The mysterious face in Madden 08

A while back I posted a screen from one of the Madden videos showing a face in the score/info bar (above). This face has been spotted at various times in different videos for the game. No one really had an answer for what it represented. However thanks to "coogrfan" who is a member of several forums we have our first plausible theory.

He posted two screens from other videos (which you can view below by clicking the thumbnails) and was able to determine that the face was from an ad for "Massive Soldiers" seen on the scoreboard. Could this be the first sign of the new agreement that EA Sports has with Massive Network, a provider of real-time updated in-game advertising?

I've never had a problem with in-game advertising. To the contrary I feel that it increases the realism of sports titles when they're represented in the same way they are experienced in real life. These ads shouldn't be intrusive within the games, they should come across as being natural.

That is something that isn't the case with this face that has appeared. What is it doing in the score/info bar? What good does it do when no one knows what the hell it's there for? I suppose it could simply be a placeholder for ads to come. And why is it visible only some of the time? It seems so out of place and isn't similar to anything you would see while watching an NFL game.

That face being there was bizarre regardless. I originally had hoped that the Xbox 360 Vision Camera was being used to upload your photo to display during challenges or something along those lines. If this face is an example of the way ads are going to be placed and utilized in future EA Sports games I now for the first time feel a bit of concern.