New Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh was overshadowed in Cincinnati by the play, and later the antics, of Chad Ochocinco. Now that Housh has the stage to himself in Seattle, he’s putting on his own show, threatening to boycott playing the new Madden game because of his rating.

“I understand I averaged 10 yards a catch, but it’s the offense, not me,” Houshmandzadeh said, via Mike Sando of ESPN.com. “I’m not playing Madden no more until they get my rating right. . . . I used to be the best in the world at Madden. I’m going to miss not playing it, but until they do me right, I’m not playing it any more.” via.

The people at Electronic Arts, the wards of the great football franchise, had already announced earlier in the year that gamers would see less parity in their favorite players’ ratings for this year’s game. The logic was that the elite talents in the NFL should be the elite talents in its virtual counterpart.

But here’s the rub–Housh has an overall rating of 91 in this year’s game. Not bad for the leading receiver on a team that went 4-11-1 last season. Why do the wideouts always have to be so crabby? You’d think they were playing in the slot wearing high heels and a Valentino gown. Heh, slot.

Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu will share the cover of the next Madden game, Madden NFL 10, which of course will be released this summer. They’re both dynamic performers with big hair that energized their respective organizations to their industry’s biggest stage. Yeah, they’re rock stars. New features on the game in this edition include a roster update and that’s probably about it.

And EA is also promising some sort of interactive experience for the NFL draft tomorrow. I have no idea what that might include, but I doubt it’s enough to keep me on a computer for a sixth straight day.

Guys that regularly play Madden are better football fans than those that simply watch the game on TV. So sayeth a study commissioned by the game’s producer, Electronic Arts. Darren Rovell, who somehow gets away with writing about sports at CNBC, has the poop:

EA commissioned the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center to survey average NFL fans versus those that played “Madden.”

The survey revealed that those who played “Madden” were 60 percent more knowledgeable about the game than those who just classified themselves as non-gaming fans of the league.[...]

The survey found that those who played Madden were 79 percent better in their general knowlege of the game, 54 percent better when being quizzed about game situations and 28 percent better on the rules of the game.

This reminds me of the time I got straight As in 19th century American history by simply playing hours and hours of Oregon Trail. Life was so much simpler then, no bills to pay, no prostitutes to maim. One time I strangled a hooker that weighed 230 pounds, but I could only carry 100 pounds back to the wagon.

The semi-ironic thing about this was that it was found on FOXSports.com [thanks, Ben Maller]. And this is a classic “If I see one more political ad I’m going to absolutely snap” story, because this damn exercise in democracy couldn’t end soon enough.

The Obama campaign has purchased space in the popular Xbox 360 game “Madden NFL 09″ and nine other titles by video game maker Electronic Arts, said Holly Rockwood, the company’s director of corporate communications.

Only gamers playing online in 10 states can see the ads, which appear as stadium signage or billboards, Rockwood said. (The ads are downloaded when gamers log on to the Xbox Internet service.) Unsurprisingly, all 10 states are swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. President Bush won all of those states in 2004 except for Wisconsin.

The ads began running Oct. 6 and will be visible until Nov. 3, the day before Election Day, Rockwood said.

So remember, retards: Just because you have a poorly-crafted opinion about the future of our country doesn’t mean you have to vote. And if you do make it to the polls, don’t forget about the white guy! Of course I’m talking about Chuck Baldwin. Who did you think I meant?

[The Hill's Blog, not to be confused with that show that Ufford really likes]

It's now been over a week since the Madden '09 release party, and it certainly took "Glitch in the System" long enough to get their video made.  But for those of you who missed Mike's written report from the party, watching this is way less effort than reading, even if it does come with someone wearing a sports jacket over a football jersey.  But hey, it's always nice to see Joey Lawrence.  He's looking well.

Well, today's the big day: a new video game is available in stores, and it's a big deal because it simulates NFL games.  With Leather's resident gamer, Mike Tunison, has been MIA for the last several days while he's been off in LA filing reports about Maddenpalooza (part one, part two), but I've got all the Madden wrap-up you're gonna need.  Or rather, I'm going to link to all the wrap-ups, like this one.

But the best review of Madden I've seen comes from Shutdown Corner's inimitable MJD.  A few of his observations:

• The first thing I notice in actual gameplay is how each different stadium brings a completely different feel to the game. I'm not sure how they did it, but they've really  managed to bring each unique environment to life. Playing at Heinz Field looks and feels completely different to playing in Qualcomm, for example, way more so than in any previous version of Madden.

• I'm not sure I want to be the kind of guy who says that the grass looks awesome in a video game, but, well … the grass looks kind of awesome.

• I also love how the helmets are so shiny and glossy, while the jerseys have more of a matte finish. It just looks fantastic, even if noticing these things does little for my self-esteem.

The final verdict is that the game looks better than ever, but the few small changes that have been made don't particularly improve the game.  Sure, sounds about right.  Hey, remember when EA introduced the passing cone?  People lost their shit.  It was like someone released a Mother Teresa sex tape.