Gamertell

Already the top selling sports game annually with over 70 million copies sold since 2002, and with an exclusive licensing deal with the NFL through 2012, Electronic Arts’ Madden Football franchise seems ready for along life. But will it continue do so with it’s legendary pitchman and namesake, John Madden?

Madden’s role has diminished within the game in recent years with new features and load screens focusing more on individual players than on Madden and his expertise. For Madden 09, for example, John Madden‘s role is reduced even more with color commentary going to Chris Collinsworth across all consoles…

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Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, has announced that Madden 09 will not be released on PCs, only on standard gaming platforms. So you will only be able to pick up the latest football game for your DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360. Moore stated that part of EA Sports’ reasoning behind the decision is based on the fact that games released by that division of EA are more often purchased for actual video game systems, rather than for PCs.

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EA’s popular Madden NFL franchise will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with Madden NFL 09 and EA has announced a special collector’s edition to mark the occasion. The Madden NFL 09 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition  will include two games, Madden NFL 09 and NFL Head Coach 09, as well as bonus video content. Gamers will have to wait till August 12, 2008, to get their hands on the game.

“Featuring two deep and innovative new standalone games, as well as…

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It looks like Madden will continue to be the only NFL-sanctioned football game in town for quite a while longer. 1up reports that EA has extended its exclusive rights to use National Football League licensed properties (such as teams, players and stadiums) until 2012. The deal will also give EA better access to NFL Films and the NFL Network, which will both apparently play into next August’s special 20th anniversary Madden iteration. The previous exclusivity deal was set to last through 2009.

This is a tremendously smart move for EA (after all, Madden is one of the best selling series in modern gaming), and bad news for staunch fans of the NFL 2k series (which saw its heyday on the dearly departed Dreamcast). It reeks a bit of monopoly, but the Madden series has consistently scored with gamers and critics almost since its inception.

Read [1up]

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Later this week Gamertell is going to have an exclusive interview with musical group Datarock. Sure, we’ll post what they say but we’ll offer you one better. We’re going to let you ask them questions, too. Click through and post your questions for Datarock (as a comment) by January 31, 2008, and we’ll send the best of the bunch to the band to answer.

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Demos for All Pro Football 2k8 and NASCAR 08 have been released on the Xbox Live Marketplace. In All-Pro Football 2k8, Take Two returns to the football scene sans NFL license but with a lot of classic football players in tow. The demo weighs in at 681 MB. The demo for EA's 2008 NASCAR title features the Daytona International Speedway. The teaser text notes this is the first NASCAR game to appear on the 360. The circular driving experience weighs in at 589 MB. The last demo to appear on the marketplace was for Starbreeze Studios' The Darkness. Read [Major Nelson] Site [All-Pro Football 2k8] Contributed by Cory Birdsong. Related

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Do you recall that football series that isn’t made by EA?  Yes, that would be 2K Sports’ All-Pro Football 2K8 for the PS3 and XBox 360.  In December 2004, EA bought an exclusive license to the NFL and the NFLPA, monopolizing the market in a big, nasty way.  Because of that, 2K Sports (and the development studios that formed it, Virtual Concepts and Kush Games) hasn’t made a football game in nearly three years.  But now, it’s coming back and it wants to remind us all that EA isn’t the only football maker in town.

All-Pro Football 2K8 does not have the NFL license, so 2K Sports has gathered football legends…

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EA Sports today (July 10, 2007) announced a new licensed football game, NFL Tour, will be available for Xbox 360 and PS3 in January 2007.

The arcade-style football game takes players on a fictional NFL road show with real NFL players for teammates. Your team crosses the country to play NFL teams in newly designed stadiums, with the winner one step closer to a NFL contract. Maker EA Tiburon - which also created the Madden and NCAA football games - promises the game will have “intuitive controls, fast-paced gameplay and visually stunning graphics.“

For all those wondering where the non-EA NFL games have gone, EA signed an exclusive, five-year agreement with the National Football League and the NFL Players Inc. in 2004, granting the company sole rights to the NFL’s teams, stadiums and players.

Product Page [NFL Tour] Read [DailyGame]

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Gametrailers has a video up of a teaser trailer for an upcoming Tecmo Bowl game.  In and of itself, this is nothing to be excited about, as it looks very amateurish and features only existing footage from the SNES version from 1993. Laughter can even be heard in the background, as if it was presented as a joke.

A quick search through various gaming sites resulted in a quick blurb on IGN stating that a new Tecmo Bowl game was announced at Tecmo’s Nite Out 07 and will be released for an unspecified console.  Additionally, there is info on the next installments of Ninja Gaiden and Rygar as well.

Video [Gametrailers] Read [IGN]

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