In the current economic climate, with studios suffering layoffs every other day, many publishers have stated a preference for sticking with established IPs that are almost guaranteed to sell well. Simulation sports games launch on an annual basis, but as EA found with 3 on 3 NHL Arcade earlier this year, a downloadable PlayStation Network/Xbox Live Arcade game is a relatively low-risk way to bring in some revenue between those yearly releases.
The success of 3 on 3 NHL Arcade paved the way for the November release of Madden NFL Arcade, a powerup-infused, penalty-free, pick-up-and-play version of videogame football that is easily likened to EA's last-gen NFL Street series (although it's less "street" than it is "cartoony"). It seems like arcade football developers have been forever trying to recreate the magic of Midway's classic NFL Blitz games. Hit the jump to find out whether Madden NFL Arcade succeeds.
This week marks the official start of the holiday shopping season, with plenty of stores having sales. Well, Microsoft wants to save you money on the biggest games by launching deals of its own.
John Artest (RunDLC)
Baseball’s great, but it has nothing on football. It’s been more than six months since the Saints won the Super Bowl, and ever since that moment, we’ve dreamed about the start of the 2010 NFL season. It’s taken a while, but this Thursday, we’ll finally get to watch the gladiators of the gridiron smash the hell out of each other when the Vikings play those Saints in a rematch of the NFC Championship. From that point on, it’s all about hot wings, lazy Sundays, Monday Night Football and of course, lots of video games. Madden’s the big dog on the block, but you can also score your pigskin fix online with the following sports games.
John Artest (RunDLC)
In today's Ten Days To Madden countdown, Gameplaybook looks at the arcade games that really made a difference for the Madden legacy.
