Examiner: During their conference call regarding the first-half fiscal period of 2010, Electronic Arts revealed that Madden NFL 10 has sold 3.9 million copies as of the end of September.
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A few weeks ago, EA CEO John Riccitiello talked about the weaker sales for Madden NFL 2010, and he noted that EA's hopeful sales would pick up as consumers head to stores to purchase new consoles, following the price drops. Sales for Madden were tracking behind by about 19% in terms of units, and investors reacted causing a 25% dip in the publisher's stock price.

According to the latest channel checks from Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, it appears Riccitiello's optimism was warranted. Sales are faring better now, thanks in part to the increased store traffic from the console price cuts. "We believe sales of ERTS's Madden NFL 2010 have
rebounded meaningfully in the month of September. Combining August and September, we believe sales of Madden are now down an estimated 5% to 10% after being down 19% in August," said Bhatia.
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Edge writes: "In an internal email sent to Electronic Arts staff, company CEO John Riccitiello has revealed his disappointment over early Madden NFL 10 sales, but he still believes that EA is on track to achieve success this fall and holiday season.

"This week, market research for August will show that year-over-year, the industry was down in North America – and that August sales of Madden NFL 10 are down with that trend. It is discouraging that one of our highest-rated and best-marketed Madden titles in years is facing strong headwinds," Riccitiello said in a memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal..."
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Ahead of what industry-watchers hope will be the last month for negative trends in NPD numbers, many analysts are unsure whether 2009 will close with a positive year-over-year result.

Some analysts have expressed concerns about how sales of major titles like Madden NFL 10 have been trending; with that title predicted to top August software sales when the NPD releases its results later today, a deflated Madden could be the strongest signal yet of a deflated industry.

An internal memo from Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello to company employees obtained by Gamasutra shows that indeed, sales of this year's iteration of the football blockbuster are not on their customary track.
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PlayStation LifeStyle writes: "This week there are no surprises as to who has gone home the winner in sales. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) has bested all others. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) retains its top placement for an astounding 37th week. Madden (PS2) retains the still in first after three weeks."
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GamerDeals.net writes:

"The annual event known to all armchair quarterbacks is here again! Maddenholiday is upon us!

Throw out your books and spreadsheets and grab on to a cold one and your controller boys! Tell your boss to shove it (or perhaps tell him that pesky summer cold has come back... sniffle.. sniffle...)... "
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NextGen Player writes:

"Thinking about picking up Madden NFL 10 today? Well, before you go hop, skip and jump to your local retailer consider this: Sports Illustrated is giving the game away free with a paid subscription."
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Video game retailer celebrates highly-anticipated release with free special savings books and chance to win autographed football jersey.
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411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Phantom Brave, C.O.R.E, Fossil Fighters, and Madden.

On Phantom Brave, 411mania writes: "We Meet Again is an update to the original Phantom Brave for the PS2. As it was the game that immediately followed Disgaea, it had a lot to live up to when it was first released back in 2004. Though the SRPG contained many similarities to its predecessor, many fans felt that it strayed a little too much from what made Disgaea a hit. Detractors cite the more serious story as well as the various gameplay changes as their main complaints. However, those who actually gave the game a chance found a lot of the changes to their liking. The absence of the grid system, for example, allowed for more freedom when positioning characters. In addition, the Confine system, whereby the souls of the playable characters must be "confined" to objects on the field in order to take physical form, forced players to put more thought into when and where to use each character. It's not an exact clone of Disgaea, but in this case, that isn't such a bad thing."
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Go Gaming Giant takes a look at a new feature in Madden 10 that lets you buy your way through the game.
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TripleChat is happy to bring you the new releases each week for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Along with all the new releases for each console; TripleChat also gives the scoop on what to expect in new bluray movies and how hyped you should be to either upgrade from DVD or buy for the first time.

This Week: It's that time of year again - yes it is Madden time. No other major release dares to take on what is an investor's love toy. Each year Madden goes above and beyond what it accomplished (sales wise) the previous year; despite what gamers might think of the "improvements."

A pre-order incentive is also featured on the site for those who order before release day.

Bluray wise – a bigger selection of catalog releases as compared to new releases this week. Two new releases this week: one features two guys who party it up before one of them gets married and in the second a man gets to re-live his youth. For the catalog they choose for you to re-live your own youth in everyone's favorite turtle film collection.

To get the full scoop, jump to the site!
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Sports Illustrated is offering Madden NFL 10 as gift to new subscribers to their magazine.
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"GameStop, Corp., the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced that it will host Madden NFL 10 video game tournaments at more than 2,900 of its U.S. locations on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. $5,000, man yall betta get ya games up."
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GamerDeals.net writes:

"Kick back the lazy boy, slip on your fuzzy slippers and enjoy these piping hot weekend ad video game deals for the week of August 2, 2009 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (PS3), Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC (USA)!"
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From Xbox Evolved:

"Xbox 360 invites members of Xbox LIVE to be the first to score a touchdown with an exclusive, playable demo of the upcoming Madden NFL 10 starting July 23 for Xbox LIVE Gold members"
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The high-profile court case against EA Sport's "monopoly" in the NFL market took an interesting turn this week, with an economist brought in to show how much the demise of 2K's competing NFL franchise has cost sports gamers.

Despite admitting his report is based on incomplete data, University of Michigan economics professor Dr. Jeffrey Mackie-Mason has told the the U.S. District Court in San Francisco that EA's domination of the NFL video games market has cost gamers between $701 million and $926 million since 2K's NFL2K series was blocked from competing with EA.
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EA had previously requested that Judge Vaughn Walker dismiss claims by Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence. The two Madden buyers, serving as named plaintiffs in the class-action suit, alleged that by eliminating competition for NFL-licensed games EA had acted in a monopolistic fashion and unjustly enriched itself at the expense of consumers. On Friday Judge Walker issued a ruling denying EA's motion. The Judge did, however, rule that only claims in California and Washington, D.C. would go forward since that is where the two named plaintiffs in the case reside.
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PlayStation LifeStyle writes, "In just over a week, PlayStation LifeStyle will be reporting live from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). We've been trying to get a handle on the plethora of PlayStation games that will be on display from June 2 through June 4, and it's quite astounding. If you weren't excited about the prospect of new announcements for the PlayStation brand, what if we told you there will be over 75 unique PlayStation games on display - that we know about?! While many are multiplatform titles (though the best still appear to be Sony-exclusive), it is a large increase from last year's showing."
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