Notable in the announcement of the Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition was nothing being included to celebrate the history of the franchise. For what is intended to mark a milestone anniversary that it contains nothing about the past or from it is certainly perplexing. Instead something that would have made perfect sense packed in is being sold separately. 

The documentary NFL Madden 25 will release on the same day as the game. The NFL Films doc will profile the 25 years from Madden’s inception to where it stands today.

Everyone loves MADDEN! From the everyday gamer, to celebrities, to NFL players themselves simply stated MADDEN has become a phenomenon. Originally endorsed, and inspired by former head football coach and color commentator John Madden, the video game has changed the way people experience NFL football. From program evolution to a cultural juggernaut, Madden 25th Anniversary celebrates 25 years of EA Sports MADDEN NFL video game and follows it’s rise from ‘just another game’ to an iconic force woven deeply into the fabric of sports history.

Compare the Madden 25 Anniversary Edition which has Ultimate Team Packs and (as the current terms stand a potentially deceptive) DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket offer to Madden 09′s 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. That one included NFL Head Coach 09 along with a playable Madden 93 and special video content. Madden 25 AE goes for $100 while Madden 09′s was only $90. Needless to say the value provided by the two would be perceived as drastically different by the majority of consumers.

The documentary is currently listed on Amazon for $21 on Blu-ray and $15 on DVD. Tell me again why this is not part of the Anniversary Edition of Madden NFL 25?

With zero games in development – there will be no FIFA or Madden or any titles from EA on Wii U this year – the system is in dire straits with dreadful sales, weak to non-existent third party support, and no reason for optimism that things could turn around. Now some insight on why companies are abandoning their efforts for the console has come from an EA Sports engineer at the EA Canada studio who calls the Wii U “crap”.

The tweets have predictably been deleted but the series of them can still be read in this Neogaf thread. The comments include how the family market has transitioned away from Nintendo to mobile and how the markets that matter are next-gen and mobile rather than a system that is “less powerful than an Xbox 360″. There really isn’t anything that observers haven’t surmised but pertinent coming from inside a studio that produced a Wii U game last year.

At this point the “why” of the matter simply comes down to sales. If the Wii U was building an install base that would support third party titles companies would be making them. Its failure however has made it an unprofitable venture to even just port over games from the 360/PS3.

This amazing gif is courtesy of SunhiLegend at Neogaf

After lying dormant for eight months since posting the announcement of NBA Live 13′s cancellation EA Sports today sent out a message via multiple NBA Live social platform accounts that NBA Live 14 is “coming to a court near you”.

The timing is notable as the tease emerges just days before the Microsoft next-gen console reveal which could very well feature an EA presence and is rumored to include some element of exclusivity among the announcements. Should nothing with EA materialize at that event game announcements are expected at E3 through the Microsoft press conference and the EA press conference – both of which take place on June 10.

Recent comments suggest NBA Live 14 is headed to the next generation of consoles where it can start fresh and build for the future. It will be an uphill battle after severely deteriorating consumer confidence with the aborted releases of NBA Elite 11 and Live 13. It will also have to face an entrenched competitor that only solidified its place as a cultural force the last three years when it was the only sim basketball game on the market.

Amazon today posted listings for the Anniversary Edition of Madden NFL 25 which will be exclusive to the online retailer. The special edition will include 17 packs for Ultimate Team distributed over 17 weeks (each features 2 rare players, 4 silver, and 4 bronze) and exclusive offers that will benefit very few for NFL Sunday Ticket. The price will be $100. 

♦For fans who are not currently DirecTV subscribers but are able to receive DirecTV service, they will receive a promo code entitling them to $10 off per month for their first year of service and one year of NFL Sunday Ticket Max at no additional charge.

♦For fans who are already DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket Max subscribers, you can access NFL Sunday Ticket on your computer, tablet, and mobile devices using your current DirecTV username and password.

♦For fans unable to receive DirecTV service, each Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition will include a unique code to access the 2013 regular season (17 weeks) trial of NFL Sunday Ticket on computers, tablets, and mobile devices- including access to the award-winning Red Zone Channel.

Keep in the mind that the third group – “fans unable to receive DirecTV service” – would be very limited in scope and not those who simply have cable instead of DirecTV. That is for the people who can’t get DirecTV where they live. So the Anniversary Edition of Madden NFL 25 will really only appeal to hardcore Ultimate Team players and those starting new service with DirecTV or that fall into that specific group that can’t get DTV even if they wanted to.

For $40 the savings might make sense for them. For everyone else there would be no reason to buy the special edition over the standard one. It’s especially perplexing that the Anniversary Edition of Madden wouldn’t include anything related to the franchise’s history.

If you do decide to purchase any version of Madden NFL 25 through Amazon doing so through this link helps to support the site and future giveaways!

[UPDATE] Under the current terms posted DTV has the right to reject access to the mobile service for anyone that has the ability to buy their full service but don’t have it and for those who are already subscribers but not to Sunday Ticket. Regardless of whether EA says that will or will not happen (they say it won’t) DTV is the one who will end up making the call come September. Unless the terms on the product page are changed there is risk in purchasing with the expectation of taking advantage of the Sunday Ticket deal. Considering DTV’s history of business practices, and the intentional language throughout the terms to give them these very clear outs, the Anniversary Edition can not be recommended at this time.

The latest edition of the Press Row Podcast includes discussion on the panel’s most dramatic sports gaming losses, complete analysis of the Ultimate Team news for NCAA Football 14 and the prospects for the mode, and responses to some listener questions. It’s definitely one of the best shows yet!

Check it out through iTunes or with the embedded player at Operation Sports. With the big Microsoft event on Tuesday the 21st look for the Press Row Hangout to air live that night for initial reactions and a special edition of the podcast to come later in the week!

While much of the discussion around upcoming releases has centered on the complete dismissal of the Wii U (nothing coming its way) and the emergence of the PS4 and next Xbox (Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, and possibly NBA Live) there have also been questions relating to the PlayStation Vita. No sports games through the end of the year have been confirmed for the handheld but Gamestop has now posted a listing for FIFA 14. They are very unlikely to have done so without having received information that the game will be released for the Vita. 

While sales of the Vita have been anything but solid there is still the Sony cross-platform integration that not only matters now with the PS3 but will also come PS4. Interaction with FIFA 14 on one or the other would make a lot of sense and could be announced at the Sony or EA press conference kicking off E3 or simply be a feature revealed during the event. Considering the worldwide sales numbers if only one sports game was going to be on the Vita it would be FIFA.

In other news the first pre-order incentive for FIFA 14 has been posted by EA through their Origin site. For the most part FIFA has traditionally avoided going the route of offering unique bonuses at different retailers so there is a chance this will be the extra package that comes with pre-ordering no matter where it is purchased. 24 Ultimate Team “Gold” packs (distributed over 24 weeks) and five “boosts” to apply to a virtual pro will be provided.

EA Sports today released a new video for NHL 14 putting on display the new One-Touch Dekes and the improved physics-based skating engine. The One-Touch Dekes feature offers “a more responsive deking system controlled only with the left stick and one-button”. Greater player responsiveness and control through “improved balance between speed and momentum, quicker pivots and enhanced lateral skating” with be found in the True Performance Skating.

In an interview with VentureBeat senior director of corporate communications for EA, John Reseburg, states regarding the Online Pass that “none of (the) new EA titles will include that feature” going forward. 

“Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format,” Reseburg said. “We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.”

The Online Pass was introduced in 2010 by EA and spread to become a near norm throughout the industry. While EA will frame this as responding to consumer feedback the reality is that it simply was not the revenue-generator that they had anticipated as a way to make up for used sales perceived to be eating into those of new copies.

One thing to keep in mind though is the distinct possibility that EA is looking for a PR boost out of dropping the Online Pass only for the next-generation consoles to offer some sort of built-in system that would be similar in nature. If there is an “unlock” fee for used games on the PS4 and Xbox Infinity (or whatever the name will be) there would be no need for the EA Online Pass.

Following the first news and trailers on “Run Free” for Madden NFL 25 generating a wave of negativity and then a curious last-second delay of Connected Franchise news it made sense for EA Sports to fill the gap with something that would attempt to ease the concerns of those not encouraged by what has been put on display thus far.

The latest video – which seems to have been pulled together expressly for this purpose as they missed a second straight self-imposed deadline by releasing it two days after had been promised – centers on the defensive side of the ball. There isn’t a whole lot of substance in the video besides a few new tackle animations and the mention of features like “Heat-seeker tackling” without actually explaining what that entails.

EA Sports today revealed just how Ultimate Team will be implemented in NCAA Football 14. An agreement with the NFLPA will feed in over 1500 current NFL players who will represent the college version of themselves. EA is also working to bring in some retired players as well though they would have to be negotiated with individually. The legends featured in Hesiman Challenge last year are locked in already however. The mode will also include the 10 game “seasons” followed by playoffs or relegation that was first introduced in FIFA 13′s version of the mode.

Several limitations will stunt the success of Ultimate Team here but the mode will probably still be a money-maker for EA filling a digital revenue void. Essentially appearing as a NCAA-skinned Madden Ultimate Team with younger versions of players, the different loyalties that lie with college programs rather than individuals, and being the only UT not to have current active players hurts its overall appeal. All this and being the first out will lead some hardcore Ultimate Team users to transition to their game of choice – FIFA 14 has made over $200 million in digital revenue and Madden 13 has neared $100 million – rather than spending on NCAA for 6+ months.