The blog has touched on sports briefly, in discussing EA and Madden. Something that really does need covering, though, is the context of sports games in the ea

The blog has touched on sports briefly, in discussing EA and Madden. Something that really does need covering, though, is the context of sports games in the early 90's, when they were starting to portray the gameplay in full, in real-time, for a mass market. The sports had always been there, but they were generally categorizable into management simulations(on computers) or simple arcade interpretations(coin-op and consoles), with only a little bit of crossover. That changed in the 90's, as sports games started to boast increasingly comprehensive featuresets while maintaining an arcade become-the-star-player feel; they represent a path that is clearly "outreach" and yet distinct from interactive movies, from puzzle games, and from Doom. Also, the numerous claims over the origins of Madden NFL make for an amazing tale.