Gus Johnson To Be Featured In Madden 2011

Pat Summerall, Al Michaels, Tom Hammond, and now, Gus Johnson.

This year, Gus Johnson will be joining the above group of announcers who have done play-by-play for EA Sports' Madden video game franchise. From USA Today.

CBS Sports announcer Gus Johnson has been named the play-by-play announcer for Madden NFL 11, publisher Electronic Arts has announced.

Johnson will join Cris Collingsworth as part of the two-man broadcast team slated to call games on EA's NFL simulation.

Johnson, known for his high-energy playcalling, breathes some new life into an audio presentation that had been criticized for lacking punch.

"Taking a step back, we really looked at -- this has to be one of the most important parts of the game," says Madden art director Mike Young in a video documentary on the developers' emphasis on audio for Madden NFL 11.

The game will also feature more authentic in-game sounds such as team chants, fight songs and music piping into the stadium between plays. Madden NFL 11 is slated for release in August.

While in the past, EA Sports has turned Al Michaels and Tom Hammond into completely boring robots, Gus Johnson is a fresh voice whose excitement is just contagious and will almost certainly sound more into it than any of the above announcers were. Now granted, when playing sports video games, I turn the announcer audio all the way down and do all the commentary myself, but at the same time, I do like to feature the in-game announcers as a change of pace, and each time I do it, I find myself bored to tears. Congrats to Gus and here is hoping he can liven up the Madden franchise and make it a much more enjoyable listen when I am not doing the games myself.