Madden NFL 09 Pink to support breast cancer foundation

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 3rd 2008 at 4:15PM }

EA Sports announced today that Madden NFL 09 Pink will be sold at Target, with a portion of the proceeds from the sale going to the Deanna Favre HOPE Foundation. The box will be available during the month of October (National Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and can also be purchased at Target.com and NFLShop.com.

We called EA Sports to find out how this "new" art still has Favre in his Packers uniform. Turns out the pink ribbon design is actually part of a clear overlay inside the cover. Meaning, consumers can completely remove it if they want, or place the Favre Jets cover in behind it. Behold, the freedom of choice.

Tags: ea, ea-sports, madden, madden-09, madden-nfl-09, target

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

shane @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:23PM

Macho Macho man

I wanna be... a Macho man

Kizzle @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:43PM

BOOOOOONESAW IS READDDYYYYY!

Dirty @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:24PM

Can I put that ribbon in front of the cover of the game were Favre is taking a dump on his own legacy?

Kinda wish they did this when they launched the game, would have made much more money for the foundation.

aristokrat @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:06PM

How about a cover of him throwing a career-high six TD's in a game? That's not too bad a feather to stick in his legacy cap.

Dirty @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:18PM

Any record that was accomplished against the cardinals shouldn't count. I should know I live in AZ.

D_Average @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:27PM

And Brett Farve going out to throw 6 TD's last weekend while injured at the same time Aaron Rodgers hobbles off the field because he fell on his should is "taking a dump on your legacy" how?

Dirty @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:38PM

When is he never not injured.

Red Leader @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:34PM

I vote this as the most obscure news story we're going to see all day.

Erluti @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:35PM

Good, I was worried that I couldn't keep Favre in his Jets jersey.

Ugh, that's rough to type.

Kizzle @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:41PM

Check out the Inside XBox feed on the 360 for a promo for this, featuring Major Nelson wearing a lovely pink sweater.

Yeah, nice cause and all that, but come on...a pink sweater. To his credit, he looks to be really sad that he's wearing it.

Dan Rodriguez @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:42PM

i love that joystiq does due diligence and actually follows up to find out the answer to a question so many of its readers were thinking, but would never admit outloud (why they wouldn't update the uniform while they are at it)

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:43PM

Hooray for saving the boobs, but I don't think Madden is the kind of game that you'd want to be be on display with a ton of pink on it.
Maybe just some minimal image on the back with the ribbon?

Compassion @ Oct 4th 2008 1:40AM

Reply to TheOverlord#2: This isn't about "savings the boobs" as you say - it's about saving women's lives and not wrecking young families when Mom passes away. I lost my own wife to cancer way too soon - so how about a little sensitivity here? There are things that are waaaay more improtant than football!

Sesur @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:45PM

WOW! Talk about maximum whoring.

Sizer @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:47PM

You know, I'm seeing zero overlap between people who would play this game and people who would buy a flaming pink version of it.

If you want to sell a videogame for breast cancer to sports video game fans, put some actual breasts on the cover, with the promise of more inside, and I promise you it will fly right off the shelves.

forkboy @ Oct 3rd 2008 4:56PM

i hate to be a negative nancy, but i love it (sarcasm) when people/companies/organizations get all activist when it suits them. if some lesser football player's wife had breast cancer i doubt we'd even hear about it, let alone have a special breast cancer edition of the game. could you imagine "gears 2 - cliffy's colon cancer charity special edition"?

that said, i'm happy that portions of madden sales will go to a worthwhile charity. newman's own has been doing this for years, and at least when they sell me the same pasta sauce year after year, i still enjoy it.

v2micca @ Oct 3rd 2008 5:15PM

Okay, so when a celebrity actually uses their status to try to bring awareness to an issue and raise funds to address it we should criticize them? I guess it would be better if they just decided to mind their own business and go back to smoking 8-balls and killing hookers.

OMGOMG @ Oct 3rd 2008 6:09PM

Good for EA. My mom is a 5 year survivor, and it's nice to see more and more take up the cause for breast cancer research.

Go EA and Madden.

Orion @ Oct 3rd 2008 6:17PM

I guess EA realized that they make enough money on the same game every year that they can finally contribute to society a little big.

And know EA, I doubt this was done with the goodness of their hearts... it was done because they know people will be more tempted to buy this because of a "good cause" which spells more sales for EA.

AoE @ Oct 3rd 2008 6:45PM

I dunno. I'm not going to deny that EA likes the monies... but I _DO_ doubt that they're inhuman bastards as you seem to think. Cancer is a huge issue and almost all of us have been affected in some way. I doubt this is any different for EA employees & management. It's dismissive and cruel on your part to assume this is yet another cash grab.

Also keep in mind Peter Moore's running the EA sports ship these days, which I'm guessing is why they're doing something good. :)

Orion @ Oct 3rd 2008 7:42PM

I *do* hope I'm wrong, but given EA's previous reputation when dealing with people and how much they "care" about them, I seriously have my doubts.

Just because I have my doubts doesn't make me evil by any means. And quite honestly, in this world, if you automatically think big businesses or gov't isn't corrupt like that and isn't taking advantage of you while having a fake smile on your face, you're going to learn eventually.

zuburi @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:33PM

Peter Moore, like Major Nelson, is incredibly gifted at pretending he gives a shit about the gaming public and that he's "on our side."

AoE @ Oct 3rd 2008 9:28PM

You misunderstand. I'm not saying that big businesses don't do dirty things in the quest for the almighty buck. (I work for a decently sized internet company who does business with the heavies in the auto industry; and before this job I've worked for a few very large tech firms including HP). The thing to remember though is that "big business" and "government" aren't alien entities; they're comprised of individuals like you and I. Some of them, frequently the ones at the top are pretty greedy and don't give two shits about the little guy, this is true; but there are also plenty of normal people who DO care about other people, and sometimes they get their way too. I know it's pretty popular to demonize big companies... but it's not always called for or appropriate.

And this is a case where, in my opinion at least, it's not appropriate. You see, even if this is nothing but a cash-grab on EA's part, they're STILL donating a portion of their profits to cancer research; how can you possibly think that's a bad thing?

And I didn't call you evil, i said your statement was dismissive and cruel. I'm not going to make any guesses to your situation, but surely someone in your life has been affected by cancer? I've lost 3 relatives to whom I was very close, and about 6 months ago a very dear friend of mine, who is only 28, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I don't care what EA's motivation is to do this, donating cash to help research and find a cure is a good thing at the end of the day.