Destructoid, citing unnamed sources, says the game is "NFL Trainer" and will put players through football-inspired workouts and drills. There's talk it will come with a football attachment that will assist players in learning how to throw perfect spirals.

If true, this is hardly exciting news for the core sports gamer. But it would be shrewd of EA Sports to differentiate its exergaming efforts with a pro league's license, and try to extend the offering beyond the typical soccer-mom demographic.

I've reached out to my contacts with EA Sports to see if they want to knock this rumor down. We likely know the drill here: A) it's a holiday week, and B) few companies ever comment on rumor or speculation.

Rumor: EA Sports Working on a Football Training Game [Destructoid]

Actually, it's likely an Xbox 360 Controller for Windows - I doubt they're using a console to display the video. It's probably something their production team put together on a PC and gave Pereira the controller for ease of use.

But it is intriguing, I suppose. It also reminds me of how I completely screw up my replays in Madden and NCAA 10 because I'm moving the two sticks like an FPS camera.

Well, alright, maybe it's a heartwarming story anyway. The jamfest was put together by Pro vs. G.I. Joe, which arranges morale-booster multiplayer competitions between sports stars and service members overseas. Via Xbox Live and a satellite connection, Roethlisberger (git-tar, second from right), and his offensive line - Ramon Foster (guitar, left), Willie Colon (vocals) and Trai Essex (drums, looking like he's playing on easy) took their Guitar Hero 5 skills up against the Army's 336th Military Police Company.

Afterwards, Big Ben orated:

To be able to interact with these guys and enjoy it – and I could see the joy on their face – and get to beat them a little bit in some Rock Band. It's a lot of fun.

Facepalm.

Madden NFL 10 cover boy Troy Polamalu didn't play, but he did show up in grass-covered sniper camouflage (yes, really.) I bet Hines Ward's eyes got real big when he saw that, thinking that getup would be perfect for his next out-of-nowhere blindside hit on Keith Rivers.

NFL Super Bowl Champion Steelers Connect with Soldiers in Iraq for Guitar Hero Competition [Ripten]

No word on when this patch goes live, but when it arrives, the development team has promised defensive tweaks that improve the chances you record a sack (rather than the CPU quarterback throwing the ball away), improving defenders' pursuit angles, and improving the coverage of the flats. Better simmed stats in franchise mode also are coming, as well as other unspecificed uniform and presentation changes. The official blog post on the patch reminds that the list of fixes and updates is not final.

Madden NFL 10 - 2nd title Update Preliminary Details [Inside EA Sports Blog via Pasta Padre]

Two weeks ago The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported that Thompson's lawyers had canceled a procedural conference because the case is in the process of being dismissed. Thompson, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's "Hall of Fans," who wears a bug-eyed dog mask, hard hat and waves a bone, had sued EA for a similar character appearing in Madden NFL 2005.

The Plain Dealer's Oct. 5 report said the suit was expected to be resolved in three weeks. His suit sought at least $25,000 and a promise from EA to no longer use his image.

Browns Superfan John 'Big Dawg' Thompson's Case Against Game Maker Likely to be Resolved [Cleveland.com via Gamasutra]

The Xbox Avatar Store now contains football jersey's for each of the thirty-two current NFL teams, each coming in both male and female versions, courtesy of Madden NFL 10. From the amazing Philadelphia Eagles to the even more amazing Pittsburgh Steelers, your avatar can show his or her pride for football teams from Pennsylvania for the low price of 320 Microsoft points, or $4.00 real-world money. I suppose you could buy jerseys representing other teams as well, but that simply doesn't make any sense at all to me. It's crazy talk.

Buy Your NFL Avatar Jersey Here [Xbox Live Marketplace via Major Nelson]

Loved
Come-Back Story: Unlike NFL 2010, which kicked you back to the beginning of the current quarter, in iPhone Madden you may leave a game at any point - whether or not you select pause from its menu - and come back to it exactly at that point. This alone makes it the football sim to buy for your Apple mobile.

A Monster in Your Pants: For such a pocket-sized download (102.3 megabytes) this still delivers the core gameplay and presentation one uses and expects through 90 percent of a console Madden experience. Most notably, you get roster management - including trades - within your full season simulation. The real-life stadia are used; booth commentators Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth and (a bit obtrusively, however) John Madden himself supply analysis. The stadia you play in are the ones you see on Sunday, not generic clones. And most of all, the framerate and camera remained reasonably smooth and definitely well positioned. The game definitely exceeded what I expected to find in a Madden port to this platform.

Hated
The Clock Stops You: Madden, like NFL 2010, employs a bullet-time mechanic to let you pull off running back jukes, punishing hits, and timely pass breakups. The good news is in Madden, you have a manual trigger, and don't have to rely upon the game to slow down time for you, which sometimes never came. The bad news is it's one more part of the screen to touch, and fat-fingered button-spamming spazzes (*raises fat-fingered hand*) will face an inscrutable learning curve as to when to key this feature, and even hitting it correctly. I want to be clear, my quibble is only with the trigger; bullet-time itself is the best solution to performing finesse moves on this platform, and once I figured it out, I was springing runs of 12 and 20 yards, and more. It's the only shortcoming of what is, overall, a very solid control scheme given the platform. I loved drawing the custom receiver hot routes with a flick of my finger, and being able to touch any player on the screen and take over his control, rather than cycle through them with a pre-snap icon.

Now I can see why Gameloft hustled NFL 2010 out the door for the iPhone. They won the race to be first, but not to be best, and its offering shows glaring weaknesses against what Madden 10 on the iPhone brings to the table, even at double the price. You're still playing a complex game with a virtual stick and buttons - but once you grow accustomed to that, it easily becomes a football experience that fulfills both the Madden brand and the promise of mobile gaming.

Madden NFL 10 was developed and published by Electronic Arts for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Released to the iTunes App Store on Sept. 3. Retails for $9.99 USD. Reviewed on an iPhone 3G. Played through play-now and season modes.

On Wednesday, a federal district court in Los Angeles dismissed Brown's claim against Electronic Arts for the use of his image in its Madden NFL series. Judge Florence Marie-Cooper essentially found that video games are "expressive works, akin to an expressive painting that depicts celebrity athletes of past and present in a realistic sporting environment." Such works are protected by the First Amendment.

This would cover the use of Jim Brown's likeness - that of a living person, remember - in a commercial work. Lawyers for Sam Keller, the NCAA footballer who sued over the use of his likeness in EA Sports' NCAA football franchise, say that this ruling has no bearing on their suit. Indeed, it's at the federal district level and may be appealed. But a judge interpreting the First Amendment to protect video games in this way is certainly noteworthy.

Brown wants to file a friend-of-the-court brief in Keller's case, which is before federal court in California's Northern District, up in Oakland. Brown's attorney is also the same one who represented retired player Herb Adderley - the lead plaintiff in a successful $26 million class action lawsuit against the NFL Players Association over its licensing of retired players' likenesses to EA Sports for the Madden series.

Ronald Katz, the lawyer representing Adderley and Brown, wrote in a filing Monday that allowing EA Sports to profit from the use of athletes' likenesses without their permission means "EA could use for free the identity of thousands of present and former collegiate and professional athletes, eliminating any legal reasons for EA to continue any licensing, and giving it a windfall worth hundreds of millions of dollars."

A judge in California's Northern District will hear arguments on the Keller case on Nov. 17.

Again, this is a district-level ruling that has not been appealed. Bigger picture, the "expressive works" finding, if upheld, could have significantly larger implications for video games, well beyond sports titles.

Retired NFL Players Seek to Join EA Lawsuit [Associated Press via Game Politics]

It really is that simple. Well, it assumes you have both the PS3 version and a PSN account, but yeah, you probably do. So quit watching Jimmy, Terry and Howie laughing gratuitously at Frank Caliendo and go pick up some free football. And Xbox 360 owners, tough luck, but you can watch this sweet video below. It's free too.

AFL - Reebok [Reebok.com via Joystiq]

A Costa Rica casino is now taking proposition bets on when the Madden Curse strikes Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, Troy Polamalu's cover co-star. Polamalu was sidelined for three to six weeks after spraining ligaments in his knee in week one. This, of course, was attributed to the Madden cover jinx, which has dinged pretty much everyone except Marshall Faulk (2003) since they started putting athletes on the cover.

Playblackjack.com is giving 9:1 odds (bet $100, win $900) on each of Fitzgerald's remaining 15 games. Basically, the terms are that Fitzgerald gets injured for at least one game - not the kind of season-ending, career death spiral the Curse is cracked up to be. He needs to be listed on the Cardinals' official injury report for that game to win the bet, says the casino.

Larry Fitzgerald must be listed on the Arizona Cardinals official injury report for a bet to be graded as a winner. If he's injured during practice or outside practice, the upcoming game is the wining game. If he stays healthy throughout the year, all bets are off and all money is returned.

You can see where this is headed. First, a player can be listed on an official injury report and still play the entire game. See Patriots, New England, whose coach has listed Tom Brady as "probable" since scouts watched Brady play for Michigan. Second, it suggests that Fitzgerald could get both legs broken in the first quarter of, say, week four, but the winning game is actually week five. Third, it leaves open the possibility that Fitzgerald gets a hangnail in weeks two through 17 and every game is a winner.

Betting on a specific player's injury? What a fantastic idea! If only there were some way to affect the outcome. Like, if only the people who organized such an honest gambling business also had professional relationships with people whose job it was to injure others ...

Will the Madden Curse strike again? Bet on it! [PlayBlackjack.com via Go Nintendo]

Hell, yes it is. I've seen unranked and untelevised N.C. State and North Carolina squads get into a helmet-swinging brawl in 1993. Clemson and South Carolina's fourth quarter throwdown 11 years later - including cops on the field - left both schools sitting at home instead of going to bowl games. And we'll all be dead a long time before there is ever again anything like the unforgettably amazing Miami-Florida International gong show of 2006, which showcased state troopers, 13 ejections, a kickoff from the 10-yard line, and running back A'Mod Ned on crutches, striding forth into the maw of disaster.

Really, though, the answer here is so obvious as to be not worth asking: There's no way in hell the NCAA would license a product that featured fighting, no matter how awesome. And you can forget about it in Madden, too. Football is the most institutionally conservative and image-conscious of the major team sports, and clearly prefers to keep its violence well regulated and between the lines. Anything else is left for games like Blitz: The League.

Two licensed sports games, however, do acknowledge illegal or semi-legal aggression in some way: baseball has its beanings, and hockey, well, need anyone say more. In fact, the physicality is going into new realms in this year's NHL 10, says producer David Littman, himself a former professional hockey goalie who had brief appearances in the NHL.

But the violence isn't a gratuitous minigame, Littman said. It's intended to function as hockey fighting does in the real world: A means of policing opposing players' conduct, responding to intimidating tactics and relentless checking, or to fire up the home crowd and inspire solidarity on your team.

"For me, fighting has a place in hockey because it does have a calming influence," Littman says, making a case that many have - without fighting in hockey, massive guys with sticks would seek dirtier, and more injurious, means to dissipate aggression. "We have that authenticity in this game. If you're being checked all over the ice by the other team, and being run out of your own building, you can bring out your fourth line, start a fight, win it, get the crowd back into the game, and it takes away the effects of that intimidation."

Is the NHL cool with this? Absolutely, Littman says. "We work very closely with them [and the NHL players' union] throughout the development process, on what goes in the game," he said. "It's their names on the box with us, too. And we go through yearlong approval processes with them. They're very happy because of our sales and quality, but at the same time they have to protect their names. We worked with them all year, particularly on fighting this year, and no doubt, fighting is a hot topic. There's always controversy, but that was something we worked with them all year on."

In fact, the eminent Edmonton enforcer Zack Stortini was brought in to consult with NHL 10's developers on how to build a first-person fighting engine. His guidance is what tied the fighting to in-game performance boosts, Littman said.

"When you fight in our game, the lines get their energy back, you hear the commentators talking about that, you see the crowd on its feet, banging on the glass," Littman said. "That comes from Zack. He said that there's nothing like being at home, and you've showed the other team that your team's not gonna take it on your home ice."

NHL 10's openness about aggression is authentic to something else: The league's posture on fighting. It's always a prickly subject, because the lessons of hockey's fisticuffs are much more subtle than the beating one sees on a screen. It's also not tolerated in any league other than the North American professionals; in all other ranks, fighting players are ejected, not sent to the penalty box for five minutes.

But the league has repeatedly refused to crack down on fighting with the intent of its elimination, tacitly acknowledging its fundamental relevance to the game. Officially, the league considers the issue from the standpoint of player safety. And if that's its only concern, the fighting in NHL 10 is no problem, because no one is ever injured at the end of a brawl.

"It's a safe way to fight," Littman said. "You can punch people and get punched and you're still sitting on your couch, no bruises. I played professional hockey and was in a lot of fights. To be honest, fighting isn't really where you see the injuries happen."

If bench-clearing brawls are authentic to baseball, MLB has clearly said no thank you to the idea. Then again, it's a league that fines and suspends nearly all of its combatants. Drill a guy in the back in MLB 09 The Show and he'll glare at the pitcher, mouth some unpleasantries and argue with the catcher. You can put a fastball right in his earflap and the reaction is similarly sanitized - he trots down to first no problems. Do this repeatedly and someone might charge the mound. But the animation ends just as the batter breaks out of the catcher's restraint and, it is implied, goes for the pitcher.

This is similar to how beanings have been handled in other licensed MLB games, meaning that league has probably drawn a clear line to developers. (On Tuesday I emailed the game's publicity representatives to talk about beanings and fighting; unfortunately, no one could be made available for comment by the time this was published.)

Interestingly, the NHL games carry a slightly higher age-rating than their colleagues. NHL 10 and NHL 2K10 are both rated E10+, whereas Madden, MLB 09 The Show and others are all E. And there's only one reason: the fighting.

"We have to weigh the pros and cons of that," Littlman said. "Really, I don't think too many 8-year-olds are buying $60 video games. Their parents can for them, sure. Have we ever thought about taking fighting out? The answer is no, because we are striving to be authentic to hockey." Also, fans would desert the game.

And anyway, Littman points out, a concerned parent worried about video game athletes setting a bad example for their youth hockey players can just deactivate the fighting in the game's options.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

The NFL Hits the Oregon Trail [Slate via 100% Injury Rate on FanIQ]

According to a Jacksonville cop report. a robber went into a Gamestop on Monday night, pretended like he wanted a 360, and then produced a firearm as his method of payment. He demanded copies of Madden NFL 10, and then any Xbox 360 games, presumably declining any NHL 2K10 pre-order solicitations.

Local TV news crusading truth avenger WJXT-TV said the robber made off with 23 games valued at $1,300 total, plus $600 and two 360s. Cash and prizes, the hood's $2,500 richer. But in doing that shoeleather reporting of the mood of the street, the quotes WJXT got sound a little worshipful, and fairly reek of viral marketing, except for the fact filing a false report is also a crime.

"I just heard it was good," video gamer Brian Fletcher said. "I mean, Madden's Madden. Come on. Everybody loves Madden. Can't beat it."

"It's very realistic, followed by you get to create your own teams and rosters and do all sorts of things," video gamer C.J. McCloud added.

Jax cops, however, said the circumstances mimic those of an earlier robbery elsewhere in the city.

Robber Demands Madden NFL Video Game [WJXT-TV via Evil Avatar]

Although the news release says only "September 2009," (October '09 in the rest of the world), an accompanying email to Kotaku said the game would be available "in time for opening day on the App Store." That is Thursday, Sept. 10. No price was suggested in the news release.

EA let slip Madden - as well as FIFA - was in the works for the iPhone back in July, so this is not a total surprise. Today's announcement, however, certifies that Madden, at least, will be an actual football game, and not the adjunctive iPhone app for the management of your console season - a product already announced.

From these screenshots, the control mechanic looks similar to that of NFL 2010 - virtual analog stick, and specialty buttons aligned to whatever player (or side of the ball) you're manipulating. In a news release, Madden 10 on the iPhone also promises a season mode, the same as NFL 2010.

On top of that, the same release also promises adjustable game-speed, hot-route audibles, full roster management that includes trades and free agents, and authentic stadium settings. These are all features not in NFL 2010. The voices of John Madden and console announcers Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth also will call your action.

Here are two more screens, of Packers Vikings QB Brett Favre, and Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker.

Favre's attributes have declined across the board, most in his accuracy ratings, perhaps reflecting the league-leading 22 interceptions he threw last year, most of them down the stretch as the New York Jets choked away a playoff berth. His durability, a bulletproof 99 last year, is down to 90 this year, perhaps reflecting he's 39 going on 40. Here's a look at his core attributes:

Throwing on the run, a trademark of that grinnin' gunslingin' just-look-at-how-much-fun-he's-havin' good-ol boy, while rarely associated with its often disastrous results, is down to a don't-do-it 72. Especially when coupled with his 60s in both speed and agility.

OK, we've covered Vick, Favre, Plaxico Burress and Donté Stallworth. Is that all? Is that everyone? Is everyone active, retired, indicted, convicted, exonerated, expunged, whatever? Good. Let's play some football.

More than 800 answered yesterday's trivia question, 300 of them incorrectly. The player on the left side of the screen at 0:59 of this video, helping Kellen Winslow from the field after 1982's "Epic in Miami" is none other than left tackle Billy Shields, No. 66, a sixth-round draft pick from Georgia Tech.

"I'm a 49ers and Chargers fan," not an Iggles partisan, Taylor writes. "For college football I like Michigan. I know, strange I don't like any of the local teams and believe me I get tons of crap from my family for liking Michigan over Penn State."

Well, you can wave around your copy of Madden NFL 10, and tell 'em answering questions about John Shaffer never won nobody nothing.

In the footage, Shields is wearing a helmet and his number is partially obscured, so we had plenty of incorrect answers. The most common wrong answers were defensive end Leroy Jenkins Jones, defensive tackle Jimmy Webb, and center Don Macek. Some also answered "Eric Sievers, WR, Maryland," which is correct - for the guy on the right side of the screen.

Thanks to all who entered. I've never been more delighted to see an inbox jammed with 800 "SUPER CHARGERS!" greetings.

Here's a 10-question quiz testing your knowledge of all the changes in the Madden NFL franchise on the current generation. I got a four out of 10, mostly because a lot of the gimmicks in previous editions were discarded. It's straight-up hard. And if you hate Madden or hate football, there's a bunch of other easier quizzes on the site, too. Although the Batman one kicked my ass as well.

Name That Game - Madden Edition [UGO.com]

Update: The contest is now closed, and a winner has been chosen from the more than 500 correct entries, and more than 800 overall. Thank you very much for participating.

Original post follows. Thanks very much for participating.

Alright, if you want it, you're playing for an NTSC region-coded copy of Madden NFL 10 for the Xbox 360. It's sealed, new in the box, so it's got the franchise codes with it.

To win, watch the video below, and pause it at the 0:59 mark - the last sequence with players on the screen. Tell me the name of the guy on the left, his position, and where he played in college. Send your entry to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom, with "Super Chargers" somewhere in the subject header. You must also correctly spell the player's name and school.

Cutoff for entries is 11 p.m. U.S. Mountain time tonight. In the case of multiple correct entries, one will be selected at random.

Alright, here we go. Presenting the Epic in Miami:

ESPN, without citing its source, reports that Vick has dropped to a 73 rated quarterback overall, from a 90 in Madden 08. But as a running quarterback he still holds a great deal of potential for those who want to play as the Eagles, or unscrupulously trade him into their preferred team.

Vick's speed, agility, acceleration, elusiveness, juke and spin moves all declined between three and four points, but all remain 90 or better. Where Vick seems to have suffered the most is in passing. Never particularly accurate, his ratings there dropped from 78 across the board to between 64 and 69.

His awareness also dropped from 74 to 65. I agree Ookie might not be the most self-aware individual, but one might think 21 months in Leavenworth would put your head on a swivel.

As a running quarterback, Vick remains very dangerous - his secondary running stats are better than all but the elite halfbacks. And though inferior to Brian Westbrook as a runner, he'll be a strong complement in a Wildcat formation - which is a part of the Eagles' playbook in this game.

Here's the full breakdown, per ESPN:


Vick to be Added to 'Madden 10' [ESPN, thanks Brian L.]

Update: EA Sports Rob Semsey says, pending NFL and NFL Players Association approval, Michael Vick will be added in on the Philadelphia Eagles with Madden NFL 10's next roster update, which is scheduled for Aug. 19 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Other platforms will follow shortly thereafter.

Vick himself is, as of now, ineligible until Week 6 of the NFL season, per NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's ruling on his readmission. Vick could be available sooner but no one's planning on it. The question was whether he would be available to Madden players before Goodell unconditionally reinstates him, and it appears now that he will be.

The original story follows:

EA Sports spokesman Rob Semsey told Kotaku:

We are currently working with the NFL and NFLPA on approvals and details regarding the addition of Michael Vick to the Philadelphia Eagles roster in Madden NFL 10. We are hopeful to make an announcement in the near future.

Vick, a former quarterback for the Falcons, was convicted in 2007 of running a dogfighting operation out of his Virginia home, and received prison time, which he recently completed. The Eagles took him presumably to feature him in a Wildcat offense, whose formations coincidentally appear for the first time in Madden NFL 10.

Interestingly, Plaxico Burress - indicted on weapons charges after shooting himself in the leg at a New York nightclub in November - was on the Madden roster and now is no longer. The roster that ships with the disc included Burress as a free agent, one of the top two unsigned (by player rating). The most recent online roster downloaded from EA does not have Burress in it at all. Burress is still technically eligible to play, although it's a virtual certainty either a suspension, his court case or jail time will take him out of the action. I pointed out the roster change to EA Sports and I'm waiting for a followup comment. Update: Which Semsey says will come soon.

Second Update: Semsey says the game's free agent roster has a fixed number of players it can include, and Burress was removed to make way for another unspecified player. It's an interesting decision, given Burress' high rating at a skill position, but EA Sports is probably betting that Burress gets suspended soon. And that's a good bet.

Also there's the matter of Donté Stallworth, the Browns receiver who was convicted of manslaughter charges for driving drunk and killing a pedestrian back in March. Yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Stallworth for the entire season, even though he's completed his jail sentence of 30 days. That doesn't affect Madden NFL 10, as Stallworth was never on the roster, not for the Browns, not as a free agent.