The demo for Facebreaker is expected to hit XBL and PSN on Thursday July 31st. Considering the arcade style fighting game doesn’t release until the first week of September that is unexpectedly early.

One round of action (90 seconds) will be featured in the demo, with three playable characters and two arenas to choose from. The best part though is that they’ve included the ability to upload a face. While you’ll be limited to placing a face on one of the included characters, with the full game that will expand to allow full character creation.

EA Sports has released a new trailer for NBA Live 09, this one spotlighting the 365 feature. As detailed previously, this will update the game every day based on the latest data and not just in terms of ratings or roster movement. It will add in new players after their first appearance, update tendencies, reflect injuries, and lead into hot and cold streaks. The trailer also goes into NBA Live Rewind which allows you to replay any game from last season or the upcoming one with the AI and rosters that were specific to those games at the time.

Continue on to view the trailer and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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The secret online feature for NHL 09 has now been officially revealed as being the EA Sports Hockey League. This will be somewhat of a combination between Be A Pro mode and Online Team Play.

Along the lines of an MMO, you’ll be able to create your player and improve him through the EASHL. Teams will comprise of up to 50 users, individual and team stats will be tracked, and this will be a ranked online mode. Only two team members will be required to compete together in order to count a game, but up to the six that is allowed through OTP will be able to join in at once. Basically there could be several games for a single team taking place at once, and it allows for a lot of flexibility in being able to get into games and contribute for the team as well as build up your player.

Head over to Gamespot for an interview with producer David Littman that provides greater detail on this exciting addition to NHL 09.

The demo for Madden 09 will hit XBL and PSN on Friday August 1st. If you just can’t wait until August 1st the same demo (only for the Xbox 360) is available with the purchase of an NFL DVD that releases tomorrow the 22nd.

This will not be a typical demo. Instead of traditional gameplay with reduced quarter length it will feature time in the virtual trainer and then head into one of the “Madden Moments”, this one from the Super Bowl. Only the offensive team will be controlled (in this case the Giants seem likely). Commentary has been excluded due to demo size limitations.

The Madden NFL 09 Demo showcases some of the new and exciting features in Madden NFL 09. The demo begins with the user being loaded into the all new Virtual Trainer to begin the Madden Test. The Madden Test is a Madden aptitude test of sorts, that is used to assess your Madden IQ, which drives the users custom difficulty and play settings. The Madden Test consists of 4 core game play mechanics: Passing, Rushing, Pass Defense, and Rush Defense. Gamers will be taken through the entirety of the Madden test and then given their final Madden IQ.

Once the Madden Test is completed and with the your Madden IQ decided, gamers are then brought into yet another all new feature, Madden Moments. Madden Moments allows for users to replay a team’s key moment from the 2007 season. Upon entry into this mode, you’ll see a brief overview of the moment, which is the Giants final Super Bowl-winning drive. With about 2 minutes to go, you will take over the reins of Eli and the Giants and begin their march to victory. Once the moment has been completed, users will be allowed to restart the moment as many times as they want.

After the utter disappointment of today comes some reason for hope. After investigating issues with the online dynasties throughout the day EA was able to remove a couple rogue files from my dynasty’s locker. Everything now loads up fine and appears to be accurate up to the point where the problems began. The Pastapadre Online Dynasty may attempt to advance to week two late tonight or in the early morning.

While this was just a temporary solution, and there is no guarantee the same problem won’t occur again, it is encouraging. Hopefully they’ll be able to restore all the damaged dynasties while finding a permanent fix very soon.

Online Dynasty in NCAA Football 09 was shaping up to be to be one of, if not the best new feature in a sports game in years. It had a true next-gen feel to it and into just the first week of the feature it had rejuvenated my interest in playing games against the CPU. The ability to have most of the games against the CPU offered the flexibility to progress a dynasty smoothly (unlike online leagues) while keeping the interactivity of having other users involved made it an exciting proposition.

Unfortunately the biggest feature for the game doesn’t appear to work right, as numerous reports of different things happening to wreck dynasties have been reported. That is the case with the Pastapadre Online Dynasty, which before week one could even be completed has seen an early death. I can no longer load into the dynasty as it just bumps me back to the main menu, and looking at the settings from the outside shows completely inaccurate settings and sliders.

Needless to say this is one of the most frustrating developments I’ve ever experienced when it comes to sports gaming. Previous years have brought terrible online performance though that was corrected with 09. Now the most anticipated and hyped feature doesn’t function correctly. And for those that haven’t had problems yet they’ll have to face anxiety each time they load it up. Not exactly the experience that was promised.

Along with the Online Dynasty problems there are a few other areas of concern, though minor in comparison. The Weather Channel feature hasn’t seemed to function since day one and the uploading of screenshots lately have not been working (though videos remain fine for whatever reason).

At this point even a patch can’t salvage the damage that has been done. I have little interest in restarting a dynasty from scratch. A few days ago I stated how enjoyable the game and new features were and how that would keep me playing through the release of Madden 09. Now it looks as though that won’t be happening.

I’m truely crushed by this development. I’m not sure where to go from here.

After hanging around for nine months EA Gameshow is coming to an end as of July 25th. The live interactive sports trivia game never received much of a push from EA and subsequently never gained any traction with the masses. A small but dedicated group of players remained throughout.

When Gameshow first started up I was hooked. It offered a unique experience with live hosts and their interation with the players added a lot. Once I stopped playing though I just couldn’t find the motivation to start back up again. In a way that addictive nature may have done it in for me as it almost seemed like a time committment would have to be made to play it.

• G4 gave the award for Best Innovation at E3 to NBA Live 09 (365/Dynamic DNA)

• There are currently no plans to change the cover of Madden 09. Not a surprise given that nothing has happened yet. Still is very possible that if Favre plays for a different team that EA would look to take advantage of that in some way.

• Peter Moore will be an unlockable character in Facebreaker.

• Gamespy has some gameplay footage from NBA 09 The Inside.

• The Pastapadre Online Dynasty has advanced to week one. Look for the full week recap and spotlight on Alabama @ Clemson later this week.

With everything around the release of NCAA Football 09 and the anticipation towards Madden, it seems as though NFL Head Coach 09 has taken a back seat. But the release of Head Coach along with Madden in the 20th Anniversary Edition is barely three weeks away. At the community event it was a difficult environment to really take in this game, which has far more to it than can be experienced in a single day. I found myself to be more interested in the off-the-field activities such as the draft, but much of that was probably due to not yet being comfortable with all the options during a game to take advantage of them.

The first video showing a full game of Head Coach featured the Dolphins and Patriots which didn’t make for much of a contest. This time around it is the Cowboys-Giants rivalry that is on display. Continue on to view the full game as broken down by quarter.

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The challenge continues against Fred from Sportsgamer with game two of our NCAA Football 09 series. Heading into this game Fred held a 1-0 lead after surviving a dramatic ending in the Navy vs Air Force game.

The voting from the last poll dictated that Illinois vs Michigan would be played, which meant I would be taking Michigan at home. This was another game filled with anxious moments. Continue on for a recap and highlights as well as a new poll to vote on what teams will be used in game three.

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