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Why Robin Makes Batman Better VH1′s Harold Goldberg was there when Ozzy Osbourne popped into Times Square’s Hard Rock Cafe to shill for Electronic Arts Madden 08. Goldberg even got a second or two with the rapidly-aging rock star, probably just a second. “When my son Jack was living with us and he would disappear for 15 hours, I’d think, ‘Where can he be now?’ I used to find him in his room concentrating on the screen. (Makes a face of grim determination.) I mean, he’s an expert at this stuff. I ain’t got a clue about it. But it’s fun to watch him. He’s got it down, Jack.”
Exclusive: Ozzy Osbourne On Gaming [Game Break]
Many sports fans and PS3 fanboys have been upset that PS3′s Madden 2008 is running at roughly half the frame rate of its Xbox 360 counterpart. EA Technical Director Rob M. responded to one gamer’s complaints on the topic: In the case of the next-generation consoles, many publishers have been developing titles for the Xbox 360 for over 3 1/2 years while everyone who publishes now for the PlayStation 3 with the exception of Sony has been developing for the PlayStation 3 for only a little over one full year. The differences in the overall knowledge of the hardware is vastly different for both consoles and…it is very difficult to get it right the first time.
EA wanted to take a moment of our time to remind everyone that Madden NFL 08 is now hitting stores, available across a ridiculous 10 platforms, including mobile phones, though I highly suspect being caught playing Madden on a mobile phone will result in, at the very least a severe swirly. If you are a big enough fan you probably aren’t even reading this right now, seeing as GameStop stores around the country held midnight launch events for what is guaranteed to be the best NFL game of the year, hands down. Also the only NFL game, hands down, because there’s no competition like no competition.
If you’re in NYC, and hate Madden, best stay away from Times Square for a little while. Conversely, if you don’t live in NYC and can’t get enough of EA’s annually-updated sports juggernaut, you might want to get there in a hurry: EA are taking the place over to remind people that Madden 08′s coming out. Actually, looking at my watch and then performing a quick set of calculations on the fly, I’d say the party’s already underway. Christened *groan* Maddenoliday, Tiki Barber’s going to be on-hand to give out the first copy of the game at midnight at the Times Square TRU, some other guys will be there playing Madden and, corniest of all, they’ll be recreating the New Years eve ball drop at midnight, except with a giant cover of Madden 08. Heaven or hell? Guess it depends on how close you live to Manhattan, and how much you love your Madden. Maddenoliday 2007 Starts Tonight [Gamerscore]
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.
Dear EA,
I’m not really interested in sports games. I know that you have official licences and I’m supposed to care, but despite being a beer-loving, heterosexual male between the ages of 18-25, sports are just not my thing. But they used to be. Remember those Mutant League games you made back in the day? Those were way better than last year’s Madden, and I’m fairly certain, any other iterations you have in the hopper. Because when I’m given the option of battling slime monsters against robots, or overpaid meatheads against more overpaid meatheads, I’m going with slime monsters and robots every time.
You can even rip off Pigskin Footbrawl. It’s been long enough. Go ahead and “2K” Midway’s ass—it’s cool with me.
Yours, Mark Wilson
The rampant speculation, the endless images of circulars, the bogs of “insider emails” are all correct: The Xbox 360 is getting a $US50 price drop starting this Wednesday, Microsoft announced tonight.
As of Wednesday the Elite will be $US449, the Halo Limited Edition Xbox 360 (when it hits) will be $US399, the standard will be $US349 and the core will be $US279.
The price drop is meant to be timed to the upcoming release of Madden 08, said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, as a way to grab up all of those Playstation 2 Madden fans who haven’t yet upgraded to the Playstation 3.
“Madden is the number one selling game, and we felt like that was the right title to lead with,” he said. “We know Madden will bring a lot of PS2 owners into the store and that’s a specific reason for this timing. We feel we have the showcase platform for Madden this year and with this drop we hope to be the home for those gamers this season.”
Greenberg said that the decision to time the price drop with the release of Madden has been in the works for a very long time and that the 360 price drop has nothing to do with the recent PS3 pricing flux.
“We’ve had this on our plans for a long time, an extremely long time,” he said. “We did not make this decision even heading into E3, this is all based on before hand. We had the first media briefing (at E3) so we could have been the first to announce it, but it was never on our calendar. The benefit of pre-planning, of having this time, outweighed being one-upped, perhaps, at E3.”
Greenberg pointed out that the 360 has been the same price for 21 months, the longest any console has maintained their launch price.
Too bad Microsoft didn’t drop the core down a bit more and make it competitive with the Wii. I think $US249 would have made things very interesting for Nintendo.
Madden? 08? Anyone? I know the franchise is amazing, it even makes me sorta like football, but is there enough difference between 07 and 08 this year to justify a buy?
