In their regular weekly feature, PlayStation LifeStyle takes a look at what we should be getting this week:
- Facebreaker demo [FREE]
- Madden NFL 09 demo [FREE]
- NASCAR 09 DLC*
- PixelJunk Eden [$9.99 USD]
- Rock Band DLC: Assorted Songs (one @ $0.99 USD, three @ $1.99 USD)
- Soul Calibur DLC, original BGM*

Additional Content:
- PS3 Theme, Killzone 2 Theme*
- PS3 Theme, PixelJunk Eden Theme
- Wallpaper, Siren: Blood Curse Wallpaper(s)

NOTE: This list is not all-inclusive (videos, wallpapers, etc.) and content is always subject to change.

*Items marked with an asterisk denote rumored content, while the other content is confirmed.
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Electronic Arts has confirmed that Madden NFL 09 will be available on the Xbox. That is not a typo, EA Sports is actually releasing a game on the big, black brick called Xbox.
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PlayStation LifeStyle stumbled upon information that should have Madden fans excited. After not getting a Madden demo last year, PS3 gamers will be happy this Thursday, July 31, when they fire up their PS3 to find a demo of this year's Madden available.

[Update: Apparently to cut down on the size of the demo, it will not include audio commentary.]

EA confirmed the news of the demo to PlayStation LifeStyle. Read the full article to find out which modes and options are included.
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Time to celebrate with the all new user celebration feature, just one of 85 new gameplay features included in first game that adapts to you, Madden NFL 09. The 20th Anniversary installment of the award winning Madden NFL franchise hits stores nationwide on August 12, 2008.
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Worthplaying Writes: "Whether you prefer to make your moves on the field, from the sidelines or in the front office, the Madden NFL 09 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition has something for every football fan. Madden NFL 09 will feature the most immersive gameplay, the richest online offerings and the most comprehensive feature depth in the history of the franchise, while NFL Head Coach 09 has been reinvented to provide a unique new NFL experience by allowing fans to be in total control of their favorite franchises. The two games offer unique experiences and then can even interact with one another with gamers being able to import their user-designed plays from NFL Head Coach 09 and put them into Madden NFL 09 to create customized playbooks for complete control on the field.

Madden NFL 09 introduces 85 new features and enhancements, including the ability to adapt gameplay to the player's skill level. Whether you are a veteran Madden NFL player or a newcomer to the game, everyone can have an enjoyable and competitive gaming experience. Madden NFL 09 will also feature a network-inspired broadcast presentation highlighted by the commentary team of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond. The game also features online leagues, allowing players to take their rivalries online and compete in leagues with fans from around the country."
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With all the talk of Brett Favre coming back to the NFL for a different team, some questioned what would happen to the Madden cover. Well, EA has set the record straight, saying that "Brett Favre [would appear] in a GB jersey, no matter what."
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EA has dropped details on this year's celebration for the release of Madden NFL 09, annoyingly titled Maddenpalooza. Mentioned during Leigh's interview with Steve Schnur earlier this month, Maddenpalooza is a music festival featuring bands from current and past Madden soundtracks that will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on August 11th. Fans can snag tickets through local radio stations or at the Rose Bowl on event day, which entitle them to a day filled with music, NFL star signings, and various other bits of marketing, all leading up to 9PM when the stadium's pop-up Wal-Mart will sell the first copies of the game.

Artists scheduled to appear include headliners Good Charlotte, Busta Rhymes, Rev Theory, Airbourne, From First to Last and Young Dre The Truth. Sounds like a worthy successor to the traditional Maddenoliday, more than enough to hold us until they add the word Madden to the front of some new festive term.
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XBL and PSN will be seeing the demo for Madden 09 arrive on Friday August 1st.
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Stephen Totilo writes:

"Year after year EA's chief music executive Steve Schnur has told me, in interviews, that video game soundtracks for games like "Madden" will someday be update-able via downloaded music.

When I interviewed Schnur yesterday about the soundtrack for "Madden NFL 09" he finally named a timeframe. "You're going to see it in 2009," he said. He said that by "Madden '10" gamers can expect some of the "broader-based" EA games (not just any music titles) to be able to "continually recommend" new music that can be downloaded to enhance a soundtrack."
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Electronic Arts Inc today unveiled the music track listing for Madden NFL 09, set to release August 12, 2008. The new soundtrack features 26 songs from a multi-genre roster of superstar acts and soon-to-breakthrough artists, including Franz Ferdinand, Good Charlotte, Airbourne, From First To Last, The All-American Rejects, Rev Theory, K'Naan, and Kidz In The Hall.
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So what's new in Madden NFL 09 that would make you want to buy it over the previous iteration? The 20th anniversary of the franchise brings lots of new features and Madden moments.
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Are you ready for some football? Madden NFL 09, the first ever sports game that adapts to you, has gone gold and will be available nationwide on August 12, 2008. Every year, it's the hottest item of the summer for sports fans and this year Madden NFL 09 delivers a whole host of new features in the 20th anniversary of the award-winning and best-selling franchise.
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GamesIndustry.Biz writes: "Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello says that his company doesn't usually get the benefit of the "cult" when it comes to game ratings.

While speaking to investors gathered for the William Blair & Company's 28th Annual Growth Stock Conference, Riccitiello was asked to estimate the Metacritic review scores for EA's upcoming titles.

"I always hate answering questions like this. It is a little bit like you're jinxing the play, you know - 'We expect the New York Times to love this play.'

"And you sort of feel a little bit like a twit getting out ahead of it because there's a certain cadre of journalists that would love to prove me wrong."

Riccitiello said that he has looked carefully at EA Sports titles - NASCAR, NCAA, Madden and NBA Live - and found them to be better products than last year."
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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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Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that EA Sports Fantasy Football will be launching a new website, fantasy.EASPORTS.com and will have fantasy football applications specific to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system later this summer. The web-based service of EA Sports Fantasy Football is free, while members of Xbox Live or PlayStation 3 Network will have the opportunity to download the innovative fantasy football applications for a fee. In addition, for the first time ever, gamers will have the ability to play their fantasy football squad in Madden NFL 09. EA Experts, a team of internal fantasy football gurus, returns and serves as a go-to source for all fantasy football information.
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PS3 Fanboy: "EA Sports is serious about earning cred PS3 gamers. Their upcoming press event for the 20th Anniversary of Madden is an exclusively PlayStation affair. The final playable versions of this year's Madden will be present, and only the PS3 and PSP versions will be shown -- no love for the Xbox 360 or Wii.

This is an interesting change for the sports company, whose games ran at a slower framerate on PS3 than Xbox 360 last year. However, ever since former Microsoft-exec Peter Moore took over EA Sports, we've been seeing more emphasis on the PS3 versions of sports games. For example, the PS3 was the system of choice when demonstrating NCAA Football at a media event last month."
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Electronic Arts has been hit with a lawsuit for what the plaintiffs describe as the publisher's "blatantly anticompetitive conduct" in the football gaming genre.According to the San Jose Business Journal, EA's move to tie up exclusive licenses with US football associations for games based on the sport is at the heart of the case.The plaintiffs point out that competition from rival publisher Take-Two, which sold more than ... » Read More

According to details revealed in the upcoming GameInformer magazine, Madden 09 is set to have an IQ test but, unlike the other IQ test you have taking in Madden games this one will determine how hard the game will be for the user
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Madden NFL '09 is on the horizon and it's going to bring some new features along for ride. One of them is Backtrack, which is shown off in this new trailer:
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Overall ratings for most of the players in Madden 09 are displayed, and a list showing the team ratings in the game.
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