John Madden, the Hall of Fame NFL Coach, legendary broadcaster, and the name behind Madden NFL Football, has died at the age of 85.

As reported by NFL.com, Madden died unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 28, but no further cause has been given.

"On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Virginia, Mike, Joe and their families," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

"Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today."

John Madden was born in Austin, Minnesota on April 10, 1936, and quickly became a star in the world of football. He was drafted in the 21st round of the NFL draft in 1958 to the Philadelphia Eagles, but he injured his knee during his first training camp and never had the chance to play in the NFL.

While his dream of playing the NFL ended earlier than he had hoped, he quickly found a love for coaching. He began his coaching career in in 1960 as an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College and quickly assumed head coaching duties in 1962. He would move on to San Diego State before finally being hired in the NFL by Al Davis as the linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1967.

In 1969, he was promoted to head coach of the Raiders and became the youngest head coach in the NFL at the time at the age of 32. Throughout his time as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Madden's record was 103-32-7 in the regular season and 9-7 in the playoffs. He would win his first and only Super Bowl on January 9, 1977, and retired from coaching just two years later in 1979. In 2006, Madden was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While he would have a long and successful career in broadcasting that would earn him 16 Emmy Awards, one of his other biggest claims to fame was lending his name to EA's Madden NFL Football series.

In 1986, EA wanted to create a unique football game and its then-president Trip Hawkins, programmer Robin Atonick, and other staff members pitched the idea to John Madden on a train to a broadcast he was heading to. They quickly learned Madden was not one to give his name out willingly.

"If it isn't 11 on 11, it isn't real football," Madden declared. Due to the limits of technology at the time, EA was attempting to limit the players on each side to six or seven. Madden did not care. "I'm not putting my name on it if it's not real," Madden said back then.

Madden would work with the team to create an authentic NFL experience for gamers around the world, from playbooks to how the game felt to play. in 1988, the first John Madden Football was released on the Apple II and began what would become one of the most successful and profitable franchises in all of gaming.

As of 2021, Madden NFL Football is the only officially licensed NFL video game series and, as of 2013, it has generated over $4 billion in sales. Since its first game, the series has sold over 250 million copies and shows no signs of stopping.

John Madden is survived by his wife, Virginia, and his two sons, Joseph and Michael.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

John Madden, the Hall of Fame NFL Coach, legendary broadcaster, and the name behind Madden NFL Football, has died at the age of 85.

As reported by NFL.com, Madden died unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 28, but no further cause has been given.

"On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Virginia, Mike, Joe and their families," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

"Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today."

John Madden was born in Austin, Minnesota on April 10, 1936, and quickly became a star in the world of football. He was drafted in the 21st round of the NFL draft in 1958 to the Philadelphia Eagles, but he injured his knee during his first training camp and never had the chance to play in the NFL.

While his dream of playing the NFL ended earlier than he had hoped, he quickly found a love for coaching. He began his coaching career in in 1960 as an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College and quickly assumed head coaching duties in 1962. He would move on to San Diego State before finally being hired in the NFL by Al Davis as the linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1967.

In 1969, he was promoted to head coach of the Raiders and became the youngest head coach in the NFL at the time at the age of 32. Throughout his time as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Madden's record was 103-32-7 in the regular season and 9-7 in the playoffs. He would win his first and only Super Bowl on January 9, 1977, and retired from coachin just two years later in 1979. In 2006, Madden was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Developing...

Space is fascinating for many of us, but we'll likely never get to witness many of its mysteries firsthand. Fortunately, thanks to advancing tech, you can now watch an approximation of what it'd be like to enter one of space's biggest curiosities: the black hole That's because a new, 360-degree video shows off what it could be like to fall into a black hole.

The Nerdist reports that French visual effects artist Alessandro Roussel created the experience to show people what it'd be like in a black hole. Roussel used what's accepted as general relativity calculations to create the visuals.

Watching the video makes it look like you're traveling through a bright tunnel of blue and white light towards, well, a black hole. If you see the footage for yourself and it doesn't seem like you're actually entering the black hole, that's because the light in a black hole stretches out in front of you.

As for the last thing you'd see in a black hole, Roussel says you'd see yourself standing on a lightless planet surrounded by a circle of light, before being compressed by the black hole. That's pretty intense, if you ask us.

While the only way you'll ever experience a black hole will almost certainly be through this video, physicists said humans can safely fall into a black hole if it's large enough and completely isolated. And, this year, scientists were finally able to see the backside of a black hole, proving one of Albert Einstein's theories correct.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Space is fascinating for many of us, but we'll likely never get to witness many of its mysteries firsthand. Fortunately, thanks to advancing tech, you can now watch an approximation of what it'd be like to enter one of space's biggest curiosities: the black hole That's because a new, 360-degree video shows off what it could be like to fall into a black hole.

The Nerdist reports that French visual effects artist Alessandro Roussel created the experience to show people what it'd be like in a black hole. Roussel used what's accepted as general relativity calculations to create the visuals.

Watching the video makes it look like you're traveling through a bright tunnel of blue and white light towards, well, a black hole. If you see the footage for yourself and it doesn't seem like you're actually entering the black hole, that's because the light in a black hole stretches out in front of you.

As for the last thing you'd see in a black hole, Roussel says you'd see yourself standing on a lightless planet surrounded by a circle of light, before being compressed by the black hole. That's pretty intense, if you ask us.

While the only way you'll ever experience a black hole will almost certainly be through this video, physicists said humans can safely fall into a black hole if it's large enough and completely isolated. And, this year, scientists were finally able to see the backside of a black hole, proving one of Albert Einstein's theories correct.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Next year, Persona and Shin Megami Tensei developer Atlus would like to release a new game that will further solidify the company's status as a premier Japanese studio.

As reported by Gematsu, Famitsu asked several video game companies about their goals and ambitions for 2022 as this year draws to an end, and Atlus' Shinjiro Takada had some exciting things to say for fans of the studio's games.

Takada - who is responsible for such franchises as Shin Megami Tensei and Etrian Odyssey - says, "I chose ‘Challenge’ as my keyword for 2022 in hopes to release a title to the world that will become a pillar for Atlus." He continues, "The staff are working hard on development to make something that’ll be interesting and satisfying for everyone, so I’d be happy if you could look forward to it.”

Currently, we know of three projects that Atlus is working on. A port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was announced at The Game Awards 2021 and is launching on March 17, 2022, for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Additionally, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is launching for Nintendo Switch on April 22, 2022; it was originally released on PS4 in 2020. The last one is Project Re Fantasy, which is being led by a new development team called Studio Zero. It was revealed back in 2016, but not much information about the game has been shown yet.

It's unclear whether or not Re Fantasy is the game Takada is talking about. However, speaking with Famitsu in December 2020, Atlus producer Katsura Hashino stated that development on the game was at its climax and that he would like to release gameplay details soon.

There is also a potential Atlus titled called "Project Pen" that was listed on the Australian Government Classification Database in November, so that could be another possibility.

“With Shin Megami Tensei V finally released, we are taking a breath of relief, although we hope to announce something this year (2022) too, so please stay tuned," Takada explains.

This year, Atlus localized Persona 5 Strikers and Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster, as well as launched a global simultaneous release for Shin Megami Tensei V. Hopefully, Atlus will continue with the global launches for future games so western fans can enjoy them at the same time as the Japanese ones.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Next year, Persona and Shin Megami Tensei developer Atlus would like to release a new game that will further solidify the company's status as a premier Japanese studio.

As reported by Gematsu, Famitsu asked several video game companies about their goals and ambitions for 2022 as this year draws to an end, and Atlus' Shinjiro Takada had some exciting things to say for fans of the studio's games.

Takada - who is responsible for such franchises as Shin Megami Tensei and Etrian Odyssey - says, "I chose ‘Challenge’ as my keyword for 2022 in hopes to release a title to the world that will become a pillar for Atlus." He continues, "The staff are working hard on development to make something that’ll be interesting and satisfying for everyone, so I’d be happy if you could look forward to it.”

Currently, we know of three projects that Atlus is working on. A port of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was announced at The Game Awards 2021 and is launching on March 17, 2022, for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Additionally, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is launching for Nintendo Switch on April 22, 2022; it was originally released on PS4 in 2020. The last one is Project Re Fantasy, which is being led by a new development team called Studio Zero. It was revealed back in 2016, but not much information about the game has been shown yet.

It's unclear whether or not Re Fantasy is the game Takada is talking about. However, speaking with Famitsu in December 2020, Atlus producer Katsura Hashino stated that development on the game was at its climax and that he would like to release gameplay details soon.

There is also a potential Atlus titled called "Project Pen" that was listed on the Australian Government Classification Database in November, so that could be another possibility.

“With Shin Megami Tensei V finally released, we are taking a breath of relief, although we hope to announce something this year (2022) too, so please stay tuned," Takada explains.

This year, Atlus localized Persona 5 Strikers and Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster, as well as launched a global simultaneous release for Shin Megami Tensei V. Hopefully, Atlus will continue with the global launches for future games so western fans can enjoy them at the same time as the Japanese ones.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

If you think cats don't actually care about humans, think again. A study from PLOS One, reported by The Animal Rescue Site, says that cats keep mental tabs on their humans while at home.

A group of scientists from Kyoto University found that cats use context clues within the home to determine where their owners are, even if they're in a completely different room.

The experiment that led to this finding saw researchers recording the voices of cat owners calling out their pets' names, along with other sounds like the voices of strangers and of other cats. Then, scientists observed the reactions of the cats while playing the sounds.

According to the report, cats were most surprised when hearing their owner's voice. The surprise is increased because they already saw the owner leave the room, so hearing the familiar voice doesn't make sense to the animal. Researchers say the cat's surprise reaction implies that cats create a mental map of where their people are at all times.

“Results showed that cats were surprised when their owner appeared to be ‘teleported’ to a new, unexpected location, but they did not react in the same way when tested with non-social stimuli," reads the report. "These results suggest that cats hold a mental representation of the unseen owner and map their owner’s location from the owner’s voice, showing evidence of socio-spatial cognition.”

All you cat lovers out there may want to know that there's a live-action Garfield movie in the works, starring everyone's favorite Monday-hating cat. The iconic character will be voiced by Chris Pratt, which in addition to his role as Super Mario, has the internet wondering who he'll voice next.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

If you think cats don't actually care about humans, think again. A study from PLOS One, reported by The Animal Rescue Site, says that cats keep mental tabs on their humans while at home.

A group of scientists from Kyoto University found that cats use context clues within the home to determine where their owners are, even if they're in a completely different room.

The experiment that led to this finding saw researchers recording the voices of cat owners calling out their pets' names, along with other sounds like the voices of strangers and of other cats. Then, scientists observed the reactions of the cats while playing the sounds.

According to the report, cats were most surprised when hearing their owner's voice. The surprise is increased because they already saw the owner leave the room, so hearing the familiar voice doesn't make sense to the animal. Researchers say the cat's surprise reaction implies that cats create a mental map of where their people are at all times.

“Results showed that cats were surprised when their owner appeared to be ‘teleported’ to a new, unexpected location, but they did not react in the same way when tested with non-social stimuli," reads the report. "These results suggest that cats hold a mental representation of the unseen owner and map their owner’s location from the owner’s voice, showing evidence of socio-spatial cognition.”

All you cat lovers out there may want to know that there's a live-action Garfield movie in the works, starring everyone's favorite Monday-hating cat. The iconic character will be voiced by Chris Pratt, which in addition to his role as Super Mario, has the internet wondering who he'll voice next.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Remedy Entertainment, the company behind Control and Alan Wake, has signed a global development, license, and distribution agreement with Tencent for a new co-operative multiplayer game that is currently codenamed Vanguard.

Announced by Remedy, Vanguard - which should obviously not be confused for Call of Duty: Vanguard - will be a "free-to-play, co-operative PvE shooter that combines Remedy's narrative expertise and action gameplay into an immersive multiplayer experience."

The game will be developed with the Unreal Engine for both PC and consoles and, while Remedy will develop and publish the game for most of the world, Tencent will localize Vanguard for "the selected Asian markets" and it will cover any related localization costs.

As it stands, Vanguard is "currently in the proof-of-concept phase" and the game's "development budget up to the first year of live operations will be in the range of a typical Remedy AAA game budget."

Remedy and Tencent will co-finance Vanguard's development and each company will be responsible for the publishing and game operating costs in their territories. After the development costs have been recouped, both companies will share a portion of revenue with the other.

Alongside the PC and consoles version of Vanguard, Remedy has given Tencent the worldwide rights to both develop and publish a mobile version of the game. Tencent will cover the costs of the project, and the companies have "agreed on a separate sharing scheme for the mobile version."

This announcement follows the news from May 2021 that Tencent had acquired a 3.8% stake in Remedy, which amounted to 500,000 shares. There was no game annoucement back then, but that has now changed.

“Vanguard marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model, executed by our top tier team of free-to-play experts," Said CEO of Remedy Entertainment Tero Virtala. "We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths. Expanding our capabilities to take on publishing responsibilities is the next step in the development of our company.

"We are excited for this long-term partnership with Tencent and with confidence can say that it is an excellent fit in supporting Vanguard’s ambitious plans. Vanguard is a global opportunity, and Tencent can support Remedy internationally, and lead the operations in Asia and the mobile markets.”

Remedy had announced that it formed a new team called Vanguard in 2018 that had the goal to "challenge conventions and to prototype and ship new types of ongoing live multiplayer game experiences," and it would appear that this is the team inside Remedy that is working on this as the names are the same.

Vanguard joins the many projects currently in development at Remedy, including Alan Wake 2, the campaign of CrossfireX, multiple games in the Control universe, and a new, early-stage project.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Remedy Entertainment, the company behind Control and Alan Wake, has signed a global development, license, and distribution agreement with Tencent for a new co-operative multiplayer game that is currently codenamed Vanguard.

Announced by Remedy, Vanguard - which should obviously not be confused for Call of Duty: Vanguard - will be a "free-to-play, co-operative PvE shooter that combines Remedy's narrative expertise and action gameplay into an immersive multiplayer experience."

The game will be developed with the Unreal Engine for both PC and consoles and, while Remedy will develop and publish the game for most of the world, Tencent will localize Vanguard for "the selected Asian markets" and it will cover any related localization costs.

As it stands, Vanguard is "currently in the proof-of-concept phase" and the game's "development budget up to the first year of live operations will be in the range of a typical Remedy AAA game budget."

Remedy and Tencent will co-finance Vanguard's development and each company will be responsible for the publishing and game operating costs in their territories. After the development costs have been recouped, both companies will share a portion of revenue with the other.

Alongside the PC and consoles version of Vanguard, Remedy has given Tencent the worldwide rights to both develop and publish a mobile version of the game. Tencent will cover the costs of the project, and the companies have "agreed on a separate sharing scheme for the mobile version."

This announcement follows the news from May 2021 that Tencent had acquired a 3.8% stake in Remedy, which amounted to 500,000 shares. There was no game annoucement back then, but that has now changed.

“Vanguard marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model, executed by our top tier team of free-to-play experts," Said CEO of Remedy Entertainment Tero Virtala. "We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths. Expanding our capabilities to take on publishing responsibilities is the next step in the development of our company.

"We are excited for this long-term partnership with Tencent and with confidence can say that it is an excellent fit in supporting Vanguard’s ambitious plans. Vanguard is a global opportunity, and Tencent can support Remedy internationally, and lead the operations in Asia and the mobile markets.”

Remedy had announced that it formed a new team called Vanguard in 2018 that had the goal to "challenge conventions and to prototype and ship new types of ongoing live multiplayer game experiences," and it would appear that this is the team inside Remedy that is working on this as the names are the same.

Vanguard joins the many projects currently in development at Remedy, including Alan Wake 2, the campaign of CrossfireX, multiple games in the Control universe, and a new, early-stage project.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.