Online sports to be big for the Wii in 2008?

Rumorreporter is reporting on a pair of EA's biggest sports franchises coming to the Wii in 2008 and, more importantly, going online. Joining the ranks of Mario Strikers: Charged and Pokemon Battle Revolution, EA's Madden and FIFA franchises are both going to claim their stake in the fertal lands of the Wii's Wi-Fi functionality.

This news, which supposedly comes from a variety of sources including the latest issue of Nintendo Power (July, 2007), points toward the already set structures of online play for each franchise living on through the Wii (leaderboards, roster updates and ESPN ticker updates). The piece does say that friend codes will be implemented, however won't affect the overall grand scheme of things as gamers will still be able to challenge and play complete strangers. Also, no voice chat will be supported, but EA's instant-messaging feature will survive.

[Thanks, Taylor!]