Madden NFL 09

Madden NFL 09 is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. The game was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 consoles.

The wii version of the game is titled Madden NFL 09 All-Play and was launched under EA Sports' new All-Play brand exclusive to the platform, taking a slightly different approach to the game and taking advantage of the motion controls.

The 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition of Madden NFL 09 includes NFL Head Coach 09, an alternative case, an exclusive version of John Madden Football '93 with updated teams and rosters and bonus video content and clips.

A demo of the game was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. The standard version and the anniversary package were released on August 12, 2008. A Spanish language version of the game was released on September 17, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

Features

Presentation

New Booth Commentators: The game featured the two man broadcast team of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, but the PS2, PSP, Xbox and Wii versions still retained the broadcast team of Al Michaels and John Madden due to memory limitations.

Broadcast Plus Presentation Styles/EA Sports Ticker: Starting line-up banners, New coin toss and pre-game introduction, brand new Banner System, Pre-game visuals such as Stadium fly-in and exterior. The game will be branded with EA Sports Broadcast look including new camera angles. Also a new ticker that drives home the new broadcast look.

Enhanced Play Calling System: Picture-in-Picture play calling system that streamlines important information to the user that includes Instant Replay, Stats and Accessibility hints. Also on demand access and the ability to make substitutions directly on play call gives more flexibility to the play call screen.

New Cameras: New playable cameras keep more of the action on the screen by making sure you can see all of your receivers. It also focuses on big moments such as break-aways and hard hits. Also a variety of new pre-play and post-play cameras

Improved sidelines: More people on the sideline, including a variety of security, coaches, and players. These characters have more activity and emotions than previous versions of the game.

Online

Video Highlights: capture moments and create a highlight clip that can be uploaded to EA Sports World to share with friends.

Improved online leagues: server-based leagues, supporting up to 75 players, with full schedules including the playoffs (up to seven rounds) and the Super Bowl as well as draft and trade support. Schedules can be played in a round-robin style as well.

Graphics

Improved Graphics: Improved stadium models, new weather effects such as snow, rain & "movie weather", new lighting models, new realistic player models, field goal nets, and clear visors.

Supporting features

Revamped franchise mode: Simulated stats have been improved (e.g. fewer running backs gaining 2,000+ yards in one season)

Return of Last-Gen Features: Grudge Match, Bluff Play Art, Set Audibles, Slide Protection, Formation Subs on play call.

Madden Moments: re-play through a number of real-life situations that you will recognize from the 2007 season.

Rivalries: rivalry games have special value, play-off games have more crowd and television intensity and different presentation elements.

Gameplay features

Total Control Animation System: this feature gives you the ability to break out of a tackle when a defender has you in his grasp. Use special moves such as Spin or Stiff Arm to break out of the tackle.

Playbook Renovation: including team specific defensive playbook & new offense playbooks.

User Celebrations: celebrate how you want with total control of your player (eg. Lambeau Leap, dunk ball over goal post, ram head-first into the wall like Gus Frerotte, etc.)

Gameplay Tuning: lots of tuning items and smaller features aimed at getting gameplay feeling better and more realistic.

Weather Specific Animations: weather will have visual effect on gameplay with slipping, sliding, and other animations specific to bad weather conditions.

Other features: return missed field goals, bobble catches, pass tuning, set audibles, slide protection, bluff play art, smart routes, post play continuation, post play help-ups, ball carrier combo moves, live pre-play defense, new wrap-up tackling system, improved foot pinning, new catch system, gameplay slider, realistic fatigue, improved gang tackles, true penalty based animations, new fumble system, new player weapon types, new tackling engine & animations

New Running/Ball-Carrier Engine: total control system, new transition system, character grounding with foot-plant, new procedural animation system, realistic momentum, new locomotion system, improved visuals and animations, left and right stick moves, directional diving....

Cover Athlete

On April 24, 2008, David Letterman revealed that then-retired former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre would be the cover athlete of Madden NFL 09 on the Late Show with David Letterman. Despite Favre's later unretirement and subsequent trade to the New York Jets about five days before Madden NFL 09 was officially released in North America, the game's cover still features Favre wearing a Packers uniform. Instead of reissuing the packaging, On August 11, 2008, EA made available a free alternate cover of Favre in a Jets uniform from their website that players are able to download and print. At first the new covers were available for all the consoles except the Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Wii, which use an alternate cover. On September 15, 2008, EA made available a cover shot specifically for the Wii that had Brett Favre as a Jet, but it was only a snap shot of the front cover and did not include the true layout for printing and replacing the insert that shipped with the game.

Favre is a playable character in every version of Madden NFL 09 except for the PS2 version on the "NFL Greats" roster. On the PSP edition, he is not on the Jets roster, but is available on a historic team, the 2007 Packers. Players can transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, and pick him up on any of the 32 NFL teams for the 2008 NFL season. A roster update on August 12, 2008 places Favre on the New York Jets roster as their starting quarterback.
Like all other games of EA Sports' 09 Season, the "All Play" version of Madden seen on the Wii features a different photograph of Favre with different artwork than all other versions of the game.

The Anniversary Collector's Edition does not feature a cover athlete - it has a larger version of the Roman numeral XX logo shown in the top-left corner of the game's standard cover. Roberto Garza, the starting guard for the Chicago Bears, will be the cover athlete for the Spanish language version, Madden NFL 09 en Español.

Presentation

Play-by-play and color commentary is provided by Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, respectively. Al Michaels and John Madden are still the play-by-play and color commentary for the Wii, PS2, PSP and Xbox versions. EA designers have confirmed that John Madden does play a part in Madden 09 as the person describing instructions to the Madden IQ. Madden guides the player on advice and other things to help raise his or her Madden IQ. Madden also appears in Mii form in the Wii version of the game, suggesting plays to run in the game's "Madden's Pick" feature, with a specific reason so new players can learn to call their own plays.
EA's relationship with ESPN also enables tie-ins with different ESPN shows.