly and introducing all of us to turducken and other culinary delights. Rest easy, big John. You earned it. You'll be telestrating plays in heaven from now on.

Those early 90's madden games (and early 90's EA sports games in general) were so much fun. I sort of lost interest around the ps1 era but madden 93 might be my favorite sports game ever

Me and a friend are going to play Moonbase Alpha later and say John Madden a few times.

I think it goes without saying then NFL, players past & present, and the video game sports community mourns the passing of Coach Madden. I do not think there has been a athlete, coach, and commentator from a real spot who has had a greater impacts on video game renditions of sports. He brought an authenticty to video games sports that changed the industry for sure, Madden was a blueprint for how to represent sports in game form.

Honestly never really got into the games - their authenticity to a sport I don't really care for ( I mean, Football is fine, I guess) kind of kept me away - but it's obvious that without his initial involvement sports games just would not have evolved the way they did.

I wish I could find the source for this (maybe some other wiki page?), but from what I understand the Madden games have always had a full team on both sides, which was a real technical challenge back in the day. I think that kind of thing really speaks to a kind of hands on, take the medium seriously approach that most people just would not have bothered with.

some of my fondest gaming memories were playing madden on the gamecube with my dad and brother and laughing about his commentary. rip to a legend that crossed boundaries between sports and video games

What you gotta do is keep breathing. If you stop breathing, you’re gonna die!

”Very true, John.”

He's truck-stickin' from the Great Beyond.

@kyary: That story is in the Polygon article on his passing: https://www.polygon.com/22857879/john-madden-obituary-nfl-video-games-ea-sports-sales-legacy

EA founder Trip Hawkins went to Madden with the idea of doing a 7-on-7 football game but Madden was adamant that if he was going to put his name on it then it had to be real 11-on-11 football.

For me, Madden changed the way I watched football. I no longer "ball watch" but actually see plays develop. I can pick out open receivers, I can spot whether the defense is in man or zone before a snap or I can spot which gaps linebackers are assigned to plug. As cliche as it sounds I really believe games like Madden have helped teach a generation of fans how football really works and helped popularize analytics among fans, after all we were already going for it on 4th down everytime at home.

I have never played Madden football, but if you think about it, this guy probably got as many game consoles out the door as Miyamoto. I know plenty of people who started with “just Madden” and then “Madden and Call of Duty” and now they play all kinds of stuff. Even if football isn’t your thing, if you play games this guy contributed to your hobby an awful lot.