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Based on the leaked Madden NFL 15 cover at Amazon (now reportedly confirmed by EA SPORTS), it appears that Richard Sherman's lobbying efforts have failed. After winning the M15 cover vote, Sherman petitioned EA SPORTS to add his 'Legion of Boom' teammates - Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Byron Maxwell - to the cover. However, he stated that "EA has been fighting" him, and it appears the video game publisher won out. ...

As the O'Bannon lawsuit versus the NCAA continues, the NCAA has reached a $20M settlement with the plaintiffs in the Sam Keller lawsuit. The Keller case was to be heard in March 2015 and the settlement will distribute $20 million to “certain Division I men’s basketball and Division I Bowl Subdivision football student-athletes who attended certain institutions during the years the games were sold.”

“With the games no longer in production and the plaintiffs settling their claims with EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company, the NCAA viewed a settlement now as an appropriate opportunity to provide complete closure to the video game plaintiffs,” said NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy.

Electronic Arts and the Collegiate Licensing Company finalized a $40M settlement with a series of plaintiffs in late May.

The O'Bannon lawsuit does not feature the plantiffs looking for monetary damages, but rather changes to the current collegiate model. Continue on for more on this lawsuit as well as comments from Peter Moore on what it would take for the NCAA Football franchise to return. ...

Despite not having a presence at E3, NBA Live 15 took advantage of the calm before the storm Monday morning and provided a first look at the improved player likenesses and visuals coming to the game this October.

One of the most common complaints in regards to NBA Live 14 were player likenesses, as screenshots of players including LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were often the butt of jokes in social media and game reviews.

The first screenshot of NBA Live 15 showcased the result of new face-scanning technology at EA Tiburon with realistic in-game images of Paul George, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo, James Harden, Blake Griffin, and Stephen Curry. Along with the screenshot is a video detailing the new face-scan technology. Continue on to see the video. ...

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) takes place this week in Los Angeles, California from Monday through Thursday. If you couldn't make it to LA, we have you covered with links and schedule of events for every major livestream from the show.

Monday features press conferences from Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony. Nintendo's digital event takes place on Tuesday morning. Spike will televise the Xbox and EA events with the rest being streamed online at various sites. One such locale is video game streaming platform Twitch signed a three-year deal in March to be the official streaming partner of E3, however other streams will be available at IGN, Gamespot, and Spike/GT.

Continue on to see the full schedule of events along with links to each of the streams. ...

Announced Friday night on ESPN, Seattle Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman has been voted by fans to grace the cover of Madden NFL 15 defeating Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton.


The company wanted a "next generation athlete" to be the M15 cover athlete. The selection of Sherman also coincides with the company's early Madden marketing efforts that have mentioned significant defensive gameplay improvements coming to the game.

The selection of Sherman is double-sided. His NFC Championship Game post-game rant has helped him become one of the league's most talked about players as he has received extensive national coverage since the event (including joining Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign), providing a huge platform to now discuss and promote Madden NFL 15. However, he is unafraid to be outspoken - potentially a good and bad thing - and has gone on the record to criticize the NFL in a hypothetical situation, claiming they would not issue a lifetime ban to a (perceived) racist owner as the NBA has with Donald Sterling.

Continue on to see the M15 E3 2014 Gameplay Trailer and to learn more about M15 features & the Madden NFL 15 Ultimate Edition. ...

Hours after Colin Kaepernick signed a six-year, $110 million contract extension, EA SPORTS distributed the first Madden NFL 15 screenshot which featured the San Francisco quarterback. Most notable are his tattoos which indicates that Madden NFL 15 will feature them for the first time and also the scanned face of Kaepernick.

Several media sites (Stealthy Box and Operation Sports) have indicated more in-game screens of players are in their possession but currently embargoed. One possible guess is that they may be released when the cover athlete is announced this weekend.

UPDATE - From Polygon: For now, Kaepernick is the only player who will appear in Madden 15 with his authentic tattoos, because he's the only one who has obtained the permissions from the artists involved. "We want to do this with every player, frankly, and we're hopeful that more players over time actually go out and secure the rights so that we can use their tattoos as well," said Graddy. ...

Via Twitter, EA SPORTS NHL has posted the first screen shot of NHL 15. The screen features San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton and Scott Hannan.

The image highlights the level of detail in player faces and gear, including uniform and equipment wear. After checking out the image, let us know your thoughts. ...

Friday night, Electronic Arts and the Collegiate Licensing Company finalized terms of the $40 million settlement with former players that now leaves the NCAA as sole defendant in the June 9 O'Bannon and March 2015 Keller trials.

The following contains information and excerpts from various media articles and reports examining the details of the settlement. ...

There have been rumblings for the past couple months that the next Battlefield game was going to shift away from the typical warfront and into the urban streets with a police theme. Those rumblings were confirmed earlier this week with a project that had a code name of Omaha. Battlefield: Hardline will be coming this fall with a further reveal to come at next month's E3 conference in Los Angeles. The Dead Space studio Visceral will handle the single player campaign; while DICE will handle the multiplayer aspect. A seven minute video was leaked ahead of this official announcement. Follow the break for our breakdown of what we have seen. ...