The next title in EA's popular Madden series will reportedly prevent in-game players from returning to a game after receiving a concussion, highlighting an issue that has become a major focus for the NFL and its players.
"Good for EA Sports. Concussed players in NFL Madden prevented from returning to play," NFL Players Association assistant executive director of external affairs George Atallah said in a tweet. "Culture change is important."
The NFL instituted new rules preventing concussed players from returning to a game in late 2009, after growing pressure from many journalists, fans and players about the long-term damage caused by playing with such head injuries. The league is currently considering further rules and policies to protect players' concussion risk.
EA Sports overhauled Madden's injury system for Madden NFL '10, adding rare "career-ending" injuries to the possible results of a brutal hit and providing information about the re-injury risk of returning a player to the game.
Prior editions of Madden had shown the results of bone-breaking injuries in real-time via stylized X-rays of the affected area.
In 2006, Midway decided not to renew its license with the NFL after the league expressed apprehensions about some over-the-top tackles in the company's arcade-inspired NFL Blitz games.
The start of the next NFL season is currently threatened by a lockout caused by contract negotiations between NFL team owners and players. The league reportedly reduced EA's licensing payments for the year due to this risk, which could impact sales of Madden NFL 12
Not to make too much of this, but the first thought I had after reading this article was to compare the delicate treatment of characters in a computer sports game to games like Crysis and Homefront where we merrily murder Korean characters by the bushel, or to other shooters (such as Bulletstorm) with equal or greater levels of mayhem.
I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong here -- just pointing out that there are some interesting differences in how game developers ask players to treat simulated people.
I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong here -- just pointing out that there are some interesting differences in how game developers ask players to treat simulated people.