Madden 13 is getting new commentators. It appears that Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth, the pair who lent their voices to last year’s version of the game, are out the door (though there’s still a small chance they will be kept on as a second pair of commentators). Joining Madden 13 is CBS’s top pair of football announcers, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.
As they do on Sundays for CBS, Nantz will provide the play-by-play and Simms will provide the color commentary and analysis. The pair have a wealth of experience calling games, having worked together since 2004. Nantz and Simms have called two Super Bowls as a duo and Simms has been in the booth for an additional two, with Greg Gumbel. They are set to call Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans next February.
Though many hailed the addition of the excitable Gus Johnson to the Madden franchise back in 2010 as a coup, EA never really made full use of his unique skills. The library of audio clips in recent Madden editions was woefully sparse and gamers would routinely hear the same few quips.
Perhaps the addition of Nantz and Simms is an indication that EA is set to make commentary a focus in Madden 13. It certainly can’t get much worse. Though I haven’t played the game too much lately, I will never forgive EA for one instance of unforgivable commentary that occurred when I was playing Madden a few years ago. I was playing franchise mode and my team was in the Super Bowl. The game went to overtime (something that has never happened in the Super Bowl in real life). You’d think the commentators would mention that fact, but they did not. Instead, as my kicker sent a 60-yard kick through the uprights to win the Super Bowl, a play that would have been one of the most notable in football history and would have sent even Joe Buck into hysterics, I heard a commentator say the following in a completely emotionless voice:
“The kick is good. His fourth field goal of the day.”
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