Want to see a lazy, hilariously bad rendering of a star player from the world’s No. 1 video game producer of football simulations? Well, “Madden NFL 24” has just the thing for you!
The video game giant released a trailer for this year’s edition of “Madden” on Wednesday, and the Packers’ official Twitter account tweeted out this endorsement of the game featuring a virtual Jaire Alexander:
You were made for this. 💪
Full trailer ➡️ https://t.co/fK2HFDJwG0#Madden24 | #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/EO8q1BT8Od
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) June 8, 2023
Casual football fans might not even recognize the player here as Jaire Alexander. Packers fans will see countless details rendered wrongly or poorly.
A visual aid might help first. Let’s show a side-by-side of virtual Jaire and real Jaire:
For starters, the numbers on the front of the uniform and top of the shoulder pads are the wrong size. And the difference isn’t a small one; Madden’s rendering of the Packers uniform looks almost comically inaccurate. Also, the stripes on the sleeves aren’t correct. The real stripes are angled into the front of the uniform. This isn’t a new thing, either. The look of the uniforms across the game have been wrong for years. It’s 2023; the small details matter! Getting uniforms correct should be a reasonable expectation of a massive video game with full NFL liscensing.
Ok, so the overall Packers uniform isn’t right. Now, let’s focus on Jaire.
Here’s a photo from the All-Pro cornerback playing in a game at Lambeau Field last season:
What do we see as distinguising features? Long gold undersleeves. White gloves. Gold shoes. Nearly all-white socks. Mouthguard.
Virtual Jaire gets it all wrong. Long green undersleeves. Black gloves. Black shoes. Mostly all-green socks. No mouthguard.
Again, it’s the little things. EA Sports is selling a football simulation video game. The game’s tagline was once, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” So why can’t “Madden” get even the simpliest details right about a player they are featuring in the trailer of the new game?
It’s funny, you look at Lambeau Field in the background of virtual Jaire and it looks gorgeous. Little details like the railings are correct. Even the crowd looks great. But the player? I’m not sure even Jaire Alexander would recognize his virtual self in the promo.
For hardcore “Madden” fans, these visual issues aren’t a dealbreaker. They just want to play simulated football. But we should hold EA Sports to a higher standard of development and performance, and it’s not unreasonable to want these long-running (and mostly simple!) problems to get fixed, once and for all.
