U.S. soldiers might soon be trading their M16s for plasma ray guns or virtual footballs, thanks to Microsoft. The tech giant revealed Tuesday that it is in the process of equipping USO centers around the world with Xbox 360 consoles so that armed forces personnel can play games like Halo 3 or Madden NFL 07 during time off.

The soldiers will also be able to chat with loved ones back home using headsets linked to the Xbox Live online service.
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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 ...
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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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Major Nelson just released on his blog the top Xbox Live games of 2006

Here are the top games for 2006, based on Xbox Live connectivity.
The following rankings are based on data collected from 1/1/06 ¿ 12/29/06:

2006 Top Xbox 360 Titles (UU's)
1 Gears of War
2 Hexic HD
3 Call of Duty 2
4 Ghost Recon 3
5 Oblivion
6 PGR3
7 Perfect Dark Zero
8 Call Of Duty 3
9 UNO
10 EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3
11 Saints Row
12 Geometry Wars Evolved
13 DEAD OR ALIVE 4
14 Texas Hold 'em
15 Madden NFL 07
16 DEAD RISING
17 Need for Speed Most Wanted
18 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas
19 BFMC
20 Splinter Cell Double Agent

Arcade titles and Xbox 1 rankings after the jump
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Electronic Arts, using internal sales information and outside industry sources, has predicted that Madden NFL 07 will...
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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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According to SportsGamer, EA has decided to not charge for additional jerseys in Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 2007, a feature that has become standard in all last gen versions of the football franchises, and they are available for free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace today.
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Electronic Arts released today a set of video strategy guides for NCAA 07 Football and Madden NFL 07 over Xbox Live. Each five-minute tutorial costs 160 MS points ($2.00) and covers either Running, Passing, Run Defense, or Pass Defense.

That's right... you're paying for tutorials. You know, those things that were always included in games for free.
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Sign up for the Xbox Live Madden NFL 07 Tournament* and you could be on your way to Honolulu, Hawaii, to compete in the EA Sports Madden Challenge '06 for a chance at the Grand Prize of $100,000. Find out more about the Madden Challenge.
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