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The EA Sports Madden 09 cover update we mentioned would be happening a few days ago appears to be complete — as you can see above. The site which first came into possession of the box art, is also claiming that Walmart will be updating the cover in their stores as early as noon tomorrow.

The in-store update by retailers was never mentioned in the previous press release issued by EA Sports, and if true, all I can say is “thank God I got mine before the cover change was forcefully put into effect by retailers.” In his New York press conference, Brett stated that he would always be a Green Bay Packer, and I couldn’t agree more.

The Madden Curse has struck again, and this time it hit a man thought untouchable.

Every year since Madden 2000, the athlete featured on the game’s cover has fallen from grace, usually due to injury. It happened to Faulk, Vick, and Culpepper. It laid low Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb and Shaun Alexander. It even gave Vince Young his first career game missed due to injury. It’s called the Madden Curse.

Perhaps it’s all superstition, or perhaps the super-stars who make the cover are just unable to maintain the level of greatness that got them on the cover. Either way you look at it, the Madden Curse is a disturbing trend.

It looked like the curse would be put to rest in an ingenious way in 2009. Put a retired guy on the cover. But the fabled quarterback Brett Favre just couldn’t stay retired. And, now that he’s playing for the Jets, will he suffer the same fate? Will his glorious resurrection be heralded as a Phoenix rising? Or will he merely burn out like so many superstars who can’t give up the game?

Or has the curse already been cast? Hit the jump for some superstition speculation. Read more…

Sure, the blogging community makes its share of mistakes, but as you can see above (and previously here), so do the “real journalists”, even the ones “real” enough to work for big publications like The Washington Post.

Now, I’m not saying that incorporating features from a 1970s German film about mining wouldn’t make a nice addition to the well known EA franchise, I’m just not sure that I fully understand how it would mesh with the traditional American football aspect “Madden” is best known for. But hey, that’s for the real journalists to figure out, and we’ll be sure to blog about it when they do.

Source: Teh Washeengton Powst

The 7-Eleven chain of min-marts have begun busting out marketing collateral for their “Sack Madden Meal” deal.

I haven’t personally stepped foot into a 7-Eleven in years, but according to Joystiq, the $5.97 deal buys you a “Madden sub” (turkey and cheese is the mini mart equivalent to a turducken sandwich), your choice of Doritos, the chain’s signature BIG GULP drink, and most importantly, the Madden 09 demo.

The 7-Eleven version of the demo includes some additional treats you won’t find in your 1.1 GB download. In addition to the virtual trainer and 2 minute gameplay drill found in the downloadable demo, you’ll get several highlights from the NFL Films collection.

And, apparently sine Madden has often been quoted saying “chuck the ball down field”, the team putting together the DVD thought it would be appropriate to toss in a few highlights from NBC’s “Chuck”. Yeah, I’m sure that’s why they did it.

Via: Joystiq

Playable demos for Madden NFL 09 and Facebreaker have hit Xbox Live and the Playstation Network today.

Madden NFL 09 is due to hit stores on August 12 and Facebreaker just a few weeks later on September 5.

Check out our hands-on previews of Madden NFL 09 and Facebreaker from E3 to see how impressed we were by both EA Sport Titles.

Source: Majornelson.com and Playstation.Blog

Last year at E3, we were able to unearth information about a yet to be released NFL Head Coach game which ended up being confirmed several months later. This year’s conference has its share of surprises as well.

It has been confirmed to me that the chain gang and on field referees will in fact be making a return to Madden banded NFL football in the 2010 installment of the game. That’s all the information I have at this time, but be sure to check back often for updates.

Could this be the year Madden shuts up critics, and takes it to the house?

Those who have been following Ripten since its inception just over a year ago, know that I have not been the biggest EA Sports/Madden supporter. I have compared their in-game animations and player control features to “constipation”, and openly bashed their seemingly lax approach to churning out the Madden franchise year in and year out.

Their in-game commentary made me want to vomit, and their so called attention to detail “in the game” was laughable at times. I even went as far as to compare EA’s NFL license extension to the on-field suicide of the fictional football player in The Last Boy Scout. In other words, I had completely given up on Madden, and the notion of ever being satisfied playing video game NFL branded football ever again.

I went to E3 with no knowledge of the Madden 09 game, and even jokingly worked the line “WIll Madden have field goal nets” into the crystal ball animation on our E3 predictions post shortly before the event kicked off. For those who are unaware, Madden has not had field goal nets, on field refs, or a chain gang since they launched their next gen version several years ago.

As I wrapped up an interview with a Sony Home rep, a writer of mine approached me on the E3 show floor. He uttered one simple comment that changed everything. “Hey Chad, they have field goal nets.” Armed with this knowledge, I felt compelled to walk over to their booth and, at the very least, take a look. Read more…

EA has announced the University of Arkansas star running back, Darren McFadden, as one of four athletes set to appear on the cover of NCAA Football 09 — EA’s latest edition of videogame collegiate brand football. Read more…

The news out of Redwood, CA is in, and it doesn’t look good for fans of NFL branded videogame football. The contract end date that many of us had been counting down to, has been extended through the 2012 season. Read more…

You catch the ball with your hands. These are called hands. You follow?

We posted some news a while back about the possibility that EA was secretly working on another NFL Head Coach game. It generated a buzz, and today we received a message from someone regarding the story.

A gentleman by the name of Mark Smith, of SIMmersion LLC, located in Columbia Maryland, asked for some help getting in touch with EA Tiburon regarding a product his company created that he believed could help make a sequel to the NFL Head Coach game much better than its predecessor.

We were obviously interested in finding out more, so we clicked on the link he supplied in his correspondence. After digging around for a bit and making our way through the site we found a link that said “click here for a demonstration” — so we did. Read more…

Bad boys Randy Moss & Terrell Owens ratings rise. Look who’s laughing now.

Hey Rams fan, are you tired of having Orlando Pace protect your blind side as you sit back in the pocket picking apart opposing defenses? Well then, good news — the third Madden 08 roster update will have you lying on your back toothless and grasping at your rib cage faster than Chicago’s Lance Briggs can flee the scene of an accident. Read more…

At the 20… 10… 5… oh! Down just short of the goal!

We won’t bother hitting you with a creative intro, because there will surely be enough sites out there filling your head with marketing mumbo jumbo. In other words, you won’t confuse our review with something you may find on the back of the Madden game itself, so let’s get on with it. Read more…

Videogame football doesn’t reschedule for no stinkin’ tornado…

It’s been a feature long imagined since consoles first connected to the Internet, but now the latest version of NCAA football from EA Sports will actually change the virtual field conditions according to the real-world weather outside. Read more…

In the process of interviewing a representative from EA Tiburon at this years E3 regarding Madden 08, one of our writers (who is a big Patriot’s fan) jokingly asked if Bill Belichick would again be absent on the sidelines this year.

As the representative began to explain the contractual reasons behind certain coaches being excluded from the game he slipped and mentioned that they are “going through” the same situation with NFL Head Coach. Read more…

In our recent phone conversation with EA Senior Product Manager, Jerrold Smith, regarding the upcoming Madden 08, we asked how a company who built its reputation on being detail oriented, so much so that their slogan “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game” became their claim to fame, now overlooks such things as nets behind goal posts and on field referees. Read more…