EA Sports Got Permission From Colin Kaepernick's Tattoo Artists To Use His Ink In Madden '15

ESPN — Aiming to get one step closer to real life, Electronic Arts will feature Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos in the upcoming version of its “Madden” video game. Last year, Kaepernick told broadcaster Jim Rome that he hoped to get the tattoos in this year’s version. That was complicated by the fact that the NFL Players Association and EA required the tattoo artists that designed tattoos for players to sign waivers giving the NFLPA and the video game company rights to reproduce the tattoos. The issue was pushed to the forefront when S. Victor Whitmill, the man who designed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo, sued Warner Brothers for its use of his tattoo in the movie “Hangover 2.” The two sides eventually settled, leaving no legal precedent as to who owns the tattoo — the artist or the person whose body it is on. In Kaepernick’s case, it helped that his tattoos were done by two artists, Nes Andrion of Endless Ink in Reno, Nevada, and Orly Locquiao of Humble Beginnings in San Jose, California. Kaepernick got the necessary permission from the artists and filed it with the NFLPA, who brought it to EA. “We want to be as authentic as possible, so we were pleased that Colin was able to secure the rights to the tattoos,” said Seann Graddy, senior producer of “Madden 15,” which will hit the shelves on Aug. 26.

Ridiculous. I’m not here to talk about the legal bullshit going on here, that’s just the world we live in. I’m here to talk about EA Sports so desperately needing to put in his tats that they were willing to jump through all these legal hoops. Fuck that. Madden has become WAY too obsessive about making the graphics realistic and gotten way off track on making video games that are actually fun. Any good sports video game is about bragging rights with your boys. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about RGIII wearing the exact same knee brace in a video game as in real life. You pop the disc in, say “ah that’s kinda neat” the first time you play, and that’s that. After that you’ve got a shitty game with way too many controls. They’ve been pumping out games like that for nearly a decade now. It boggles my mind that people continue to buy Madden. Get it together, EA. Until you figure your shit out, I’ll be throwing Da Bomb in NFL Blitz.

PS: Denver Broncos. That’s the team you use in NFL Blitz if you have any interest in winning.