Said to be affected are EA's Tiburon and Black Box studios, located in Orlando, Florida and Burnaby, British Columbia, respectively. The Tiburon studio is responsible for EA Sports' Madden, NCAA Football and Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchises, as well as its upcoming mixed martial arts offering, EA Sports MMA. Black Box has been largely responsible for the publisher's Need For Speed and Skate series.

Both developers were previously affected by layoffs over the past year as part of a previously announced restructuring plan.

Also rumored to be affected are EA Redwood Shores' quality assurance team and Mythic Entertainment. Tweets from ex-staffers at those studios indicate "huge chunks" let go at the former, approximately 40% laid off at the latter.

Rumors of Electronic Arts' plans to cull staffers began circulating last week. The cutbacks appear to have been rolled out over the course of the past few days, ahead of EA's quarterly earnings report and alongside confirmation of the publisher's acquisition of Playfish, said to be a $300 million investment in the social gaming developer.

Those cuts extend to "hundreds" of EA employees and unspecified game projects, according to tipsters.

We've contacted Electronic Arts for confirmation on the cutbacks, but have not yet heard back.

Sure it cost them, but building a new franchise isn't cheap and at least some of their investments look like they will be paying off in the long run.

But what about the new titles that haven't yet hit the radar?

We've heard quite a bit about games that were in the works prior to Electronic Arts' dire financial announcements earlier this week. Keep in mind these are all rumored, unverified games, that come to us from trusted sources.

We're told that EA Tiburon, for instance, was working on a mixed martial arts game. While THQ has a licensing agreement with Ultimate Fighting Championship that doesn't expire until 2011, there are plenty of other ways to address the sport. And considering Tiburon's track record with sports games, it isn't hard to imagine that this game, if it survived the personnel and budget cuts, would be top notch.

On a more interesting front, at least to me, are the rumblings of what EA Blackbox was hard at work on leading up to the deep cuts that struck that studio. We're told that the studio behind the Need For Speed franchise and Skate 2 were neck deep in a new IP that was described to us as deeply creative and innovative. (Think Deep Space and Mirror's Edge) The most persistent rumor running the halls of Electronic Arts was that the game was going to be a third-person, run-and-gun action title with a very unexpected character and a very unexpected setting.

With the secret title pulling so much buzz at the publisher, we're hoping that it lands on its feet.

But even leading up to the news of the deeper cuts, not everything was rosey at Electronic Arts. We heard that despite the many denials, Steven Speilberg action title LMNO (pronounced Elemental) is dead in the water, the budget pulled, the assets locked away. Too bad, since we were hearing the game had landed Habib Zargarpour as art director.

It's a difficult time for everyone right now and maybe it makes sense for studios to pull back into their shells to weather the storm. Hopefully, though, we won't see a stop to what was becoming a renaissance of game design over at Electronic Arts.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that EA Tiburon's Craig Hagen confirmed that cuts were made to the 650-plus employee strong studio in Maitland, Florida, but would not provide specifics. Like cost-cutting measures said to be enacted at Sony and Microsoft, EA Tiburon may to freeze hiring and leave open positions unfilled.

EA announced plans to lay off some 1,000 employees and consolidate facilities in December.

Hagen did confirm that the franchises Tiburon is responsible for — Madden NFL, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NCAA Football — would be staying with the studio.

Layoffs hit Electronic Arts Tiburon in Maitland [Orlando Sentinel]

Why does EA pay White to watch every NFL game in existence? To keep Madden NFL up-to-date and accurate and, probably most of all, to keep virtual football obsessive types — like White, who got the job with a little help from his Madden strategy web site — happy with its recreation of the sport. White's weekly three-day watch-a-thon helps him design plays for each year's iteration.

This may not be the gaming gig people hear about often, but having to watch NFL football maniacally is something people do for free. Yes, it's quite a little scam.

Dream job: Orlando-area man gets paid to watch football [Orlando Sentinel]

That’s not to say Madden NFL 09 is a failure or a warmed-over roster update. It is by any objective measure the best version of the game since Madden ‘05, which was the game’s apotheosis on 2nd-generation consoles. Madden 09’s outstanding presentation will please lifelong adherents, and its remarkably accurate replay analysis will educate newcomers and encourage those returning to the series. Foundationally, this version begins the title's next generation. But in gameplay, it takes safe but incremental steps toward the classic, impossible goal of a sports title: Creating realistic competition that is challenging yet winnable. If you are not an experienced player, Madden ‘09 skews toward winnable, but it doesn’t leave you feeling like you played your best.

Loved:
Backtrack: A mistake play brings up an animated breakdown that points out the error you made and exposes the alternatives you had. It’s remarkably accurate for a first effort. A sports simulation really shines when it teaches people something about the game as it is played in real life. Madden ‘09 has always led that effort, and takes another strong step forward with this feature.

Rewind: As a single-player device only, this is a great addition. Rewind allows you a do-over for one particularly egregious play (or more, depending on your settings). Its purpose is to save perfectionists from themselves and keep them playing the game rather than starting over.

Improved ball-running controls: Beginning this year, when a tackle animation starts you can lay on the buttons or the right stick to spin, stiff-arm or sprint loose from the tackle. In time you’ll develop your own go-to set of control choices. Fighting for your yards is a rewarding feeling and deepens the game’s authenticity.

Cris Collinsworth: Widely considered the class of NFL analysts, he is no less than that on Madden 09. His familiar, natural delivery is a part of every play and it matches well with the onfield action. Collinsworth will also startle you with his accuracy in the Backtrack commentary, especially when he says you were staring at a single receiver the entire time. Collinsworth, in substance and style, is more than a good analyst. He’s an upgrade from Madden himself.

Presentation: When the franchise calendar hits November you’ll play with long shadows under foot and leaden skies overhead, and it lends a different quality of light to the turf and the stadium surroundings, especially when the lights are on at twilight. After four quarters of rain, your uniform will be unidentifiably filthy. All it lacked was dirt clods in your face mask. In post-play animations players help each other up, swoop to and run with dislodged balls after the whistle, or shove and jaw at one another. All of these things extend the immersive experience striven for and built on in previous versions of the game.

Hated:
Adaptive difficulty: I don’t literally hate the concept, certainly don’t think it should be stripped from future versions, but I’m not sold yet on the idea that Madden 09’s AI really adapts to your skills. Online single matches tended to come down to the final two series and not a one of them came close to being the kind of well played epic you imagine when the game is decided on the final drive or in overtime. It’s like the football equivalent of a “My kid is a terrific kid” bumper sticker. The diagnostic tests that set your “Madden IQ” at the beginning of the game are way, way too easy. My original tests put me as an all-Madden level runner and I am nowhere near it. You’re inevitably starting the game overrated in one or more categories, and failing at it to bring your AI down to a more reasonable level is both time consuming and not fun. You’re better off sandbagging your diagnostics and letting your Madden IQ rise and fall according to your in-game performance, or just playing on its standard pre-set difficulties. In conversation, online gamers to a man expressed no confidence in or understanding of how Madden IQ either moved or affected gameplay beyond anecdotal assumptions.

Tom Hammond: The new play-by-play man is not at all natural in this environment. The substance of his call is very generic, routinely omits players’ and team names, and his tone is almost always mismatched to the play or the circumstance. Even the between-plays endorsement of EA Sports is off. He needs work, because right now he sounds like C3PO.

Artificial Stupidity: This is nothing new, and is perhaps more of a concern for singleplayer than multiplayer. But the offensive line’s AI is still, year after year, utter crap. Draw plays and screen passes are useless, making obvious passing downs even more obvious. Defenses are helpless against the slant route. But the game really is long overdue for better offensive line play. I would have no problem if the Madden 10 cover boy was Alan Faneca or Matt Light or Jeff Saturday and the game touted revolutionary offensive line AI and pre-snap adjustments, which seem entirely gratuitous as of now. But linemen don’t sell video games.

Madden ‘09 offers to date the most inclusive experience ever for a sport so complex and inscrutable as American football. But it’s based entirely on execution, when so much of the game is about decision-making before the snap. The game has always been given to information overload and a myriad of choices that lack context. Still, longtime gamers have coped with that for years, developing their own systems; neophytes won’t really care and will accept the spoonfeeding; and those coming back to the series after a few years will get a warm welcome from the game’s AI and find strong value for their dollar.

But you get what you give to this game, and if you are expecting Sunday afternoon realism, you still need to give a lot to help create that experience.

Madden ‘09, developed by EA Tiburon, published by EA and released Aug. 12. Retails for $59.99. Versions available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP. Reviewed on Xbox 360. Played singleplayer franchise mode for a complete season into the playoffs and played online multiplayer single-game mode.

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"They hate us because we have fun and they don't and their bosses would never put up with the kind of crap we do," Taylor said. "They are all grownups. They are weak. We are cool. They're not."

No time off from EA's cool capers [The Orlando Sentinel via Next Generation]