The National Basketball Association is no closer to working out its labor issues. Instead, things have actually taken a major turn for the worse.

NBA players are planning to dissolve their union which will pave the way for an antitrust lawsuit. Going to court not only jeopardizes the current season but could possibly drag into 2012 and endanger next year’s licensed basketball games.

EA’s Gamescom 2011 announcement of a FIFA Street return came as a pleasant surprise. Considering the problems EA has had relaunching NBA Jam, it was worth wondering if the arcade soccer redo would get a full retail release. EA has confirmed that it will, and has revealed a whole host of features. The new “Street Ball” control system has more in common with EA’s Need for Speed racing games than any previous sports effort. Your controller’s left and right triggers handle braking and speeding up. Players can combine these moves to fake out opponents, slamming to a stop and then taking off.

Rumors of an EA revival of NFL Blitz surfaced in 2010. Now EA has confirmed them and has even gone hands on with its new iteration. Madden NFL is a fun football sim experience but sometimes you just want to do a leg drop on Tony Romo. Blitz is pure arcade, with 30-yard first downs and wrestling moves applied after tackles. Midway Games published the original arcade classic and EA bought the rights after during Midway’s bankruptcy proceedings. EA Tiburon, the studio that produces Madden annually, will develop the new Blitz.

Madden NFL cover athletes including Michael Vick and Shaun Alexander have gotten injured the year they appeared on the game. These injuries have given rise to the “Madden Curse,” a superstition that claims the cover athlete will suffer physical harm or career misfortune. A believer in the curse will cite the number of high profile athletes who have suffered an injury while on the cover. The skeptic will counter that football is a game full of injuries, and that these are coincidences.

Continuing its recent policy of focusing the cover of Tiger Woods’ game on anything but Woods, EA has announced another golfer will share the honor with him. It is also asking players to vote for which golfer it will be. The cover vote is happening on Facebook with two brackets: one for American golfers and one for European golfers. Bubba Watson, Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Hunter Mahan, and Rocco Mediate battle it out in the US bracket. Europeans Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, and Edoardo Molinari.

NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell is the latest player to sue EA Sports regarding use of a likeness from his college days. His grievance against EA is part of a larger suit against the NCAA, which Russell alleges sells $150 videos of his national championships without sharing any of the profits with him. Russell is taking EA to court for allegedly using his likeness in its Tournament of Legends feature in its NCAA Basketball games. Russell wants a court order that would stop sales of the games and videos, as well as a cut of the profits and unspecified damages.