EA Sports is offering a fix to the Brett Farve predicament in the form of a roster patch that will hit on August 12th, and a downloadable cover update gamers can print out and slip into their existing case.

This has got to be welcome news for proud Jets fans, however upset Packer fans would probably prefer a cover featuring Brett at home on his couch. Still, this is a great move on the part of EA Sports. Below is an excerpt from the press release.

• ROSTER PATCH: An online roster patch featuring Favre as the starting quarterback for the New York Jets will be available on Aug. 12 (for Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii). In the final packaged product that hits stores next Tuesday, Favre is on the “NFL Greats” roster. In Franchise Mode, players can transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, and pick him up on any of the 32 NFL teams for the 2008 season.
• PACKAGING: Madden NFL 09 will hit stores on Aug. 12 with Brett Favre on the cover in his Green Bay Packers uniform. EA SPORTS does not plan to re-issue the game with new packaging at this time, but will offer a free downloadable cover in the coming days on easports.com featuring Brett Favre in a Jets uniform. Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of Madden NFL 09.

It’s been a long time since Square Enix started milking their audience for everything they’re worth. Since Final Fantasy IV’s original release and prior to its appearance on the Nintendo DS, it had already been ported three times over. With its arrival on the DS marking its fourth port, it also marks its first real remake that would recapture the magic of the original, as opposed to just regurgitating it. Read more…

Blizzard Entertainment is having a devil of a time with Diablo III.

As Diablo die-hards festoon the fan sites with their own Photoshopped versions of the yet to be released dungeon crawler, art director Brian Morrisroe is hitting the bricks.

In response to a query by Kotaku regarding the position opening, Blizzard responded with the following e-mail:

“Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup company ‘outside the game industry’, which is why we posted about the open position. That change won’t impact the game…we’re really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring aboard will work with other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward.”

Many Diablo fans have been up in arms over the new look of the game, saying that the brighter and considerably more colorful sequel is a betrayal of the traditionally darker tones of the games aesthetic.

And now, a first look at the new art direction for Blizzard’s Diablo III. Read more…

The Madden Curse has struck again, and this time it hit a man thought untouchable.

Every year since Madden 2000, the athlete featured on the game’s cover has fallen from grace, usually due to injury. It happened to Faulk, Vick, and Culpepper. It laid low Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb and Shaun Alexander. It even gave Vince Young his first career game missed due to injury. It’s called the Madden Curse.

Perhaps it’s all superstition, or perhaps the super-stars who make the cover are just unable to maintain the level of greatness that got them on the cover. Either way you look at it, the Madden Curse is a disturbing trend.

It looked like the curse would be put to rest in an ingenious way in 2009. Put a retired guy on the cover. But the fabled quarterback Brett Favre just couldn’t stay retired. And, now that he’s playing for the Jets, will he suffer the same fate? Will his glorious resurrection be heralded as a Phoenix rising? Or will he merely burn out like so many superstars who can’t give up the game?

Or has the curse already been cast? Hit the jump for some superstition speculation. Read more…

Someone is going to need an Xbox 360 on Air Force One.

In a particularly hard-hitting interview with presidential candidate Barack Obama, Entertainment Weekly asked the presumptive democratic nominee what was the last videogame he played.

“Pong … That should give you a sense of my age. I loved that game.”

Other similarly in-depth questions ranged through the gamut of presidential politics such as spousal remote control rights and what’s currently on his iPod.

Don’t ask.

When the same pop-culture questions were put to the presumptive republican presidential nominee John McCain there was no mention of videogames whatsoever. Probably because the closest he as ever got to a Nintendo DS is a sock puppet.

In a *conference call with the two presidential candidates regarding their videogame play, Obama and McCain were unusually candid with their level of experience. Read more…

It was only a matter of time.

As the popularity of rhythm games continues to gain purchase in the pocketbooks of gamers worldwide, Warner Music is of the opinion that the publishers are getting away with robbery.

Executive Edgar Bronfman explained that Activision and MTV, developers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, respectively, will eventually have to pay more for the licenses for the songs from their catalogue.

“The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small.” Bronfman said to Yinka Adegoke of Reuters.

Bronfman’s opinion comes as little surprise considering the losses posted by the music industry as file sharing continues to eat into their profits despite vigorous prosecution of offenders by the RIAA.

Link: www.reuters.com

Electronic Arts is teaming up with the strangely popular self-help books “For Dummies,” makers of such classic literature as “Sex For Dummies” and “Catholicism For Dummies” to create games for dummies.

That’s right. Now you can get all of the fun of a self-help book in a video game. Hit the jump for details. (Here’s a freebie for dummies: press the “Read more” button) Read more…

Thailand just got an ally in its war on Grand Theft Auto: Jack Thompson.

A caricature of thriving in the face of adversity, besieged Florida lawyer and video game industry critic Thompson has given his two cents on the Thailand ban on GTA. Read more…

It’s not just Marky Mark who considers the Wii to be a bit of a novelty. Xbox VP (and former CEO of Nintendo Europe) David Gosen has slammed Wii for its gimmicky approach when it comes to controllers – notably Wii Fit’s balance board as being little more than a set of “digital bathroom scales”.

Asked about Microsoft’s concerns when it came to creating new peripherals, he praised Nintendo’s success with Wii, but warned they were treading a fine line. Read more…

The return of Madden-esque commentary in a football game!!! Not so fast.

While, Funny man and brilliant impersonator, Frank Caliendo, has been brought on to provide voice talent for Midway’s upcoming Blitz: The League II, there is no evidence that he will be impersonating the legendary Raiders Coach.

Caliendo will be lending his talents to three characters in the game — color commentator, offensive line coach, and prison warden. The other half to the funny man duo, Jay Mohr, will be breathing life into the agent character.

Source: joystiq.com

Farve is a Green Bay Packer no more. The veteran QB has been traded to the NY Jets, and NFL Network’s Adam Schefter confirmed that Brett will report to camp for the team.

I am pretty certain that this will mark the first time a Madden cover will feature a player who is no longer on that team’s roster when the season starts. If you’re a Packer fan who is planning on picking up the game in a few days time, my suggestion is to bring a big fat Sharpie and go to town on the cover.

By the way, at the time of this article, the Jets website was down. Quality organization. If they can’t even keep their site on its feet, what chance does Brett have?

That’s right, Warhawk is getting trophies. Oh, you knew that? Well it’s getting much more than that. The next downloadable pack will bring jetpacks. Read more…

Following another games-made-me-do-it claim, the Thai Government has named and shamed the ten most violent games – one of which is over three years old. That’s probably because it nicked the list from an American prosecutor.

The Thai list published today includes the usual suspects: GTA, God of War, Manhunt, a couple of gangster ones… and Killer 7 for PS2 and GC.

The inclusion of the last title alone is enough to suggest that the list has been plagiarized from Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy, who published the same list (albeit in a different order) warning parents about what was suitable for their kids for Christmas in 2007. In fact the Thai Government doesn’t mention a single title, save GTA, which has been released in the last 12 months. Read more…

The upcoming PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain from acclaimed Fahrenheit and Omikron developers Quantic Dream, has been hidden from public eyes since 2006’s concept video. Since then we’ve only had glimpses of impressive facial close ups, but now we can bring you a little bit more… Read more…

Gary Busey as Sonic the Hedgehog - hide the women and children

First-quarter results from the industry mainstay posted SEGA at a loss of $963 million.

Despite the brutal blow, consumer growth has gone up 90.6%. However, the company’s current woes can be laid directly at the feet of Sega’s pachinko arcade interests which cost them more than $39 million.

However, Videogame sales have continued to climb for the publisher as Iron Man and Valkyria Chronicles continue to exceed sales expectations in Japan and worldwide.

No word yet from the titular blue hedgehog on the considerable loses of his sugar-momma Sega. Those close Sonic say that he now wishes he hadn’t spent all his money sniffing lines of blow of the ass of Princess Elise.

Source: gamesindustry.biz

Starting the week October 14th, you will be able to pick up the following versions of SOCOM: Confrontation in North America: Bundle version at $59.99, stand alone version at $39.99 and the PSN version at $39.99.

Here’s a quick description of the bundles: Read more…

Jesus takes time to teach a child about the PS3 rumble feature

Jesus wept.

The Christian Examiner Online has weighed in with a lengthy dissertation on videogames in general and – gasp! – Grand Theft Auto in particular, outlining the evils involved in the medium and their contribution to the social decay afflicting the United States, not the world.

“The game delivers the kinds of thrills teenage boys love, with plenty of high-speed chase scenes, noisy shoot-’em-ups and risqué sexuality,” writes Steve Rabey. “But questions about the game’s violence and the ability of some gamers to unlock explicit sex scenes in an earlier version of the game have led to complaints and a class action lawsuit against “GT4’s” manufacturer, Rockstar Games.”

Posted through the “Christian Newswire,” the article is being touted as an “in-depth report on the impact of video games on families and the culture.” However, there are no quotes or statements from any learned scholars on the topic of videogame violence, nor scientific data regarding their claims to addiction, violent behavior, or anti-social tendencies. Read more…

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Bungie’s lead AI programmer Damian Isla praises Activision and Infinity Ward’s hugely successful FPS, Call of Duty 4. Even going as far as saying that Halo could learn a few things from Call of Duty.

“We have a lot to learn from their success too, they did some very innovative things to keep people going and their experience-rewards system was something that we paid a lot of attention to,” Isla explained.

“I think it’s a great game and single player obviously is fantastic… they did a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand. The way that they use those moments to craft the player experience…Halo has a lot to learn from.”

While both games are extremely outstanding and have a strong fan base, the battle for the most-played game on Xbox Live continues between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.

It’s good to hear that Bungie is willing to learn from other successful games so they can make their titles better. Because we all know improvements can always be made to make any game better.

Source: gamesindustry.biz

The Warhammer faithful have cause to rejoice: the street date for the highly anticipated Warhammer: Age of Reckoning has finally been announced.

Marc Jacobs, founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment, released a statement on WAR’s website this morning along with the announcement heralding the release.

“The countdown has officially begun. Mark your calendars! September 18th is the Day of Reckoning,” said Jacobs. “For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive.”

Subscription rates were also announced this morning at $14.99 per month, $41.97 for three months, and $77.94 for six months. Read more…

Grand Theft Auto IV is coming to PC, Take-Two Interactive confirmed today. GTA IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18th in North America, and on the 21st in Europe.

The announcement isn’t much of a surprise, as we posted earlier.

Hit up rockstargames.com/IV for more info.