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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His days of calling NFL games on T.V. may be over, but John Madden's retirement might not be as idyllic as he had hoped.

According to a report on former Oakland Raiders lineman Dave Pear's Blog, NFL retirees are planning to go after Madden and Electronic Arts, publisher of the best-selling pro football game which bears the former coach's name.
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Sports video games are a huge business -- and for many years, it was an extremely competitive space. I remember a few years back trying to wade through half a dozen different baseball video game titles to figure out which one was worth buying. However, a few years back, video game giant EA started signing "exclusive" deals with a variety of sporting leagues, including the NFL. These "exclusive" deals supposedly meant that only EA could produce games with the names and stats of real players -- a huge selling point among most fans. And, of course, in gaining exclusivity, EA has completely cashed in. However, a bunch of angry video gamers are now suing the company for anticompetitive conduct, noting that these exclusive deals killed off all the competition, allowing EA to drastically raise its prices.
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Next-Gen.Biz writes: "The NPD Group has revealed the top 10 selling games of all time in the U.S. market.

Forbes reported earlier this week NPD Group's up-to-date top ten U.S. videogame sales figures by units, revealing a list dominated by the Grand Theft Auto and Madden NFL franchises.

As seen below, GTA: San Andreas from 2004 is the top-selling game in the U.S. with 9.43 million units sold. The franchise shows up on the top 10 three times, while Madden appears four times.

Activision had two 2007 titles already break the top 10 (Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4), while EA had one 2007 title on the list in the form of Madden NFL 08."
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Dimorphic360 writes:

"It seems that Australia once again is getting shafted when it comes to limited edition releases of games. First Mass Effect and Devil May Cry 4 were given cut down limited edtion releases (in the case of Mass Effect we only got a small pre-order bonus) and the limited edition bundle of EA Sports Madden franchise looks like the next in line..."
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Colts QB Peyton Manning, the face of the NFL, finally conquered the Patriots and won the Super Bowl last NFL season. Chargers reigning MVP Ladanian Tomlinson shattered the TD record. Broncos shutdown cornerback Champ Bailey made half of the football field disappear. But its second-young Tennessee Titans Vince Young that gets the nod to cover Madden NFL 08. Young -- a fantastic double-threat QB on the cusp of stardom -- took over behind center for the Titans and helped them go from 2-8 to 8-8 (they narrowly missed the playoffs). But going into his second season, he's far from the best player in the NFL, making him an odd choice for sports gaming's most prestigious -- and dangerous -- cover.
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Music has been a focal point of many of EA's titles for years, and now the publishing giant has gone a step further by forming its own music label. In a joint venture with Nettwerk One Music, the new LA-based Artwerk record label will sign both new and established artists, the first of which will be Junkie XL, who worked on music for Madden, SSX Blur and Need for Speed Carbon games. EA will use its games as a worldwide marketing tool to promote its artists. "For the past five years, EA has ... » Read More

Electronic Arts would be wise to buy 2K Sports, or so says industry analyst Michael Pachter for Wedbush Morgan Securities. The suggestion came amid the move from Wedbush downgrading Take-Two Interactive's stock from "hold" to "sell" Friday. Take-Two Interactive owns 2K Sports as a subsiderary.

"It is clear to us that Take-Two's sports business would have tremendous value to EA, as it would give EA a monopoly on football, basketball, baseball, and hockey," Pachter said. His analysis concluded that EA might purchase 2K Sports for as much as $200 million dollars, but he noted, "It is arguable that EA would benefit by as much as $1 billion if it were to obtain an exclusive; this does not mean that it is willing to pay $1 billion."
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Here is the list of the latest review scores from Famitsu.

The complete list:

Motorstorm (PS3, Sony): 8 / 8 / 8 / 6 - (30/40)
Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3, Sega): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360, Capcom): 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (36/40)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Xbox 360, Sega): 8 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (30/40)
Seiken Densetsu 4 (PS2, Square Enix): 7 / 8 / 8 / 7 - (30/40)
Madden NFL 07 (PS2, EA): 7 / 8 / 7 / 5 - (27/40)
Monster 4X4: World Circuit (Wii, Ubisoft): 7 / 6 / 7 / 8 - (28/40)
A Ressha de Ikou HX (Xbox 360, Artdink): 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (27/40)
Metal Gear Portable Ops (PSP, Konami): 9 / 10 / 9 / 9 - (37/40)
Tales of The World: Radiant Mythology (PSP, Bandai Namco): 8 / 7 / 8 / 7 - (30/40)
Nounai Aesthe: IQ Suppli DS (NDS, Spike): 7 / 7 / 6 / 6 - (26/40)
Heisei Kyouiku Iinkai DS (NDS, Bandai Namco): 6 / 9 / 7 / 6 - (28/40)
Need for Speed Carbon (PS2, EA): 8 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (30/40)
Need for Speed Carbon (PS3/Xbox 360, EA): 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
Need for Speed Carbon (Wii, EA): 8 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (28/40)
Need for Speed Carbon (PSP, EA): 8 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (31/40)
School Love! (PS2, Views): 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Intelligent License 2 (PSP, Now Production): 7 / 9 / 7 / 8 - (31/40)
NBA Live 07 (PSP, EA): 7 / 8 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Hamster to Kurasou (NDS, Interchannel): 6 / 6 / 5 / 5 - (22/40)
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The NPD Group has released sales data for November 2006, and while the PlayStation 3 wasn't able to crack the overall top 20, it appears Resistance: Fall of Man had a high attach rate.

Resistance sold twice as much as the next best-selling title, Madden NFL 07. The ever-popular WWII setting allowed Call of Duty 3 to round out the top three.

Here are the top ten best-selling PlayStation 3 games for November 2006, as provided by the NPD Group:

1. Resistance: Fall of Man

2. Madden NFL 07

3. Call of Duty 3

4. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

5. Ridge Racer 7

6. Need for Speed: Carbon

7. Tony Hawk's Project 8

8. NBA 2K7

9. NBA 07

10. Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
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its quarterly financial statement call, GameStop revealed some surprising attach rate numbers for the PS3 and Wii. Sony's latest console saw a low attach rate of 1.5 games per console sold, with Madden NFL 07 and Resistance: Fall of Man the best-selling titles. Wii saw a "surprisingly good" attach rate of 3.0 games per system sold. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel were the top sellers at GameStop and EB Games.

GameStop executives believe the low attach rate for PS3 is do to the "large percentage of PS3s resold at a huge premium." It is believed that once the PS3 is in the hands of "real gamers," PS3 titles should see a growth in attach rate.
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The PS3 could launch with 24 titles and Wii with 30 titles according to new documents detailing the two companies' plans.

PlayStation 3
Resistance: Fall of Man - Sony
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - Sony
Genji: Days of the Blade - Sony
Gran Turismo HD - Sony
NBA 07 - Sony
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (600,000)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Activision (300,000)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Activision (300,000)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks
Fight Night 3 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (700,000)
NBA Live 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed Carbon - Electronic Arts (800,000)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight - Namco Bandai
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - Namco Bandai
Ridge Racer 7 - Namco Bandai
Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Sega
Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega
NBA 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (400,000)
NHL 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (200,000)
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft
Rainbow Six: Vegas - Ubisoft
F.E.A.R. - Vivendi

NINTENDO Wii
Wii Sports (bundled with hardware) - Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo
Excite Truck - Nintendo
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (200,000)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision (200,000)
Rapala Tournament Fishing ¿ Activision (50,000)
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - Activision (300,000)
World Series of Poker - Activision (50,000)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Atari (200,000)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Atlus
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed: Carbon - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Elebits - Konami
The Ant Bully - Midway m (100,000)
The Grim Adventure...
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German game site www.gameguide.nl posted today the ultimate list of 160 game tittles in production for the ps3.
Within the 160 tittles ,95 of them will be ps3 exclusive .

(TBA = To Be Announced )

List of ps3 games in development:

2K Games/Take-Two/Rockstar
- College Hoops 2K7 ~Visual Concepts, TBA~
- The Darkness ~Starbreeze, 2007~
- Grand Theft Auto 4 ~Rockstar North, Q4 2007~
- NHL 2K7 ~Visual Concepts, TBA~
- NBA 2K7 ~Visual Concepts, TBA~
- Red Dead Revolver 2 ~Rockstar North, TBA~

Activision
- Call of Duty 3 ~Infinity Ward, Launch~
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance ~Raven, Launch~
- Spider-Man 3 ~Treyarch, Q2 2007~
- Tony Hawk's Project 8 ~Neversoft, Launch~

Atari
- Alone in the Dark 5 ~Eden Studios, TBA~

Atlus
- Shin Megami Tensei 4 ~Atlus R&D1, TBA~

Beuna Vista
- Turok ~Propaganda, TBA~

Capcom
- Devil May Cry 4 ~Capcom Studio 1, Q4 2007~
- Monster Hunter 3 ~Capcom Studio 1, 2008~
- Resident Evil 5 ~Capcom Studio 4, Q4 2007~
~
- Untitled ~Action~ ~TBD, TBA~

Codemasters
- DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road ~In-house, 2007~

D3 Publisher
- Dark Sector ~Digital Extremes, TBA~

Eidos
- Untitled ~Action~ ~TBD, TBA~

Electronic Arts
- Army of Two ~EA Montreal, TBA~
- Battlefield: Bad Company ~DICE, 2007~
- Def Jam 3 ~EA Chicago, 2007~
- Fight Night Round 3 ~EA Chicago, Q4 2006~
- Half Life 2: Complete Pack ~Valve/EA, Q1 2007~
- Lord of the Rings: The White Council ~EA Redwood Shores, Q4 2007~
- Madden NFL 07 ~Tiburon, Q4 2006~
- Medal of Honor: Airborne ~EALA, 2007~
- NBA Live 07 ~EA Canada, Q4 2006~
- NBA Street Vol. 4 ~EA Canada, 2007~
- Need for Speed: Carbon ~EA Black Box, Q4 2006~
- Skate ~EA Black Box, 2007~
- Tiger Woo...
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