LADYDRAGON.COM - EA SPORTS and ABC SPORTS Debut John Madden's Videogame Analysis on Monday Night Football

Tuesday September 03, 2002

EA SPORTS and ABC SPORTS Debut John Madden's Videogame Analysis on Monday Night Football

Partnership Has John Madden Using Madden NFL 2003 to Breakdown Monday Night Match-Ups During Broadcast

EA SPORTS and ABC SPORTS are bringing Monday Night Football fans a new way to watch the games this season with an analysis by John Madden using Madden NFL 2003.

During all 17 games this season, John Madden will use the Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) top-selling franchise, Madden NFL Football, to breakdown the weekly match-up and analyze key aspects of the game. This will be the first time that the Madden NFL game technology has been incorporated into the actual, in-game network broadcast. This segment will debut Monday night, September 9 during the first Monday Night Football Game of the regular season.

Using Madden NFL 2003, ABC SPORTS can put a "virtual" camera in any location within an animating play and can track the camera across almost any path while the play is in motion. Madden NFL 2003 allows ABC SPORTS to show its viewers footage that could not be accessed from actual field cameras or from real game footage due to the sophisticated technology in Madden NFL 2003. As a result, ABC SPORTS will use Madden NFL 2003 to illustrate John Madden's unique analysis inside the broadcast itself to entertain its viewers in an unprecedented format.

"Using the EA SPORTS- Madden NFL 2003 technology allows Monday Night Football to uniquely explain the intricacies of NFL Football in a clear and entertaining fashion. We are extremely excited about the relationship," said Fred Gaudelli, executive producer, Monday Night Football.

Monday Night Football is the most successful primetime sports programming in television history. The series, now in its 33rd year, has been a top-ten-ranked primetime program in each of the last 11 years and is Network television's No.1 show for men.

"We're thrilled with the opportunity to make history and bring this technology to Monday Night Football," said Chip Lange, vice president of marketing for North America EA. "Nobody has ever used graphics like these in a live, in-game broadcast before. We pioneered this way of breaking down games several years back but now with technology as powerful and sophisticated as the Madden NFL 2003 engine, we can actually move this analytical tool to where it has the most punch-inside the broadcast itself. John loves to telestrate the plays and what better way to explain in detail than with his own videogame that he helped create 15 years ago. Monday Night Football viewers really will be amazed with what we feature each week this season."

Available on six platforms, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo GameCube(tm),, the Xbox(tm) video game system from Microsoft, the PlayStation console, Game Boy® Advance and PC, the Madden NFL Football franchise enters into its 13th year as the undisputed leader in authentic NFL football simulation. In its history, the franchise has sold more than 25 million copies including more than four million copies of Madden NFL 2002.

EA SPORTS (www.easports.com) is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world. Its top-selling franchises and games include FIFA Soccer, John Madden Football(tm), Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, NHL® hockey, Knockout Kings(tm), NBA LIVE basketball, Triple Play Baseball(tm) and NASCAR Thunder(tm).

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.7 billion for fiscal 2002. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for the Internet, personal computers and video game systems. EA markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(tm), EA GAMES(tm), EA SPORTS BIG(tm) and EA.COMSM.