It's every gamers' dream: win money by playing video games. Despite gaming's newfound mainstream acceptance, most people--especially those in the United States--do not recognize gaming as a legitimate competitive activity. In a country where card games like Texas Hold 'em have recently exploded, turning 21-year-olds into online superstars, it's no stretch to assume that more gaming mediums deserve a similar place in public attention.
» Read More 

Ripten writes:

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Behind the scenes wheeling and dealing can generate tasty bargains, but sometimes those bargains come with a nasty aftertaste.

In this case, it appears that EA and the NFLPA along with Players Inc. struck a deal for retired NFL player rights that was significantly below fair market value. A class action lawsuit was filed by the players in question against Players Inc, but the fun didn't stop there. In a letter crafted by 51 year old former Buffalo Bills safety, Jeff Nixon, Madden was asked to come to the aid of his fellow Hall of Famers.

Jeff's "Dear John" letter to the former Raider's Head Coach is laced with incriminating quotes, the most shocking being that EA's total cost to produce Madden each year is apparently no more than $200,000!!"
» Read More 

Finalists of the EA SPORTS Madden Challenge presented by Best Buy to Compete at Beaches Turks & Caicos in January.
» Read More 

According to the August NPD data, all three versions of EAs Madden 09 cleaned up in the software sales charts for the month.
» Read More 

Edge writes: "Multiple analysts have reiterated their BUY rating for Electronic Arts stock as the company has announced that total Madden NFL 09 sales have greatly outpaced the game's flailing pre-order rate.

Pre-orders for the year's Madden were down 25% versus last year, but EA has announced that actual sales of the game were up 6%, generating $133.5 million (£75.74m) in retail dollars.

This strong performance was no surprise to analysts, who have predicting for some time that the low pre-order numbers would not accurately reflect final sales. Arvind Bhatia with Sterne Agee & Leach said in a financial note that this performance was "in line with our checks," and attributed the higher retail dollar count to sales of the $89.99 (£51) collector's edition, as well as a higher percentage of total sales being from the higher-priced Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, compared to last year."
» Read More 

Kotaku writes: "'Brett' is easy to spell. B-r-e-t-t. "Favre", not so easily. But to review: F-a-v-r-e-. Not "Farve". If you're a football fan, you should know that. And if you're EA, you damn well should know that - especially because he's the coverboy! Reader Devon points out that Brett Favre's name is mispelled in the collector's edition menu in Madden 09. That's a pic of it right up there. Well, at least EA didn't put 'Brett Favor.'"
» Read More 

Edge writes: "Initial sales of EA Sports' Madden NFL 09 "appear better than expected," Stern Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said Tuesday.

Some analysts and investors were concerned over lower pre-order numbers for Madden NFL 09, released this week, but first night retail checks conducted by Stern Agee showed that sell-through for the game is up "low single digits" over last year.

"If this trend holds in the near to medium term, we believe investors will view it as a positive," he said."
» Read More 

Not that EA needed to send out an official press release that Madden NFL 09 is out today, but here it is none the less:

Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that Madden NFL 09 is available in retail stores across North America. Recently named Best Sports Game of E3 in the official "Game Critics Best of Show Awards", Madden NFL 09 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the best-selling franchise and is the First Sports Game That Adapts To You while introducing more than 85 new features and enhancements.
» Read More 

Destructoid writes: "If you're a fan of the Madden NFL Football series, there is a slight chance that you already know about the Brett Favre trade this offseason. Aside from making every self-respecting NFL fan cringe at the sight of Favre in a Jets jersey with a roster update, the folks at EA Sports had to do some damage control with their Madden 2009 packaging featuring Favre in his old Packers jersey. Currently, EA Sports has a printable copy of the cover featuring the gunslinger in his new uniform available on their website.

For those with less-than-stellar printers, there is another option available. Sam's Club will print out the optional cover with each purchase of Madden 2009. That means no hassle with PDFs for you, and professional quality printing as well. Sam's Club is also offering the game $55.55, which is a decent discount. I really wish I knew about this last night, because I'm currently having sizing problems with EA's downloadable version of the artwork. Either way, it's good to know that there are some options available for the perfectionists out there."
» Read More 

Madden 09 is now available in stores and as EA promised you can now download alternate packaging featuring Bret Favre in a NY Jets uniform. you can download the alternate packaging for your system of choice after the jump.
» Read More