Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will be featured as the cover athlete of MADDEN NFL 09, coming to stores across North America on August 12 from EA Sports.

MADDEN NFL 09 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed videogame franchises of all time, and the game will feature adaptable gameplay tailored to every type of gamer, online enhancements and a broadcast style presentation delivering an authentic NFL experience.

Darrell Rodriguez has been named president of LucasArts, the videogame division of Lucasfilm Ltd., it was announced today by Lucasfilm President Micheline Chau.

He replaces Jim Ward, who stepped down in February.

"Darrell is the ideal person to run LucasArts," Chau said. "Having worked at both Electronic Arts and Disney Imagineering he brings the perfect blend of production, operational, and creative expertise. For a games company such as LucasArts with its roots in film, this is an electric combination."

The official website for THE INCREDIBLE HULK, an intensely realistic third-person action video game soon to be available on all major video-game platforms in June 2008, is now live.

Check out the website at: http://incrediblehulkthegame.com.

Fueled with fury, SEGA's THE INCREDIBLE HULK features key moments from the film, as well as additional plotlines and characters from the character's rich comic-book universe. Players smash through New York City, battling gigantic enemies amidst soaring skyscrapers in a massive open world.

Two GDH titles, THE TOWER OF DRUAGA - THE AEGIS OF URUK and BLASSREITER, two new animated series produced by its main production subsidiary GONZO K.K. will be made available online for viewers overseas on the same day of TV broadcast in Japan.

Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, has closed an agreement with Tom Clancy to acquire all intellectual property rights to the Clancy name.

The agreement is on a perpetual basis and free of all related future royalty payments, for use in video games and ancillary products including related books, movies and merchandising products.

The price of the all-cash acquisition was not currently disclosed.

Take-Two Interactive's board has refused to accept Electronic Arts' $2 billion acquisition offer, so EA is turning hostile, VARIETY reports.

The largest videogame publisher went directly to the Take-Two shareholders on Thursday, offering them $26 per share.

The move wasn't surprising as EA had already revealed its offer to the public last month, an amount Take-Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick said was too low.

EA's bid now represents a 64 percent premium over the last day of trading before the offer was first made.

The 1970s-era sci-fi fantasy magazine HEAVY METAL will be the inspiration for a Paramount Pictures animated film, led by director David Fincher, according to VARIETY.

The magazine was known for erotic and violent storylines and images, and introduced the work of American artists and writers - including Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison and H.R. Giger.

Eight or nine different segments will be created for the film, each with a different director.

Toon Radio and Limelight Media announce the return of ANIME IN THE LIMELIGHT after a three-year hiatus.

The Japanese anime and videogame music radio show has been on local terrestrial radio and has been recording new episodes since January 2008.

It will resume broadcasting on the Toon Radio internet radio station (www.toonradio.net) on March 15, 2008.

On the air since 1997, Anime in the Limelight is a 30 to 60 minute Japanese animation music and Japanese pop culture show.

To mark the launch of the inaugural GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: GAMER'S EDITION 2008, some of the nation's best players of GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK convened in New York City for a mesmerizing record-breaking jam session.

When the dust settled, one of the best GUITAR HERO players in the world, Chris Chike, age 16 from Rochester, Minnesota, walked away with a new Guinness World Record for the "Highest Score for a Single Song on GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK"

Director Mike Newell will shoot action-adventure flick PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME in Morocco, VARIETY reports.

The video-game based film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney from a script by THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff and game creator Jordan Mechner.

Disney hopes to create a new franchise a la PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN from the video game's six installments and numerous spin-offs.