"We've gone in and substantially upgraded the online experience on the Playstation 2. That's a huge feature. For people who aren't playing online, we've added some incredible depth to the game. We've got a new feature called owner mode which believe it or not lets you take a team, own it and you basically build a stadium... luxury boxes, manage concessions... but you're doing that in order to get a salary base so that you can draft players and manage a team over the history of a franchise."
There is no charge for playing online from PCs or the Playstation2. The Xbox version is not online playable and faces competition from Microsoft's NFL Fever which does include online play... including voice chat with opponents. But Madden is Madden... .the top selling sports video games of all time... and on exhibit in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In fact John Madden says he is recognized as much from the game... as he is from his career as a coach and broadcaster. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.