When EA Sports and the NFL collaborated to allow EA Sports to be the sole owner of the NFL license for use in computer and video games, most developers and publishers sighed, cried, and decided to fold up their collective tents and focus on other sports.

Midway is the exception. The folks behind the popular NFL Blitz series took the deal in stride; in fact without Big Brother looking over its shoulder, telling them what they could and could not put in their game, the gloves have officially came off and Blitz the League is the result. An over the top exceptionally violent and adult video game, Blitz the League has the potential to reshape the landscape of sports video games. It has the chance to prove that you don't need a major league/professional license in order to make a good sports videogame. We had a chance to talk with Kraig Kujawa, Lead Designer of Blitz: The League so that gamers could get a glimpse of what to expect when the game ships in October.

Kraig, can you give us a little background on the game? Obviously Blitz has been around for a long time, but this current version -- did it really come to fruition after the EA Sports/NFL deal? And was it a release when that deal was announced? It certainly seems like the handcuffs have been taken off, so to speak.

Sure. About two years ago when we sat down to figure out what the next Blitz would be, it became apparent that to do something really new and interesting meant that we had to let go of the license. The Blitz team had so many shackles put on it for so long by having a license that it was slowly and painfully taking away the series’ edge that it had originally invented. That had to change. But we had no idea an exclusive license was going to happen, and when I heard about it, I was shocked. But hearing about that exclusive deal wasn’t so much of a release as just making the product was; the act of reactivating all of cool animations and features that we were told to cut over the years was therapeutic, really. Making this game is a blast, and an opportunity of a lifetime.

Is this a brand new game engine and how much does the gameplay from the older Blitz games resemble the gameplay in The League?

We’ve been at this for two years because we’ve pretty much redone everything from scratch, except for some really great animations we just had to resurrect. The guts of the game have been completely overhauled and replaced. If you look at the game now, you can understand why they would have to be. Nothing is the same. The new slow-motion Clash and Unleash mechanic and the cinematic feel of the game immediately dictated the change. It’s just night and day. This is still a Blitz game – it’s going to kick your ass, and then kick it again, but this time on and off the field.

How much of a benefit was it to have a guy like Peter Egan doing the writing? Can you give us some insight on what the story is all about?

A ton. We knew that somehow we’d have to give people a reason to care about these teams, so we really lucked out and found a writer that did just that with ESPN’s Playmakers series. It was a great and critically acclaimed show, and I think Peter did a great job of not only making a story that’s better than most football movies out there, but making up an entire league filled with interesting characters. The Campaign (Story) Mode revolves around a highly-billed rookie and a grizzled veteran’s lives on and off the field as they try to get a crappy franchise back on its feet after Quentin Sands decimated their season with an intentional, malicious injury the season before.

Can you explain some of the features in the game? Obviously, there's a ton of fantastic back-story for the league on your website, but when starting a game do you simply pick a team or can you create your own? And how detailed is the create-a-team function? And I heard something about a create a stadium feature?

The story behind Campaign Mode is that you are tasked with taking a horrible team humiliated last season and wiping the slate clean. That means a new roster, a new logo, everything – the owner really wants to dispose of the past…especially because he wants a lucrative stadium deal, and perhaps more. So with this in mind, we really focused on the customizability of your team. I’m pretty sure we have the most detailed uniform and create a player out there. And even better, we have lots of choices that a licensed game could never have: Do-rags, rolled up jerseys, cool stuff like that. The create-a-stadium you mentioned is more like an upgradeable stadium. You pick one of three in the beginning, and as you pull in more money and fame, it gets upgraded alone with your training facilities… you may even be able to pull in a sponsorship.

What other modes are there aside from the campaign/story mode?

Training Camp is one mode we haven’t talked about much yet, but I think is a great introduction into The League and our unique gameplay “Clash” and “Unleash” Clash mechanics. There’s also online play, Quick play mode, a huge bonuses and unlockables section, and my personal favorite: a ton of unique game modes that includes an arcade-perfect Tournament Cyberball!

Is the game a single-season game or can you play multiple seasons as in other game's franchise modes?

Well, The League’s season is quite brutal --- it consists of 33 games, three divisions of ten games each including three playoff games to reach the top. So one season of The League is almost double that of the NFL season. Once you’re done with the Campaign “Story” Mode, you can still edit your team, use them in Quick Play, or bring them online.

What kind of online support is there? Will league play be supported online?

The League will absolutely be online, and the best thing about The League is that you can bring your custom Campaign Mode team online – something never done before in a football game. I personally can’t wait to see the sort of uniform designs that people come up with. Being able to bring your team online also means you’ll be able to see how everyone did in Campaign Mode by how powerful their team is.

The game, like the classic Blitz games, is not 11 on 11 football. Is there any advantage in keeping it as an 8 on 8 game? Do you have any fears that it may turn off football fans looking for a more authentic game?

I believe that football isn’t by definition 11-on-11, football is about how the game is played on the field. Blitz had a very good run in the past with 7-on-7 and 8-on-8, so I don’t think there’s much of an issue there. You get a more wide-open game – there isn’t a ton of clutter, letting you do all sorts of cool evades and jukes. It’s a damned good time. You don’t need those extra 340 lb. guys clogging the middle of the field to make it football, and I think the hardest core football fans will understand that, or at least understand that by virtue of us not being licensed, you’ll actually get much, much more reality than the licensed sims out there.