New tech puts ESPN anchors on video game gridiron

by Kyle Orland { Sep 5th 2008 at 4:50PM }

Don't be surprised if this Sunday's edition of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown looks a bit more like a game of Madden. According to a New York Times report, the Disney-owned sports network will use the "EA Sports Virtual Playbook" and a special studio and camera setup to allow "both real and virtual people move around the ESPN set to demonstrate plays and possible situations." It sure sounds a lot simpler than getting real NFL players to crash around the set, but we'll reserve judgment until we see it in action this weekend.

Tags: ea sports, EA-sports, EaSports, ESPN, football, madden, virtual

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shagittarius @ Sep 5th 2008 4:56PM

QB Sneak!

juju187 @ Sep 5th 2008 4:58PM

." It sure sounds a lot simpler than getting real NFL players to crash around the set,

To a certain degree they did. Retired nfl players now working for espn would preform the play in their suits before this...

343 Guilty Fart @ Sep 5th 2008 5:13PM

Looks like that car commercial where there's a crash in progress and the guy with the British accent (to make him sound more intelligent of course!) walks around and explains how everything works.

Deric Lee @ Sep 5th 2008 5:50PM

Sweet, always up for tech enhancements to analytical shows.

E.J. @ Sep 5th 2008 5:54PM

Cool!

Didn't UEFA or some other world-stage soccer tournament recently use PES or FIFA for their broadcasts?

Bango Shank @ Sep 5th 2008 7:19PM

Why ruin great graphics by inserting a RL middle aged sportscaster? Surely a computer generated and bikini-clad blond would be a much better fit.

Louie @ Sep 7th 2008 11:35AM

Weird. EA won't integrate the ESPN presentation into Madden, but ESPN is integrating Madden into NFL Countdown (and no, I don't think EA is the devil). I would kind of like to use the Hit Stick on Chris Mortensen.

Ryan @ Sep 7th 2008 12:27AM

Is that Merrill Hoge? What an asshole?

Is it wrong to hate Madden 09 because the two things i did best in 08 don't work for shit in 09 (HB Screens and the ENTIRE running game)

I suck at passing, but i used to be able to use my run game to set it up and be successful, now I'm terrible at both.

Is anyone else having these issues?

PS
The playbooks suck too.

mairondil @ Sep 8th 2008 11:34AM

Saw this yesterday. My kids were like "Are those players real?" and "Won't that guy get hit?". Pretty impressive and I hope they use it a lot more often.

Perhaps even have the players be half size so the analysts can step over them to explain what's going on.