Prima & VG Sports team up on Madden NFL 10

Prima Games and VG Sports Join Forces on Madden NFL 10 Strategy

Five products scheduled for release in 2009

New York, NY; July 15, 2009 — Prima Games, an imprint of Random House, Inc., and VG Sports Inc., announced the upcoming release of Madden NFL 10: Prima Official Game Guide. In addition to the print strategy guide, Prima Games and VG Sports will also collaborate on four digital strategy products for Madden NFL 10. The product line will feature an advanced level digital guide targeted at the online and tournament level player, two digital guides releasing between launch and the end of the year, and the Madden Season Pass which will provide weekly updates of the most frequently used offensive and defensive plays that are being used online.

www.MaddenTips.com is the hub for all of the digital strategy products.

Madden NFL 10: The Official Game Guide will be available in stores on August 14th and features complete offensive and defensive scouting reports, tips for attacking every type of defense, player depth charts and information for creating custom built blitz schemes.

Launching alongside the game guide will be Madden NFL 10: Virtual Playbook, this 600+ page digital guide is targeted toward online and tournament level players, or anyone hoping to take their game to this level. Advanced strategies from tournament winners will elevate the game of even the most tested online competitor.

Two digital updates will be available approximately one every six week after launch. These guides are designed to give players the strategy to help deal with the dynamic aspects of the game. The first product will focus on offensive strategy and the second will cover defensive strategy.

Starting the week of game launch and running from August thru March, Madden Season Pass, will keep gamers on top of the newest plays and developments in the game. Every week the VG Sports team will breakdown a handful of plays on both sides of the ball to make sure subscribers have all the up to date information they need to dominate.

“VG Sports have long been known within the Madden community as the very best source for hardcore tournament-level strategy,” said Debra Kempker, President of Prima Games. “By partnering with them we maximize the strengths of both teams: VG’s exceptional strategy content and Prima’s consumer and sales marketing capabilities. With content available in print, video, download, and online, we’ve got it all. Our lineup of Madden strategy products has something for everyone, from novice players to tournament level contenders and everyone in between.”

About VG Sports
The VG Sports team is a hardcore group of gamers, real life football coaches, and tournament players. Founded in 2002, the team has spent the last 9 seasons breaking down the X’s and O’s of the game while providing the cutting edge strategies players need to succeed in tournament and online play. Whether you are a complete newbie to the game, or a grizzled veteran of many online battles, VG Sports will provide you with new tips and tactics you can use to elevate your game. More information can be found at www.maddentips.com

About Prima Games
Prima Games, a division of Random House, Inc., is the world’s leading publisher of game guides for computer and console video games, with more than 1,500 titles published and over 100 million guides in print. High-quality strategy guides, extensive retail distribution, and relationships with top game developers and publishers have allowed Prima Games to claim the highest market share among game guide publishers. More information can be found on the Web at www.primagames.com.
# # #

So the big question is, what does this mean for you guys?

First off, business as usual will be going on. The whole team has had the game for several months now and has been beating on it constantly. No other Madden site will be able to say that.

The printed Prima guide took a big jump forward this year as far as the quality of content. I have full editorial control of what goes into it. It is still geared to a different audience than the Virtual Playbook, but it has completely unique content. We didn’t overlap these at all. The team roster/strength chart section is really nice. Also, the roster and package tips section has pretty dirty tricks in it. The offensive schemes sections will give you ready to run schemes right from the day you get the game. All in all, we are really happy with the content in this guide, with it geared towards the beginner to intermediate player (with still plenty of content for the advanced gamer).

The Virtual Playbook is monstrous this year. We wrapped it up late last week, and it is over 648 pages. It has over 183,000 words… bottom line, we didn’t skimp on this bad boy at all. It has 45 different enhanced blitz schemes in it. It also has a massive section with all of the formation audibles, packages, and a complete analysis of every single playbook. Strategy wise, it again takes a big leap forward and will have every thing that even the most hard core Madden player will need to get started with this year’s game. Attacking bump n run coverage, disguising coverages, red zone offense, and more.

The Virtual Filmroom is getting a new name and a new format this year. It will now be called the “Madden Season Pass”. We are also changing things up with it just a bit. Instead of trying to make it a 1 year product (which was a waste since the game was dead from pretty much April thru July), it will run during the Madden season - August to March. Updates will be made every two weeks, but will contain two weeks worth of content. This is just for logistical reasons. You’ll get 8-10 writeups every two weeks.

By now you have probably seen the changes to the web site (new look, etc.). Because of our contract with Prima, we now provide “Officially Licensed” Madden products. When you place your order, you will check out through a slightly different looking shopping cart (digital river, with our brand on it). Support issues for everything Madden NFL 10 will go through Prima’s full time staff (yeah!).

Making this new partnership was not something we did lightly, but is something we have wanted to do for many years now. Going official gives us more access to the game, and earlier access at that. This makes for a much stronger and deep product line. It also allows us to carry official logos on the site. One other side benefit is that I now have an IT department at Prima that handles anything we need technology wise. You’ll probably notice how much faster the forums are now. Prima put a new dedicated server into effect for us. Off loading the tech side frees me up more to handle all the new content the guys are producing.

I’m sure there will be more coming, but I wanted to give everybody a heads up on things. Also, I know there are questions about when products will be available, etc. Here’s what I know right now.

Wednesday - August 5th (evening) - All 38 offensive + defensive playbooks with play diagrams available for download - FREE

By August 14 (possibly a couple days earlier ) - Virtual Playbook available

August 14 - Madden Season pass launches

October 1st - Playmaker’s Guide to Offense - full breakdowns of 8 different offensive playbooks (ridiculous value on this one)

November 1st - Playmaker’s Guide to Defense

Be sure to follow us on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/vgsports for the latest info.