ESPN, EA SPORTS Present Third Season of Madden Nation

Matt Leinart, Larry Johnson and Steven Jackson Featured as Madden NFL Football Gamers Vie for $100,000 Prize

October 3, 2007 -- ESPN and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) will present the third season of Madden Nation – a reality series taking fans inside the world of Madden NFL competitive gaming. Airing as back-to-back episodes on Tuesdays, beginning October 9 (11 and 11:30 pm. ET on ESPN2), the eight-episode series will pit the nation’s top 13 Madden NFL gamers – each representing a real-life NFL player sponsor – against each other in elimination-style tournaments. NFL stars Matt Leinart, Larry Johnson, and Steven Jackson will be among the players featured during the gamers’ nine-city bus tour. The finale, which takes place in New York City’s Times Square, will be televised Tuesday, Oct. 30, with the Madden Nation winner claiming a $100,000 prize.

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“After seeing the enthusiasm of fans from last year’s competition, we look forward to bringing them another action-packed series with this year’s Madden Nation, featuring more NFL players and some unforeseen plot twists,” said Ron Semiao, senior vice president, original events, ESPN Content Development.

With scenarios designed to test players’ skills, the tournament features the gamers competing in teams of two to maintain their place and make it to the next round of play. However, each round-one player from the losing team must face a "free agent" vying for his or her spot on the bus and in the competition. Tour stops include NFL cities Dallas, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston and New York – all en route to the finale in Times Square.

“Madden Nation is a great window into the passion and spirit of competition that lives in the Madden community” said Brandon Barber, Director of Entertainment Marketing at EA. “This year's Madden Nation is proof that video games can make great television and of the great collaboration between EA and ESPN in pursuing that goal."

This year’s contestants were selected for the series from a pool of more than 7,000 applicants and the top levels of competitive gaming, including Madden Challenge regional tournaments and online competitions. The 13 finalists represent nine states and feature the series’ first female contestant. Each gamer is matched with an NFL player and meets him along the tour.

Contestant - Hometown - NFL Athlete Represented

* Coach - Steve Williams - Sugarland, Texas - Roy Williams - Cowboys
* Houseshoe - Haaruwn Brown - Mobile, Ala. - Santana Moss - Redskins
* J. Rhoades - Jesse Rhoades - National Park, N.J. - Jonathan Vilma - Jets
* Delph - Brian Delph - Sandusky, Ohio - Shawne Merrimen - Chargers
* PG-13 - Sheila Barger - Fresno, Calif. - T.J. Houshmandzadeh - Bengals
* Jet - Jet Steele - Tampa, Fla. - Samari Rolle - Ravens
* Hollywood - Charles James - Bloomfield Hills, Mich. - Matt Leinart - Cardinals
* Prodigy - Van Bernardino - Napa, Calif. - JaMarcus Russell - Raiders

Free Agents

* Sirus the Virus - Ronnie Casey - Louisville, Ky. - Steven Jackson - Rams
* Panoramic - Marcus Phillips - Oakley, Calif. - Larry Johnson - Chiefs
* Problem - Eric Wright - West Covina, Calif. - Devin Hester - Bears
* Raf - Rafael Andrada - Converse, Texas - Reggie Wayne - Colts
* Marc Dog - Marcus Carr - Bowie, Md. - Kellen Winslow Jr. - Browns

For additional footage and show information, please visit: www.espnvideogames.com.

ESPN CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

The new ESPN Content Development (ECD) unit (formerly ESPN Original Entertainment) serves as the incubator of original content for placement throughout ESPN Inc.’s vast media portfolios. Charged with developing and producing original content, ECD programming includes award-winning documentaries (Through the Fire, One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stu Ungar), the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, original movies (3, Ruffian), reality series (Varsity Inc., Madden Nation, Streetball), scripted and unscripted dramatic series (The Bronx is Burning, The Contender), and groundbreaking televised events such as ESPN owned-events The X Games – the world’s leading brand in actions sports events and competition, and The ESPYs which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. ECD continues to plant itself firmly on the cutting edge of sports and entertainment television, and event creation. With projects such as the four-hour, two-part film event Black Magic and the all-access documentary Bobby V in Japan slated for Spring 2008, ECD serves both the passionate sports fan and the more casual viewer, and strives to expand ESPN's already industry-leading offerings in live events and sports news & information programming.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Source: ESPN