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.

No longer content to live in the shadow of Madden NFL, EA’s NCAA Football games have garnered attention in their own right recently. College football will be here before you know it (Yes!) and EA Sports is touting the latest improvements to its game. Producer Mike Scantlebury proudly proclaims the end of “suction” on tackling. No more will your ballcarrier break out a sweet juke and then have a defender seemingly teleport over and suck you into a tackle animation.

These are tough times for sports games. The sophomore entry in the UFC Undisputed series fell out of favor and a trio of racing games released in May 2010 didn’t sell. EA Sports’ long running NCAA Football series, however, is trending in a positive direction.

NFL legends Jim Brown and Herb Adderley believe EA Sports is using their images and career statistics – and those of thousands of other athletes – without fair compensation. On Monday (September 28, 2009) they asked U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken to let them join former Nebraska and Arizona State University quarterback Sam Keller in a suit against EA.

Keller and the NFL Hall of Famers say EA is making millions from the images of college and pro athletes it uses in their games without compensating those players.

EA uses retired players in its Madden NFL games but doesn’t call them by name. It uses their famous jersey numbers, racial backgrounds and the ratings it would assume to those players. College athletes are portrayed the same way. EA and the NCAA argue the video games are protected under the First Amendment as realistic expressions of the games they depict.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s downloadable goodies for the PS3 with descriptions courtesy of Sony.

• DiRT Demo (Rated E, Free) – Get off road, be the fastest and stay in control with DiRT. The game that takes players on an adrenaline fueled ride through a massive range of off road racing. With its sublime car handling and physics system, DIRT also brings with it a devastating new damage engine that …