Retail Radar: Madden se habla español

While NFL Football doesn't have the massive international appeal of actual football (some call it soccer), it's far from an English-only pursuit. The NFL itself clearly recognizes this, as evidenced by the league's Spanish-language NFL Mexico and NFLatino Web sites.

If new listings on Amazon.com and GameStop.com are any indication, some of the NFL's licensing partners are getting the message as well. Both online stores are now listing Madden NFL 08 en Español for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, with copies of the game expected to arrive on November 13. (GameStop has since pulled its listings.) Given Madden NFL 08's lack of foreign-language options in the US, such a product would allow Spanish-speaking NFL fans to enjoy a game with menus they can actually read, and perhaps new play-by-play commentary as well.

US publishers haven't made a habit of releasing separate Spanish-language versions of their games domestically in the past, so the games would carry some measure of risk for EA. Given that the game is only being listed on the PS2 and Xbox 360, it suggests that EA is taking a cautious approach to a possible Madden NFL 08 en Español release. Picking the two active consoles with the largest installed user bases maximizes the potential market without committing the resources needed to prepare Español counterparts for systems where they might not make their money back.

As of press time, Electronic Arts had not returned GameSpot's request for comment.

Please note, while retailer listings frequently jump the gun on publishers' product announcements, they should not be taken as final confirmation of a game's existence; nor should the absence of a listing be considered as proof that a game isn't coming to a given platform.