When Sega announced nine days ago that they'd be releasing another installment in their decade-old tennis franchise, aptly titled Virtua Tennis 2009, we thought they'd made a typo when revealing the systems the game would be gracing. You're telling us that a sport whose main interactive mechanic involves the deft swinging of a handheld object isn't getting the Wii treatment? Sega, are you pot-high?

The fog of confusion has apparently lifted -- in a recent press release, Sega revealed that Virtua Tennis 2009 will, in fact, be coming to the Wii, bringing with it the roster and features from the 360, PS3 and PC versions of the title. These features include online play, and casual "Court Games" minigames that should go over swimmingly at Wii-based family functions. It will also share the May release window with the other versions of the game, bringing it to store shelves just in time for tennis season, if such a thing actually exists.

Now, for the sake of clarity, we should explain what we mean when we say "title of the year". Dejobaan's upcoming BASE jumping simulator, which resembles a mash-up of Mirror's Edge and Pilotwings (check out a gameplay demo after the jump), doesn't really look like GOTY material (or GOTW material, for that matter). However, the game's moniker is pure brilliance: AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. The game's designers suggest that the press truncate the title to a mere Aaaaa! but we won't be doing that.

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! is set to drop (har) in Q3 2009 on PCs. We probably won't pick it up (our preferred sports rarely get more extreme than ping pong) but we'll defend that title to our graves. Get it straight people -- it's one big "A", four little "a"s, two big "A"s, three little "a"s, three big "A"s, two little "a"s, four big "A"s, one little "a", five big "A"s and three exclamation points. It's not that hard to remember.

The Super Bowl is only a few days away, and as expected, EA has run a Super Bowl simulation using this year's Madden. This year, the publisher expects the Pittsburgh Steelers to achieve a narrow victory over the Arizona Cardinals, with a final score of 28-24.

The annual Madden prediction has been fairly successful, with the exception of last year's surprise victory from the New York Giants:

• 2004 - Madden: Patriots ; Reality: Patriots
• 2005 - Madden: Patriots ; Reality: Patriots
• 2006 - Madden: Steelers ; Reality: Steelers
• 2007 - Madden: Colts ; Reality: Colts
• 2008 - Madden: Patriots ; Reality: Giants

Super Bowl XLIII kicks off February 1st, when the NY Giants will somehow manage to pull off an even more startling victory this year. Go NY!

True story: We were going to review Skate 2 ourselves, but we ... no, not we ... I, I Justin McElroy sucked too bad at it to review it. I don't know if my thumbs are just too stupid or what, but as a long-time Tony Hawk fan, I found it hard not to pine for a game that let me press one button and automagically grind on a space dinosaur's boner.

Here's what more qualified people had to say:

• GamePlayer (95/100):"Skate 2 is a brilliant game. For the most part it takes the fantastic template laid down in the original and injects it with a smartly integrated new move-set, an exciting world to rip to shreds, and the same addictive, unquestionably stylish gameplay which saw the Tony Hawk series bolt for the hills."
• Totally 360 (90/100): "Overall the development team should be commended for making another excellent skating title. Everything runs really smoothly and it seems to have come together really well. The new features add on to what was already a fun experience with the original."
• IGN (83/100): "Technically an improvement over the first title, and anyone who hadn't yet played the original should skip it and go right to the second. It's a really fun game that allows you to play it the way you want with a control scheme that is second-to-none at the moment. However, it's far from perfect.
• GamePro (80/100): "The first Skate was a refreshing take on virtual skateboarding, so expectations were high for this one. Maybe they were a little too high: Skate 2 doesn't quite deliver the revolutionary skating experience that we were all hoping it would be."

Source -- Metacritic: Skate 2 (Xbox 360)
Source -- Metacritic: Skate 2 (PS3)

It won't instill gamers with the same red-faced anger as EA's fizzled plan to offer for-pay weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company; instead, the newly released "Time is Money Pack" for Skate 2 will simply make those who buy it feel varying degrees of guilt, regret and perhaps even fear. That's because, for 400 ($5) on XBLM or $4.99 on the PlayStation Store, owners of the game can literally pay their way past the effort it would take to unlock everything in the game.

The "everything" in question includes "all locations, skaters and gear that can be earned by playing through Skate 2's career and online modes," according to the DLC's description. So, basically, you're paying for access to content that's already in the game. Or, to put it another way, you're paying five bucks for a cheat code. A downloadable code, if you will. Next thing you know, people will be paying for good grades and -- who knows -- even Senate seats. Oh, wait ...

[Via X3F]

The Orlando Sentinel has confirmed another round of industry layoffs, this time at EA's Tiburon, developers of the top-selling Madden franchise. Despite EA's intentions not to discuss layoffs earlier this week in regards to Warhammer dev Mythic, Craig Hagen – who reportedly handles government affairs for EA – confirmed that layoffs had occurred at the Florida-based studio.

Hagen noted that some reductions at Tiburon were made by freezing open positions, but wouldn't specify how many employees had been laid off or in what sections of the company cuts were made. Approximately 700 people currently work at the flagship sports studio.

[Via Gamasutra]

Judging by an alleged scan of Spanish magazine "Nintendo Accion," a sequel to Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games could be in the works at Sega. GoNintendo has a scan of the image, which teases a reveal in the next issue and clearly shows Mario and Sonic. SegaNerds roughly translates the text as: "Games, Olympics, Cold, It's winter." How ... elegant.

Oh, and who would be to blame for another button-mashing, waggle-infused minigame fest on the Wii? That would be the five million (and counting) people who bought the first title. Let's see if those folks will come back for a second, colder dose.

[Via SegaNerds]

The new-and-improved-but-completely-devoid-of-history-and-tradition Yankee Stadium will make its public debut on April 16, when the Yanks are scheduled to pummel the Cleveland Indians into submission. However, we've got a pretty good idea what we'll be seeing the first time we cross the threshold of Baseball's Cathedral 2.0 -- Sony devices and branding, as far as the eye can see.

Sony Electronics and the Pinstripers announced Thursday that they'd signed an agreement designating Sony the official consumer electronics manufacturer of the Yankees. What's this mean? Well, Sony gets a prominent advertisement on the right-field wall (as well as a number of diorama ads in the concourse), and the new stadium gets over 550 Bravia and LCD HD televisions for the high-roller suites, and a PS3 gaming area in the park's "Strike Zone." Oh, also, the Yanks' new mascot is Polygon Man. That's a fair trade-off, right?

[Via IGN]

We've heard a number of rumors to this effect, but for the first time, Neversoft co-founder Joel Jewett recently confirmed in an interview with the Great Falls Tribune that the long-time developer of the Tony Hawk series has passed the torch to a new developer in order to solely focus on the Guitar Hero franchise. Jewett claims it's "probably best for the franchise." Based on the past couple of Hawk games, we can't help but agree.

This leaves us with the question of who the next developer behind Hawk will be -- GiantBomb assumes that Robomodo, which is composed of ex-EA Chicago devs who claim to be working on a "high-profile extreme sports title for Activision Blizzard," will be making their developmental debut with the next installation in the once-great skating franchise. Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding Neversoft's Hawk-less agenda, we hope to hear something more concrete about the series sometime soon.

EA announced today that the Skate 2 demo will roll onto PSN January 15. It features a taste of the single-player campaign, along with two of the title's online "Party Play" modes: Thrasher's Hall of Meat and Spot Battle.

For those with an Xbox 360, the demo will be available Thursday, Jan. 8 (that's tomorrow). The actual game will crash into North American retail January 21 (globally Jan. 23).

We tend to think of demos as free gifts from the gaming overlords, which would make the Skate 2 demo coming on Thursday to Xbox Live a gift within a gift, like a Hickory Farms sampler wrapped in a Snuggie. Just for downloading the demo and registering here, you could win MS points and, curiously, one of six custom Skate 2 skateboards, which should look great sitting idly in your garage.

Thanks to the Thursday placement, we're assuming this'll pop up simultaneously on PSN, just without all the free prizes.

[Via Team Xbox]

We're automatically skeptical of any reports coming out of an organization who uses the letter "Z" to pluralize, but we find it difficult not to believe in a recent finding from VGChartz (sigh), who claim that Wii Sports has surpassed Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling video game of all time. After compiling last week's software sales, they've concluded that Wii Sports has barely crept past the 40.24 million mark that kept SMB on top of the pile for a bajillion years.

Of course, its worth noting that both games were bundled with their respective platforms (except in Japan and South Korea, whose Wiis were Sports-less), greatly boosting their sales. We wouldn't be surprised if the report proves to be accurate -- nor would we be shocked if Nintendo is currently looking for the highest, broadest rooftop from which they can proclaim their latest sales triumph.

Peter Man Tell 'Em has kicked off '09 with a wildly entertaining review of Eurogamer's "Top 50 Games of 2008," headlining with the question on all of our minds: Where The FIFA? From the outset, Peter Moore's rant makes it clear that his is a man's world, summoning well wishes for his distinctly heterosexual males club -- also known as EA Sports Nation: "I hope you all have had a restful few days and have been able to get your sports fix in front of the TV without your wife/girlfriend/mom/mum giving you a bad time ... "

In Peter Man's real talk, there is no place for the seemingly sissy; games like Bangai-O Spirits or World of Goo. And Tomb Raider in the Top 50? No thanks. Who wants to play as ... a girl? (Note: Please excuse Boom Blox and Mirror's Edge's apparent lack of manliness -- trust Moore, it's in the game.) But, beneath the posturing exterior, Peter Man drops hints of latent insecurity. Though Moore has membership in an elite fraternity of buff game execs (true story: the presidency was decided by an arm wrestling match between Moore and Strauss -- guess who won?), he is just as susceptible as the rest of us are to body image issues perpetuated by games. How could Peter Man not be threatened by the sheer power of the Bangai-O bots? Or the Goo's killer combo of unrivaled flexibility and unnerving strength? Or Ms. Lara's emasculating sexuality?

The real tell, though, is this: "I was surprised to see Wii Fit included [at #25], which I thought would make the top 10," writes Moore. Clearly, this is a man obsessed with mastering the physical potentials of the body. A perfect fit for EA Sports, then. And a great businessman to boot. While the media continues the "Wii dissing," Peter Man is heaping on the Nintendo praise. After all, a man's world is measured by units. And no one put more units in gamers' hands -- heck! under their feet, too -- than Nintendo did last year.