EA has dropped details on this year's celebration for the release of Madden NFL 09, annoyingly titled Maddenpalooza. Mentioned during Leigh's interview with Steve Schnur earlier this month, Maddenpalooza is a music festival featuring bands from current and past Madden soundtracks that will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on August 11th. Fans can snag tickets through local radio stations or at the Rose Bowl on event day, which entitle them to a day filled with music, NFL star signings, and various other bits of marketing, all leading up to 9PM when the stadium's pop-up Wal-Mart will sell the first copies of the game.

Artists scheduled to appear include headliners Good Charlotte, Busta Rhymes, Rev Theory, Airbourne, From First to Last and Young Dre The Truth. Sounds like a worthy successor to the traditional Maddenoliday, more than enough to hold us until they add the word Madden to the front of some new festive term.

EA has revealed the soundtrack listing for Madden NFL 09, the most important series in the history of video game soundtracks. Is that right? Did Madden usher in a new age of music in video games? EA's Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing Steve Schnur seems to think so.

“Madden NFL revolutionized the industry by making music of multiple genres – from both established acts and brand-new artists – an essential emotional component of the videogame experience and the NFL season itself... Not only have we changed the gaming culture forever, we continue to move the needle musically for millions of people around the world. Madden NFL will always be recognized as the game that made the music matter in videogames.”

So what's on this most important of soundtracks? Disturbed, Franz Ferdinand, The All-American Rejects, The Offspring, Busta Rhymes with Linkin Park..the usual suspects really. Expect EA to make a huge deal out of them though, with viral videos, a special issue of Billboard magazine, and beginning the week of August 4th they'll be a different Madden artist performing each night on a "popular late night show". Hit the jump for more details, along with the full 26-song track listing.

EA Sports Fantasy Football is getting PlayStation Network and Xbox Live integration as well as the ability to port over fantasy football squads to Madden NFL 09, EA announced today.

The web-based service of Fantasy Football, which will be free, and the paid applications for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for fantasy football are expected to hit later this summer.

“EA SPORTS Fantasy Football this year takes fantasy football leagues to the next level,” said EA SPORTS Fantasy Football Executive Producer Jeremy Strauser. “Through our draft day and live scoring applications we have made fantasy football a truly interactive and innovative experience. In addition, we have created integration between our EA SPORTS Fantasy Football product and Madden NFL 09 which gives the football gamer the complete football gaming experience.”

Gamers will be able to download a Fantasy Football Live Draft Tracker to the 360 or PS3 which will give them the ability to view video clips and hear EA expert commentary. The Live Score Tracker, another download, will track fantasy football scores, delivering them either in full screen mode with rosters and details or a more compact picture-in-picture mode.

Hit up the jump for more screens, the full release and to speculate on what exactly the price tag will be.

EA Sports Fantasy Football [EA Sports]

Holo-Madden Issues An IQ Test

The graphics whore within wishes that Madden NFL 09 looked like this all the time (and that a holographic John Madden could be called upon for advice at any moment, should we need to know the barbeque time on sausages or find out if Ace hardware had something in stock). We think the "Madden IQ Test" revealed last month is a fantastic introduction for people who are terrible at virtual football, as I am, so that they can have a good measure of their skill level before playing. Maybe it's just so easy to place John in an AT-AT or Death Star transmission with that bluish interlaced look he's got. It's slimming!

Madden NFL 09 - IQ Test: Rushing Offense HD [GameTrailers]

Yep, that's a screen shot from Madden NFL 09 one that goes a long way toward explaining what John Riccitiello meant when he touted the game's "holographic interface." It's not, as you might immediately think, a fantastic looking update to Discs Of Tron but one of Madden's new features, known as "Madden IQ." Using a series of (wait for it...) minigames to determine your skill level at passing and running, both offensively and defensively, the game is said to adjust its difficulty based on your Madden IQ.

That feature and the "Backtrack" function—which illustrates how you blew a play with on field graphics and voiceovers—look like they're going to go a long way to help relapsed Madden players and noobs figure out the intricacies of the venerable football series. GameSpot's preview of Madden NFL 09 is far more enlightening, should you be interested in seeing what this year's entry has to offer.

Madden NFL 09 First Hands-On [GameSpot]

Madden 09 Does... Mulligans?!

If you thought holographic interfaces were the most exciting addition to Madden NFL 09, think again. In what's sure to be a controversial feature add, EA Sports will be bringing do-overs to its venerable footballer. Don't like how a play went down? Rewind it! Sun in your eyes? Analog stick too sticky? Rewind it! Branded as the "EA Sports Rewind"—leaving it open as a new feature for all EA Sports games—the mulligan concept is optional and offline only.

We think it's actually a neat little feature, if only for its strategic shutting down of big plays (and big flubs) and allowing for scores to be settled over and over again. Personally, I think EA should add it to the online mode. Oh, wait. There's Madden NFL 2010 to consider. Maybe next year!

Do Over! Madden Mondays Week 6: EA SPORTS REWIND [GameStop Blog]

Brett Favre Is On Your Next Madden Cover

According to GameDaily, for the 20th anniversary of the Madden series, retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 09. As pizza-raised Chicagoan, I can only say that it's a shame Favre will inevitably succumb to the Madden curse and throw out his back while playing shuffleboard, or maybe get a concussion from a low speed collision with one buffet's rogue sneeze guard. The announcement is expected to come tonight when Favre appears on David Letterman.

Scoop: Brett Favre to Cover Madden NFL 09 [Game Daily]

NFL Head Coach 09 NOT Only Available In Madden 09 Collectors Edition

Excellent news, American football strategists and virtual Monday morning coaches! EA has decided not to limit the availability of this year's NFL Head Coach release to a the Madden NFL 09 Collectors Edition. The NFL coaching sim will see a standalone release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall, landing at $49.99 USD.

The bad news? It's shipping about a month after the packed-in version.

In virtual draft news, EA says that NFL Head Coach 09 has picked Jake Long as the number on draft pick courtesy of a simulation that... zzzzzz...

Peter Moore Explains Why Madden 09 Is Skipping The PC

Madden Celebrates 20 Years This August 12 With Special Collector's Edition

John Madden's jowls celebrate twenty years of video game cover art exposure this year with Madden NFL 09. The game will be shipping in North America on August 12 arriving with a nifty 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition when it does. The CE packs in both Madden NFL 09 and NFL Head Coach 09, as well as "exclusive classic Madden NFL gameplay, and an extensive library of exclusive bonus video content," according to EA.

The traditional twentieth anniversary gift is china, so we hope EA follows suit with a special porcelain case or a John Madden commemorative Hummel figurine. The full press release, with Peter Moore and Chris Erb quotes about how exciting this year will be, is after this.

EA Extends NFL License Into Futurama-esque 2013

Electronic Arts today announced that they've extended their exclusive agreement with the NFL and the Players Association for another three years, meaning the publisher has the only agreement in place with the league for creating licensed football games through the 2012/2013 season.

"We've just completed a period of renegotiations with the NFL for a three year extension of our current deal," Peter Moore said in an interview with Kotaku. He added that Electronic Arts plans to expand that license to include games beyond Madden, including, potentially, a fantasy football title.

Moore said had they not locked down the NFL license soon the publisher would have had to start making decisions about "redeploying" the team who would have been starting work on Madden 2010 in eight months or so.

Moore declined to comment directly on rumors that Electronic Arts has been in talks with the NBA to land a similar exclusive deal, but he did say it wasn't the way EA operates.

At CES, Samsung is showing off the "World's First 3D Ready Plasma TV" complete with three-dimensional versions of Madden NFL 08 and Need For Speed ProStreet. After watching another CES attendee take the Samsung—and its required 3D goggles—for a spin, seemingly walking away unimpressed, I decided to take the wheel. After picking my Volkswagen GT and hitting the track, the goggle shutters kicked in, going into full 3D mode.

Unfortunately, the experience of driving in 3D on a plasma television with oversized glasses fails to impress. Samsung claims that with the tech, "you can feel you are in the game" the only feeling I got was one of nausea. The constant flicker and ghosting of your ride doesn't do much for the sensation of depth. It's hard to imagine the product being anything more than a novelty or lending itself to long gaming sessions.. but it's perfect for a five minute distraction at CES!

Madden NFL 08 Now "En Español"

NPD: Madden 08 Dominates U.S. August Software Sales

August software sales figures have just been released by the NPD Group, showing that EA's venerable football franchise shows no signs of slowing down, just like John Madden at a buffet table. The Xbox 360 SKU crushed the competition, beating out the PlayStation 2 version by an additional 250,000 units sold. Some 2 million-plus units of Madden NFL 08 were sold across all platforms.

Sales of the Xbox 360 critical darling BioShock outsold its first person competition Metroid Prime 3: Corruption by more than two-to-one during the month of August. Keep in mind the latter was on the market for one less week than 2K's insta-hit, but it still bodes well for a BioShock sequel.

The top ten selling games in the U.S. for August are listed below. More after the break.

01. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) - 896,600
02. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 643,600
03. BioShock (Xbox 360) - 490,900
04. Madden NFL 08 (PS3) - 336,200
05. Wii Play (Wii) - 256,800
06. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 218,100
07. Mario Strikers Charged (Wii) - 147,400
08. Guitar Hero II (PS2) - 145,400
09. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 138,300
10. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (PS2) - 127,100

EA Makes Good On Mac Gaming

Mac gaming may be the punchline of many PC gamers jokes, but it's kept alive by a handful of Mac OSX publisher holdouts. Only the biggest games make their way to the Apple OS, like World of Warcraft, The Sims, Doom III, Halo and Civilization. But, EA's pledge to bring more of its games to the platform have become reality today with the release of surefire hits Madden NFL 08, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars and Need For Speed Carbon. All four games will be available at retail within the next two weeks.

Apple stock was up 5.01 (4.28%) on news that probably had nothing to do with this at all. Full press release after the jump.

Week in Games: Madden '08 Edition

Lots of new titles this week, but for me nothing really holds much appeal. I might be tempted to check out Heroes of Mana if my wallet wasn't so empty. Guess I'll just have to wait for BioShock next week. Oh well, back to Resistance for more training...

Madden NFL 08 (X360, PSP, PS3, WII, PS2, MAC, GC, PC, XBOX, DS)
Crack open a brewski and invite the boys over for a few rounds.

Heroes of Mana (DS)
More Mana, more better.

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
As if the regular Harvest Moon wasn't fantasy enough

Luminous Arc (DS)
An RPG with witches, mages and fighters. Imagine that.

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (PSP)
Be an uber nerd on your PSP. Unfortunately there are no twenty sided die to make you really feel at home.

Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1 (PS2)
Fatal Fury 1-3 plus Fatal Fury Special all on one disc.

Operation: Vietnam (DS)
It brings the excitement of war torn Vietnam to you DS!

1914 Shells of Fury (PC)
The world's first WWI Submarine sim.

Billy the Wizard: Rocket Broomstick Racing (WII)
They may as well have called him Gary Dotter.