E3 2009 Nearly Here

I’m now preparing to head out to LA for E3 early in the morning. While the actual event begins on Tuesday there is a ton of gaming news expected to start flowing out on Monday. That includes the EA Press Conference scheduled to begin at 2pt/5et.

I’ll be in attendance and, connection permitting, will be live blogging here on the site and live tweeting. You can also follow along live with the free streaming video. This press conference is where multiple announcements (primarily online related) will be made for Madden 10 and other EA Sports titles.

Following that up in the evening look for articles on the new features/modes and a podcast or vidcast from myself and OS’ Chase Becotte. That’ll then lead into impressions, videos, pictures, and more from the event floor beginning Tuesday morning.

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EA Sports Live Appearance

To provide some advance notice I wanted to mention I’ll be on EA Sports Live tomorrow (Friday). In what will become a weekly segment I’ll be making an appearance to discuss news from the sports gaming world. Tomorrow expect a good deal of talk about UFC 2009 Undisputed as the release and response to the game has been in the spotlight this week.

To listen to the show at 3pm ET / noon PT click here. I’ll be sure to drop a reminder on Twitter prior to the show as well.

Update: Won’t be talking UFC or Tiger, instead it’ll be more of an introduction and then in future weeks will discuss the gaming news.

Big Day for NFL and Madden 10

Today is shaping up to be a an extremely exciting one for the NFL and Madden 10. It’s round one and two of the NFL Draft which right now looks to be one of the most intriguing and unpredictable ones in memory. But also as the draft progresses there will be a lot of Madden content to go along with it.

EA Sports Live will be airing throughout the first round with special guests in studio and calling in. For the first rounders once they are selected their screenshot in their respective uniform will be posted along with their player ratings. For the second rounders it will just be the ratings.

I’ll have running commentary on the site from the start of the NFL Draft and through the end of round two along with updating through Twitter. I’m also scheduled to call into EA Sports Live at some point during the day.

For those of you who missed it check out my Twitter feed where I was able to break some Madden 10 ratings info yesterday. Enjoy the draft and be sure to stop in for the collection of content and running commentary all day long!

Laying Out The Upcoming Events and Coverage

I’ve arrived in New York for a some events taking place beginning tomorrow. Here is what to expect for the remainder of the week leading up to a ton of stuff that will go on Saturday in conjunction with the NFL Draft.

• EA Sports Season Preview Event (Thursday). Several games will be on display including NCAA Football 10 and Madden 10. There will be some embargoes involved and I’ll update on those parameters once I’ve received the details.

• Draft Event Premiere (Thursday evening). There will be several athletes in attendance and the lovely Erin Andrews. Expected to be there are Michael Crabtree, Aaron Curry, Brian Johnson, Mark Sanchez, Matthew Stafford, Brian Cushing, Malcolm Jenkins, Knowshon Moreno, Brian Orkapo, and likely some more. I will have the opportunity to sit down and ask questions of some of them.

• At 1230am (early Friday morning) the premiere video of Madden 10 will be featured on Spike’s Gametrailers TV. Soon after airing it will be available to watch online.

• Madden cover reveal (Friday). The cover athlete will be officially unveiled with some accompanying hoopla.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter as I’ll be utilizing that for quick updates, various tidbits, posting (non-game) pictures, and even asking for suggestions of different questions to pose to producers and athletes. I will look to get an article up on late Thursday night or Friday morning recapping Thursday’s events. Again though I am uncertain of what the embargoes will cover so in the meantime outside of the announcements being made don’t expect a lot of game related content to come out of it immediately.

NCAA Tournament Contest Winners

With the NCAA Tournament concluding as North Carolina routed Michigan State I wanted to wrap up the two contests that were decided with that result.

Congrats to brob1 for finishing at the top of the Tournament Challenge. He outdid 99.3% of the entrants in the entire ESPN TC which is an impressive accomplishment. Contact me via email so we can discuss the details of your XBL or PSN card.

For the 3 on 3 NHL Arcade code there were four people who correctly chose the game winners. They were assigned numbers and then chosen at random. Sroeland comes away with the code. Email me or direct message me on Twitter and I’ll send it off to you.

Thanks everyone for participating. I should have a new contest up sometime next week.

NCAA Final Four Contest

Here is another opportunity to win a free download code this time for 3 on 3 NHL Arcade (360). To qualify you need to post a comment on this articule using your IntenseDebate account with your winners of the Michigan State vs Connecticut and Villanova vs North Carolina games and then your choice to win the National Championship. Everyone who qualifies and correctly predicts the three games will be in the drawing for the code.

Also still in play is the $20 XBL or PSN card to the winner of the Bracket Challenge. DeepPurple21 leads going into the Final Four and has UConn picked to win it all. But there are several people on his tail that have UNC so it looks like it will go down to the wire.

Final MME Code Winner

After compiling the commenters on the previous article and replies on Twitter I came away with the winner as determined by random.org being knl3011. Congrats and check your direct messages on Twitter for the NCAA Basketball 09 March Madness Edition download code!

The comment threads have definitely improved thanks to the increased usage of IntenseDebate accounts. As I mentioned before due to the positive response these contests have brought I’ll be doing them on a semi-regular basis going forward. Prizes will vary. Look for the next one to come sometime next week.

Latest MME Code Winner and Next Chance To Win

Congrats to ptwaugh for winning the code for NCAA Basketball 09 March Madness Edition. After taking the names of everyone who correctly predicted the wins by Villanova and UCONN and using random.org it was ptwaugh who’s name was pulled out. Email me and I’ll get your code sent over!

The contests continue with another opportunity to win a MME download code which will run through the end of the day Monday. To be eligible you can either post a comment on this article using your IntenseDebate account or with Twitter be one of my followers and send me a message (about anything) beginning with @pastapadre. If you do both you’ll have two entries into the drawing.

Thanks to everyone for the response to these contests. I now plan to do them on a semi-regular basis (maybe once a week). While I won’t always have codes for the giveaways I will attempt to offer up something relatively intriguing each time.

Second MME Code Winner and Next Contest

Another thanks to everyone who took part in the second contest which required a message being sent to me on Twitter. Once again I assigned numbers to each person and using random.org drew for the winner. TouchdownSkins comes away with the NCAA Basketball 09 March Madness code. Check your direct messages on Twitter for the code I’ll be sending over.

For a chance to win the next MME code (or substitute 3 on 3 NHL Arcade code for 360) you’ll need to post a comment on this article using your IntenseDebate account. Include your picks of who will win both tournament games on Saturday with Pittsburgh vs Villanova and Connecticut vs Missouri. Only those who post the two selections with their ID account by tip-off of the first game will qualify and one entry per person. In the likely event that multiple entrants have the correct teams chosen the code winner will be selected at random out of that group and announced on Sunday.

First MME Code Winner and Next Opportunity

Thanks to everyone who commented on the previous article with their ID account. I went through and took everyone’s name down assigned each a number then used random.org to draw for the winner. SigmaAG comes away with the NCAA Basketball 09 March Madness Edition download code. Go ahead and email me and I’ll get that sent off to you, congrats! The comment threads are looking much improved now and I think everyone using ID will appreciate the benefits.

The next chance to win is Twitter related. To qualify you need to be a follower of mine on Twitter and send a message (about whatever you want) starting with @pastapadre on there by tomorrow morning. I’ll draw out of everyone and the winner will get a download code for MME (or 3 on 3 NHL Arcade). Winner to be announced sometime tomorrow. There are a couple events in the coming months which I’m excited about that I’ll be heavily utilizing Twitter for including a NCAA Football 10 pre-NFL Draft event and E3.