Lawsuit against EA Sports is going forward

I originally came across this lawsuit claim over a year ago.

To refresh your memory here's the original posting and an excerpt of what I wrote:

An interesting class-action lawsuit has been brought against EA Sports, the makers of the popular Madden NFL video game series. The lawsuit brought forward by the law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro represents all Madden purchasers and contends that and I quote "the company engaged in unlawful and anticompetitive agreements that monopolized the market for football videogames and nearly doubled the price of its popular game."

This story really starts in 2004 when EA Sports and the Madden faced a slight competitive threat from the makers of the NFL 2K series. The NFL 2K series were at that point licensed to use NFL player name and likenesses and they successfully targeted the market by pricing their product at $19.99USD, well below the price of the Madden games. Madden responded by significantly lowering their prices and eventually when EA Sports secured exclusive rights to NFL players and their likenesses the threat went away. It was at this point that EA Sports raised the price of Madden games back to the levels they currently are, at a high of $59.95.

Well, guess what? A federal judge has certified the lawsuit from the Hagens Law firm.

"Consumers now have a legal standing to demand that EA refund consumers millions of dollars it made from Madden NFL and other sports titles through what we contend was an illegal price-gouging scheme," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman. "We're gratified by the ruling, and believe it underscores how lucrative and exclusive agreements in the video game industry can come with an inflated price tag for consumers." - Source: PR Newswire

Will you try to get your share from EA?

Ovie vs Crosby - Who you got?

There's no question that Sidney Crosby has been the better of the two NHL wunderkinds this year and it's not even close. The normally dynamic Alex Ovechkin has been fairly quiet on the ice.

Off the ice both stars are creating some buzz with viral campaigns launched by both of their major hockey sponsors, Reebok (Crosby) and CCM (Ovechkin).

So which campaign do you enjoy? Crosby's "Did he really just do that" video that immediately conjures up thoughts of Kobe Bryant's Nike commercial where he jumped over a car. Or do you prefer Ovechkin's uniquely odd WTF commercials.

Crosby:

Ovechkin:

HBO Pens-Caps Series

If tonight's episode of HBO's 24/7 Penguins-Capitals series is even half as good as last week's debut episode it will make for an entertaining hour of TV.

Already the series is creating more buzz and mainstream media attention for the NHL and the two clubs at the centre of the series, than any actual game could. Entertainment Weekly had the debut episode listed as "Tonight's Best to Watch".

The appeal in the series is that the NHL, the Pens and the Caps have granted HBO unprecedented access to film things previously held behind closed doors. The end product is a series that appeals to diehards who get to see another aspect of the players and coaches. For casual fans they're introduced to the personalities of the players that are usually hidden behind cliches given in media scrums.

From Ovechkin's tramp stamps, to Max Talbot's flirting with Santa's helper elves and Bruce F'n Boudreau, the series is must see TV.

MLB App

MLB's "At Bat" app which allows baseball fans to watch live game action through their MLB.com subscriptions for a cost of $14.99 a season was named as Apple's top grossing sports app as well as the top overall grossing app, according to a press release issued by MLB.

According to the release At Bat was accessed 37 million times during the 2010 postseason...or about as many times as people have made the comment 'Blue Steel" on someone's Facebook profile pic.

Kobe & Turkey?

Kobe Bryant has signed an agreement with Turkish Airlines to become their global brand ambassador. Kind of an odd pairing.

"I'm so proud to be chosen as a global brand ambassador for Turkish Airlines. They have been providing travelers with excellent service for 77 years, and I'm glad that U.S. travelers, including my fellow Angelenos, are able to experience Turkish Airlines first-hand," said Mr. Bryant. "Turkey is a country rich in natural beauty and thousands of years of cultural history, and I'm proud to partner with Turkish Airlines to bring that majesty to people around the world." Source: PR Newswire

Kobe seems really pumped about his new role, although he could use a little more time to brush up on his facts. The press release goes onto to say that Turkish Airlines has only been around since 1993.

Somewhere you know Allen Iverson is thinking he could have done a better job.

The Detroit Vikings?

It's good to be a Detroit football fans these days...well kinda. The hometown Lions did defeat their divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers but it it was an absolute snore fest with the offenses looking more pitiful than Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp's box office figures for 'The Tourist'.

Heavy snows collapsed the roof on Vikes' Metrodome home early Sunday morning in dramatic fashion.



After exploring several options the Vikings and the league picked Detroit as an alternative site to host the rescheduled NY Giants match-up.

The biggest winners ended up being the people of Detroit who got into the game for free. Anyone with a ticket to the originally scheduled game in Minnesota were granted priority seating, and anyone else who lined up at the Ford Field box office were given free tickets on a first come, first served basis.

The Lions ended up distributing more than 30,000 free tickets to fans for the game. So many fans stood in sub-freezing temperatures for the free passes that the Lions closed down the box office after little more than an hour .- Source: USA Today

Ottawa Senators: Marketing Mensa Society

Like many clubs in the NHL playoffs the Ottawa Senators are running a colour-themed campaign which encourages Sens fans to wear red. The slogan of their campaign is "All In. All Red". Apparently the Sens marketing group and their game day promotional groups don't talk because for their first home game of these 2010 playoffs the Sens handed out white towels to their fans. This after playing two games in Pittsburgh where the Penguins successfully showed the Senators how to run a campaign by actually offering the same colour promo items (in this case white t-shirts) as their campaign (the whiteout effect).

Of course, the Senators obvious blunder shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. After all they did deliver us this beauty a few years back.

Adidas Orginals Party

I was a huge fan of last year's commercial from Adidas for their Originals line. It was a house party themed commercial with cameos from tons of athletes, musicians and entertainers all put to a killer remix track of Frankie Valli's Beggin' by Pilooski.

Well, Adidas and the Montreal ad-agency Sid Lee who created last year's campaign are back again with another great ad. This one has a street/rooftop party feel once again with a number of cameos ranging from David Beckham and tennis star Ana Ivanovic to Noel Gallagher from Oasis, Snoop Dogg and Whitney from MTV's The Hills. It's all put to another great retro track Dee Johnson - Why Can't There be Love?

Tiger Woods and the creepy new Nike ad

On the eve of Tiger Woods' Masters appearance and first competitive action (err...golf that is ;) in 5 months, Nike has released a new ad. It's definitely creating a buzz by getting people talking. You can check out the add for yourself but basically it's a stark black & white shot with Tiger staring into the camera as his father Earl Woods essentially questions his decision making. Hearing Earl Woods, who passed away a few years ago is a bit creepy.

My thoughts on Nike and Tiger's motivation behind the ad? I think they're trying to depict Tiger as someone who is suffering greatly for his actions. This is driven home in a heavy-handed manner by the disappointment his father (the most influential person in Tiger's upbringing) expresses to his son. By doing so I think Nike is hoping that people will want to re-embrace Tiger.