Madden NFL 08: First Video Look

Like Christmas or New Year’s Day, each year we’re presented with a new installment of Madden. Being the only NFL-branded game on the market, it’s undoubtedly going to rock the sales charts later this year. But, it’ll be facing some stiffer competition now that 2K Games is back (the team behind the, in my opinion, superior NFL 2K franchise) with All-Pro Football 2K8. Regardless, Madden is a force to be reckoned with, and just recently we got to see the first footage of the game.

Looks pretty sweet, but hopefully those one-handed receptions won’t be commonplace. It looks like EA is feeling the competition creep up on it and will be looking to really deliver a true next-gen pigskin game later this year.

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EA Canada Media Open House Press Conference

Welcomed to EA Canada, the largest interactive studio in the world. NBA Street doing very well, and we will be focusing in the next wave of games. There are three studios in Canada - EA Canada, EA Black Box, and EA Montreal. EA is focusing on new IP and game concepts. We are shown an image of the campus, which is fairly huge, including a small soccer field. Over 2,000 employees and 400,000 square feet.

EA Canada sold 1 billion worth of software. Each of the three studios has some new, original titles. Black Box has a title called Skate, which will be their Tony Hawk killer. EA Montreal has a game called Boogie hitting the Nintendo Wii. EA Playground (working title) is coming from EA Canada.

We watch a demo reel of new titles. Homecourt, NHL ‘07, NBA Live 07, SSX Blur, UEFA CHampions League, Skate, Army of Two, Need for Speed Carbon are shown. Quite a few of these titles are already available.

Talks about Vancouver Game Summit, bringing awareness to style and talent in the city. President of worldwide studios hits stage. Reiterates that EA Canada is the number one interactive studio in the world, and gives us the low down on why Vancouver is a fantastic place to live and do business. They have announced support for academic institutions by starting new media programs at Great Northern Way, EA pledged a $1,000,000 grant to the Masters of Digital Media. The program starts in September 2007.

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Celebrities to Compete in “Def Jam: Icon” Tournament

Part of the fun in playing EA’s “Def Jam” video game series is whupping the butt of your favorite—or least favorite—hip-hop star. Now comes the chance to do it in real life (sort of) as hip-hop artists will compete in an Xbox 360 tournament for the new game “Def Jam: Icon”, to be held at Gamestop stores in three U.S. cities. Fat Joe took on Atlanta gamers yesterday, and look for Young Jeezy February 23 in Chicago. No word yet on who will show up February 27 in L.A. or March 6 in New York. As in the previous installments, “Def Jam: Icon” includes a hip-hop soundtrack and a playable roster of artists and celebrities, as you work your way up to become a—you guessed it—“icon” in the world of hip-hop. The game will be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in March.

Read More | Gamestop via Kotaku

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EA To Charge For Cheat Codes

Next Generation is reporting that EA has expanded its plan to suck every last dime from gamers. Electronic Arts already made the unusual move to charge for game tutorials for Madden 2007 on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but the latest word is that the company will now charge for cheat codes for Tiger Woods 07. According to Next Generation, the cheat codes will range from $2.50 and $3.75; gamers should still be able to unlock everything in the game by playing through normally. However, if EA continues to monetize every extra in the game then gamers may find that unlocking items may become harder and harder in order to justify the cost of the cheat code.

Read More | Next Generation

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