NFL Blitz - Five Things to Know

There is one significant change to the game, however, and that's the complete removal of late hits. Old school gamers will remember the ability for defenders to drop elbows on players long after the whistle had blown, but this has been taken out of the game due to a request by the NFL.

When Turmell was hired by EA Sports back in 2009, he was not only instrumental in getting a new version of "NBA Jam" off the ground, but he also convinced the makers of "Madden" to remake one of its former rivals. Says Bialoskursky: "Turmell was there from day one and influenced the concept and design all the way up to his departure in July (Turmell left EA earlier this year to join Zynga). When he did leave, the game was pretty much in the can at that point. So he helped us out all the way through. We couldn't have done it without him. He's obviously the guy you want helping you out with this project."

"We also have online co-op games, and that's a lot like the teams for Blitz Battles, but it's more of a way to quickly jump in with random people or with your friends and play two-on-two. And what's really unique about 'Blitz' is we have this guest feature where you can not only play with your friends online, but your friends sitting next to you on the couch. So if your friend is over, the two of you can join in on the same console and play together against people online. It gives you some great flexibility to play competitively a number of different ways. 'Blitz' is just one of those games that so much fun to play with other people, and we wanted to provide you with as many options as possible to accomplish that."