Madden shows why he tops the field

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Here's a look at some hardware and software that's available:

Madden 2005: Collector's Edition by Electronic Arts, for PlayStation 2, $59.99.

Electronic Arts celebrates 15 years of legendary football coach and commentator John Madden's lending his name and insight to the development of the most consistently innovative football video game on the market.

A special version of the sports simulation, prepared only for Sony's powerful entertainment console, allows owners to relive the key technological advances of the simulation game as well as the National Football League's history. The DVD format is packed with extras.

For $10 more than the regular version of the game, owners first can watch featurettes on the evolution of the Madden franchise. These video tidbits range from Mr. Madden demanding that Electronic Arts put the required 11 members of a football team on the pixilated field (in the first release for the Apple 2) to introduction of an innovative motion-capture system for re-creating player movements (in Madden 1997) to the addition of polygonal players and a franchise mode (for Madden 1999).

A fascinating commentary track over game footage also provides wonderful insight. The producers evaluate and testers play an actual, full game of Madden 2005. It has five-minute quarters and humorously explains the minutiae involved in creating a video game as well as the attention required to play and succeed at it.

Developers even throw in three complete playable games from the past to display the advances of console technology. Players can choose among a 16-bit re-creation from the Sega Genesis days and two versions for the first 32-bit PlayStation classics, all of which use current team rosters.

A trivia game rounds out the fun, boasting more than 1,000 questions in which quickness in answering the multiple-choice questions about the NFL and Madden game leads to higher point totals.

However, the icing on the collector's edition cake for the sports lover has to be playing more than 20 Madden Moments as players re-create classic drives from the past 15 years of football history -- and the ability to select from classic teams garbed in their original uniforms.

I also need to mention just a few features of this year's core video game (available for Xbox, Gamecube and PlayStation 2 for $49.99) that beautifully demonstrate the melding of athletic contest into a multimedia entertainment presentation.