David Ortiz, the lead producer of Electronic Arts' popular Madden 08 for the Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PC and PS3 has left EA Tiburon. EA Tiburon producer Phil Frazier will head development on future Madden iterations. This may come as a surprise to most people considering the success of the recent game. To find out more on why Ortiz left EA, head on over to the full article.

Electronic Arts has recently released a new patch for their Madden NFL 08 title. The patch is currently available for the game's Xbox 360 port, while details indicate that a PlayStation 3 release is to follow soon. Head on over to the full article to see what this new patch will be fixing.

Following the NPD Group's report for September, Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel believes that it may be the beginning of the end for Sony's PlayStation 2. According to the report, software sales for the console fell at a faster rate than was first seen last month.

Patel describes the PS2's decline as inevitable but it's unclear whether the decline (which came sooner than expected) was due to "consumer transition to next-gen software or weak spending patterns amongst the low-end consumer." This may be a wrench in the gears for Sony which plans to commit to the console's 10-year lifespan.

"Needless to say, with tougher comps ahead for PS2 software sales, we think that the PS2 may finally be on its way out of the industry for good" says Patel. Although software sales may be down it remains that the PS2 console continues to sell, and continues to be one of the most played consoles despite the presence of the next-gens.

The decline in software sales may be explained partially by the lack of backwards compatibility for the new PlayStation 3 consoles, which was once explained to also boost PS3 games by limiting the console to only play that format. Perhaps the backlash of the absence of backwards compatibility is that sales for PS2 games suffered.

Patel also observes the underperformance of two of Electronic Arts' franchises: NCAA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2) and Madden 08 (PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo Wii, and DS). He believes that - in the light of a very "competitive environment" with competition such as Activision, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo during the holidays - EA may introduce a price cut in November if the games continue to underperform.

If you believe that you're the best Madden NFL player in your block, why not get out of your living room to prove it? EA, in partnership with Best Buy, will hold another Madden NFL Challenge once again, this time featuring the recent Madden NFL 08 title.

EA will roam 17 cities in search of the best Madden 08 games, and Best Buy will provide the venue, complete with the high-tech HD experience that's quite fitting for an intense Madden showdown.

There will be two divisions: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2. Both the Xbox 360 and PS2 divisions will have about 256 competitors per regional stop, and winners for each region will win US$ 1,000.

Finalists will go head to head in the 2007 EA Madden Challenge Finals Tournament, where the winners will receive prizes worth US$ 100,000.

This year's season already started on September 15, so better go to your nearest Best Buy outlets to check out when the tournament will take place. You also need to plan your strategy ahead, of course. With unholy 100 ratings granted to some players, the tournament may turn out to be an uphill climb.

Looks like Michael Pachter was right as August's results for console sales report that the Xbox 360 has surged, selling almost 100,000 more units than it did last July, over than what Pachter predicted. The NPD group also reports that the Wii still dominates the charts, and the Nintendo DS is still the more popular handheld.

All in all, the industry is bulking up. Last July console and software sales reached US$ 925.5 million, and this month it rose to US$ 933 million. A bit more and it truly will be a billion dollar industry. It's up 43% from August last year, when the industry was already strong at US$ 669 billion.

PS3 and PSP sales declined this month. PS3 sales slipped about 29,000 units in sales from last month. The PSP slipped more than 50,000 units in sales, but this is most likely in anticipation for the PSP Slim. The Wii and DS also declined a bit this month even though they're still on top.

NPD Analyst Anita Frazier describes Sony's current situation as "concerning, and the window for [Sony] turning the story around is certainly getting narrower." Here's a complete list of hardware sales this month:

• Nintendo Wii - 403,600 (4.0 million)
• Nintendo DS - 383,300 (12.7 million)
• Xbox 360 - 276,700 (6.3 million)
• PlayStation 2 - 202,000 (39.1 million)
• PlayStation Portable - 151,200 (8.3 million)
• PlayStation 3 - 130,600 (1.75 million)

Software sales are up 21% from last year, raising the bar to US$ 2.8 billion. Madden 08 ruled last August as the most popular game on both the Xbox 360 and the PS2, while the PS3 version is on fourth place. Bioshock sits comfortably on third place while Wii Play is on fifth. No DS games on Top 10 for August though.

With the new season of sport sims from EA Sports just around the corner, Madden NFL 08 (available on the PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo Wii and DS), one of the leaders of the pack, has already gotten an update with its current roster available for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Despite the game's shortcomings, at least the boys at EA are trying to make the game as enjoyable as possible.

It's nice to know that with the new generation of consoles, you can readily update the ever changing rosters of your favorite sports sim. Just log onto either Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network for your respective console and just wait while the game updates itself with the new roster settings. It definitely beats updating it manually and everything stays as realistic as possible.

In addition to the updated team rosters, tweaks to some of the players overall rankings have also been implemented. If you can't hop online just yet, you can take a look at the links provided through our read link, as they contain the complete list of changes for the roster and players' stats.

Hot off the heels of the Microsoft Xbox 360 price cut, EA Sports launched its much-anticipated Madden NFL 08 (available on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC). The Madden franchise has been the biggest-selling sports series in North America for more than a decade now, grounding its popularity on exclusive licensing, deep features, good graphics and hard-hitting gameplay. However, something funny was noticed in its latest iteration. Have a look at this video taken from the Xbox 360 version:

Yeah, that's a bit of Michael Jackson in Neverland right there on the gridiron. Make no mistake, this little glitch doesn't take away any of the game's athletic glory, but it sure does indicate that a little more game testing would've prevented this.

Still, Madden NFL 08 is still arguably the best football sim on the Xbox 360 today. It proudly continues that tradition of excellence that the Tiburon team is known for into this new generation of gaming. Let's just hope they put the same excellence to good use in correcting stuff like this.

There's been quite a buzz about Electronic Arts' Madden NFL '08, as the PS3 version runs at 30 FPS while the Xbox 360 enjoys smoother and faster 60 FPS. Heated discussions on the net have surfaced, leaving analysts to wonder if this commotion will actually make an impact. UBS analyst Ben Schachter believes it's going to be bad for Sony, but Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter begs to differ.

Investors and other people rolling in the dough to make big games possible aren't usually fazed with issues that gamers would cry on about, but Schachter is worried that "given Madden's popularity and the volume of this debate, we think this is a more meaningful negative for Sony than investors might realize."

Not only will a good number of gamers be wary about the PS3 being actually more powerful than the 360, but EA's decision to drop Madden's PS3 framerate (because of inexperience with the console, they said) may actually hurt Sony 'til the year ends. "It gives gamers just one more reason not to buy a PS3 this year following the slip of GTA IV. It is a positive for [Microsoft]," Schachter added.

However, Michael Pachter thinks "Analysts are too quick to criticize." He points at EA's lack of experience as the only reason why Madden is slower on Sony's machine, and expects EA to figure things out by next year.

"There are obviously PS3 games that look fantastic. It's not an issue with the PS3," Pachter commented after mentioning Resistance: Fall of Man, Motorstorm, and Call of Duty 4. He went on, saying "anyone who has [a PS3] knows it's awesome... I love my PS3 (and love my 360), and can't wait to watch '300' in 1080p."

Buy: [Madden NFL 08 (PS3)]
Buy: [Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360)]

A lot of us are Electronic Arts fans who religiously follow every installment in their annual sports franchises. Even that much loyalty though, is not enough to appease an angry gamer after spending US$ 60 to get a copy of Madden NFL '08 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC) only to find out how glitchy it is.

Someone going by the name of PSYK0MANT1S on YouTube was very excited to get home from work to play his new copy of Madden. To his disappointment, two games were enough for the glaring glitches to appear. A lengthy post on his bitter feelings accompanied a video he uploaded . Taken from his rant:

...EA needs to STOP releasing beta builds of their games. EA needs to STOP releasing a game that needs a patch the next day. EA needs to STOP letting us the consumer/gamer pay for a buggy product. EA needs to get their act together and get some REAL Quality Assurance going on.

Here are the glitches he was able to record using the game's replay feature. Oh, and before you click on that play button, be warned that the guy is enraged. So expect to hear a lot of... er... unpleasant-sounding rants.

It's that time of the year again, the time to hog your system and play Madden NFL '08 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC). Before anyone gets nitpicky, we'll say it: this installment isn't the same as last year's. Aside from updated rosters and beefed up graphics, gameplay changed significantly for the better. The folks over at Gametrailers got themselves past the lines into EA Sports' office to squeeze out more info about the latest Madden.

Among many other features, the devs were pretty proud of improved twitch controls. With more intuitive and responsive sticks, players now have a better hold of everyone on the field. Games are now tighter than ever, thanks to the controls being tweaked near perfection.

NFL stars with special abilities called Weapons are now at the player's disposal. Animations also received major enhancements, making Madden a much more realistic and dynamic experience. For more on what to expect from the game, find Gametrailers' exclusive by clicking on the Read link below.