Gamertell

The NPD report has been released for September 2008 and Star Wars fans sure made a Force-ful impact.

Along with the positive news that total game sales were $1.27 billion, Star Wars fans had the pleasure of seeing their games place high on the charts. The console iteration of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed placed in 3 of the top 10 spots in this month, totaling 1.16 million in individual sales. The Xbox 360 version of the game accounted for 52 percent of those sales, with the Playstation 3 version taking 28 percent. Other notable games that appeared on the software side of the NPD charts included Wii Fit, Nintendo’s “exercise simulator,“  the latest iteration of Mario Kart, the ever-present Wii Play and…

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If you’re one of the people who picked up Madden ‘09 recently you may have felt a little bummed out over the cover picture. As many sports fans may already know, Brett Favre has signed on with the New York Jets which posed an obvious problem for Madden’s cover art where Favre is shown in full Green Bay attire. All is not lost, though, as EA has stepped in with a solution just for this occasion.

All you have to do is go to the EA website and download a high resolution photo of Favre wearing his Jets uniform. The photos are available for…

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So there’s nothing new to play on this week’s update.  Instead, we get another issue of Qore and a ton of videos.  Some bonuses lurk within, however.  Annual subscribers to Qore will get a spot on the Resistance 2 beta, exposing players to yet another great helping of World War II and space aliens which are both so sorely underused in this industry.  Also, downloading the Home wallpaper will automatically sign you up for a possible crack at the Home beta.

And with that, click through for yet another long list…

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EA is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the Madden NFL franchise as Madden NFL 09 prepares to ship out on August 12, 2008, for PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS, Xbox and Xbox 360. This is a milestone that EA feels needs to be celebrated in Madden’s gameplay. What better way to rub your touchdown pass into the face of your opponent that with a victory dance? EA has that one covered.

Instead of watching pre-rendered end zone taunts, players can now participate in a customized victory dance mini-game. After scoring, a marker will be…

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My wife was getting an oil change the other day and my baby gamer wandered into the dealership’s Videogame Room. Kudos to them for providing such a room. Sadly, it only has a slimline PS2 and four games (I think I saw Madden NFL 2002 in there).

But, there was a countertop pamphlet display with good ‘ol Mario on it. The pamphlets are for Visteon’s “Dockable Entertainment featuring Game Boy Advance.“ It’s essentially a portable DVD player intended for your car with a GBA built right in…

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In the June 2008 issue of Maxim magazine (pp. 67-69), writer Will Leitch lists “The 10 Worst Broadcasters in Sports.“  The list is topped by Chris Berman at number 1 with Chip Caray at no. 2 followed by Dick Vitale, Bryant Gumbel, Bill Walton, Billy Packer, Mike Patrick and Walt Frazier, respectively. At the bottom, which is where it begins conveniently placing his familiar mug next to the headline, is John madden at number 10. According to Maxim’s “Penalty Box” icons, he’s guilty of being an incoherent blowhard with a grating voice.

The article goes on to call the namesake of one of the best-selling videogame franchises “a parody of himself” and…

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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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The PS3 version of Madden NFL 08 has instigated a fierce defense of the machine from both EA and Sony.

The PS3 is taking fire because, as some claim, Madden looks much better on rival Xbox 360 and has superior AI and overall smoothness. The PS3 version has been reported to run at a yawning 30 fames per second, while the 360 version breezes at 60 fps.

Meanwhile, EA has attributed the inferiority of games on PS3 compared to the 360 versions to the lack of knowledge about the PS3 among game developers since most developers have spent 3 1/2 years developing games for the Xbox360 which has provided them more…

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