First the history: Apparently, there was a glitch in last year’s Tiger Wood 08. In the game, Eldrick (that’s what the cool kids call him) could walk on water and hit for par. The video, which was uploaded in April 2007, caught the eye of Electronic Arts ad team and they had a response.

They turned a YouTube video mocking the game into a clever commercial on YouTube. The mind boggles. I guess in real life Tiger Woods can walk on water. The tagline: It’s not a glitch. He’s just that good. So does that mean, Tiger Woods is the black Jesus?

2K Sport sent us some nice-looking screenshots for its upcoming NBA 2K9 title. Although the team features Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett on the cover, I won’t hold it against them.

As the folks at Visual Concepts emphasize, this is the No. 1 rated game seven years going, and the screenshots do it justice. But with EA’s overhaul of its NBA franchise, we may see the most significant basketball video game duel in a while. Don’t you just love competition? NBA 2K9 is hitting stores in October.

More screenshots on the jump

There’s only one possible reaction to EA’s Celebrity Sports Showdown: What? I mean, seriously, what?

Ok, so here’s the premise. There’s a bunch of celebrities and some athletes, and they’re playing a bunch of games. So basically it’s like Wii Sports except instead of your Mii it’s Nelly Furtado.

Doesn’t sound weird enough yet? Here’s the list of people included:

• Fergie
• Avril Lavigne
• LeAnn Rimes
• Keith Urban
• Nelly Furtado
• Paul Pierce
• Mia Hamm
• Kristi Yamaguchi
• Reggie Bush
• Sugar Ray Leonard

That’s right! Now you can find out who would win at curling, Reggie Bush or Avril Lavigne! Because that’s really been weighing on my mind.

I almost want this just because it’s so irredeemably weird.

Full press release with list of included games past this link.

Note: I’m posting this on Gieson’s behalf due to technical difficulties.

Well, the Madden launch is only a couple of hours away. For folks who need to get the game day of launch, there’s a couple of shops around the Bay Area holding midnight launches. The events will vary. Some will have Madden tournaments; others will have food and drinks along with some prizes.

Game Crazies around the Bay Area are holding tournaments with the winners having the honor of purchasing the game first. The attendees will also have a chance to win AMEX gift cards that range from $500 to $1,000. But the biggest prize of all is the Super Bowl tickets the company is giving away in a nationwide drawing.

Here are area Game Crazy stores where you can celebrate your “Maddenoliday”

• GAME CRAZY - 4383 CLAYTON RD, CONCORD, CA 94521
• GAME CRAZY - 2931 HARBOR ST STE A, PITTSBURG, CA 94565
• GAME CRAZY - 3525 MAC ARTHUR BLVD, OAKLAND, CA 94619
• GAME CRAZY - 832 SOUTHAMPTON RD, BENICIA, CA 94510
• GAME CRAZY - 20923 REDWOOD RD, CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546
• GAME CRAZY - 6660 LONE TREE WAY STE 7, BRENTWOOD, CA

I’ll probably stop by my neighborhood GameStop in downtown Berkeley. Store manager Sam Fugate is working with Bowzer’s Pizza a few blocks down to hold a Madden tournament and a couple of prizes. He says the Madden launches have died down a bit for him with the game’s peak in Berkeley being around Madden NFL 05 and Madden NFL 06.

“It goes with the mood people have about Madden,” he said.

If you want go, you can check out the Madden NFL 09 launch at 2200 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley.

But if you’re in the East Bay and if you’re a Raider fan, there’s only one place to go and that’s the GameStop off of Hegenberger Road. Fugate said that hundreds of people lineup to this GameStop next to a Wal-Mart. But it isn’t the deals that draw them. A couple of doors down from this store is a Raider Image and the two work in conjunction trying to put on a show for fans. During different years, there are Raiderette signings and even some playes drop by, according to Fugate.

With that said, expect a few hundred people. The store’s address is 8460 Edgewater Dr # B, Oakland, CA.

By Wes Schwengels
Fantasy baseball participant

The 2008 baseball season is looking pretty forgettable for the A’s and Giants, but, thanks to video games, that doesn’t mean you can’t change their fortunes with the push of a power button.

The newest opportunity to take one of them — or any team — to the fall classic arrives in the form of Konami and 2K Sports’ MLB Power Pros 2008 for the Wii. It’s the second stateside entry for this quirky-looking game, though the series has been around for 20 years or so in Japan. What sets this game apart are its super-deformed players, all of which eerily resemble their real-life counterparts.

Power Pros is easy to pick up and play despite the intimidating main screen menu. Practice modes help you learn the basics before moving on to a home run derby, exhibition game or one of its three season- and career-type modes. If you want to guide your favorite squad through a full season, create your own player to bring up to the show, or experience the life of an MLB player (well, sort of), it’s all here.

As arcadey as the game looks, there’s a huge amount of depth here. As you lead your team through a season, you can set practice schedules, buy new equipment, set strategies, manage finances and offer trades to your heart’s content.

Power Pros swings for the fences on the jump

So that Brett Favre guy, I heard he’s pretty popular. I can’t go anywhere without hearing his name. It’s Brett, Brett, Brett, Brett, Brett, Brett.

Anyway, with No. 4 going to the Jets, this will change Madden NFL 09 a bit. As I mentioned before, he’s going to be in a roster update Aug. 12. I’m sure Chad Pennington will be cut< in a new place as well.

As for the packaging, it’s pretty much staying the same. Electronic Arts doesn’t plan on making changes to the Madden coverboy photo. But enthusiasts obsessive Jets fans can download a Brett in Jet uniform at easports.com in the coming days. They can then print it, cut it out and slap it on their shiny new copy of Madden.

EA also simmed a season with New York Jet Brett Favre and he took them to the playoffs with an odd 11-4-1 record. Not bad.

The LT you know and love was not the first LT. The original LT was Lawrence Taylor, arguably the best defensive player of all time. Not only was he a brutal hitter with good speed and great instincts, and the man who ended Joe Theismann’s career with the most brutal football injury of all time, but a man who anonymously sent prostitutes to opponents’ hotel rooms the night before games in an effort to tire them out.

I’m serious, he said that on 60 Minutes. But I digress.

I bring this up because LT 1.0 is on the cover of Blitz: The League 2 and Kotaku had a chance to interview him at the game’s launch party. They asked him why people should buy Blitz over Madden. What did he say? Did he point out the gritty realism? The graphics? The faster pace? Oh no, it’s far more sexual than that…

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, Brett Favre just got traded to the Jets. Apparently, no one has time to photo old No. 4 in a Jets jersey. Unable to get someone to work on photoshop, the resourceful folks at ESPN did the next best thing. They fired up a copy of Madden NFL and traded Favre to the Jets. Eh, he looks all right in a different sort of green.

Does this mean, they’ll have to change the cover?

OK, punters and kickers get no respect — none whatsoever — in the National Football League. They’re mocked. (Remember the jumping Gramatica brother? Bill Gramatica tore his ACL by celebrating a field goal.) They’re humiliated and insulted. (We’re looking at youMike Vanderjagt.)

But Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings may have something to brag about on the field. Although he may get pancaked trying to take down a returner this season, he can at least say that he can his butt in Guitar Hero.

Oh yes, though he may not be all-world when it comes to kicking the football down field, he says he is one of the top 100 Guitar Hero players in the nation, according to Twin Cities.com.

Kluwe even says he beat the Guinesss World Record holder. Too bad they don’t give fantasy points on how well you rock out at a video game.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up like the Detroit Tigers’ Joel Zumaya. He reportedly injured himself playing Guitar Hero.

Aaron Rodgers fans rejoice! The former Cal quarterback is going to be the starting signal caller for the Green Bay Packers. Well, he is going to be a starter in Madden that is.

One of the things that the whole Brett Favre fiasco is doing is messing with Madden NFL 09 rosters.

Remember the Pasta Padre leak of the Madden NFL 09 player ratings? Well, on the Packers side, it was assumed that Favre was retired so this is how it looked like.

Well now that Old No. 4 is back on the roster, that may shake up things up a bit. According to EA’s Tyrone Miller, Brett Favre will be on the roster update when the game is released Aug. 12. When folks play the game, he’ll be listed as the back-up QB, and depending on what happens in camp, he may be listed as the starter when EA Tiburon does its next update before the season.

If players just want to simulate the inevitable. They can just move Favre to the starting lineup themselves or maybe he’ll get traded … . I, for one, blame the Madden curse for this whole problem circus. It is all-powerful. I’m sure this is the first and only time Madden has had a back-up quarterback on its cover.