Trey Wingo Talks Madden

From the NFL Draft to the players on the field, Trey Wingo knows professional football inside and out. As the host of ESPN's NFL Live, Wingo gets the inside scoop on all the NFL happenings. He recently spent some time working with Electronic Arts on a pair of licensed NFL video game titles, NFL Head Coach and Madden NFL 07.

The Name
In Head Coach, Wingo serves as an in-game advisor to your NFL Draft selections. Xbox 360™ fans who pick up the Madden NFL 07 Hall of Fame Edition will get a behind the scenes tour of EA SPORTS Tiburon, where Madden franchise is made, led by Wingo himself. He also played host at Madden Bowl XII, held just before last year's Super Bowl.

ESPN broadcaster Trey Wingo works on both SportsCenter and NFL Live.

"If you're talking to someone who isn't a gamer, they'll know one sports game, and it's Madden," said Wingo. "Any time you're known by one name it's a real sign of status, whether it's Madonna, Cher, Shaq, or Madden. It's on that level."

"Everybody knows something about John Madden. In fact, most viewers even forget that he was a coach. They know him as a broadcaster and as a videogame guy. It's become its own phenomenon and it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year."

The Game
Wingo said that Madden has become a huge competition for NFL pros. He said they take their video game playing very seriously. By nature, professional athletes are very competitive people, and Madden is one more way for them to satisfy that part competitive part of their personalities.

"Xbox 360 was made for video games. It's just amazing
what you can do with Xbox 360."

"We did an interview once with Ray Lewis and he said he'd play Madden for eight hours a day in his down time," said Wingo. "That, to me, is a little excessive. It's like, Ray, go out and see the world. Enjoy yourself. But they're into it, man. It's a competitive fix for a lot of these guys."

The Network
Wingo said he plays Madden, but he's no good at it. He still manages to let go and have a good time on the virtual gridiron, though. He sees the game as a great medium to reach out to ESPN's fans. EA SPORTS and ESPN are in the first year of a 15-year partnership that will integrate ESPN content into EA games, in exchange for EA games receiving exposure on various ESPN properties, including TV and radio.

"It's just a continuing process of making sure gamers know what we're doing, and it's a way for us to get our information to gamers and cross promote," said Wingo. "When people think about Madden or other sports games, they think about ESPN as the worldwide leader in sports coverage."

Wingo will show gamers just how this Madden experience is created.

The Coaching Experience
Having worked on the behind the scenes look at the new Madden at EA Tiburon in Orlando, Wingo was impressed by the approach that the developer brings to the game.

"What I think is interesting is the one thing that never changes with Madden is that they really, really value player feedback and they take it very seriously," said Wingo. "I think most of the game changes that are implemented year in and year out are done based upon what the players of the game are telling them. I hope NFL Head Coach will follow this model as well."

Wingo was more involved in the new NFL Head Coach game, because he's featured within the framework of the coaching simulator. He said that while Madden is all about playing in the NFL, Head Coach is all about building an NFL franchise.

"It's a way for guys that are into fantasy football to pick a head coach, pick a game plan, and then you're monitoring the wires to decide who you're going to play, who you're going to pay, who you're going to cut, who you're going to give a big fat contract to," said Wingo. "It's a much more of a thinking man's approach to building a football franchise, as opposed to playing a football game."

The ESPN anchor's kids loved seeing him in NFL Head Coach.

"You're In the Game"
"It's funny. I've been on TV for a lot of years doing a lot of different things," Wingo said. "The most impressive thing I've ever done for my kids is when they saw me in a video game. 'You're in the game,' was their response. They loved it."

Wingo loves the new gaming experiences available on Xbox 360. "Xbox 360 is phenomenal," said Wingo. "Xbox 360 was made for video games. We always like to say around here that HD was made for sports because it's so clear. It's just amazing what you can do with Xbox 360."

Article by John Gaudiosi