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Undertoad · 11-18-2001, 11:45 AM

Fox's pregame NFL show just highlighted Michael Strahan's ability by showing Madden 2002 clips of him. Calling it the "cyber-strator".

Madden 2002, for those who don't follow gaming, is EA Sports latest [American] football game, for the PC and [some] game consoles. From one point of view, it's amazing how close to "real" it looks. Which is what the 3D modellers are shooting for; they want the game to look like it does on TV, do that it's a very immersive experience for the player.

Maybe they've been doing this all season and I just found out. In any case, here we have 3D models in a virtual reality being passed off as an honest representation of actual reality.

TV news with its journalists understanding the importance of representing reality as reality and simulation as simulation, will introduce a 3D model of, say, the recent AA crash as "one possible explanation of what happened". The sports department has no such qualms; because, after all, sports is not "real" or "news".

So since EA Sports is paying for it, and they have an interest in describing their product as being damn close to real life, well, that's how it'll be described. And it probably even saves Fox a little time, since they don't have to comb through their library of clips to find examples of the REAL Strahan making REAL sacks. Just load up Madden on the Playstation and run a few plays.

I'm not saying this is despicable. Hey, it's just football. But I do find it fascinating.

11-18-2001, 11:45 AM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	It had to eventually come to this Fox's pregame NFL show just highlighted Michael Strahan's ability by showing Madden 2002 clips of him. Calling it the "cyber-strator". Madden 2002, for those who don't follow gaming, is EA Sports latest [American] football game, for the PC and [some] game consoles. From one point of view, it's amazing how close to "real" it looks. Which is what the 3D modellers are shooting for; they want the game to look like it does on TV, do that it's a very immersive experience for the player. Maybe they've been doing this all season and I just found out. In any case, here we have 3D models in a virtual reality being passed off as an honest representation of actual reality. TV news with its journalists understanding the importance of representing reality as reality and simulation as simulation, will introduce a 3D model of, say, the recent AA crash as "one possible explanation of what happened". The sports department has no such qualms; because, after all, sports is not "real" or "news". So since EA Sports is paying for it, and they have an interest in describing their product as being damn close to real life, well, that's how it'll be described. And it probably even saves Fox a little time, since they don't have to comb through their library of clips to find examples of the REAL Strahan making REAL sacks. Just load up Madden on the Playstation and run a few plays. I'm not saying this is despicable. Hey, it's just football. But I do find it fascinating.