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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Oct 30, 2008

EA Forcing Good Behavior: Get Banned on their Forum and You're Banned from their Games

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EA Forcing Good Behavior: Get Banned on their Forum and You're Banned from their Games

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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Oct 29, 2008

EA Spent Over $10 Million on Madden Marketing in Last 18 Months

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EA Spent Over $10 Million on Madden Marketing in Last 18 Months

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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Oct 28, 2008

EA Might Auction Madden Cover

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EA Might Auction Madden Cover

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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Oct 16, 2008

Obama campaign has a presence in Madden 2009

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Obama campaign has a presence in Madden 2009

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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Oct 1, 2008

World Gaming lets you turn frags into cash

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - World Gaming lets you turn frags into cash

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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Sep 30, 2008

EA Sports Takes Advantage of Retired NFL Players, Madden Asked to Defend Them

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EA Sports Takes Advantage of Retired NFL Players, Madden Asked to Defend Them

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!!"
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Sep 23, 2008

Madden 09 Patch #2 Now Out

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Madden 09 Patch #2 Now Out

The second patch for Madden 09 is out for the PS3 and 360. Complete details on what the patch does is included.
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Sep 18, 2008

2008 EA SPORTS Madden Challenge Presented by Best Buy Kicks off a New Season of Intense Competition for Madden Players Worldwide

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - 2008 EA SPORTS Madden Challenge Presented by Best Buy Kicks off a New Season of Intense Competition for Madden Players Worldwide

Finalists of the EA SPORTS Madden Challenge presented by Best Buy to Compete at Beaches Turks & Caicos in January.
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Sep 16, 2008

Madden NFL 09 En Español (In Spanish) has Shipped to Store Shelves

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Madden NFL 09 En Español (In Spanish) has Shipped to Store Shelves

Electronic Arts Inc.,announced today that Madden NFL 09 En Español has shipped to retail stores for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game system from Microsoft. Fully translated in Spanish, Madden NFL 09 En Español features Chicago Bears offensive guard, Roberto Garza, on the box cover.
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Sep 11, 2008

EAs Madden takes top three in NPD software for August

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EAs Madden takes top three in NPD software for August

According to the August NPD data, all three versions of EAs Madden 09 cleaned up in the software sales charts for the month.
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Sep 11, 2008

EA and Gillette doing huge 360 tourney

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - EA and Gillette doing huge 360 tourney

Eurogamer reports that EA Sports and Gillette will be running an enormous Xbox Live competition in October to win a trip to Florida and chance to take on sports stars such as Tiger Woods at their own game.

Other sponsored clean-shaven celebrities Thierry Henry and Roger Federer will be there as well, but neither of them actually have their own game, which would have made the bit above sound strange.

There will be plenty of other prizes besides - consoles, games, razors, shaving foam, David Beckham maybe - and all you need to do to win is be good at EA Sports titles.
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Sep 10, 2008

Analysts: Weak Pre-Orders Did Not Stifle Madden

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Analysts: Weak Pre-Orders Did Not Stifle Madden

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."
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Sep 10, 2008

Madden defeats the movie business

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Madden defeats the movie business

TVGB: "EA has just sent us word that Madden 09 has made $133.5 million in retail sales for the month of August. This is a roughly 6 percent increase over last year's game. More importantly it means that Madden made more money than any of the top films for the month of August. Woooo, videogame industry, way to stick it to those dirty movie makers."
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Sep 7, 2008

The Game and Bow Wow Battle it out in Madden NFL 2009

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - The Game and Bow Wow Battle it out in Madden NFL 2009

For weeks, these two stars in the realm of Hip Hop have exchanged words via youtube videos, talking trash about who can beat who at Madden. Finally, the game commences and $100,000 is put on the line. Who came out the victor?
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Sep 6, 2008

Madden 09 Roster Update #2 Details

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Madden 09 Roster Update #2 Details

Complete list of all the changes coming in the second roster update for Madden 09, scheduled to be out on Saturday September 6th.
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Sep 5, 2008

Video Game Players Added to ESPN NFL Broadcasts via EA Virtual Playbook

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Video Game Players Added to ESPN NFL Broadcasts via EA Virtual Playbook

Ripten writes:

"Get your popcorn ready. EA Sports, in partnership with ESPN, has created a new technology called Virtual Playbook that merges real life ESPN analysts with virtual EA video game characters.

According to EA, in-studio cameras will be synchronized with in-game cameras, allowing both real and virtual people the ability to 'move realistically around the studio set to demonstrate plays and scenarios.'"
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Sep 5, 2008

IGN: Serious Madden Problems? - Players reporting frequent freezes in latest Madden title

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - IGN: Serious Madden Problems? - Players reporting frequent freezes in latest Madden title

IGN writes: "While the Madden-oliday was celebrated last month, this happy moment seemed to be hampered by a serious problem that many players started reporting on message boards and blog posts. Apparently, some players were receiving a number of problems, including online disconnects, franchise progression issues and weak coverage problems. However, the biggest problem appeared to be freezes that would pop up every now and then during play calling or highlight screens which would halt the game. According to a Producer Blog posted by Ian Cummings, Senior Designer of Madden 2010 on the EA Sports site on August 26, the team has been working on a new patch, and has been furiously trying to work on the stability of the game, as well as tracking down what was causing the problem."
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Sep 4, 2008

Madden NFL 09 Xbox 360 sales higher than PS3, Wii

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Madden NFL 09 Xbox 360 sales higher than PS3, Wii

Sales for EA Inc.'s Madden NFL 09 are higher on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 than rival hardware according to sales data from Amazon.com.

In the sales figures, the Madden NFL 09 Xbox 360 SKU held 31 percent of all sales, followed by Madden for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 at 25 percent and Madden for Nintendo Co.'s Wii at 13 percent.
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Sep 3, 2008

Boastful Rapper Actually Is Good At 'Madden', Statistics Prove

360 News from N4G | Madden NFL 09

360 - Madden NFL 09 - Boastful Rapper Actually Is Good At 'Madden', Statistics Prove

Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo writes:

"People brag. People talk trash. And rapper Game has been doing a lot of that as he's been hyping his album-promoting $100,000 "Madden" face-off against fellow rapper Bow Wow. My colleague, MTV News hip-hop reporter Shaheem Reid, has been following the hype for the face-off which will finally occur this Friday in L.A.

But I've been skeptical."
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