Another year, another Madden cover announcement. But wait, this year has a twist! EA and Doritos have teamed up with a unique promotion, allowing fans to vote on who they want to grace the cover of this year's annual gridiron update. The three candidates for this year's cover include Vikings' defensive end Jared Allen, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

It may be tempting to choose your favorite athlete out of the bunch, but we urge you to play it smart. Instead, think about this as a strategic opportunity to inflict the Madden Curse on your most hated team! Best of all, you can vote every day to inflict as much negative karma as possible.

In addition to being able to decide who lands the cover of Madden 11, the Doritos-sponsored promotion also offers entry into a contest. Most notably, the weekly grand prize is a trip for two to see the NFL Draft in New York City this April. Considering you don't have to buy a single bag of Doritos to participate, this promo seems like a must for any NFL fan.

It seems EA's Visceral Games team loved high school literature. With Dante's Inferno completed, Visceral's executive producer, Jonathan Knight, revealed his desire to do yet another video game adaptation of a literary classic. "Macbeth the game is something I've been thinking about for years," Knight told IndustryGamers. "But now, I think the emotional quality that games are achieving and the value level of the acting and the sound work makes it possible."

Knight seems to believe that a game adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth would require a bit more deft than what we've seen out of Dante's Inferno thus far. "Dante's is more of a violent interpretation of the poem for example," Knight explained. "Macbeth would be great, though; there are witches and a supernatural experience along with plenty of intrigue and murder."

Unfortunately, it seems we won't be see a Visceral interpretation of Macbeth any time soon. The team is admittedly busy on Dead Space 2, and who knows -- by the time they have some free time, fashion designer Marc Ecko's "completely re-imagined" Macbeth game may become a reality.

Sony's PlayStation Network-exclusive reality series "The Tester" will begin February 18th. The competition will have the above real gamers vying for a chance to win a glamorous testing job at PlayStation. Until April 8th, the PlayStation Store (for PSP and PS3) will update every Thursday with new -- and free -- episodes of the series.

Should "The Tester" successfully sidestep traditional employee recruitment and take off, don't be surprised if Sony announces "Who Wants to be Our Janitor?" next season.

We certainly didn't see this coming. While it may seem strange to doubt the release of another Disgaea game, Disgaea Infinite is not what you might expect. No, it's not a SRPG. It's not even a platformer. Instead, it's a visual novel game -- an interactive story-based adventure, akin to the Phoenix Wright series. According to a press release, this will be NIS America's first visual novel published in America.

Disgaea Infinite promises to keep the same over-the-top humor the franchise is known for. Players will assume the role of a Prinny on the hunt for an assassin trying to take down the demon Laharl. With the power to take over other characters minds and bodies, Prinny will be able to solve this almost-murder mystery. Expect it on PSP this May.

Finnish developer Pixolane expects to make its PS3 debut later this year with its first game, Rust Buccaneers. The PlayStation Network title is an arcade-style shooter featuring modern-day pirates. Just like pirates have done throughout history, though, players will raid cargo and passenger ships, and battle do-gooder patrol boats. The more ships you conquer, the higher your "infamy" becomes, and online leaderboards will keep track of the most notorious pirates on the high servers.

Rust Buccaneers promises both single and multiplayer modes. Not much else is known about the game at the moment, but we'll let you know when more details sail across our pirate radar.

Very few games have been able to match the impact of the original Rez ... well, with the exception of Rez HD on Xbox Live Arcade; unsurprisingly, revamped visuals made for an even more psychedelic experience. Q Entertainment recently tweeted about a possible PSN port of the game, asking how much a PS3 version should cost. $15 seems to be the figure Q is working with, noting that "it would not be a huge profit" and "we're not big enough to do things for fun."

Q Entertainment hasn't committed to making the port yet, stating "this is no indication that it's happening, but we're researching if its feasible." Already, there have been some complaints from PlayStation loyalists who reject the notion of paying full price for a two year delayed port. We're confident that you, Joystiq reader, will be able to help Q figure out exactly what to do:

[Thanks, kassatsu! Via PSN Stores]

Piranha Bytes' RPG Risen is getting a second chance in America. Originally released in Europe on October 2009, reviewers slammed the game as "unfinished and unrefined" and "a technical mess" -- for good reason, too. The original retail release of Risen on Xbox 360 was largely a "beta" version of the game.

Four months later, Piranha Bytes is putting the true finishing touches to the game, and the improvement is immediately noticeable. The European game's framerate was inconsistent at best, but this revised version is -- dare we say it? -- playable. In fact, aside from the occasional hiccup, the experience is rather smooth. According to the developer, Risen now boasts higher resolution textures, denser vegetation, better lighting, sharper fonts and brightness controls. Visually, this is pretty much a different game altogether.

Unfortunately, that still doesn't place Risen in the same league as games like the graphically underwhelming Dragon Age Origins. This is still a visually dated product, but at least this time around, the game is playable.

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Netflix may not have a home on the PS3's XMB, but that hasn't hindered Netflix's success on Sony's console. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter told Industry Gamers that "the recent PS3 partnership is driving significant subscriber growth" to Netflix's subscription services. Netflix will likely benefit even further when the service becomes a standalone app on the OS. Pachter reiterated that the Netflix disc will no longer be necessary by the end of this year. "Netflix's exclusive relationship with Microsoft on the Xbox 360 will end in November (after two years), allowing the service to be accessed via the PS3 dashboard later this year."

Twelve million members currently use Netflix, and the service is likely to expand even more once it transitions to the Wii. Sure, a smaller percentage of Wii owners are likely to be interested in the service, but with Wii's billion-strong user base, there's bound to be some traction.

Want to get an early taste of Heavy Rain? Understandably, many readers are still on the fence about Quantic Dream's latest adventure game. "Is it just a long QTE?" "Is it actually a game?" Hopefully, the demo will be able to answer your questions. A free demo will be available on the PlayStation Network on February 11th, in both Europe and North America.

The demo will include two chapters: one featuring FBI agent Norman Jayden attempting to track down the Origami Killer, the other on Joystiq-favorite Scott Shelby, PI.

Just in case news of a demo isn't enough, there's also a new trailer we've tucked away after the break. We do warn you though, it contains some potential spoilers that you may want to save for the final game.

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PC gamers have long been vocal about intrusive DRM programs hidden in their games. With illegal game downloads in the millions, publishers are desperately trying to find new solutions in the war against piracy. Ubisoft's upcoming The Settlers 7 will introduce a new DRM model for the company, one that doesn't require disc authentication and allows multiple installations across multiple systems. "If you own a hundred PCs, you can install your games on a hundred PCs," Ubisoft's Brent Wilkinson told GameSpy.

Central to Ubisoft's new DRM plan is its online integration. Like select Steam games, Ubisoft will require players to log-in with a Ubi.com account in order to play, even for single-player games. As a plus, the online connectivity allows saves to be stored on Ubisoft's servers, meaning players can resume a game from any computer they own. Wilkinson dismissed concerns that some players may not have a ready internet connection: "We think most people are going to be fine with it. Most people are always connected to an Internet connection."

But just in case you aren't, may we suggest AOL dial-up? It's the future, we swear!

[Via BigDownload]

God of War II was almost a PS3 game (at least, before it did become a PS3 game). In an interview with Game Informer, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida remembered the internal debate over whether to release God of War II as one of the last big games for PS2 or as a headline title for the PS3 launch. "Many people, including marketing, suggested that maybe it should be moved to PS3," Yoshida recalled. Certainly, God of War II would've bolstered an exclusive launch lineup that was limited to Resistance: Fall of Man and very little else.

"We had a lot of debates about it, actually. I always firmly stood by keeping it on PS2," Yoshida continued, noting that "the end of a platform is when you see really great games, after developers really begin to understand the hardware."

Yoshida's "gamble" paid off, both critically and financially. If God of War II had been a PS3 launch title, more systems would probably have been pushed at launch, but software sales would've undoubtedly suffered compared to the game's success as a PS2 title. Besides, PS3 owners weren't excluded from the action! Back then, PS3s used to have this magical "backwards compatibility" thingy.

Spike TV's Video Game Awards show isn't simply about celebrating the best of the games industry. No, it plays host to numerous WORLD EXCLUSIVE trailers. But, just how many people tuned in to watch? According to a report by Variety's The Cut Scene, not too many: Roughly 647,000 viewers watched the broadcast in 2009, a 5-percent decrease from 2008's viewership, and a 30-percent decrease from 2007's. When accounting for DVR views, the total jumps to 691,000 viewers. (For comparison's sake, the most recent Golden Globe awards drew in 16.9 million viewers.)

The online numbers (via GameTrailers.com) should make it pretty clear what Spike TV is doing right -- and what it's doing wrong. The scene pictured above, featuring Mike Tyson and the cast of The Jersey Shore, got a paltry 16,000 views. The Halo: Reach trailer, on the other hand, got 584,000. Perhaps if the Video Game Awards focused on, y'know, video games, there would be more reason to stay tuned in.

Joystiq's #2 game of 2009 is finally leaping onto PC on March 16. Ubisoft doesn't seem too apologetic about the four-month delay, pricing the game at $59.99 (a higher price usually reserved for console releases) for both retail and digital versions. However, the PC edition of Assassin's Creed II will act as a pseudo "director's cut" of the game, and it will include two upcoming DLC episodes, Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities.

In addition to the standard PC version, Ubisoft has announced a special "Black Edition" of Assassin's Creed II for $64.99. The press release is incredibly vague about what extras it may contain, simply referring to them as "additional content." An Ubisoft representative remained cryptic about the bonuses, too, promising a "reveal in February," which suggests that the content could differ from the "Black Edition" released on consoles.

Check out the PC specs after the break.

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Chances are, you've played Uncharted 2 by now. Wait, you haven't? Why? Do you not trust us?!

If the lack of a single player demo has turned you off Naughty Dog's latest adventure, worry no more. A free Uncharted 2 demo is making its way to the PlayStation Store next Thursday, January 28th. In addition, premium DLC will supplement its release for fans that are still making their way through the online leaderboards.

As previously mentioned, the first DLC pack will add Sev and a Helghast soldier from Killzone 2, Nathan Hale and a Chimera from Resistance 2, and Cole (both good and evil variants) and Zeke from inFAMOUS. This first set of DLC will be available for $4.99 in the US.

Finally! A Dead or Alive game that gets rid of that annoying "fighting" and "volleyball" nonsense. Dead or Alive Paradise is making its way to America on UMD and PSN this March. The game takes place on a two-week vacation on New Zack Island. You'll be able to play with nine Tecmo girls in an assortment of mini-games found throughout the island. As you befriend the girls, you'll be able to choose from over 100 bathing suit designs, ranging from scantily-clad to barely anything at all.

The press release seems to know exactly what players of Paradise will do when they pick up a copy. "You are in full control to create your own private paradise, in the palm of your hand ... Take your girls anywhere, and play with them anytime." Um ... are we done with this post yet?

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