The Orlando Interactive Experience, or OrlandoiX, is an international digital festival that 
was held in Orlando, Fla. Friday, October 2nd through Tuesday, October 6th. It spotlighted Orlando’s technology industry interactive media and digital arts. Featured events include the Gaming Experience presented by EA SPORTS, Startup Summit and Digital Expo, as well as a speaker series boasting some of the world’s leaders in technology. Attendees to OrlandoiX included game developers, designers, producers, animators, artists, programmers, digital marketers, ad tech professionals, tech enthusiasts, national industry media, venture investors, and entrepreneurs.
One of the main reasons we were there was The Madden 16 Challenge.
The event took place on Saturday and Sunday of the conference. It was a smaller version of the original, with only 6 HDTVs setup with Xbox Ones. There were also two large screens to display the marquee matchup of the current round and the championship game. There were “waves” of 8 people that would play in “King of the Hill” format down to one champion who would win the top prize. What Prizes? Here’s where it gets interesting. Every winner had the chance to receive a wide array of goodies – from EA Sports game copies to signed merchandise by top NBA and NFL stars including Cameron Newton, Dwyane Wade and others. Others would get pretty cool consolations prizes such as free games and gear.
During the tourney they had other giveaways. Most notably a squat competition for a chance to win a custom made PS3 which got more attention than what was on the big screen.
Speaking with one of the EA developers we were told they were trying to bring the Madden Challenge back but on a smaller scale like this at various events and locations. We definitely look forward to the return of the Madden Challenge in any format EA chooses!
