Why EA’s Wii All-Play Athletes are So Damn Happy
What is it that sets EA’s “All-Play” sports titles for the Wii apart from their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 contemporaries? Could it be the motion controls? The less-powerful hardware? The lack of HD output? Well, yeah, sure…
Or could it be that the cover of every EA “All-Play” sports title for the Wii features the athletes… smiling? A creepy, unnerving grin which eats straight to your very soul… or maybe just makes you want to say “why so serious? It’s just a game, let’s have some fun!”
…right before you start asking people if they want to hear the story of how you got those scars…
In any case, the coach of EA Sports himself, Peter Moore, filled in MTV Multiplayer on the peculiar packaging:”It was something I wanted. Brett Favre was the best example. The intensity for Favre on the [non-Wii 'Madden 09'] cover for me, it didn’t feel right for the experience I knew we were developing on Wii. So I said to the team everybody should smile on the Wii package. It embodies the experience. If you played ‘Madden’ on the Wii and you’re playing with guys with the heads the size of five watermelons, it’s hard not to smile. We wanted to be able to deliver that experience on the packaging.” — Peter Moore, to MTV MultiplayerSo which way do you prefer your overpaid athletes? “Don’t worry, be happy” or “I’m gonna rip out his jugular before stomping a mudhole in him and walking it dry?” Also: “Grr.”