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Madden a challenge for gaming pros
EA Sports Classic calls upon the best in the nation, world
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Photo by Chuck Iversen • civerse1@mscd.edu Video game enthusiasts of all ages come from different parts of the country to participate in the Madden Challenge on Friday, Sept. 1 at Invesco Field. Electronic Arts, a major video game maker, sponsors the circuit event which travels around to major U.S. cities and is in its fifth year.

The video game industry is booming bigger than ever these days, and there is no better example of this than the billion-dollar Electronic Arts John Madden football series. Since 1995, Madden games have become a staple for cyber-athletes worldwide, and nowhere is that trend better showcased than at the annual Madden Challenge.

This year the Madden Challenge kicked off Sept. 1 at Denver’s own Invesco Field at Mile High.

Set in the posh indoor club level of the stadium, the event included DJs spinning, emcees spitting football lingo, end-zone dance contests, “Beat the D-Train” face-offs and dozens of high-quality plasma flat screens, where some of the best competitors in Colorado and beyond were able to square off in the fifth annual Madden Challenge, sponsored by EA Sports.

“The poker industry has become a billion-dollar industry,” said Doug Scott, vice president of EA Sports Entertainment. “And if you can make a bunch of fat, old men sitting around a table playing cards a billion-dollar industry, you have to make playing Madden an industry as well.”

The Madden series has blossomed, appearing on MTV, ESPN and other major television networks. The game is promoted by players and fans alike and is often praised for the quality of realism it has brought to video sports gaming.

The Madden Challenge, which spans 26 U.S. cities as well as international locations such as the United Kingdom, Germany, China and Mexico, is taking cyber-athletics to a whole new level.

“The guys that play this game are students of the game,” Scott said. “They’re not only students of football -– which they have to be in order to play the game – but they’re students of the software as well. It is a software program, after all.”

A software program, yes. But a very lucrative one to become familiar with. Several competitors return year after year for a shot at winning a region and moving on to the finals in Hawaii, which take place in February during the Pro Bowl.

Regional winners come away with a $1,000 paycheck, and the winner in Hawaii pulls down $100,000 for the “whole deal,” according to Madden Challenge Series project manager Rod Stigall.

“These guys look at this thing as their show,” Stigall said. “Their profession is to be a cyber-athlete.”

Some sure-shot players become so adept at the game they draw sponsors that pay airfare for tournaments across the country in order to ensure their cyber-athlete makes it to Hawaii in February.

“I’ve been serious since Madden ’05 and I’m just good at it, so that’s why I like to play,” said R.J., circuit regular and two-time finalist. “And now people pay for me to travel to the events.”

R.J. won in both Philadelphia and Phoenix on his way to the finals in 2005 and 2006.

At the Denver event, R.J. found himself in the loser’s bracket after a close loss to rival Problem.

“He stopped me just that one time and that’s what basically beat me,” R.J. said after the championship game, though the defensively-inclined 7-3 score suggested that Problem had R.J.’s number all night long.

R.J. and Problem, like most Madden “ballers,” go only by nicknames they earned during the tour. Many of the nicknames are carried over from online competition.

“All of the guys develop their nickname on the tour and it sticks with them,” Stigall said. “It’s like a community hub where these guys know each other just from playing Madden.”

The Madden Challenge is constantly looking to further develop their fan-base and competition. Aside from gaining extra sponsorship from ESPN, Direct TV and Best Buy, the event is also offered online for rural gamers that don’t have access to a venue.

“There’s a big resource of guys coming here and playing in official Madden tournaments all across the country,” Stigall said. “What we’re really doing is turning this into a worldwide thing to determine who the best Madden player in the world is year in and year out.”