IGN.com designer series video showcases online co-op for the first time in the Madden series. A great addition in my opinion, I’ve always been a co-op gamer at heart despite my competitive side. Another note: after a second watching of this video I noticed Ian Cummings mention “Online franchise” mode. I haven’t seen any specifics on this game mode yet but I would absolutely LOVE to see it. The idea of a multiplayer franchise mode has always thrilled me.

ESPN.com recently posted the Madden 10 top player ratings. It hurts me to see Tony Romo ranked higher than my beloved Matt Hasselbeck. But I suppose I can find comfort in John Carlson’s top ten ranking among TE’s.

I also ran across the Madden 10 rookie player ratings. Some nerd took the time to put them all into a searchable database, which is pretty cool really. You can just look at your teams choices or all picks from a specific school. I did notice however that the last couple rounds of the draft have been left out. Not sure why or if I’m just having problems with the site.

One last item worth noting is the video from EA producer Iam Cummings explaining the new Pro-Tak system. They’re using it for both passing pocket creation and tackling animations/physics. Using only the video as evidence I’d say it should work in an amazing fashion. However, the Madden series has always seemed to find ways let me down when I’m at my most excited state.

As I announced last week, this last weekend was the F00T clans Gold Cross 55 Marathon. I just wanted to take this opportune free moment to let everyone know how it went, in as brief a fashion as I’m able.

It was about 10am when my buddy showed up and woke everyone else up, at which point we all helped him unload all his gaming gear into my third story apartment. We figured it’d be a good idea to stock up on food that was quick to make so we ran to the local Papa Murphy’s for some bake it yourself pizzas and finished off the trip with a run to the store for some energy drinks and soda pops.

We finally got the party started at just before noon and it wasn’t more than 20 minutes before Will realized he’d need cigarette breaks. If we were going to make it to level 55 we didn’t really have time for any break that didn’t involve food going in or coming out of our bodies. Thank the lord he’s smarter than he looks because he pulled off one of the more clever moves I’ve ever seen. He put the television up against the sliding glass door and played in a lawn chair on my deck.

With smoke breaks taken care of and everyone on board things were rolling fast, we lost only 10 of our first 50 or 60 matches and the points were flooding in. After about 5 hours it really looked like we were going to make it!

Sadly however, a lot can change over the course of an entire day. It was about 7am on Sunday morning when one of our key contributors had to pack up and take off. Within an hour of that our spirits had been seriously depleted…things were looking grim. As you can see in the pic below, even our in game selfs were throwing in the towel.

In the end we made it to 24 hours played straight. We were however not able to hit 55. I myself got through 46 levels. My counterpart made it to 43. There was much sweat, many tears, excessive use of eye drops and a garbage bag full of empty cans. I can’t give enough thanks to all those of you who joined us in our endeavor. There is no way I could have made it as far as I did without my in house teammates and those from the forums.

• Orangekiss
• BabeeDoll
• RuFiO813z
• MyKillMyBonus
• Elevendy7
• G Machete
• o iM LiVE o
• theblacklions
• VIPER MAN 13

Special thanks go out to Howy96 - we played with Howy when he woke up for a couple hours before he went to work, then he joined back up with us when he got home 9 hours later. And one more time when he woke up the next day before work again. That really made us realize how long we’d been sitting in front of our LCD’s. Thanks Howy, we love you too.

This coming Saturday the 23rd of May I will be marathoning to Gold Cross 55! At around 10am pacific time I’ll be rolling over to level one and will continue on playing until I reach level 55. There will be a few people here with me lanning it up. One of which is also making the trek through all 55 golden levels. Our goal is to make it in 24 hours of play…. which will be a tough task for sure.

We’ll have one extra Xbox set up it looks like so if you’re in the Seattle area feel free to hit me up on Xbox Live and we can get you over here for some live action. If you’re not you can still join in on the action by partying up with us whenever you can throughout that day.

My Live gamertag is DymndHeartKilla. Message me anytime between now and then to get the scoop.

I’ve been away for some time. We just finished a really elaborate project at work so I hope to find a bit more time to write.

The problem is that the IR transmitters range doesn’t reach the headset that well when I play Call of Duty because I don’t keep it directly next to my television. It is so tall that if I did it would cover up a portion of the screen, and I just can’t have that.

What I hope to accomplish here is to remove the feet from the bottom and the hanger for the headset and fashion some sort of stand to allow me to set the box on its side in front of the television without blocking the view while still allowing the signals to get directly to me without any static being caused.

Here is a really shitty paint drawing of what I’m describing:

This might seem stupid easy…But there is one catch: I must make it look sleek and stylish. At least somewhat. You see, I am a stickler for good looks. Which means there can be no duct tape, no bungie cords and certainly no big wads of gum holding this thing together. That is my challenge should I choose to accept it.

Which I do.

Well it looks like operation “Rejuvenate Halo” worked perfectly. Including a free Halo 3 map pack download in Halo Wars, which released last week, helped Halo 3 reclaim the top spot on the list. Along with that it also helped Halo Wars make it to number six. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is still sitting in the top three right behind its newer counterpart World at War, which is a surprise to me. How that game has managed to stay so highly played after a year and a half AND a well received sequel is anyone’s guess.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 Halo Wars
7 Left 4 Dead
8 Halo Wars demo
9 FIFA 09
10 STREET FIGHTER IV

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Watchmen: The End is Nigh
2 Castle Crashers
3 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
4 Worms
5 UNO
6 Braid
7 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
8 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
9 A Kingdom for Keflings
10 Marble Blast Ultra

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Splinter Cell Chaos
6 Conker: Live Reloaded
7 Doom 3
8 Burnout 3
9 Call of Duty 3
10 Star Wars: Battlefront

Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Aquarium HD
3 DrumKit
4 TV Calibration
5 Rumble Massage
6 ZP2K9
7 Bowling X
8 Miner Dig Deep
9 Remote Masseuse
10 bricks4ever

Title above taken straight from Team17’s facebook page says it all. This is the first. Feast…

While it does look like the first one with an avatar thrown in, I remain quite excited by the image. Some new weapons? More players in multiplayer? Different game modes? Who knows? Not me.

Xbox’s Major Nelson released this weeks top 10 played games on Xbox Live.

Not many big surprises on the list. World at War is still on top. Halo 3 is second followed by Call of Duty 4. I cannot believe 3 on 3 Hockey is selling on Xbox Live Arcade….that game looks really bad. The big surprise for me is Fifa 09 making the top ten. Maybe soccer is making a bit of a push for popularity in the eyes of our youth?

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1. Call of Duty: WaW
2. Halo 3
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Gears of War 2
5. GTA IV
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Street Fighter IV
8. FIFA 09
9. Halo Wars Demo
10. Guitar Hero World Tour

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1. Braid
2. 3 on 3 NHL Arcade
3. Castle Crashers
4. Worms
5. Uno
6. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
7. A Kingdom for Keflings
8. Death Tank
9. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
10. The Maw

Top Community Games (Full Versions purchased)

1. RC-AirSim
2. Aquarium HD
3. Bowling X
4. Miner Dig Deep
5. Rumble Massage
6. Remote Masseuse
7. DrumKit
8. TV Calibration
9. bricks4ever
10. Golden Royal Blackjack

The Left 4 Dead survival pack coming this spring will include a new “survival” mode, along with two new multiplayer maps: death toll, and dead air. I hear they will also be smacking the store shelves with a version of the game that will include all of these new items.

What is survival mode? I have no idea. But my best guess is that it has something to do with surviving something…