A lawsuit between John "Big Dawg" Thompson, the dog mask-wearing, bone-wielding Browns fan, and Electronic Arts, Inc., maker of the "Madden NFL" video game series, is likely to be resolved, a lawyer for the fan said on Friday.

A case management conference scheduled last Friday was cancelled because the case is being dismissed, said Alan Parker, a lawyer representing Thompson. Parker said the dismissal terms are confidential.

Thompson, of Cleveland, was happy the case is over, said Parker, who wouldn't comment further on the super-fan's reaction to the outcome.
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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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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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Last week, EA simulated the Super Bowl XLIII match-up between the Steelers and Cardinals with Madden NFL 09. The Super Bowl is now over and not only did the simulation predict the winner, but it also got the margin of victory right and even came close to the real game's final score.
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PWN or DIE simulated the NFC Championship game between the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles and came amazingly close to the final outcome of the actual game that was filled with highlights. Fast forward a couple of weeks to the Super Bowl this Sunday and the Arizona Cardinals will be playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. Given the success of the previous simulation, it was a no-brainer to do it for the "big game".

[Video Highlights Included]
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Kotaku Writes: Despite the onset of some troubled economic times, EA will still be spending big at this year's Super Bowl. Part of those festivities will be the 15th Madden Bowl. So who's playing?

Seven current NFL players will be picking up the controllers and vying for digital bragging rights, including a player each from the competing Super Bowl teams and, for the first time, college players.

USC's Mark Sanchez and Georgia's Matthew Stanford will play first, and the winner of their stoush will take their place among the final eight participants.
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One of the developers Electronic Arts, Tiburon, makers licenses sports games like Madden or Tiger Woods, reducing its workforce.
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EA has announced the results of a survey conducted by University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center which show that Madden NFL players' football IQ was 60 percent higher than non-players.
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GameSpot writes: "When Electronic Arts announced it was laying off 1,000 employees--or 10 percent of its staff--many presumed its Tiburon studio would be untouched. Located in plush offices outside Orlando, Florida, the developer makes the Madden NFL and NCAA Football series, EA Sports' exclusive--and lucrative--professional and college football sims. It also crafts Tiger Woods PGA Tour, the popular and feature-laden pro golf series.

Unfortunately, according to the Orlando Sentinel, not even EA Tiburon has escaped its parents cost-cutting unscathed. This evening, EA government affairs chief Craig Hagen told the newspaper that a number of the studio's 650-700 employees had been laid off."
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Last week MTV Multiplayer reported that it could not yet be determined whether "Wii Play" or "Grand Theft Auto IV" was the best-selling game of 2008 in the U.S. But today they finally got the definitive Top 5 2008 list - and it knocks "GTA" to third place.

Today, NPD provided MTV Multiplayer with the numbers they needed and they can now present the definitive list of top 2008 games.

Top-Selling Games In The U.S. For 2008
(All versions combined. Units in millions)

1. Wii Play 5.28
2. Madden NFL '09 5.25
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63
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PWN or DIE took the time to use Madden NFL 09 to simulate the NFC Championship Game that was played on Sunday between the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles. They had no idea that our simulation would be so accurate, getting the Cardinals' final score right and only being off by 4 on the Eagles' final point tally. After further review, here are the top 10 things our madden simulation got right.
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Top 20 Games of December 2008:
01. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 1460k
02. [360] Call of Duty: World at War* (Activision Blizzard) - 1330k
03. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 999k
04. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 878k
05. [WII] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard) - 859k
06. [360] Gears of War 2* (Microsoft) - 745k
07. [360] Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts) - 629k
08. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo) - 540k
09. [PS3] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard) - 533k
10. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk* (Nintendo) - 497k
11. [WII] Wii Music (Nintendo) - ~480k
12. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
13. [NDS] Personal Trainer: Cooking (Nintendo)
14. [360] Fallout 3* (Bethesda Softworks)
15. [NDS] Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney Interactive Studios)
16. [WII] Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo)
17. [PS2] Guitar Hero World Tour* (Activision Blizzard)
18. [360] Madden NFL 09* (Electronic Arts)
19. [WII] Call of Duty: World at War (Activision Blizzard)
20. [WII] Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Ubisoft)
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Kotaku writes: "U.S. District Judge William Alsup upheld a decision to award retired NFL players $28.1 million in the group's lawsuit against the league's player union over allegations they were cheated by an unfavorable deal with EA.

A federal jury ruled in November that the former NFL players were due $7.1 million for the use of their likenesses and $20.9 million in punitive damages for uncredited appearances in EA Sports' Madden NFL games, an award that union lawyers said was "unjust," saying they were "confident it will be overturned." They also said "Hissss!!!", allegedly, when presented with crosses."
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A release date for Killzone 2, Sony stealing from the LittleBigPlanet community, and GameStop and EA creating a subscription service in the pre-Thanksgiving edition.
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Ripten: "A recent post by an EA Community Staff member on the company's Command and Conquer message board outlines changes to their policy, stating their intent to link a gamers forum account to their EA gaming account. Why does this matter? Because EA is planning on banning those who get banned on their forum from their games as well.

The post by the EA Community Staff member can be seen below:"
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Gamedaily.Biz writes: "According to a new article from Nielsen Games on the growth of the Madden NFL franchise, EA Sports has spent many, many millions on advertising for Madden in the last year and a half. One might think that EA's Madden games sell themselves – and to some degree that's probably true (it's also the only official NFL video game) – but it would be foolish to ignore the marketing muscle that EA throws behind its football juggernaut with each release.

Nielsen said that EA spent the majority of its marketing dollars on television, with roughly $3 million going to network TV and about $5.5 million to cable TV. Another $1 million or so was spent on web ads, such as ESPN.com, and the publisher also made sure to target Spanish-language television to help promote a Spanish-speaking version of the game. All told, Nielsen said the latest campaign included nearly two dozen television spots and more than 50 web vignettes."
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The cover of the Madden games used to be a place to showcase the league's top players and curse them to a horrible season. Now, it seems that EA might let money determine who graces the cover of the next installment in the football series. Specifically, the players' money.
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The other week, we brought you a story about an Obama ad present on a billboard in Burnout Paradise. While we were skeptical about it, it has been proven true. This morning, I was greeted with the same ad in another game. This time, it's Madden NFL Football 2009.

The ad is the same as was featured in the Burnout billboard, except in Madden it appears on drive summaries in the lower right-hand corner. The ad reads, "Early voting has begun" and at the bottom features Obama's campaign logo and his name.

After the Burnout piece, I found myself wondering the impact that political ads can actually have. Have any of you been swayed to vote early, or consider Obama over that other candidate? Do you consider this intrusive? Personally, I enjoy this ad much more than a Nike one because it at least has a message that is important. I like sneakers and all, but politics and blueberry pie are higher on my priority list.
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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.
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