The NCAA appealed a federal judge's injunction in the case involving former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, which prohibiting it from enforcing rules against student-athletes being paid for the use of their names, images and likenesses. The appeal was filed in the 9th Circuit court late Wednesday, and was not a great surprise to anyone following the case - the NCAA announced its intention to appeal after Wilken's ruling was released on Aug. 8.

The class action lawsuit against the NCAA continues, and this week the college sports association brought in an economics expert who carefully inserted the phrases "name, image and likeness" in his definition of pay-for-play during his testimony. On Thursday U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken asked questions about it during the trial. During his testimony she asked economist David Rubinfeld why he kept using the phrase "pay for play" when referring to student athlete payments.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is at the top of the heap, winning a Clippers bidding war for $2 billion. Steve Ballmer left Microsoft in February and is worth an estimated $20 billion.

Electronic Arts has signed a long-term agreement with Professional Game Match Officials Limited that will run until the 2018/19 season and see match officials sporting EA Sports-branded gear, according to an MCV report.

Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) attempt to become a party to a lawsuit regarding the rights of the NCAA and other entities to use athletes’ likeness in video games, publicity purposes, and other materials.

FIFA Manager series' founder Gerald Köhler announced that FIFA Manager 14 will be the last game in the soccer/football management series.

"Today I’m writing to tell you that FIFA MANAGER 14 will be the last installment of the football simulation series marketed by EA SPORTS. This is was a very tough decision, so I want to take the time to explain it. This probably comes as a big disappointment to many of you, and it is understandable that you would ask why."

New research shows that on average kids need an extra 90 seconds to run a mile than kids did way back in 1975. Researchers blame increased body weight, a lack of exercise, and sedentary lifestyles that involve video games, mobile devices, and television. An analysis of studies on 250 million children from around the world finds that they don't run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young.

While EA Sports has announced that it has broken its long-time relationship with golfing sensation Tiger Woods, it looks like Woods may already be talking to other game companies about putting his name and face on a whole new product. Tiger Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN that he is currently speaking with another unnamed video game company regarding video game rights.

Electronic Arts announced via its official blog this morning that it is ending its long-standing partnership with pro golfer Tiger Woods. The company said that the split was a mutual decision between both parties, and that the PGA Tour series of licensed golf games would continue on without the Tiger Woods name.

The Big Ten, Pacific-12, and Southeastern conferences will no longer allow EA Sports to use their respective league logos in the company's college football video games. The organizations join the NCAA, who announced last month that it would not renew a licensing agreement with EA - due to expire in June 2014. EA Sports can still pursue individual licenses for schools - they are not covered under the conference contracts - but will not be able to mention the actual conferences in its games.

Six current college football players have been added as plaintiffs to the anti-trust lawsuit that claims the NCAA owes billions of dollars to former players for allowing their likenesses to be used without compensation in games made by Electronic Arts. Former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, which has been joined by 16 former college athletes. Basketball Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson previously joined the lawsuit.

On the heels of yesterday's announcement that the NCAA would end its licensing agreement with EA Sports - which is set to expire in June of next year - EA has assured fans that its NCAA college football game franchise will live on - even if it doesn't have "NCAA" in its title.

Former college basketball player Ed O’Bannon says that his class action lawsuit related to various EA Sports games against the National Collegiate Athletic Association isn't about getting rich - it's about what is fair. The former University of California-Los Angeles forward says that lawsuit is about establishing the rights of players of the college sports’ governing body to keep proceeds from selling the rights to athletes’ likenesses used in TV broadcasts, video games and clothing lines.

If you are a PC owner that enjoys playing EA Sports titles like FIFA, then I have some sad news for you: you won't be playing the latest editions of these games. You'll be weeping alongside Wii U owners who also have been told that EA Sports titles are not available to you. The reasoning behind this, according to EA? Most of your PC rigs are just not powerful enough to handle EA's new Ignite Engine - the technology that was touted during EA's E3 press event being used to develop PS4 and Xbox One sports titles.

In the latest round of the federal antitrust case led by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon against the NCAA, Electronic Arts and College Licensing Co, the National Collegiate Athletic Association argued in court that it is improper to certify former college athletes as a class because they did not provide evidence to support their claims "that NCAA amateurism rules illegally 'restrain' current SAs [student athletes] from selling broadcast or video game 'group licenses.'" O'Bannon's lawsuit alleges that all the parties involved colluded to avoid pa

A mildly amusing story on My San Antonio details how the new head coach for the Texas Tech Football program is preparing players coming back from Spring break to get ready for training camps this summer. A tweet from Texas Tech offensive lineman Alfredo Morales offers a picture of a note from the new coach Kliff Kingsbury which details his advice to returning players:

The AbleGamers Foundation have given EA Sports' international soccer game FIFA 13 the AbleGamers Mainstream Accessible Game of the Year Award. The charity dedicated to advancing accessibility for gamers with disabilities chose FIFA 13 because of its wealth of accessibility options that made it easy for gamers with various physical limitations to configure the game to high levels of comfort and ease of use.

EA Sports announced plans to shut down online multiplayer services for a number of its AAA titles. Those titles include Madden NFL 11, FIFA 11, and more FIFA Soccer 11, FIFA Soccer 11 Ultimate Team, Madden NFL 11, Madden NFL 11 Ultimate Team, NBA Jam, NBA Live 10, NCAA Football 11, NHL 11, and NHL 11 Ultimate Team. These games will lose online multiplayer capabilities on January 11.

EA game The Sims 2 for PC and Mac will also lose online services on January 14.

Concordia University communications professor Mia Consalvo conducted a study to find the correlation between sports video game fans and their media consumption. The results of that study were recently published in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

EA Sports officially announced this week that its next NBA game, NBA Live 13, would not be released this fall. Commenting about it on the game's official website, EA Sports executive vice president Andrew Wilson said that the studio made the decision to cancel this fall's NBA game after several recent builds proved to be "less-than-acceptable."

According to information gleaned from court documents obtained by ESPN, EA Sports used the real names of NCAA college athletes during the development of its now-dead college basketball video game franchise. The information came from emails that are being used as part of an antitrust lawsuit filed against the NCAA, Electronic Arts, and the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) by former NCAA college athletes.

EA Sports is warming up to the idea that female athletes deserve more time in the spotlight. The company has already taken steps towards supporting more women athletes, announcing that its next hockey title NHL 13 will feature women's hockey stars Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero. EA Fans are also doing their part to further convince the company that women deserve more exposure in their games: FIFA fan Fernanda Schabarum has started an online petition to ask EA to add female characters to the series. And since EA is being receptive on the topic, it listened.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken has shot down an Electronic Arts request to have a major class action lawsuit against it dismissed. According to a Courthouse News report (see also this PDF) the lawsuit filed by former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes accusing EA of using their likenesses without providing them with any compensation will go forward.

The lawsuit filed against Electronic Arts by retired NFL players is moving forward. A California judge has rejected EA's motion to have the case dismissed. The suit, filed by several retired NFL players wants it to turn into a class action so that some 6,000 defendants can be represented. The lawsuit alleges that EA through its EA Sports brand used their likenesses without consent in multiple Madden NFL games over the years. Electronic Arts argues that it is basically fair use and that real names were never used.

Forget about violent video games; according to a group of researchers in England, games with goals such as football are more likely to make participants aggressive than anything encountered in Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty. According to research conducted by Dr. Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson of Huddersfield university, games with goals cause more of an aggressive reaction in participants than killing an animated character because sports is closer to real life. Of course, you have to take into account that Football in England is a culturally more important than video games in general.

Researchers measured the heart rates, respiration and brain activity of 40 male and female participants randomly selected to play violent Xbox 360 game or a football game. They found that when players killed someone in a game it caused little brain activity. But when participant's conceded a goal or foul in the sports game it caused a higher level of brain activity.

According to a report in SportsBusinessDaily, EA has been given some relief related to the 2011 NFL licensing contract. According to the publication, the NFL gave the company a break because of the chaos caused by stalled negotiations with players. Because of this, the 2011 season will start late. If the NFL cannot come to some kind of an agreement before March 4, it will lead to a "work stoppage," which will in turn delay the start of the season.

Despite the chaos of a delayed football season, Madden NFL 12 will still ship in August for various platforms.

SBD claims that the NFL "significantly reduced" EA's contractual obligations for next season and added a year to the deal. This is according to what SBD calls "several well-placed sources." The contract now runs through 2013.

A U.S. District judge has certified a class-action antitrust case involving the alleged price fixing of Electronic Arts' football titles.

According to the decision, any consumers who purchased Madden, Arena Football or NCAA football games in 2005 can sign on as plaintiffs on the case and be represented by a single law firm.

According to a story on Gamasutra:

Jacksonville Jaguar Offensive Lineman Uche Nwaneri is a large man, clocking in at 6’3” tall and around 320 pounds, but he’s proving that his heart is big as well, as he is the host of an upcoming videogame tournament that will benefit local artists.

On October 1 at 6:30 PM, Nwaneri will host his Gaming 4 the Cause event at the Whiskey River bar and restaurant, which is located at 4850 Big Island Drive in Jacksonville. A $10 entry fee will allow attendees to play Madden NFL 11 against Nwaneri and other Jag players, as well as gain a chance to win a series of prizes.

Proceeds will go to Nwaneri’s House of Ambrose Foundation, which is dedicated to “enhancing and promoting the appreciation of arts by providing empowering opportunities for young artists to continue the exploration and perfection of their craft.”

While the Buffalo Bills may be 0-3, and fans might soon begin to turn off their games, a group of players from the team recently met with kids in order to encourage them to ditch videogames and TV for an hour a day in favor of physical exercise.

About a dozen Bills players were joined by the mayors of Niagara Falls and Buffalo as they entertained a group of third-through-sixth graders for a Play 60 Challenge event, which is a joint initiative between the National Football League and the American Heart Association.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told the kids, “In addition to doing all of your schoolwork and having healthy minds, you have to turn off the video games and exercise 60 minutes every day, whether it’s going outside and playing with your friends, riding your bicycle, throwing a football, throwing a baseball or jumping rope.”

Quinn Pitcock, the defensive tackle attempting an NFL comeback following a self-diagnosed bout with videogame addiction, was cut from the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday (thanks sister site GameCulture).

Pitcock managed to survive until the final round of cuts after a preseason in which he appeared in four games, accumulating the same number of tackles.

The Ohio State University alumni recently expanded on his problem with games, saying that in his heyday, he would typically wake up at 3 PM and then play Call of Duty until 6 or 7 AM the next day.