AE Games — the indie studio which caused a few ripples when it announced its support of the Wii U earlier this week — has now confirmed its first title: Mad Men Football.
Described as American Football with "an historical twist", the game will take notable figures from world history and plant them on the football field. AE Games has confirmed that this project is currently self-funded and is expected to see release later this year, exclusively on the Wii U eShop.
Obviously aware that there is still some scepticism around the studio from Nintendo fans, AE Games has moved to assure players that this venture is totally legitimate. AE Games is currently a one-man operation, and it has been revealed that additional help is being brought in to make the game a reality. It has also been revealed that while AE Games has filled in and submitted the paperwork to obtain a Wii U development kit, nothing has been delivered as yet.
Amusingly, the developer even admits that the studio name has been "inspired" by another well-known veteran publisher, also famous for making games in this genre:
The studio name may change once we file the official paperwork (have seen lots of positive and negative comments on it though!), but some might have guessed the reasoning behind the current "name" from the initial press release (and maybe even more so now with the first game known).
Further explanation is also given for the timing of this announcement, as well as the validity of the entire project:
With the continued bad news from third party developers in regards to the Wii U, I thought that this week with Valentine's Day would be a great week to try and get some good news and encouragement around the Wii U going. Which is why the press release also included the information about using the hashtag #WeLoveWiiU. The press release and announcement are definitely a lot earlier than was initially planned though. And I had no clue what I thought was a simple press release, would turn into the firestorm it did on so many different sites.
Is this a hoax? No. And I will probably be releasing screenshots from the prototype in the next few weeks, but I didn't want people to get discouraged at the art assets I'm using (if you can call MY assets art). If anything, the screenshots will show the basic assets that I have been using, as I have programmed plays, and made sure that players (receivers) follow the right paths.
To round it all off, AE Games has provided the first piece of artwork associated with the project:
It's always positive to hear about developers supporting Nintendo hardware, and despite the early nature of this project, the unique hook of Mad Men Football is surely enough to build up anticipation. It of course remains to be seen if AE Games can deliver on its promise, but in the meantime we'd love to hear what you think about this venture. Post your feelings below for the world to see.
[source aegames.net]
Comments 82
Anyone who is passionate about the wii u and nintendo is a good guy in my books! I wish him the best of luck! American football isn't my thing though I'm hoping for a real football game on wii u soon!
So this guys are really the complete opposite of EA.
Well, I guess that Mad Men is trying to sound similar to Madden.
Too bad I am not into sports at all. Good luck in all your projects, AE.
@jcags If that's the case, they have a best company in America award coming their way soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdhhQhqi_AE
Hope it turns out.
Sounds interesting, I might give it a go and see if the humour comes through well.
When he said historical figures in American football I was skeptical...
Then I just looked at George Washington there in the pic...maybe a touch of patriotism stirred, or something clicked...but damn...this could be a fun way to get around the licensing issues with the NFL and still make a fun American football (or just football as we call it here) game for the Wii U.
Here's hoping AE can deliver!
Make it simple and fun like a Tecmo Bowl or Blitz and I'll bite. Might be fun to tackle Napoleon with a Czar or see what kind of TD dance Lincoln prefers.......
Good luck to them, can't wait to see what they can produce.
Side note......this guy should be recruited for a marketing job........he got himself a ton of exposure
The screen on the Gamepad makes it look like Tecmo Bowl, I really hope that's how the game will play as well. I don't know anything about American football but I still love that game.
I like the concept, but the developer will be forced to change the name if the game ever comes close to an actual release. It's very easily confused with the TV series "Mad Men" - I actually assumed that was what it was until I got the "Mad Men" = "Madden" pun.
Oh, and the notoriously litigation-happy NFL will never allow something that so closely resembles their logo to exist.
I look forward to the anouncements of thief a soccer, medalion of honor and indeed for speed!
@JJtheTexan they can't do anything its a clear parody, that's why they cant sue "Dumb Starbucks", because its a parody. Kinda messed up, but I find it hilarious.
I'm down with the whole thing. The guy see's an opportunity in the market and wants to capitalize. If he's getting under the skin of the major 3rd parties with his pressers, I say more power to him.
Note to the NL staff: Please don't call an American Football QB "tasty"... Living in an NFL town, that just sounds creepy.
ok, i stand corrected. But the question is: it this art from him? Because i talked about not letting his art assets dicourage people. And he hasn't even submitted the paperwork to be a offical eshop developer. So this could lead to nothing.
The UK launch of the Wii U was missing Madden. Prove to me AE games is as good at execution as it is with their ideas and marketing and the have my money.
I think it's awesome that they're not using licensed teams. I may have pick this up based on merit alone even though I generally hate sports sims. Maybe it will be a jewel? Who knows...
@Great_Gonzalez Same here. FOOFA (Football Fantasy), anyone? You can have that, AE.
I hope this is a good game, these guys seem to have a good sense of humour and a positive outlook on developing games that I makes me want to support their project even if I'm not so much a sport game fan as I once was
They're quite clever though getting the Wii U user base "on-side" first as companies like shin'en and frozenbyte have done. I suppose a console with a social network built in is a console with a user base which will bite back if something is seen to be undercooked or made by people who have no respect for the players.
Why "an" historical twist? It should be "a" historical twist.
Unless you say the whole thing in a French accent.
I'm interested in the game, especially if co-op can be a thing. Hopefully he gets a development kit so he could get this ball rolling.
I don't give a toss about licensed sports games, but this sounds like fun. I wish this guy all the luck in the world - would be hilarious if an indie spoof game ended up rivalling a tired dinosaur like Madden!
I've been thinking this exact thing: The lack of sports games on Wii U is a golden opportunity for other games companies to try their hand at sports games.
Hell, even Nintendo should open their own sports division.
Good Luck AE and thanks for supporting WiiU
I love sports - not American Football, though, so this is not for me. Still, I bear a lot of good will toward those guys. Let's hope they can deliver.
Seem promising. Honestly, can't wait, truly. Gamepad needs to draw some to all potentials. If you're guys reading this from AE. I favor in historical figures too.
Hope it works out
Baaaaaaaaaaarrrrrffffff
As a Tecmo Super Bowl maniac, this could have been something beautiful...instead it looks like some stupid joke game that exists solely to mock EA.
I'm betting a dollar this never gets published, anyway.
I hope it's not years away from release. It would be awful to waste all this exposure by not having gameplay or screenshots to keep the momentum up.
Made me think of this sketch (helps if you're into philosophy a little bit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gJamguN04
I have no interest in football, but will buy it just to support this developer & for the potential future projects. Also I may end up enjoying it given you can play as so called 'historical figures' so it may be funny hopefully.
Well a game is a game and yes changing their title and studio name so it won't sound like a ripoff of another is a good start. I usually don't enjoy football games as I would the real sports but if the studio manage to make it fun as a game then I'm not complaining.
Just a fun football (or any sports game, like... hockey!) without licensing would be a great thing for the Wii U, or any other system for that matter.
So, it is true then that AE Games exists. That's great, but given their opening statement on how they feel about the Wii U, it won't be enough. I'm sure this indie developer will make a killing selling their software on the Wii U given that they just started, but that's not the big picture here (that's a different topic altogether).
Best of luck to AE Games.
Sounds like NFL Blitz meets Bill And Teds Excellent Adventure
Why not? My favorite baseball game of all time was basewars for NES where your players are all upgradable robots. Every time a bot gets tagged at a base, they fight each other. So awesome. Maybe Alexander the Great will be able to tackle napoleon. Or Gengis Kahn can run the ball on Stalin.
Give it a try, innovation is badly needed in the industry. I'm actually excited for this game.
Not into sports at all, but it sure looks interesting. I'll definetly be keeping an aye on this guy.
Any info about that new Wii U exclusive street racing game?
Love the tricorn helmet haha.
i think ae games is very symphatic x)
im not a fan of football, so this title is nothing for me but i like the idea behind it. Im hoping they will grow and keep filling the sports area of nintendo systems in the future
I don't know...
AE? Mad Men? Photoshop-looking logo? It smells too much like a ruse to me.
Um, this guy went to great lengths to appear believable. Still probably not true, though. Hilarious, but likely not true.
Well, I wish him all the best. I too still think its a bit of a windup with the EA Madden spoof. (AE Mad Men). But if its for real I wish him all the best.
I'm not so sure this game will do well in EU and UK but Im sure the US gamers will be interested
@KeeperBvK You use an whenever the next word starts with a vowel sound. "istoric" is a valid pronunciation of historic, so that can be correct.
#grammarnerd
"I cannot tell a lie(ne back)."
I love my history so this could be really cool as long as it plays well. Reminds me of the philosopher's cup sketch from Monty Python!
I don't like sports games, however it doesn't really matter to me. Either this is to tweak EA or it is an actual game. Either way sounds fine to me.
Amazing that people think this is even remotely legit. It's embarrassing that it's even being treated as a news story, as there is nothing to indicate that this guy even knows how to program a game of Pong.
His site is a blog, with comments from one guy pretending to be multiple people. Probably the blog owner himself.
"but I didn't want people to get discouraged at the art assets I'm using (if you can call MY assets art). If anything, the screenshots will show the basic assets that I have been using, as I have programmed plays,"
Oh man, this is going to be a rough few weeks from this guy. I wish him luck for this project.
Deliver a fun game, I'll pick it up. I'm much more interested in arcade-y sports than sims.
But yeah, really hire a graphic artist. Your logos aren't too hot!
Huh. Though I'm skeptical this project will ever come out (and if it does, my expectations are low), this is exactly the kind of stuff I hoped to see from indie devs on Wii U. Fun, quirky experiments that get back to the smaller games many of us grew up on and not another giant open world to explore (read: get lost in). If this turns into a Tecmo Bowl / Mutant League Football kind of thing, I'm on board.
Hopefully at the very least it shows other devs with a more proven track record that there's interest in A) sports games on Nintendo platforms, and B) exclusive titles that cater to a specific platform's audience, and not just another PC port.
Now the confusion is nearly complete. EA Games Madden vs. AE Games Mad Men... I know which one I'd pick, for serious, officially licensed sports games like FIFA don't get near my systems, and I love some fun sports games like Mario Strikers or Inazuma Eleven.
EXCITED!!
@Klimbatize
I'm with you. The amount of people acting enthusiastic about this "game" on here is mind boggling. It's not only a HORRIBLE idea, but the fact it seems to just "exist" as a parody of EA's Madden is proof it will never see the light of day (never mind the fact the guy doesn't have a Wii-U dev kit).
How did this story get past the editor?? Oh wait....it was posted by the editor...
@JohnRedcorn
Way to be completely negative. You have to start somewhere and this is a great idea. Also last I checked the Wii U needed sports games.
Don't really know why your so butt hurt about somebody making a tongue-n-cheek football game and people paying attention to it.
Now this is awesome.
@rumple88
Ignore him. I've never seen him post anything other than negative comments. Not once.
@rumple88 LOL. It's not being "butthurt", it's living in reality. It's clearly not real.
Did NL vet this "developer" at all? Some dude with no known credentials sets up a blog to rail against some companies who aren't supporting the Wii U, and now he's getting legit coverage from credible sites as if he really has something in the works. He's admitted to being one guy, with a blog, without a dev kit, money, or even a graphics programmer.
They could minimally say "take this with a huge block of salt" to cover their skins, but they seem to be buying into it as much as everyone who's starved for good news for the Wii U.
I don't think this is going anywhere fast.
AE Games / EA Sports
Mad Men Football / Madden Football
LOL!
Regardless of whether this is real or not, I completely applaud the guy for calling EA and Ubisoft out for the crap they've pulled.
A. E. Sports. It's out the game.
I am confused and amused by their dedication to spoofing EA. Historical figures playing football is also a really funny idea. I think I like this company.
He should apply for an executive position at Nintendo with his love for puns.
Negativity should be buried under a ton of rocks, yegh! Bunch of f***ing whiners... First there's a lot of mockery because the first announcement obviously "proved" that this was a fake, and now, when instead of this developer "confessing" that it is a hoax as they expected, he gives more news about the game that he is going to publish, the skeptics STILL seem to be able to find enough reasons to be raising their stupid little red flags and perpetuate their "it's a fake" statement. You people make me sick.
Regardless of you or me liking this type of game, why not welcome this addition to the Wii U library? Every game helps, even if only a little bit.
Sorry for the heated rant, but I just had to get that off my chest.
On a brighter note:
To me the premise sounds a lot like the over the top, no rules sports games from the time of the 16 bit consoles and the Amiga and Atari ST.
Here are some examples that crossed my mind:
Future Basketball - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuqFdmUNakY
Speedball 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5_h5iowgc
Wild Cup Soccer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0kKUdBxosY
Brutal Sports Football - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E8zyDUTKKI
And much later, the PC brought us the wonderful game Blood Bowl, currently rebooted on Xbox Live and Steam:
Blood Bowl - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3xsSN7UEFI
And let's not forget this funny little game that came out on the GameCube and PS2:
Sega Soccer Slam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrfsu-EGX2M
If AE's game is anything like any of those games, then it could possibly be interesting, so I'll keep an eye on this until more news will arrive.
@TheRealThanos Delusional. And belligerently naive.
Everyone who is calling the skeptics "negative" should calm down. I'm not being negative. I'm just not a moron who believes anything put on some blog on the internet until I get some real evidence to back it up. Honestly, I assumed the majority of people did that.
When absolutely nothing comes from this "developer", I'll gladly accept your apology for saying I should be buried under a pile of rocks simply for being a realist.
By the way, it's interesting that when you view that blog in "Mobile" mode, it shows that 90% of the comments are by the same guy (J Mullins) talking up the game under different user names. Gee, I wonder if J Mullins is the owner of that blog...
He's a fraud and he's laughing at you.
@Klimbatize I won't need to apologize to anyone, since I didn't say people should be buried under a ton of rocks, but negative behavior, and as I stated, it was a rant, so I was letting off some steam. We probably all know that feeling at some point in time.
So, with a little bit of a clearer head this time, I must agree that you bring up a very good point, but at the very least my point about welcoming more support instead of continuously bashing it, also still stands. And it is that behavior that gets to me. People want or demand all kinds of things but whatever is being shown or published, it is apparently never enough and easier to go down the negative path instead of looking at the bright side and the bigger picture.
As for me, I won't be offended by you stating "Delusional. And belligerently naive." and "I'm just not a moron who believes anything put on some blog" since I'm anything BUT naive. I don't feel the need to nor do I have time to spend on such useless behavior. And I'm hardly a moron: I'm a 43yo university degree IT Sales & Marketing specialist and normally I do research things, but sometimes we're also just human (which shows when we make mistakes) and as a Nintendo supporter I like to be able to enjoy a spell of good news every now and then, instead of jumping on the complain train every damn time. Hope you can respect that and skip the insults next time, thank you very much. I like a serious discussion with my fellow Nintendo gamers as much as the next guy, as long as we can keep it reasonably polite and in general instead of personal.
Now you're shifting this into a completely different argument. I agree that we should welcome new developers. This guy isn't one. He's some guy who posted a blog blaming third party publishers for the lack of support, then created this "company".
My original point still stands. You are so desperate to find good news about the Wii U that you'll grasp onto anything, even something that has no credibility.
I hope this "f***ing whiner" (as you called me) managed to keep this post from being personal. Wouldn't want to throw insults around or anything.
I dug that contradiction quite a bit, lol.
@Klimbatize Okay, I'll bite. Contradiction pointing to me admitting being human and making mistakes? That is simply a statement applicable to us all, since we're ALL human. The whiners (plural) comment was made in the heat of the moment AND in general at negative people because I was irritated, and I even apologized in the very same comment right after the rant, so I'm sorry you apparently still felt insulted by it. (and why should you be if you aren't negative to begin with, like you yourself said?)
And there's no shifting, the return comment was perfectly in line with my original comment, so either I'm missing something or maybe you tried to read between the lines. I don't intentionally put hidden meanings in my comments, although it is of course entirely possible that a reader of a comment will still interpret it in his or her own way, but normally, unless I specifically say so, I mean to say exactly what I write, no smoke and mirrors.
And what's with the desperate remark, man? What is so bad about wanting to see things turn around for the good? Doesn't mean I'm naive, delusional or a moron, just a guy that is fed up with all the doom and gloom. And as far as AE games is concerned, I didn't go so far as to gut the entire website and also look it up in mobile mode, so credit to you for taking the time to do that. (intended seriously, in case you think otherwise)
I'm on NLife because in my opinion they are one of the better Nintendo sites and most of the time I would hope that the editors will do the job of researching things before they publish them, because I visit the site for my enjoyment, not to pass the time by digging up stuff to counter or to be able to verify these articles. Nothing personal, that's just my opinion.
If you feel like throwing that back at me again, we might as well agree to disagree, and call it a day. OR we could try and make this a constructive discussion... ?
@Frapp
Wow, thanks for the clarification.
@Klimbatize Kim sadly I agree with you because I see the same "lies" too and like everybody says at the end of the day this game will NEVER come to fruition because of 2 reasons EA isn't just going let this guy come out of nowhere because he got "layed" off from his job and make a team AE games aka EA, develop a football titles by the name of Mad Men aka Madden and not sue the hell out of him if this successful. I seen this before with the 2K football titles in the Dreamcast era so I know and also he doesn't even have a team nor a Wii U dev kit right now but he can come out of nowhere and not tell us who the hell he is and strut his stuff being a "bada@#" on the internet talking down the 3rd Parties and "fanboy" himself with a console and community that is starved for games. He's everything I said on here before a "developer" suppose to always be professional even under pressure and this guy is nothing but full of hot air to me from the jump.
One more thing he's even using the NFL logo sigh this game probably never cease to exist with EA around so I know I probably get flamed too but i'm being a realist about this in my own thought of this opinion.
Not a football fan, much less virtual football. Still, it's nice to hear that someone is making a sports game for the Wii U, cos it certainly won't be EA anytime soon.
Wouldn't something like this actually embarrass Nintendo, themselves? I mean, I appreciate the effort and ambition of this guy; but the fact Nintendo lost their EA support and now THIS is what they have to accept in order to have a football game on their console.
Sounds incredible.
@TheRealThanos I immediately thought of the Amiga-era sportsgames, too! That's why the premise sounds so promising.
@hcfwesker
Of course. Nintendo wouldn't want to be associated with a "game" that only "exists" to mock EA and Madden football. It's a weak online parody, thats all.
@FineLerv Yeah, those were some fun games back in the day. I fondly remember the "double header" from Wild Cup Soccer... Wouldn't mind something like that with a 2014 lick of paint. Meanwhile I did look into some of the points that have been brought up and unfortunately it all checks out. I don't know what this guy's game is, but if it is just for fun, then he might as well blow the lid on it now, because we will be far from the only ones to have checked his site and the comments on his Facebook and Twitter page. Even so, I'm still a bit curious as to what he is going to do next. If it falls apart I hope that at least the idea lives on and someone else will make a type of game like this, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...
@Klimbatize
It's news because it's interesting and a great idea.
Theoretically if you decided to create a game and it was a creative and potentially really fun I wouldn't poop on your parade and call you a fraud for being a determined dreamer. Even if I knew you were that negative upset man from nintendolife.com.
I support ideas and projects that are cool. It doesn't matter what platform it's on indie, 3rd party, or AAA.
Stop tearing people down and go on a walk or something.
@GunstarHero234 Last I checked, you can't sue over a similar acronym or a parody work. EA Games can't do anything about it. It's not like they have the rights to the letters "A" and "E" (or were brought to you by the number "7"). As for the work itself, parodies can be really good on their own merits. Otherwise we wouldn't have successful pop-culture phenomenon like Weird Al Yankovic, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Viewtiful Joe, or Retro City Rampage.
I love this guy's idea. There's a good chance that I'll buy it someday.
@rumple88 I'll go on a walk after you up your reading comprehension.
@Klimbatize
You're such a glowing ball of positivity you should write self help books.
@rumple88 Stop trying to start fights online and go for a walk or something, Mr. Positive.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...