Love him or hate him, it can't be denied that Kobe Bryant is one of the best players ever to pick up a basketball. As KB24 eyes his fourth championship ring and taking Game 1 of this year's Finals with a convincing 40-point performance and a game-high 8 assists, the superstar will be on the cover of 2K Sports' NBA 2K10.

Madden NFL Football (Nintendo DS, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360) is perfect for those who are sports fanatics of the game and it is a pride of Electronic Arts (EA) because of its number of sales. See why the long-running franchise is the success that it is today after the jump.

Peter Moore definitely has some ambitious plans in store for EA Sports. With all the new changes he's implemented ever since he took over EA's sports division last July, he mentions that he plans to make EA Sports a visible brand in the sports industry itself someday. You can find out how he plans to go about doing this by reading the details in the full article.

Today the Xbox, tomorrow the world... well, the rest of the Microsoft products. In a recent interview with J Allard, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft - you may remember him from making a bet concerning dreadlocks - he explains that eventually Microsoft's online services will merge - like Zune and Xbox Live - and become one big network packaged in different forms of services (which is already true for most of their services anyway). Read more about it in the full article.

Online website Variety reports that a deal has been reached between Microsoft and ESPN, allowing the media company to show off various sports and television programs on the Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live system.

According to the news, ESPN will be offering various sports events and shows for download on the Xbox Live service. These include college football and basketball games, the X Games, and episodes of "World Series of Poker" and "Madden Nation".

More on this new collaboration after the jump!

While there's no doubt superstars of the NBA get a lot of exposure on and off the court, nobody can deny the intensity a good game of college basketball stirs up when you've got two of your favorite teams playing against each other. Electronic Arts is eager to please college basketball fans by bringing to us the latest in the series of March Madness basketball fever with NCAA 08 March Madness.

This year the developers have added a lot of features that's sure to please sports fans and gamers alike. The Dynamic Post Play feature gives players an in-depth and strategic view of what it's like setting up a play and dominating the boards. You can literally take charge of both your offensive and defensive strategy and choose how you want take down the opposition by posting up your people with this brand new feature.

Of course you can't ignore the other regular features in a college basketball video game. The crowd's Intensity Control Meter can swing the tide of the game by cheering their team on to victory or even lowering the opposing team's morale.

You can also check out other features like the Floor General Playcalling system, which allows you to customize your team's playbooks. Dynasty Mode is more involving than ever as you build your school's reputation as they enter the Pre and Post season NIT, the McDonald's High School All American game, and even an option to go online and play customized leagues and ESPN on Demand.

This year's cover will be graced by none other than former University of Texas small forward Kevin Durant. You can expect to see ESPN's trademark college basketball broadcasters Dick Vitale and Brad Nesslers giving a play-by-play commentary on each and every game you play. Fans will also be able to see Erin Andrews make her video game debut as the sideline commentator as she provides real-time injury updates and other insights and observations during the course of each game.

NCAA 08 March Madness is expected to come out this December 18 for the Xbox 360, PS2, and PS3.

You can't spell Disney without family entertainment. In an interview conducted by GamesIndustry.biz, Thierry Braille, Disney's vice president, talks about how Disney wants to concentrate on total family entertainment through video games.

Although Disney does not want to abandon their other, more mature markets, with Turok (PS3, Xbox 360) published under the Touchstone label and their other sports games under ESPN, Braille stresses that uniting families in a single activity can turn video games into a force for good. This would definitely put video games into a better light considering the flak they've been taking lately.

Braille had this to say regarding the matter:

We have titles that are for a younger audience, but there are more titles, such as High School Musical that could gather the family, after the Sunday lunch maybe, and we can imagine them singing together. This is Disney – this inclusive way to bring the family together and have fun.

He also commended the efforts Nintendo platforms have been making in forcing publishers into creating games "of the highest quality" for the gaming industry. Leave it to Disney to always put things into a more wholesome and morally upright point of view.

Tomorrow may be a big moment on the history of gaming as broadcast giant CBS formally becomes the first network of its class to show a video game tournament as a regular sporting event like other athletic spectacles such as the Masters and March Madness.

"There are an enormous amount of people of all ages who play video games these days, so we’re going to try to see if video games’ popularity can translate into a viable television audience," says CBS Sports Vice-President Rob Correa as he explores the possibility of people looking at this moment as a poignant event after a decade or so.

The tournament concerned is the World Series of Video Games which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky. Edited footage from the event will show highlights of face-offs between players in games such as Fight Night Round 3, Guitar Hero and other non-violent titles. First-person shootouts in Halo and Quake will sadly not make it on air because of the nature of the content.

The idea of the tournament and the coverage by CBS is pegged on the South Korean model which has an entire nation embracing gaming and making it a part of pop culture. A full-time coverage in the manner that ESPN covers sports isn't possible for video games just yet but for now, this is the biggest step game broadcasting can take in the US.

The CBS coverage is also a pilot test of sorts on how game programming in cable TV initiated by G4 and Gameplay HD can work in a bigger scale. The response of viewers will determine future plans on the coverage of electronic gaming as a sport on the network.

The good guys over at Microsoft just updated the backward compatibility list of Xbox games that players can run on their Xbox 360 consoles. If we are not mistaken, this new list brings the full library of backward games to around 300. However, some of the new titles are only available for some regions while some will not come with Live access.

Anyway, a little reminder to you guys especially for those who are still new to this, the original Xbox games will look better on your 360 units running in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing. Regarding Xbox Live, take note that cross-platform play is possible between Xbox 360 and the original Xbox.

We know you are all excited to know the new games that have been made compatible with the 360. So we'll stop talking now and give you the list:

• America's Army
• Auto Modellista
• Bass Pro Shops Trophy Hunter 2007
• Blinx 2
• Bloodrayne 2
• Burnout New
• Crash Bandicoot 4
• Crash Bandicoot 5: Wrath of Cortex (Updated)
• Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
• Drive to Survive
• Drive to Survive (EM)

More titles after the jump!

 

Although it's not confirmed by Take-Two Interactive if the restructuring operations being conducted ushered the timely departure of Erik Whiteford, VP of marketing at 2K Sports, it has been learned that the 14-year industry veteran will be leaving the company to join consultancy firm Odyssey Partners.

For two years, Whiteford has contributed to building the 2K Sports brand since joining the division back in May 2005. He oversaw the transition of 2K Games from its former label, ESPN Videogames, and was deemed responsible for the success of the NHL 2K, NBA 2K, MLB 2K and College Hoops 2K franchises, even while matched up against major competition.

Immensely ironic as it is, Whiteford worked at Electronic Arts for 12 years prior to joining Take-Two's sports games division. His position as Senior Director of the EA Sports brand kept the label at a unstoppable lead during the EA Sports legacy. He helped spark the launch of the EA Sports Nation online community while overseeing management, research and online marketing.