Looks like you can get Madden before most jocks. Who'da thunk it.
Madden 12 will be available Friday, August 26th through the Season Ticket subscription plan. It'll be available for the Xbox 360 at 10 AM EST/ 7 AM PST and on the Playstation 3 at 6 PM EST/ 3 PM EST.
The digital copy will expire Tuesday morning but all the saved info and achievements will be transfered to the retail copies of the games. All game modes minus Madden Ultimate Team will be available. Yes, online play will be available as well.
Electronic Arts has decided to shut down the online services for a handful of their older games, the company does this quite often, most of the time doing so with the annual sports games. Server closings will begin on August 11 of this year, the 2010 editions of Madden and NHL will follow suit on October 1.
The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy," says the company on their support site. "The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired. But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles below a point -- fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles -- where it’s feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games.
EA is usually clear about when their games lose online support, and you can see all the other games that no longer work in the online world at the same support site. Here are the games that are gone in a few weeks:
August 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown
Army of Two for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Army of Two Demo for Xbox 360
Battlefield 2142 Demo for PC
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox 360
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Demo for Xbox 360
Medal of Honor Airborne for PlayStation Portable
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for PlayStation Portable and Wii
NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (North America)
NCAA Basketball 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA Football 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Need for Speed Most Wanted for PC and Xbox 360
Need for Speed Undercover for PlayStation Portable;
SKATE for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Well kids, it's 1/1/11 and that means two things: 1. It's New Years Day and 2. It's GamerZitch's first ever Game of the Year awards. Now let's get this presentation on the road!
Best Action/Adventure
Winner: Red Dead Redemption
Runner Up: God of War III
Best RPG
Winner: Mass Effect 2
Runner Up: Fallout New Vegas
Best Shooter
Winner: Halo Reach
Runner Up: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Best Sports Game
Winner: NBA 2k11
Runner Up: Madden 11
Best Multiplayer
Winner: Halo Reach
Runner Up: Rock Band 3
Best Racer
Winner: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Runner Up: Split/Second
Biggest Surprise
Winner: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Runner Up: Deadly Premonition
Best Sound Design
Winner: Alan Wake
Runner Up: Red Dead Redemption
Best Soundtrack
Winner: Rock Band 3
Runner Up: Nier
Best DLC
Winner: Red Dead Redemption Undead Zombie Nightmare
Runner Up: Left 4 Dead: The Passing
Best Downloadable Game
Winner: Super Meat Boy
Runner Up: Limbo
Best Handheld Game
Winner: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Runner Up: Persona 3 Portable
Most Original
Winner: Heavy Rain
Runner Up: Limbo
Best New Character
Winner: John Marston
Runner Up: Alan Wake
Best Art Direction
Winner: Limbo
Runner Up: Epic Mickey
Best Writing
Winner: Heavy Rain
Runner Up: Mass Effect 2
Best Fighter
Winner: Super Street Fighter 4
Runner Up: Tatsunoko vs Capcom Ultimate All Stars
Best RTS
Winner: Starcraft II
Runner Up: Civilization V
Games Most Likely To Steal Your Life
Winner: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Runner Up: Civilization V
Biggest Disappointment
Winner: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Runner Up: Medal of Honor
Game of the Year
Winner: Red Dead Redemption
Runner Up: Mass Effect 2
And because we're so generous we recorded a podcast just for you! Seriously though it's terrible but hey, it's our first podcast.
Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 6:01PM 
