Associated Press reporter Nathaniel Hernandez has written an article about Blitz: The League. It has gotten picked up by lots of papers. The version in the Chicago Sun-Times seems to be the most complete. Here’s the first paragraph of that version of the article:
In a gritty new video game about a fictional football league, players cripple their opponents, gamble and use performance-enhancing supplements.
The article goes on to make some comparisons between the game and some current accusations brought against some players. The article isn’t too bad, but it still mentions Mortal Kombat since that was known back in the day as a very controversial game.
The irony is, of course, that while the Blitz franchise has been around a long time, this version of “controversial” and “gritty” game was not originally going to be called, Blitz: The League, but Blitz: Playmakers, after the controversial ESPN show, Playmakers (warning: web site plays a stupid sound clip). Blitz was going to be called that, because one of the writers for the tv show worked on the game. So this controversial game is really an unofficial adaptation of a controversial tv show. Funny how the article spent all this time talking about the various and sundry aspects of the game and didn’t mention that…