ESPN is an American multinational basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen along with his son Scott Rasmussen and Ed Egan.
Madden NFL is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, and it has sold more than 250 million copies. It is also the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and it has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. Among the series' features are detailed playbooks and player statistics and voice commentary in the style of a real NFL television broadcast. As of 2013 the franchise has generated over $4 billion dollars in sales.
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy and sport management. Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, and are updated annually to reflect real-world changes. Sports genre is one of the oldest genres in gaming history.
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements with real commentators such as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as FIFA, NHL, NBA Live and Madden NFL.
MVP Baseball is a baseball game series published by EA Sports, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, MVP became the official successor to EA's long-running Triple Play Baseball series, and it simulated Major League Baseball from 2003 to 2005. However, an exclusive licensing deal between Major League Baseball and Take-Two Interactive in 2005 prohibited EA Sports from making another MLB game until 2012. In response, EA made NCAA college baseball games in 2006 and 2007, but discontinued the series in 2008 because of poor sales.
NFL 2K is an American football video game series developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega. The series was originally exclusive to Sega's Dreamcast video game console due to the absence of EA Sports's Madden NFL series on the system. As the foremost "2K" title, it marked the beginning of a running athletics series that eventually led to the spinning off of 2K's sports publishing business under the name of 2K Sports. Upon the Dreamcast's discontinuation, the series continued to be published for other sixth generation game systems and became the chief competitor of the Madden series.
NFL Network is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL RedZone. Dedicated to American football, the network features game telecasts from the NFL, as well as NFL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries. The network is headquartered in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, California, and broadcasts its worldwide feed from Encompass Digital Media in Atlanta, Georgia. The NFL Media Campus, as well as the network's headquarters, is scheduled to relocate to Inglewood, California by summer of 2021, where a new office building and studio will be located next to SoFi Stadium.
ESPNews is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Communications.
Fox Sports, also referred to as Fox Sports Media Group, is the sports programming division of the Fox Corporation that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Fox Sports 2 (FS2), and the Fox Sports Radio network.
NCAA Football is an American football video game series developed by EA Sports in which players control and compete against current Division I FBS college teams. It served as a college football counterpart to the Madden NFL series. The series began in 1993 with the release of Bill Walsh College Football. EA eventually acquired the licensing rights to the NCAA name and officially rechristened the series with the release of NCAA Football 98.
ESPN Deportes is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications. The network is aimed primarily at the Hispanic community in the United States. The channel broadcasts from studio facilities at ESPN's traditional bases of operations in Los Angeles, and Bristol, Connecticut, along with their Mexican base in Mexico City.
ESPN NFL 2K5 is an American football video game developed by Visual Concepts for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. Published by 2K Sports and the Sega Corporation, it is the sixth installment of the NFL 2K series and the last to use official NFL licensing until an unnamed sequel is released in 2021. Gameplay is presented as a live ESPN television broadcast and features the voices and digital likenesses of multiple ESPN on-air personalities.
MVP 06: NCAA Baseball is the fourth edition of the baseball video game series developed by Electronic Arts. Because of Electronic Arts' loss of the Major League Baseball (MLB) license to Take Two Interactive in 2005, which now has the exclusive MLB license, the publishers decided to transition the MVP series to feature NCAA baseball, joining the publisher's NCAA football and basketball lines. MVP 06 was released on January 18, 2006 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles. The athlete on the cover is former Texas Longhorn David Maroul.
MLB 2K was a series of Major League Baseball video games that was developed by Visual Concepts and Kush Games, and published by 2K Sports. There were nine games in the series: 2K5, 2K6, 2K7, 2K8, 2K9, 2K10, 2K11, 2K12 and 2K13. All games were created for each MLB season. The series was created in 2005 after Visual Concepts teamed up with 2K Sports. Visual Concepts called the series World Series and ESPN Major League Baseball in years prior to 2005. In 2014, 2K Games announced that the series had been discontinued, following the release of 2K13.
Madden NFL 08 is a 2007 American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 19th installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. It features the former Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young on the cover; San Diego Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo was the cover athlete for the Spanish-language version. This was the first Madden game made for 11 different platforms, it was released on August 14, 2007 for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, GameCube and Microsoft Windows. There was also a version for Mac released on September 1, 2007. This was the last version of Madden to be released for Microsoft Windows until Madden NFL 19, and the last video game for the GameCube produced and released in North America.
Career mode is a video game term referring to the mode of gameplay that involves taking control of a single character and guiding the character through their career. The mode is normally associated with sports games, where it is referred to by various names such as "superstar mode", "My Player mode", and "Road to the Show mode", in which a player controls the career of a single athlete.
Madden NFL 13 is an American football video game based on the National Football League, published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. EA's Chief Creative Officer, Richard Hilleman, said that defense would receive various changes in mechanics and controls, one of the first known changes in the game. Part of the Madden NFL series, the game was released in 2012. For the first time in the series, the game was officially released in Brazil, due to the explosive growth of the sport in the country. This was the last Madden game released on the Wii, the first and only to be released on the Wii U and PlayStation Vita, and the final in the series to be available for non-mobile phone handhelds and Nintendo systems. It was the first game of the series since Madden NFL 2002 to not feature EA Trax and instead only had instrumental music, which was met with criticism.
Madden NFL 15 is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports. The game was announced for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on April 28, 2014, and was released on August 26, 2014 in the United States and Europe three days later. As in previous years, EA Sports conducted a fan vote via ESPN to elect the cover athlete for the game. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman won the cover vote and the rest of the Legion of Boom defense was featured on the games start menu.
FIFA 17 is a sports video game in the FIFA series developed and published by Electronic Arts, that was released in September 2016. This is the first FIFA game in the series to use the Frostbite game engine. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Marco Reus serves as the cover athlete on the game.
Madden NFL 21 is an American football video game based on the National Football League (NFL), developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts. It is an installment of the long-running Madden NFL series. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 28, 2020, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 4, 2020. It features Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as the cover athlete, and Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis as its commentators. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay but criticized its technical issues, while player reception was negative, with many heavily criticizing the lack of innovation.
