It's a mad, mad, mad, Madden NFL world: Michael Vick's video game adventure

Sporting News, The, June 30, 2003 by Paul Attner

For Michael Vick, a don't-try-me-because-I'm-too-good-to-lose-especially -if-you-are-foolish-enough-to-play-me-for-money video game freak, the ultimate rush comes from beating the snot out of a Madden NFL opponent.

Now playing him at Madden will be almost unfair.

This offseason, he became the newest cover boy for the EA game. As one of the perks, he sat down with the EA Sports design freaks at their Florida headquarters and gave his expert advice to improve Madden NFL 2004 (due for release in August).

"It was very exciting," Vick says. "I jumped right into it."

Vick's impression of the world of EA? "Wild," he says, laughing. It's a mad, mad world at EA, where they employ testers who play games 12 hours a day, day after day. Even Vick, who conducted marathon playing sessions at Virginia Tech, was astonished.

"Twelve hours," he says with a mixture of admiration and disbelief. "Even I couldn't do that."

And the designers themselves--"We're talking some crazy, serious dudes," says Vick. They want their games to be realistic as possible, which is why Vick was in Florida. "OK," they said to him, "how would you make our game better?" He has a long-held pet peeve--he doesn't think the game controller is as good as it could be. So he suggested to them how to improve it, moving around the buttons, making it easier for the novice player to become competitive.

He also watched himself for a good chunk of time playing within Madden NFL 2004, critiquing his movements and performance. "Add anything?" they asked. "Sure," he said. Might as well ask a kid if he wants another ice cream.

On a white board, he drew up a few new plays. And they weren't pass patterns. "Quarterback draws" he says. "I gave them a lot of different draws." He presented them with precise X's and O's configurations, and showed them how defenses might react. The designers loved it.

"Now, they weren't exactly the way we run them," he says. "I don't want teams in the league using the game to scout how we do things in Atlanta. I changed it up a little, put some loop-holes in there, but the plays stiff are very authentic."

And when you hear his voice on Madden, it won't be an imitation. It'll be the real Vick; they recorded him calling out signals at the line.

"When I see the new version and I am playing against someone and I know what is going to happen, it'll be unreal," he says. "It's going to hit me: I helped create what I am seeing on the screen. It'll touch me. It really will. I mean, this is a dream come true, for me to be on the cover of Madden NFL and be part of the game. It's something you think about as a kid, but you don't think it will ever happen."

And how does Vick do on those draws? "I score," he says. Of course.