Overheard@E3: Incomplete pass

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jul 11th 2007 at 5:28AM }

During Tuesday night's E3 media briefing, Microsoft boasted that Xbox 360 was the only console with the current three best-selling franchises (Sony ain't far behind with two). But at least one attendee failed to grasp the significance:

South African game blogger: What's this game called?

Other blogger: Uh ... Madden.

Tags: e307, madden, overheard

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

t_m @ Jul 11th 2007 5:39AM

is that because no one outside the uk cares about madden or American fotbal in the slightest?

Or did I miss the point of this post??

Wilky @ Jul 11th 2007 6:34AM

I think you mean no-one outside of North America. Nobody cares about American Football in the UK.

t_m @ Jul 11th 2007 9:22AM

doh... Wilky is right... outside a.m.e.r.i.c.a.

Whoops..

mike @ Jul 11th 2007 4:21PM

i thinkg you mean no1 outside of America, not north america. Us Canadians dont care about football either, and Im sure the mexicans dont care as well.

kinghippo @ Jul 11th 2007 5:42AM

That's not really news, to be fair.

Believe it or not, Madden is only a big franchise in America. Sales in Europe and Japan are negligible.

Purple Haze @ Jul 11th 2007 5:44AM

Thats because absolutely nobody except americans care about american football!

Purple Haze @ Jul 11th 2007 5:42AM

How many south african game bloggers can I think of?

sheppy @ Jul 11th 2007 9:40AM

Well, there's Ludwig...

And that's all that matters, really.

vauxhall @ Jul 11th 2007 6:03AM

How is this news?? Nobody outside the US cares about Madden. Why would we?

BrotherEstapol @ Jul 11th 2007 6:16AM

To echo what others are saying; no-one out of North America cares about gridiron...Fifa would get more sales than Madden outside of the US.

Get out of your bubble please.

Wilky @ Jul 11th 2007 6:32AM

But at least one Joystiq Blogger called James failed to grasp the significance:

Football > American Football;

One game is restricted to North America with a market of around 300 million. The other is a global sport with a market of over 2 billion.

I think those figures speak for themselves. Madden? Sorry, who is he again?

Gavin Mannion @ Jul 11th 2007 6:41AM

Hey wait to show yoru ignorance there... Believe it or not AMERICAN football is actually only big in AMERICA. It is virtually impossible to even buy the game in South Africa.

How did this ever make it onto this site. Terrible reporting.

Daniel @ Jul 11th 2007 6:50AM

Although what many people are saying is wrong - in that I and many of my friends really enjoy following NFL and playing some Madden after school (in Ireland) - this really is some quite ignorant reporting, as most people outside North America don't really care about NFL or Madden.

ssuk @ Jul 11th 2007 8:35AM

Welcome to a thing called a minority. Enjoy your stay.

spamulike05 @ Jul 11th 2007 7:13AM

Almost as irritating as when Americans call football soccer.

Blinkus @ Jul 11th 2007 11:19AM

That whole reasoning is bullshit.

You know what happens when Americans refer to "soccer" as "football" around Europeans? They get asked, "wait, do you mean American football, or soccer?"

Americans are expected to use "soccer." So what's the fucking point in accommodating your vocabulary if it's just going to confuse you?

Rubang B @ Jul 11th 2007 3:51PM

Is Shagi insulting the version of football that DOESN'T involve sweaty dudes hugging, slapping each other's asses, and dogpiling?

GamerG @ Jul 11th 2007 7:28AM

I cant believe that some South American Blogger has not heard of a US based Television sports reporter that commentates on a game he's never seen. CRAZY

DanceMoveDestro @ Jul 11th 2007 7:39AM

Whats so bad expecting a journalist coming to the U.S. for E3 to know about the highest selling sports franchise in the U.S.? I could see if E3 was held in South Africa, and he did not know what it was he was looking at.

Wilky @ Jul 11th 2007 8:15AM

Why should a journalist from outside the US be interested in a local sport that has nothing to do with what his readers are interested in?

You are also forgetting that he might never have heard of American football until he arrived in America. Hard to believe, but lets not forget that American football really is a local sport in the global sports arena.

amba @ Jul 11th 2007 8:20AM

It was a fair enough question by the blogger- they didn't ask what the sport is, only what the game is. Show me screens of FIFA and PES, I couldn't tell you straight away which was which.

Ghen @ Jul 11th 2007 7:43AM

tiny journalist jabs aren't news :P.

DrXym @ Jul 11th 2007 7:47AM

Is anyone surprised that barely anyone outside the US recognizes Madden? Every country has their own sports franchises - the UK has cricket and rugby games and Ireland has Gaelic football for example. It just so happens that everyone outside the target audience finds them to be utterly boring and tedious. The same of the US equivalents too. I doubt you would find many people in Europe who could give a stuff about American football, baseball or basketball, let alone wish to buy a game of one.

Bazzam @ Jul 11th 2007 7:54AM

I wonder how many Americans can name this game?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=67da05h

Paul @ Jul 11th 2007 8:10AM

Aussie Rules Football!

correct?

chris @ Jul 11th 2007 8:16AM

I believe it's called "yet another of the English sports that was introduced to Australia, NZ and (funnily enough) South Africa who went on to dominate England at that very game" :P

But I'm obviously not American so probably not the answer you were looking for :P

chris @ Jul 11th 2007 8:17AM

Oh and Paul it's rugby union in that picture. That's unless you were just being sarcastic.

bazzamnz @ Jul 11th 2007 8:52AM

LOL, Nice try Paul

My Point Proven!

Now all we need to do is get some Americans to support us rugby fans and demand a Rugby game for 360! Stupid Ea put all there money into Madden and give us Rugby fans crappy Rugby 2008 for PS2.

Some of my fellow wishful thinking New Zealanders started a petition to get Rugby to 360. So help a good cause and sign it! Please :)

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Rugby360

Paul @ Jul 11th 2007 9:47AM

dont worry! it was a joke! (a poor one) THAT SAID: put the All Blacks up against the Philadephia Eagles in a game of Hockey and we will see who the real men are!

Boss Tempo @ Jul 11th 2007 8:06AM

...And stay tuned for more riveting E3 news...only at Joystiq. Coming up next, we discuss watching paint dry and its UK equivalent...SOCCER.

WhackMushroom @ Jul 11th 2007 8:07AM

squash? ff13? msg4?

zwarrior @ Jul 11th 2007 8:20AM

Did you also tell the South African blogger that the game is not really that great but we buy it anyway because of EA's exclusive deal with the NFL?

vidGuy @ Jul 11th 2007 8:32AM

I think you guys are taking this post the wrong way. It's not to make fun of the blogger who doesn't know Madden but to make the point you all are making.

You can say the same thing in reverse. I couldn't name a single guy on the cover of FIFA, for example.

spamulike05 @ Jul 11th 2007 10:12AM

@ Boss tempo, thanks for justifying my earlier post.

mccomber @ Jul 11th 2007 10:29AM

I remember thinking about that as he was presenting all those numbers and the three games; they weren't international. Now, obviously the NPD numbers are what show the xbox in the most favorable light, so that's what they're going to show. And of course it's significant because we buy the most games here, especially for consoles, but it does further the idea that each of the consoles may be #1 in different regions this time around...
Anyway, you know that Sony is going to show it's numbers as compared to the 360 from an international standpoint, and Nintendo is just going to stand on stage, laughing and having a money fight before they show the newest videos from Metroid and Mario.

Beaudry @ Jul 11th 2007 10:44AM

Stupid eurotrash, you should still know about the Madden video games. It is the 5th best selling franchise of all time. Do you all know about Zelda, GTA, Donkey Kong, Grand Turismo, and Sonic? Madden has sold more than all of those series.

1 Mario (more than 193 million)
2 Pokémon (155 million)
3 The Sims (85 million)
4 Final Fantasy (75 million)
5 Madden NFL (60 million)
6 The Legend of Zelda (52 million)
7 Grand Theft Auto (50 million)
8 Donkey Kong (48 million)[155]
9 Gran Turismo (47 million)
10 Sonic the Hedgehog (44 million)[157]

Adv2k1 @ Jul 11th 2007 11:00AM

Football > Futbol

Soccer is for weirdos and freaks and fruits. The rest of the world is less manlier than America.

Burritoclock @ Jul 11th 2007 11:22AM

If American football is so insignificant compared to SOCCER (thats right I refuse to call it "football") then why IS madden one of the top selling games while soccer games aren't?

Should not a VIDEO GAME blogger recognize one of the top selling game franchises in the history of the industry???

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Jul 11th 2007 11:24AM

The blogger in question was me -- we thought it was funny. This is a lighthearted post, folks.

BPM @ Jul 11th 2007 12:08PM

You know how these Joystiq readers are:
Joystiq is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Purple Haze @ Jul 11th 2007 7:39PM

Thats what I was getting at!

Jack @ Jul 11th 2007 11:41AM

Oh, to be in a country where Madden is considered worthless and kicked to the curb like the shovelware it is...

tiremfej @ Jul 11th 2007 11:56AM

I think it's hilarious, people around here, can't handle jokes. Although I do believe the WFL is fairly popular in the Euorpean countries it's played in, maybe I'm wrong thogh.

Ordeith @ Jul 11th 2007 12:18PM

MS in a good position in NA.

Madden running 30fps faster on the 360
GTA4 having exclusive episodic content
and Halo 3.

So they have all 3, and the best experience for all 3.

and E3 is in North America, so using North American sales figures is appropriate.

Praetor @ Jul 11th 2007 3:01PM

If he's from South Africa he'll more likely be into Rugby. It's a bit like Gridiron, but for real men who don't wear full body armour and stop for a break every 15 seconds ;)

GamerCrusader @ Jul 11th 2007 3:53PM

I think the point of the post was to show the misleading comment about a game being the most popular.. Or more in general, at the irony in the fact that microsoft was boasting about it, and then probably about 10% of its CURRENT audience (Due to the fact that this is the most international-like event, what with thousand of attendees from all around the world) not knowing about it. Madden really is an american game, and the problem with that is that the american market, although big spenders, is still quite small. That includes canada and mexico in that relevance. (From canada, us gamers are ignored here, GIVE ME SOME DECENT XBOX LIVE!) Anywhoo, explanation done. Q.E.D.

JonFitt @ Jul 12th 2007 2:39AM

a: What's this?
b: Uh.. Madden.
a: Eh?
b: It's big in America.
a: Oh. Hang on I vaguely remember this, didn't this come out on the PS2?
b: No, no, no. This is completely different, these models have different names and stats to match new people you have never heard of. If you play the PS2 version it'll have all the names of people you've never heard of from a year ago, playing that would be like so crazy... oh I can't even comprehend how.. ... insane!
a: Yeeeeah. Anywaaay. Got any major sports games?

Snorri @ Jul 12th 2007 10:08AM

Big deal. I don't think that people in South Africa would want to play Madden, hence this guy glazing over when the title is shown. Hell I did the same, and I'm in the UK. Rugby over American Football anyday.