Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

As most are aware by now, Michael Vick will probably accept a plea bargain and spend a couple of years in jail. While staying away from the nature of the crimes, because I don’t want this to become a flame war of an article, I have to wonder what this does to Madden 08 and how they handle this.

Here you have one of the greatest athletes to hit the NFL in some time and he has been a star in the Madden games. But what happens when a current star gets thrown in the grey bar hotel? How does Madden handle it? As it stands, the game licenses the players through the NFLPA, otherwise known as the National Football League Players Association. The union licenses its players en masse, so EA can use all of them in its Madden series. Vick is still part of the NFLPA as it stands, but I am not sure if his standing ends his participation in the union now, at the end of the season, or until he retires.

So one has to wonder what the union will do and how its dealings will affect Madden. Will EA release a patch to remove Vick and any mention of him? If so, what about the many fans in the Atlanta area that feel his is not guilty and is being brought down by a conspiracy of the government. Do you alienate those fans? Or do you keep him in the game until the end of the season, but possibly alienating all those that feel what he has done is wrong and reprehensible.

The union comes into play here as well, because do they stand by Vick, and fight for his rights to stay in the game as well as other marketing promotions. If they do, they will also be associated with Vick’s crimes and could end up with internal strife from their own members.

Maybe I am just overthinking it and quietly, they will get rid of Vick in the game and not even say a word. Who knows, maybe they can get Ron Mexico to replace him.