To go along with the 20th anniversary celebration, EA Sports Madden series will feature a first: a retiree on the cover. Brett Favre retired after last season, and is certainly worthy of the cover. It’s not his first game cover, but the first time he’s graced Madden.

Other new additions thanks to this GameTap interview include online leagues, play tracking which provides feedback on the players style, and a new training center with a holographic style. The leagues are one of those “it’s about freakin’ time” additions, featuring 32-player capability, one for each team in the NFL. Maybe the exclusivity will finally pay off.

Xbox Live etiquette, in a perfect world, would be common sense. However, it’s inevitable that at some point, you’re going to run into someone who decided to pay $50 a year simply to ruin your day. These people come in a variety of categories, and not all commit the same offenses.

To see the full list of potential offenses, see the list. To see those who failed to follow the rules, keep reading.

Gamertag: youlnevergethis
Game: Halo 3 Team Deathmatch
Awards: That’s Gay Guy, Walk Away

Seemingly dissatisfied with the game, this player decided to continually remark about how gay the game was. A lot. Actually, constantly. A few minutes in, he apparently had enough and dropped himself out of the game leaving teammates stranded in The Pit already down by six points.

Gamertag: GetYourHelmetOn
Game: Halo 3 Team Deathmatch
Awards: Outside Conversator, You’re a ***** Guy

Beyond carrying on a separate conversation with a friend about what they were going to do after the match, Helmet broke a cardinal rule: being a racist idiot. As an opponent cleanly jumped a grenade throw, Helmet blurted out “He sure did jump high. He must be black.” That right there? That lands you on the list.

Gamertag: U TWEEKING JO
Game: Halo 3 Team Doubles
Awards: Losing Trash Talker

Sigh. Look buddy, you lost and it wasn’t close. However, launching into a non-stop tirade using nothing but a four letter word that rhymes with “suck” doesn’t help your cause. Actually, it makes you look like someone who doesn’t take loss well and lands you here on this oh so funny list for all to see.

Things to look for in this latest look at Capcom’s anticipated sequel:

The new 100 hand slap looks completely natural.

No polygon clipping when Zangief grabs Blanka. It’s a clean grasp which many fighting games struggle with.

Guile actually lip syncing the words as he does specials.

Ryu’s cringing face when he gets caught by the dragon punch. That’s detail, and almost makes up for the lack puking from Street Fighter II.

The horrific costume design of Abel who looks pulled from a boss battle in Final Fight 2.

Vipers incredible looking flying flaming kick. Fei Long has some competition.

It’s scary to think that anything could match up to Halo 3’s marketing push. You could pre-order Halo at 7-11. How much bigger can you get?

According to Microsoft, not much, but they can match it. The push for the Xbox 360 version of the game will be backed by a massive ad campaign. Why is Microsoft doing this? Simple. They spent $50 million dollars to secure exclusive content for the game. They need to make that number back somehow.

It’s certainly a rarity, if not a first, for a company to get behind a third party, non-exclusive title. Can you imagine Sony hyping up, say, Kane and Lynch like this? The content for Rockstar’s behemoth had better be spectacular for all the money Microsoft is putting behind it. If not, this could be another financial blunder along the lines of buying Rare or the now infamous three red lights debacle.

Remember in the first Halo when the Covenant Elite rushed you with energy swords? Oh wait, that was Halo 2.

Originally though, that wasn’t the case. Master Chief was nameless, he looked thinner, and ran around in third person. This original Apple keynote where they revealed the game for the first time offers an interesting perspective on the game, pushing it’s then incredible graphics. The main Halo theme is already in place, meaning maestro Marty O’Donnell was in place from the get go. Many of the ship designs are almost spot-on with their final versions.

For a deeper look, long defunct PC gaming magazine Incite (which also had a console based spin-off of the same name and retailed for only a $1) had a preview on its included CD-ROM. It shows the early physics, and gives and idea of how the third person view would have worked. AI hasn’t been programmed, and Master Chief is still nameless. The foundation is there, but Halo came a long way before it landed on the Xbox.

Gaming is popular in China. If you follow the industry, you knew that. What you probably didn’t know is that you apparently need a training center to become a pro gamer. Let’s face it, pushing buttons AND moving analog sticks is hard work.

The idea is that they’ll be able to scout potential talent and further hone the skills of those players once drafted. In addition to a training facility, there will be a 1,000 seat stadium built along with it.

On the serious side, how do you train someone in a video game? Take Halo 3. You know where the weapons are on each level, you have a general idea of typical action hot zones, and the rest is up to you. Either you can snipe people on the run without a scope or you can’t. You play a lot, you hopefully get better. Do you need someone hanging over your shoulder to help you play Halo?

One of the original multi-player classics is coming to the DS. The last time we saw the game was a direct arcade port on the Xbox Live Arcade with four player online. Various sequels kept the arcade roots intact, though added some better combat and RPG elements. Those latter games were ported to PlayStation, N64, Xbox, and others.

The latest portable adaptation, though an original design (not a remake). Carrying the appropriate title of Gauntlet, this will be a four player dungeon crawler. The best part? Nintendo’s Wi-Fi allows for online play. Oh, it has voice chat too. All of this happens in June when Eidos publishes this one.

Only three multiplayer games are headed to store shelves this week, and while they include two re-releases and a glorified demo, there still isn’t a dud among them.

Pick of the Week: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Racing | PS3 While it may not be the full meal, Gran Turimso 5 Prologue will serve as an adequate appetizer for the full game, which is expected sometime in 2009. Prologue features over 70 cars, 6 tracks, and 16-player online multiplayer, making it one of the premiere racing titles on the PS3, even if officially it’s just a glorified demo. Whether you’re a gear head or die-hard Gran Turimso fan, Prologue should leave you satisfied.

Runner-Up: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 First-Person Shooter | PC Once upon a time the FPS and the Rainbow Six series were considered PC commodities. Not so today. After showing up on consoles a few weeks back, the latest entry in the well known tactical shooter series is arriving on the PC this week, and features all the character customization options and online multiplayer modes available in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

Cheap? Poor? Just didn’t feel like spending $10 on three maps?

Bungie has an answer. The Heroic Map Pack is officially a free download. The maps included the Foundry, and open level which let creative people show off their skills in the Forge. It’s also a decent team doubles/slayer map as well. The others are rarely seen outside of Big Team Battles, including the vehicle loaded Rats Nest included. These are not required downloads, but at some point (like with Halo 2), they will be needed to play certain game types. Might as well get it out of the way now.

Now, to further pull money from people, the Legendary map pack is due soon in April, bringing three more maps for the same price. Likewise, these will also become free down the road.

By now, Halo 3 videos are a dime a dozen. We’ve all seen ‘em before, and most are admittedly pretty lame. However, I spotted this one on Kotaku and couldn’t resist posting it here. So, check out the glory that is the mystery Warthog betrayal.

Let us hope that every multiplayer game from now till the end of time includes the playback feature.

Xbox 360 owners will be enjoying a new $10 map pack for the superb Call of Duty 4 on April 3rd. PlayStation 3 owners? Not so much.

The four new maps won’t be available until the end of the month on April 24th. Nothing specific was mentioned as a reason for this delay on Fourzerotwo’s blog, a community manager for Infinity Ward. If you think that’s bad, just imagine being a PC user waiting for the maps. They’re getting them, well, no seems to know. They’re working out the “logistics” of that download.

Seriously, it’s PC content. It doesn’t need certification from another company. Shouldn’t that be the easiest of the three to get out into the public?

Fans eagerly waiting for Battlefield: Bad Company have some small relief coming their way. A beta is soon to come, at least if you own a 360. PS3 owners get the short end of the stick.

If you’re an IGN member or your pre-ordered your copy because for some reason you’ll think they’ll be in short supply, you’re entered. If you’re part of the latter group, you had to be one of the first 5,000 pre-orders. If you’re an IGN member, you already have a spot if you register at this link.

The test run will last for 30 days, from March 25th to April 25th. Two maps and a single mode of play will make up this beta period. That’s not a bad time span of play for $5. Even if you’re not interested in buying it, pre-ordering to get the key and then retuning the pre-order would always work, not that we condone that type of thing.