Madden NFL 09

Cover athlete

Brett Favre was revealed as the cover athlete on April 23, 2008, by David Letterman on the Late Show with David Letterman. The standard cover still depicted Favre in a Packers uniform, but on August 12, 2008, EA made a free alternative cover showing Favre in a Jets uniform available for download and printing from their website. Initially, these alternative covers were offered for all consoles except the Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Wii, which used an alternate cover; a Wii-specific cover with Favre as a Jet was released on September 15, 2008.

Favre was a playable character in all versions except the Nintendo DS edition; on the Wii, PSP, and PS2 versions, he appeared on a historic 2007 Packers team rather than the Jets roster, and players could move him to the free agent pool. A roster update for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions on August 12, 2008 placed Favre on the New York Jets as their starting quarterback. The Wii's "All Play" version used a different photograph and artwork of Favre.

The Anniversary Collector's Edition, released only in North America, did not feature a cover athlete but instead displayed a larger version of the Roman numeral XX logo. The Spanish version, Madden NFL 09 en Español, had Chicago Bears guard Roberto Garza as its cover athlete.

Presentation

Play-by-play and color commentary for most versions was provided by Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, while the Wii, PS2, Xbox, and PSP versions retained Al Michaels and John Madden. John Madden appeared in the game describing instructions for the Madden IQ feature and offered advice to help players improve their Madden IQ. In the Wii version, Madden appeared in Mii form suggesting plays through the "Madden's Pick" feature, and he also appeared at the start of a game describing the teams and matchup. The quarterback's passing cone, introduced in Madden NFL 06 and disliked by fans, was removed for Madden NFL 09.

Reception

Madden NFL 09 earned generally favorable reviews across most platforms. The PlayStation 3 version received an 86.45% from GameRankings and an 85 out of 100 on Metacritic, while the Xbox 360 version scored 84.67% and 83 out of 100. The Wii version got 81.78% and 82 out of 100, and the original Xbox version earned 80% and 80 out of 100. Lower scores went to the PlayStation 2 version (70.33% and 67 out of 100), the DS version (66.50% and 66 out of 100), and the PSP version (65.67% and 68 out of 100).

IGN gave the mobile phone version a 7.9 out of 10, calling it a solid way to enjoy football during downtime. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the game for Sports Game of the Year at the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Electronic Arts reported 4.5 million copies sold as of September 30, 2008. According to NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain, by October 1, 2008, the game had sold 2.958 million copies in the United States, 35,000 in the United Kingdom, and 1,000 in Japan.

The Xbox 360 version ranked as the 18th best-selling game in the United States for December 2008 and the ninth best-selling game of the entire year, with over 1.87 million copies. For their respective consoles in December 2008, the PlayStation 2 version was the second best-selling, the PlayStation 3 version was seventh, and the PlayStation Portable version was first.

Issues

Shortly after release, consumers reported freezing errors in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. EA confirmed the issue and stated they would work on a patch for both consoles to locate and fix the source of the freezing. The problem led many players to question the advantages of console patching, criticizing the feature for allowing companies to rush games and rely on post-release patches to address issues discovered by consumers.