Madden Bowl, EA’s marriage of competitive gaming and celebrity appearances, will air 9:00 p.m. (ET), February 2, 2012, on ESPN 3. Xbox Live features the sports network on its dashboard, so Gold members will be able to watch from their consoles.

EA recently released its remake of NFL Blitz, a game that drained me of a college education’s worth of quarters in the ’90s.

Very likely due to restrictions placed on it by the National Football League, EA removed one of the most enjoyable parts of the game: late hits.

Believers in the “Madden Curse” had more evidence in 2011. Reversing course from numerous denials, Madden 12 cover athlete Peyton Hillis now thinks he’s been cursed.

Should we believe the numerous reports about a new Xbox coming in 2012, the 360 is late in its lifespan. It’s still racking up endorsement deals, however. The NFL and Microsoft have announced a multi-year sponsorship deal naming the Xbox 360 as the league’s official video game console. Microsoft will team with the NFL to promote the “Play 60″ campaign, that encourages kids to engage in 60 minutes of physical activity a day. The Kinect motion control system is at the heart of this deal. Microsoft is touting the Kinect’s controller-free gameplay as a way to be active on days when the weather doesn’t allow outside play.

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.

EA Sports scored a significant victory September 9, 2011, as a New Jersey federal court judge ended a lawsuit regarding the use of college athletes’ likenesses. Former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart, in his 2009 class action lawsuit, alleged NCAA Football had infringed on his publicity rights. A ruling against EA Sports could have caused problems for that publisher or any game maker that uses the likeness of college athletes.

Lovers of Madden NFL’s addictive Ultimate Team mode have a bunch of new things to collect after the season’s first update. The game within a game challenges players to collect the most powerful team possible through cards. Tracking down those cards gives you the right to use the players pictured. Hunting cards through auctions, unlocks and trades ( a feature added this year) is arguably more fun than playing with them. Completing collections of entire NFL teams earns coins and exclusive cards.

What’s another way to monetize games besides selling downloadable content? With a subscription plan of course. EA Sports today rolled out its EA Sports Season Ticket for $24.99 a year. EA Sports Season Ticket is a premium service that gives players of five EA Sports titles the ability to play the games for three days before they are released at retail.

The Online Pass feature made its debut in 2010 and does not appear to be going anywhere. In fact, EA is now giving gamers even less time to decide if they wish to purchase online features. Used or rental copies of EA’s games in 2010 allowed you a full week to try out online play. NCAA Football 12 releases this week and now that window is down to two days. To get the full features of these titles, it’s becoming more and more important to buy a new copy. That is, of course, what the online pass is all about.

Gamertell previously told you about Backbreaker Vengeance, the arcade return of NaturalMotion’s football franchise. It’s slated for a June 29, 2011, release on Xbox Live Arcade with a PlayStation Network version coming at a later date for PAL territories. In North America, it is a XBLA-only game. NaturalMotion has released a statement saying that factors beyond its control prevented the PSN release of the game.