Madden 09 headed for end zone

Electronic Arts' latest edition of long-running NFL sim series goes gold, set to hit stores August 12.

The traditional gift material for a 20th anniversary is fine china. However, Electronic Arts announced today that the latest entry in the two-decades-old Madden NFL series is being commemorated with gold instead. Specifically, the game has gone gold and is ready to make its August 12 release date.

Fronted by recently retired Green Bay Packer great Brett Favre, Madden NFL 09 arrives with a variety of tweaks and changes to the formula in tow. For one thing, Electronic Arts has instituted an adaptive artificial-intelligence system that will tailor its difficulty to the player's skill level on the fly. Players will also be able to call for a do-over on particularly disastrous plays, and the backtrack feature has the game break down a play and point out exactly what went wrong and what should have been done instead.

Madden NFL 09 is set for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Xbox. A Wii version of the game will also be released that day under the tweaked moniker Madden NFL 09 All-Play. Collector's Edition packages of the game, including the full version of NFL Head Coach 09, will also be available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $90.

101 Comments

  • Mc1csmo

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 10:43 am PT

    Does the psp version allow for roster updates via download?

  • MetalMan300

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 1:59 pm PT

    madden on old xbox is nice. Itll be cool to see one last xbox game...

  • sbmqwerty

    Posted Jul 10, 2008 8:12 pm PT

    vacadekrazy Madden 99 had a first person feature. 2k took that from madden.

  • ghoffbad83

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 4:32 pm PT

    wow i cant believe their releasing it on the old xbox...i wonder why, they dont even have regular xbox games at my frickin walmart anymore they'll have to make an execption

  • cleverblake

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 12:36 pm PT

    have they mentioned whether or not madden and michaels are doing the play-by-play this time? or is it another radio kinda deal?

  • djkearse36

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 9:22 am PT

    i hope this is good!!!!

  • biggama

    Posted Jun 29, 2008 6:19 pm PT

    if u hate on madden your a complette dumbass. its way better that that p.o.s. 2k5.i owned that at one point when it came out and i found out why it cost 20 bucks. this year is gonna kill and with favre on the cover who can complain. by the way if u still play 2k5 cut ur hands off and never play a football game again. the animations are repetitive its annoying. oh yeah and ea deserives the exclusive on football. look at what 2k did with baseball. its disgustingly bad.

  • rsoxguy12

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 9:40 pm PT

    TheoleDominion1, the funny thing is, you have been missing out on premium football games for 3 years while guarding your precious 2k5 game.

  • chrisbrookscool

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 9:45 pm PT

    only thing I'm going to hate about this game is the new rewind feature. Sometimes you make mistakes and learn from them

  • SDSkarface

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 8:39 pm PT

    where the f is the PC version? Boycott EA!

  • sacker63

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 3:55 pm PT

    TheoleDominion1....

    Yeah, you'rea moron. 2K5 sucked. You're just mad because you're too cheap to buy madden and your bargain bin game is dead.

  • KaoaAlakane

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 1:08 pm PT

    hey TheoleDominion1. yeah thats about all 2k has on madden. graphics are fine-n-dandy but on a realistic football sim that only goes so far. madden is a football sim not an arcade style football game. the blitz games were kinda fun also once upon a time but like 2k, dead now. hell look at the character models in tecmo bowl but that game STILL kicks ass.

  • NWbaseball0808

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 11:20 am PT

    Is that a typo? Can I really get this game for my old school Xbox?

  • TheoleDominion1

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 6:26 am PT

    The funny part is, the character models,animations, and features in 2K5 are STILL better than what EA is putting out in the Madden series.

  • drlove1023

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 5:07 am PT

    Ok EA, for the PS3... ONLINE FANTASY LEAGUES WITH 32 TEAMS, A LIVE DRAFT, AND A FULL 16 GAME SEASON..... how hard can that feature be?

  • 360-OHIO-Gamer

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 11:07 pm PT

    This should be a sweet game. I'm a browns fan and we should have a good team this year.

  • krazykdude

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 10:22 pm PT

    Seriously, I like these sports franchies and all, but I think they need to start developing better and more consistent games, with more then just a few graphical tweaks and roster changes, I would perfer it, if they would release these sports games once every two years, so they could spend more time developing them better, and perhaps throughout the year, if the course of the original game, if there are any roster changes, they can make downloadable "content" or patches. This is just a bit of my opinion!

  • jabonetwo

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 8:52 pm PT

    Madden woooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • NYJPrice

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 8:48 pm PT

    i hope they upgrade tha superstar mode for madden 2years of tha same old mode is not a good look for madden

  • FROZEN_FLAPJACK

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 3:42 pm PT

    I love the Madden series.

  • XxWOND3RB3ADxX

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 3:08 pm PT

    awesome!!!!!!!!

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 2:19 pm PT

    Madden, unchanged since the loss of competition back in 05 and still charging you an arm and a leg. Hey EA, send me the game for free and maybe i will play it, until you stop this Exclusive crap, you will never get another penny from me for football. LONG LIVE ESPN NFL2K5!!!!!

  • cpaschal

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 10:57 am PT

    Madden 09 Collectors Edition...Now Cheaper than a tank of gas!!!
    Well...not quite...but almost. Sad.

  • gwf123

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 9:55 am PT

    i bet our kids will live in a world were all game companies are run by EA and all sports titles are owned by EA ;(

  • itwiz90

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 8:29 am PT

    EA and Madden have ben the pockets of customer for 15+ years now, and the fans keep coming back. In the days of 8bit, I personally loved TECMO Bowl, played as the Giants and had LT rushing the QB. It was a whole before O bought a football game in the 16bit era, and when I did it was Madden. Now the have NFL Blitz, Ballers, fun games but not realistic. I liked Madden 2005. I will have to see about this release - I haven't bought a football game in 4 years now

  • cooldude03

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 7:42 am PT

    Madden '08 was spectacular and I'm not a Madden fan. But I'm excited to see how Madden '09 turns out.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 6:45 am PT

    to every single person the complains about Madden. you aren't doing any good if you go out and purchase another EA game. THE ONLY WAY THINGS WILL CHANGE IS IF EA STARTS TO LOSE MONEY AND EVERYONE KEEPS BUYING THEIR LAME, UNIMAGINATIVE GAMES, GUESS WHAT....they'll keep making money

  • LosDaddie posted Jun 26, 2008 6:14 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    LosDaddie

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 6:14 am PT (hide)

    Already pre-ordered the 20th Anniversary edition!!

    MAdden & EA FTW!!

  • brettak81

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 5:41 am PT

    last year's madden '08 was slow and the controls were unresponsive. hope they sharpen things up this year.

  • ou661

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 4:55 am PT

    Don't hate on EA for stuff they haven't done yet

  • vacadekrazy

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 4:40 am PT

    EA is the laziest company. As soon as the exclusive rights goes up then all of the sudden we'll see a next gen football game. No more paper looking people beyond the sideline. Let me guess for madden 2010, they will add a new first person feature mode like sega had in 2k5. Oh and maybe a halftime show that they could steal from 2k5 also.

  • rbop

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 4:35 am PT

    @gametoy3 - I love Madden as well and have owned every last one of them... EVERY single one... However, I think that at this point it's feasible for them to release periodic updates rather than completely "new" games. The new games keep coming b/c we keep buying them and EA truly has no incentive as a business not to make them.

  • Taegre

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 1:50 am PT

    DontEatIceCream
    "Ha, what's next, Madden 2010 for the Sega Dreamcast? Jesus."

    That would be pretty badass, but then they'd be competing with NFL 2K1. Actually, the Dreamcast 2K games have probably rendered current-gen Madden games unnecessary.

  • gametoy3

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 12:11 am PT

    I love Madden always have, always will. The different seasons are repetitivly the same but what can EA do. They cant change the sport and the game in essence is great alredy. Cant wait for it to be released

  • M-ManLA

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 11:02 pm PT

    I haven't bought a Madden game in about 2-3 seasons, so I will probably pick this one up.

  • ps2forever

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 10:56 pm PT

    Wow , I can't believe they would even bother to put in REWIND to do-over a play. that's so "orginal" why don't they give the PAT's the Doover it would make things much better. EA's stop making such and arcadic game , and make a REAL football game. I thought when they bought the NFL licencse that i would get a great quality game but instead it turns out to be bad every single year. Also, i hope that rewind feature is optional cuz playing with other peopel online, haveing this feature is going to be pretty annoying. Also, i hope they would fix the damn servers. Madden is by far the laggest online sports game for the next gen gaming ever!

  • 40ishgamer

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 9:49 pm PT

    I wait till the price drops to about half. Then, if after renting I like what I see, I buy. EA's not getting my sixty bucks; I need that for gas money.

  • -MuGgZ-

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 9:12 pm PT

    hopefully the fixed the online hurry up offence glitch

  • DontEatCream

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 8:55 pm PT

    God, another one. You can tell EA's reached a new low with this franchise when they make a version for the friggin' Xbox. Ha, what's next, Madden 2010 for the Sega Dreamcast? Jesus.

  • TheNotoriousBYC

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 8:34 pm PT

    do-overs? ha! why don't you try this do-over EA... its called "STOP PUTTING OUT THE SAME CRAP EVERY YEAR AND FIX THE DAMN GLITCHES ALREADY"

    that being said, i heart football~

  • hapwin

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 8:19 pm PT

    @belfento That is probably why they have no PC version this year because of ppl like you dl it

  • Wuflungdung

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 8:15 pm PT

    I am looking forward to this.

  • hunter8man

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 7:54 pm PT

    How so many people can spend $60 on the same game year after year is beyond me. EA should just create a roster update and charge a few bucks for it since they don't do anything else with it. I've been playing ESPN 2005 since the day it came out, and it still hasn't gotten old.


    I've learned my lesson when it comes to Madden. I rent it to see if it's even worth my time.

  • ksathra2005

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 7:52 pm PT

    I see no reason to pay $60 for the same game year after year. Personally I think it's time for this series to be retired.

  • invaderzim17

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 7:40 pm PT

    So I payed $50 for a Madden game in '06. I think I'll go pay $60 for the SAME GAME. Yeah right. Nice try, EA.

  • Wardemon50

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 7:36 pm PT

    By "End Zone" i thought they meant they were selling/ending the franchise. A man can dream I guess

  • coke_cola

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 6:49 pm PT

    Goes gold already? Extra 3-4 weeks of debugging on this game would fix at least a couple more bugs. Ohh well, at least we'll catch those bugs for them.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 6:43 pm PT

    O cool another Madden sports game, how original. i cant wait until Madden 2020 gold edition! whoever is buying these games needs to be taken out to the wood shed and ...well u know.

  • Munchlax

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 6:13 pm PT

    BACKTRACK FEATURE??? whats next, power-ups? come on EA...

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