madden

Madden attempts to predict Super Bowl XLVII victor

Do you know who will win the Super Bowl in New Orleans this weekend? If you're a San Francisco 49ers or Baltimore Ravens fan, I can venture a guess as to who you might choose. But let's put aside your bias for a moment.

Using the video game Madden NFL '13, EA ran a mock game featuring the 49ers and Ravens to determine who would take home the Vince Lombardi trophy. If you think the prediction is hogwash, you're probably correct on some levels (it is just a video game, after all), but it's worth noting that the annual simulation resulted in correct predictions for seven out of the last nine Super Bowl showdowns. Such accuracy must mean something, right? EA summarizes the first few quarters: … Read more

Online services for Madden NFL 11, others get sacked

Electronic Arts has once again announced that a wide array of its games will soon no longer be playable online.

The company has updated its Online Service Updates page to announce that Madden NFL 11 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii will lose its online playability on January 11. FIFA Soccer 11, NBA Live 10, and NHL 11 are among the other titles that will no longer be playable.

EA has several times in the past removed online services for older titles. In a statement posted to its Web site, the game publisher said that the decision to … Read more

Nintendo sets Wii U price, unveils TVii

Wii play around for Thursday's Nintendo news roundup:

Nintendo announced that its new Wii U game console will be available in the U.S. on Nov. 18, coming in two flavors. The white "Basic" bundle is $300 and comes with a GamePad and Wii U with 8 GB of memory. But it makes more sense to pick up the $350 black "Deluxe" bundle, which includes a 32 GB Wii U system, charger, stand and Nintendo Land. Nintendo Land is a pack of 12 mini games which use the GamePad and allow 5 people to play … Read more

New iPhone facing supply issues

Friday's tech news roundup has a good, long talk with a chair:

Electronics maker Sharp could be having problems making the screens for the next iPhone, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. There could be manufacturing difficulties that are delaying shipments. Sharp is just one of three suppliers for Apple's screens, so it's unclear how this could change launch date expectations or if iPhones will be in limited supply at launch.

We're expecting a new family of Amazon Kindles to be announced on Sept. 6, but images of the Kindle "Paperwhite" have been discoveredRead more

Madden NFL 13 sells 900,000 in 24 hours

EA Sports' Madden NFL 13 has gotten off to a hot start. Electronic Arts announced today that the newest gridiron football simulator, which launched Tuesday, sold 900,000 copies during its first 24 hours for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This marks a 7 percent rise over last year's iteration, and represents the most successful Madden launch this console generation.

Read more of "Madden NFL 13 sells 900,000 in 24 hours" at GameSpot.

Madden 13 on Vita and Kinect: New technology in the huddle

Late August doesn't usually mean much for video gamers...unless you're playing Madden. Like the swallows of Capistrano, the arrival of the next Madden has become inextricably associated with the start of football season for us...and, the start of Scott's endless obsession over the NFL Team We Shall Not Name. Madden as an actual game doesn't really merit much to talk about year in and year out...new rosters, slight tweaks that only a veteran player would appreciate, or game modes that few might spend the time to discover. Still, the NFL fans buy it, … Read more

YouTube's weapon against crude comments

Tuesday's top stories score a touchdown against trolls:

YouTube is hoping to reduce its troll population by letting users go by their real names. Google+ accounts can now be used as a YouTube identity. The switch can be done in settings. Before making the change, users can review past activity and delete any undesirable comments. But this isn't a required switch. Users can keep their existing account names.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts may not have the monopoly over pigskin for long. Back in 2008, EA was sued for making exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NCAA and … Read more

Hands-on with Madden 13 at E3: Kinect's killer app

Normally, a new version of EA Sports' Madden Football is an E3 non-event. Not so at E3 2012: in fact, it became a sort of poster-child for future-forward gaming.

Admittedly, the second-screen Madden prototypes on Xbox SmartGlass shown briefly at Microsoft's press conference aren't real (yet), but Madden 13 does feature integrated Kinect features and completely new player physics, dubbed Infinity Engine.

The most interesting part of the Madden's Kinect feature-set is that it doesn't use the camera: instead, it relies on voice commands as a way of controlling pre-snap adjustments on offense and defense. Joe Montana seemed to pull it off well during Microsoft's keynote, but I needed proof. I tried it in a relatively quiet E3 show floor booth, and it not only worked, but it could end up being a feature I actually use. … Read more

E3 2012: Year of the second screen with Xbox Smart Glass and Wii U

Get ready to get your game on. E3 has begun:

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, called E3 for short, has kicked off. It's the big video game conference of the year, and even though the show has just begun, it looks like this is the year of the second screen. Both the Wii U and the Xbox 360 are showing off ways to tie tablet screen interaction with what's on the television, creating a richer game and entertainment experience. You can catch all our continuing coverage of the show at cnet.com/e3.

Nintendo's press conference isn't … Read more

Witness the maturation of Xbox Kinect

LOS ANGELES--If you thought Microsoft's motion-sensing controllerless technology Kinect was going to take a back seat this year, you were wrong. In the minutes leading up to the press conference's start, I first noticed a trio of Kinect sensors slyly facing the stage. It would be a telling premonition of what was in store for the world's fastest-selling electronic gadget.

But while Kinect has garnered more groans than praise in recent months, Microsoft's press conference demonstrated somewhat of a maturation for the motion-control initiative. Whereas Kinect functionality initially seemed forced upon software that didn't necessarily need it, a few interesting implementations may have skeptics turning into believers.… Read more