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Sunday deals offer free Live and gift cards too
Today is Sunday and that means it's time to talk about this week's Xbox 360 super-Sunday-deals-of-money-savings-greatness! As usual, Circuit City has all the savings this week by offering up a free year of Xbox Live with purchase of any Xbox 360 console. You want video game deals? Well, if you're looking to get your Madden on later this year, plop down a preorder on Madden 08 and Circuit City will give you $25 towards a FansEdge.com order. And if Madden is too long of a wait to play football, this week NCAA Football 08 is available and if purchased at Circuit City they'll give you $10 gift card to boot. There you go, that was the best of the best Xbox 360 deals this week. Pull out your plastic and shop, shop the day away!
1UP: 360 football games to run faster than PS3
Football is a game of split second decisions, and simulating the sport on the Xbox 360 will soon let you split those seconds more finely. 1UP is reporting that this summer's major pigskin simulators -- EA's Madden NFL 08 and NCAA Football 2008 and 2K Sports' All-Pro Football 2K8 -- will run at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360 and 30 frames per second on the PS3. The move represents a jump from previous Madden games, which ran at 30 frames per second on all platforms, including the Xbox 360 and PS3. While the additional frames mean smoother, more fluid animation in the 360 versions, it's still unclear how the jump will impact graphical fidelity or resolution. A comparison between both versions of last year's Madden 07 conducted by Gamespot showed the 360 version had "sharper textures on the character models in the close-up shots shown between plays." In comparing this year's games, 1UP simply stated that "All-Pro Football 2K8 definitely runs better on Xbox 360." The reasons behind this frame rate difference are hard to pin down. Todd Sitrin, EA Vice President of Marketing Sports Branding, told 1UP that there are trade offs in designing football simulations and that "every company making a football game this year made a decision that the best experience for the Xbox 360 included 60fps whereas the best experience for the PS3 was 30fps." Extra time and familiarity with the Xbox 360 hardware could have influenced the development, as could the purported difficulty in programming for the PS3's multi-processor architecture. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
60 FPS: Football will be better on the 360
1UP is reporting that all the heavy hitting football games coming out this year (Madden 08, NCAA Football 08, and All-Pro Football 2K8) will be running best on the Xbox 360. 30 frames smoother to be exact. 1UP says that they've confirmed with developers that the 360 versions of each football game will run at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second while the PS3 version will have to settle for 30 frames per second. What does that mean? Well, it means animations will be smoother, faster and less jarring than the PS3 version. And that's a good thing.We aren't sure why the PS3 versions of the games are stuck at 30 FPS, but we're thinking the dev teams just didn't find it worth the extra cash to optimize it for the platform. But even if that were the case it should still put a feather in Microsoft's ego cap, because it would just further prove that the 360 is easier to develop for.
Touchdown! EA unloads Madden 08 info
Boy oh boy has there been a bunch of Madden 08 news hitting the internet lately and we figured what better way to get you the dish than recapping all of it in one convenient post. Yeah, that kind of logic could only come from the smartest of bloggers. So, let's get right into all the crunchy Madden 08 news and media.First off, EA released Madden 08's official soundtrack list including tracks from The Hives, Timbaland, Daddy Yankee and Xbox Artist of the Month Ozzy Osbourne. Madden 08 sounds like it's going to be a rocking good time. Also released were screenshots featuring all twenty-four new "weapons" classifications which are used to show players' crazy advanced abilities. It's a brand new way to identify stand out players and a first for the Madden franchise. The third piece of Madden 08 goodness comes in the form of a new trailer that we've embedded above. Give it a watch and you'll agree that stiff arms and side stepping never looked so nice. Finally, the Gamerscore Blog crew posted a few photos and a writeup of EA's little Madden 08 party which was held in LA the other night.Now, if that's not enough Madden 08 news to keep you satisfied then by golly you're a football addict and need to drink some Gatorade. Go hit the showers and review all the new Madden news, because August 14th will be here soon enough.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Madden 08 pulls out its weaponry
One of the new features of Electronic Arts' Madden 08 is the use of weapons -- special medals associated with certain players to signify their strengths. These aren't real weapons, mind you, but O, how we long for the days of Mutant League Football. These are more like situation-specific special moves. A player with the Big Foot Kicker weapon, for example, can kick the ball "farther than anyone in the game."IGN is outlining the 24 weapons featured in the game, so that enthusiasts can start planning and dreaming up their weapon combinations. Cannon Arm QB with a Quick Receiver? Let's hope one of their defenders doesn't have the Speed weapon.%Gallery-4322%
Madden 08 Wii online without friend codes
The next installment of Electronic Arts' Madden 08 will feature online multiplayer but will not be using Nintendo's friend code system, according to associate producer Damian Zerr in an interview with IGN. "Madden Wii doesn't support the Wii friends system during online play," he said. "This is something we're still working on with Nintendo. For now our online play uses your EA Nation Persona to search and manage your EA Messenger account." IGN does not press further as to why EA made this decision, leaving us to only speculate the reasons why. Perhaps EA is as distraught with the system as many Joystiq readers have conveyed. No voice chat will be available during online play, relying instead on EA Messenger for communication (details on how were also not given), but alongside DS connectivity was not ruled out for Madden 09. [Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
Madden NFL '08 screens to please
You thought we were done talking about sports? Heck no! We've covered baseball, golf, basketball... how could we pass up the opportunity to bring you some American Football news? We've got the latest screens from the 360 oven that's been cooking up Madden NFL '08 and guess what? It looks like football. It smells like football. It probably tastes like football, but we don't know since it's not done cooking yet.Aside from the brightly colored uniform/outfits the players wear, all we see is nifty grass and football details -- kind of. Will the game still play exactly like its predecessors? Will John Madden ever, ever, ever just give up and marry his bags o' cash? We know that some other titles are re-building what made their franchise great... what's Madden going to do differently? We assume it'll stay the same and it'll be fun. If it isn't, we just have to wait until next year for another one.
Madden 08 gives a perfect 100
Extremely obsessed and knowledgeable Madden fans know that the game has never given out a perfect 100 in any skill for any player, until now. Madden 08 will give Chicago Bears' crazy fast return man Devin Hester a perfect 100 ranking for speed. Hester's perfect 100 beats out previous high ranking players like Deion Sanders, Randy Moss, and Charles Woodson who all received 99s at their peak. So, is anyone pumped about Madden 08 or are you expecting just more of the same?[Thanks, Chris]
For Madden speed, it don't get bester than Hester
Milestones in human speed: May 6, 1954: Roger Bannister runs a mile in under four minutes. June 14, 2005: Asafa Powell runs 100 meters in 9.77 seconds. April 5, 2007: ESPN reveals Devin Hester will have a speed rating of 100 in Madden NFL '08. Not only does EA think Hester is faster than any other football player in history, the noted kick returner is set to become the first player to get a perfect rating in any stat category in the perennial football franchise. Hester said he was honored by the, er, honor, but not exactly surprised -- according to ESPN, "Hester has been known to have been lobbying members of the Madden NFL 08 development team for the top speed rating." NFL players exerting undue influence on developers? We smell a scandal. Maddengate! Our main question now is what will happen if someone faster than Hester comes along? Will EA create a 101 rating? Or will the 100 rating eventually become like a "perfect ten" game review -- good, but not perfect? [Update: Fixed the date above. Thanks Products] [Thanks tevetorbes]
