I’m not usually one to call out video game writers by name, but Alexander Sliwinski of Joqstiq showed a side of journalistic laziness today that I could not ignore. In his abridged news story about the imminent release of Madden ‘09, he wrote, “The company states there’ll also be a 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of the game featuring Madden NFL 09 and NFL Head Coach 09, along with “an extensive library of exclusive bonus video content” for $90.” That sentence is factually sound, but he forgot one little nugget:

NFL Head Coach ‘09 is only available in the special collectors edition. Head Coach used to be the hardcore simulation EA Sports used to compliment their more action oriented Madden franchise, but after horrible reviews and (presumably) horrible sales, they have quietly pulled the plug on the franchise, avoiding a separate retail package and the potential bad PR that comes with sub-par products.

This bit of information was buried in the massive press release announcing Madden’s August release date. Apparently, Alexander Sliwinski decided to stop reading after he discovered the release date, not realizing the real news story was hidden in the gloomy depths. Way to make light of your job, Alexander Sliwinski. Would it have really been that hard to read an entire press release?

Thankfully, Gamespot not only caught this important bit of information, but decided to lead with it. And 1UP went one step further by actually questioning EA about this move. I don’t buy EA’s response, but it’s good to know that someone out there takes their job seriously.

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