This coming Tuesday, we would know who would follow the footsteps of Shaun Alexander, Donovan McNabb, Eddie George, and Ray Lewis. The next cover athlete for EA's Madden NFL 08 will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday (or Wednesday depending on where you live). Anyhow, Kimmel is a friend of the Madden game franchise - Shaun Alexander appeared on the show last July and Maddenoliday (last August). The show also featured bands showcased on Madden NFL 07.

Revealing who the cover athlete is on a late night show is a new publicity approach for EA. Usually, QJ and other sites would just get a press release about this kind of news, but now they've upped the ante. Anyhow, there has been speculation as to who the coverboy would be - names of NFL Pros like Peyton Manning, Chad Johnson, Reggie Bush, Tom Brady and Devin Hester have been mentioned. Although Hester had the longest odds because he is a kicks-and- punts kinda player.

Anyhow, let's just wish that the future Madden NFL 08 cover athlete won't succumb to the Madden Curse that has plagued all of the Madden cover athletes.

A lot of Madden fans thought the day would never come when the guys at EA Sports would rate a player's speed at 100, but the impossible is now confirmed: Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears is the first man to receive the pedigree.

"It's an honor -- I don't know what to say, really," says Hester, the man who racked up his six scores on three punt returns, two kick returns and an incredible 108-yard return of a missed field goal attempt all in his rookie season in America's biggest and most popular sports league.

Despite the fact that Hester has achieved the ultimate rocket fuel award in electronic entertainment, he's not completely satisfied with how Madden rates his other stats. In particular, he thought his defense and breaking tackles ratings were a bit underrated.

"I definitely need to break more tackles. On a few of my returns last year I feel like I showed what I can do in that category," says the dissatisfied Chicago return man. What he has to worry more about is getting nerfed in Madden 09 if he becomes a little too unstoppable in this year's release.

Other speed demons have topped previous Madden games with a 99 rating on their pedals, with Hester's mentor Deion Sanders in that elite list, but "the Windy City Flyer"  was deemed a cut above the rest for his insane ability to track down field goal attempts and return them for a score. Incidentally, Hester is also the first NFL player to open the Super Bowl with a touchdown on the first kick.

Here's the "Madden 2007 EA SuperBowl Simulation" video from Electronic Arts. Watch along and keep score. It's less than three minutes long, so the game is over in a hurry. We're pretty sure you won't all agree with the outcome.



Madden 2007 is a top-selling title in the US. It is available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. There are also versions for PSP and DS.

If you've already updated your roster for Madden NFL 2007 (for PS3 and 360 owners), then you can always have your own Superbowl game before the real Superbowl XLI comes around. And if you're lucky enough to have bought a 360 porn copy, then you can have your own halftime show complete with wardrobe malfunction.

Just a quick heads up for those Madden NFL 07 (Xbox 360, Playstation 3) players. Days before the Super Bowl dawns upon us (Go Bears!), a new roster update was released for the both Madden NFL 07 versions. To get the new roster, all you gotta do is start up an online game and the rosters will download to your console. Be sure to back out and save the file once it's complete.

Top Movers

• Frank Gore – 86 to 92 OVR
• Jammal Brown – 86 to 92 OVR
• Marcus McNeil – 78 to 89 OVR
• DeMeco Ryans – 83 to 89 OVR
• Vince Young – 84 to 86 OVR
• Steven Jackson – 92 to 94 OVR
• Brian Westbrook – 91 to 93 OVR
• Lito Sheppard – 88 to 93 OVR
• Asante Samuel – 87 to 94 OVR
• Nnamdi Asomugha – 84 to 91 OVR
• Bart Scott – 88 to 91 OVR
• Devin Hester – 75 to 78 OVR

• Jake Plummer – 87 to 83 OVR
• Trent Green – 90 to 84 OVR
• Terrell Owens – 96 to 94 OVR
• Eli Manning – 87 to 85 OVR
• Randy Moss – 94 to 92 OVR
• Samari Rolle – 90 to 87 OVR
• Santana Moss – 91 to 89 OVR
• Boss Bailey – 87 to 81 OVR
• Fred Smoot – 88 to 83 OVR
• Edgerrin James – 94 to 92 OVR

Buy: [Madden NFL 07  for PS3]
Buy: [Madden NFL 07  for Xbox 360]

This is either an R-rated practical joke on some kid's Christmas present, or EA may be moving into a... er, new line of business. A 14 year-old kid in Layton, Utah, unwrapped his brand-new Madden '07 game, then popped it into his brand-new Xbox 360, but the picture that greeted him on the startup wasn't exactly Shaun Alexander. It was, to use the language of the StandardNET, hard-core, not grid-iron.

"This is definitely not Madden," was the first thought the kid had, and it most certainly was not. Right now, the offending game is the subject of an investigation of the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children's Task Force, along with Layton police and California authorities. The game was purchased by the kid's uncle in a Circuit City in Modesto, California. It looked authentic, down to the disc and the factory-sealed case.

Electronic Arts hasn't returned press calls or calls from the family for comments regarding this incident. When asked, a spokesperson for Circuit City said that company officials were unaware of the problem until they were contacted by the press. To their knowledge the retail chain hasn't fielded any similar complaints but they have noted that they are now investigating the matter. Then again, they weren't accidentally selling refurbished PSPs with "free gifts", either - that's another chain entirely.

They may be a magnet for bad publicity, but it certainly can't be denied that their franchises sell well. Two of Electronic Arts' games have reached rather high sales, making EA games a high seller on two continents.

In the United States, EA Sports' Madden NFL '07 has sold over 5 million copies across the different consoles. As a result of these figures, a press release EA sent out, they proclaimed Madden to be "North America's most popular game of 2006".

Over in the United Kingdom, it's their underground racing game that's taking up the Electronic Arts banner. Gamasutra reports Need for Speed: Carbon as the new leader of the pack by pushing another EA title, FIFA '07, out of the top spot and into second place.

With best-selling games in two countries, as well as additional games in their lineup in the top ten lists, EA should be quite pleased with their results this year. This is one of EA's best years in the business, making them a company to watch out for yet again in 2007.

Finally, EA Sports has released a patch to correct the online lag issues plaguing Madden NFL 07. Players can enjoy the game more now, especially those opponents from different coasts, since the problem supposedly concerns the connections degrading in direct proportion to distance. Plainly speaking, the further a player is from an opponent, the more severe the problem gets.

The patch to correct the problem was released last Monday through an automatic update when the game is started. It also included a solution to another glitch, the players' fluctuating age in Create-A-Player/Train-A-Player.

Madden NFL 07, the 17th installment of the Madden NFL series, was specially released in small-town Madden, Mississippi. Each resident - a total of 74 - received a free Xbox 360 and a copy of Madden NFL 07, also free.

What's hot and what's sizzling hot! That's what these charts from Amazon.com is all about. The list is updated every hour but this is how the charts looked at post time.

PC Games
The still to be released World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade is already smoking at the top of the PC games charts with pre-orders so we guess its one of those guaranteed hits just waiting to happen. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft is entrenched at No.4.

1. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (pre-order)—Vivendi Games
2. Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe (pre-order)—Microsoft
3. The Sims 2: Pets exp. (pre-order)—EA
4. World of Warcraft—Vivendi Games
5. Battlefield 2142 (pre-order)—EA
6. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Dark Crusade exp.—THQ
7. Nancy Drew: The Creature of Kapu Cave (pre-order)—Her Interactive
8. Neverwinter Nights 2 Limited Ed. (pre-order)—Atari
9. The Sims 2—EA
10. Warcraft III Battle Chest—Vivendi Games

The top ten PSP and Xbox 360 games on Amazon.com after the jump.

You've already seen the tutorial videos, and by now you're probably starting to get weary from playing the game since its release. Well now, you can spruce up your playing by getting Madden NFL 07 themes of your favorite football teams, now available for download at the Xbox Live Marketplace. All the themes are worth 150 points each, and aren't available across all regions. So consider yourself lucky if you live in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the U.S. The following themes are now out on XBLM:

San Francisco 49ers Theme; Chicago Bears Theme; Cincinnati Bengals Theme; Buffalo Bills Theme; Cleveland Brown Theme; Tampa Bay Buccaneers Theme; Arizona Cardinals Theme; San Diego Chargers Theme; Kansas City Chiefs Theme; Miami Dolphins Theme; Philadelphia Eagles Theme; Atlanta Falcons Theme; New York Giants Theme; Jacksonville Jaguars Theme; New York Jets Theme; Detroit Lions Theme; Green Bay Packers Theme; New England Patriots Theme; Oakland Raiders Theme; St. Louis Rams Theme; Baltimore Ravens Theme; Washington Redskins Theme; New Orleans Saints Theme; Houston Texans Theme; Tennessee Titans Theme; and Minnesota Vikings Theme

Looks like we will be seeing more downloadables from EA games now that the company has made the move to embrace the Xbox Live Marketplace tighter than before. EA's vice president of online commerce Chip Lange said that downloadable content is "a real creative opportunity that we're now starting to embrace."

EA marks this move with the launch of premium packages for Madden NFL 07 and NCAA 07, and according to the company, there will be tons more in store for 360 users. Their first releases are downloadable stadiums for Madden NFL 07 worth 300 Microsoft points (GBP 2.55) each. Both Madden and NCAA will also have downloadable video strategy guides for advanced techniques, with each guide priced at 160 points (GBP 1.36).

Lange says that while some would find the stadiums quite pricey, these will surely further enhance their football experience. Also, EA is planning to offer downloadable uniforms, modes, and other "out-of-the-box ideas" that the company is looking at. Lange also shares that pay-to-play online tournaments for their games is also a possibility, and that roster updates will still be free.

As for the PS3 and Wii, we can expect that the company will also head in the same direction with post-release downloadable content. Lange says, "If post-release content becomes a key component of those platforms' release strategies, there's no company in the world better to address it than EA." Hopefully, more companies follow EA's example and start showing some love for the XBL. We'll keep you posted for more developments.