It's odd to talk about EA Sports' Madden franchise, with the features it's touting in the 09 release, now making itself more of a social gaming experience. For the better part of two decades it's been one of the top titles to play with friends, offline or, lately, online. But the pattern of features that were added, upgraded or unchanged from last year points to a major push that'll expand the game's social appeal, especially to demographics well outside the paunchy, balding thirtysomething. In other words, EA is going where the growth is, and its marketing of this game absolutely tips that hand.

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When Madden 09 coverboy Brett Favre announced his retirement from retirement and was traded to the Jets in early August, EA was left in a pickle! See, because Madden 09 had Favre in a Packers uniform. But, as we posted earlier, football fans who desire 100 percent accuracy in their Madden box art will be able to download a Favre-in-Jets-uniform cover. See that right up there? That is your Jets Favre cover!

Thanks Rye for the tip!

July is the most anxious month for the independent roster editors devoted to Electronic Arts' NCAA Football franchise. No matter what the game adds each year, promising an ever richer pageant of college football, it falls to these writers to add in the basic identities of the game's performers, because NCAA amateurism rules forbid EA from including them. That leaves it to these roster editors and those they employ -- some working on devkits in India -- to hand-enter more than 8,000 players, across 120 teams. The task requires 20-hour workdays and contrivances to get advance copies of the game, all to complete a labour of love that only the most detail-oriented model railroader could ever hope to understand.

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The original Olympic Games of Ancient Greece, first held around 786 B.C., were created as a celebration of human physical achievement, which apparently consisted of watching naked, well-muscled men running foot races.

Luckily for the viewing public, the Olympics have come a long way since their revival in the late 1800s. Now they recognise both non-Greek speaking males and females as humans, they've added a fair bit of clothing, which tends to put the focus back on the actual sports...themselves expanded far beyond the initial foot-racing and wrestling of the original.

Over the past several decades, however, we've seen the emergence of an entirely new type of gaming - video gaming - and while it may not be an official event, the pastime we all know and love is alive and well at the Olympic games.

Let me introduce you to just a few of the gamers that will be representing the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing...if we can pry them away from their consoles long enough.

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The Lakers will win the 2008 NBA Finals, according to a simulation run by EA Sports using NBA Live 09.

The game shows that the Lakers will capture their 15th NBA Championship by defeating the Celtics in a tie-breaking seventh game, 106 to 101.

According to the simulation, MVP Kobe Bryant led the victory, averaging 29 points and 6 assists per game throughout the series. The real Finals tip off this Thursday at 9 p.m.EST on ABC in the US. Hit the jump to read the highlights of the fictional series, provided by EA Sports.

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