Midnight Madden-mania hitting Best Buy

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 13, 2007 5:38 pm PT

50 locations holding late-night events to help launch latest installment in EA's annual football franchise.

After being screwed relatively tight for several months, the game-release spigot is opening up tomorrow with Madden NFL 08's official release. GameSpot's Madden Launch Center will feature live coverage from the game's official launch in New York City and a San Francisco-based four-hour gameplay marathon starting at 6pm PDT.

To accommodate those looking to pick up a copy of Madden NFL 08 as soon as they can, Best Buy is holding midnight launch events across the country. From Atlanta to Los Angeles, some 50 locations are participating in the event, which will see the EA Tiburon-developed pigskin sim go on sale at 12:01pm. Rated E for Everyone, Madden NFL will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ($59.99), the PlayStation 2 and Wii ($49.99), the PC, Macintosh, PlayStation Portable, GameCube, and Xbox ($39.99), and the Nintendo DS ($29.99). A complete list of Best Buy locations holding midnight Madden events is below.

Atlanta 1875 Pleasant Hill Rd Duluth, GA 30096

Atlanta 1450 E Park Place Blvd Stone Mountain, GA 30087

Birmingham 3780 Riverchase Vlg #200 Hoover, AL 35244

Boston 550 Arsenal St Ste 2 Watertown, MA 02472

Charlotte 10600 Centrum Pkwy Pineville, NC 28134

Charlotte 8813 JW Clay Blvd Charlotte NC 28262

Chicago 900 E Golf Rd Downers Grove IL 60515

Chicago 900 E Golf Rd Schaumburg, IL 60173

Chicago 7600 S Cicero Ave Burbank Town Center Burbank, IL 60459

Cincinnati 100 Meijer Dr Florence, KY 41042

Cleveland 7830 Plaza Blvd Mentor, OH 44060

Dallas 2800 N Central Expy Plano, TX 75074

Denver 5395 S Wadsworth Blvd Lakewood, CO 80123

Denver 13801 E Mississippi Ave Aurora, CO 80012

Des Moines 4100 University Ave Ste 240 West Des Moines, IA 50265

Detroit 32320 John R Rd Madison Heights, MI 48071

Erie 597 Erie Erie Pa 6650 Peach St Erie, PA 16509

Green Bay/Appleton 825 Pilgrim Way Ste A Green Bay, WI 54304

Houston 5133 Richmond Ave Houston, TX 77056

Indianapolis 5820 E 82nd St Indianapolis, IN 46250

Kansas City 9301 Quivira Rd Overland Park, KS 66214

Los Angeles 1015 N La Brea Ave W Hollywood, CA 90046

Los Angeles 3900 Tyler St Riverside, CA 92503

Los Angeles 114 Fullerton Fullerton Ca 120 E Imperial Hwy Fullerton, CA 92835

Madison 7357 W Towne Way Madison, WI 53719

Miami 4001 W 20th Ave Hialeah, FL 33012

Miami 12495 Sw 88th St Miami, FL 33186

Milwaukee 4610 S 76th St Greenfield, WI 53220

Minneapolis 1000 West 78th St Richfield, MN 55423

Minneapolis 13513 Ridgedale Dr Minnetonka, MN 55305

Nashville 5255 Hickory Hollow Pkwy Antioch, TN 37013

New Orleans 6205 Veterans Memorial Blvd Metairie, LA 70003

New York 622 Broadway New York, NY 10012

New York 529 5th Ave New York, NY 10017

New York 925 Patterson Plank Rd Secaucus, NJ 07094

New Jersey 261 Pond Path South Setauket NY 11720

Omaha 7520 Dodge St Omaha, NE 68114

Omaha 333 N 170th St Omaha, NE 68118

Orlando 845 N Alafaya Trl Orlando, FL 32828

Philadelphia 1504 Macarthur Rd Whitehall, PA 18052

Philadelphia 1851 Deptford Center Rd Deptford, NJ 08096

Phoenix 1949 E Camelback Rd Ste 101 Phoenix, AZ 85016

Pittsburgh 5000 Alicia Dr Bethel Park, PA 15102

San Diego 149 Fletcher Pkwy El Cajon CA 92020

San Francisco 1717 Harrison St San Francisco, CA 94103

Seattle 457 120th Ave Ne Bellevue, WA 98005

St. Louis 5651 South Service Road Saint Peters, MO 63376

St. Louis 7017 S Lindbergh Blvd Saint Louis, MO 63125

Tampa 1725 N Dale Mabry Hwy Tampa, FL 33607

Washington D.C./Baltimore 15800 Collington Rd Bowie, MD 20715

148 Comments

  • playstation_wii

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 6:22 pm PT

    Some got it early!

  • GundamRX79Live

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 11:11 am PT

    i played it we opened it early at best buy and played it right before the store opened i think its the best one yet...really sad that it takes 3 years to make ea to do it now they need to fix nba live

  • ebookerd1

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 8:35 am PT

    what kind of A$S clown stays up over night for Madden why not just wait till tomorrow play last years which is exaclty the same as this years minus you cant hurdle, lol, got to work (which most of you losers playing this games don't have.) Leave work and pick it up. This makes logical sense because I don't see a reason this game will not sell out. Who the hell would? EA knows that there are more than 20000 rubes like the guy below me that will line up and pay $50-$60, on an NFL roster change. Ha Ha

  • evergrant2

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 3:14 am PT

    Haters can step to the left....BOOM! Madden for life!

  • redskins21

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 2:07 am PT

    for all the people how sit on there computer and bash the **** about madden and football can u go get a life u **** nerds all u do is sit on the computer and cry about things u are so feared to do in real life so yea get a **** life and stop sitting on the computer worring about games and worry about getting girls

  • packernation31

    Posted Aug 15, 2007 1:34 am PT

    Awww none in west virginia?

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:38 pm PT

    I have yet to buy a single Madden game. But I expected the graphics to be more realistic this generation.

  • DJSMITH007

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:21 pm PT

    Stop bashing Madden...I thought all you Americans liked AMERICAN FOOTBALL

  • cliff122316

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:55 pm PT

    hahaha i love the fear of being casual around here. madden is fun. whats wrong with it being a fun game that happens to be based around a popular sport. granted its only this popular because the sport is so popular. but its still a fun game so stop hating on it. if you dont want the yearly edition then you can buy it every two or three. no problems there. its a supply and demand economy, obviously their is a demand for a new madden every single year, because people are buying it in droves. how can you blame EA for meeting a demand for one of their products? what developer wouldnt do that?

  • R3DN1N3

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:18 pm PT

    Moldy10 People that say it is just the same game every year need to shutup. You just don't like football. Go play your Madden 99! Noobs!
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I detest u and all your fellow sheep that keep pumping money into the EA big whigs every year.
    It's so pathetic to see a big fuss over a football game, this is just as bad as getting excited for a movie-to-videogame.
    I mean we all know theres nothing special to look forward to....so then why is there a midnight launch.....this is pathetic

  • 4quarters

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 5:12 pm PT

    But pick it up at Toys R Us becouse you get ANY second game 1/2 off!!! when you buy Madden this week!!!!!!

  • drewcal58

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 4:57 pm PT

    That's actually a really good idea, a developer without a main focus on making money would probably do that. Too bad EA is a wannabe cash monster.

  • HALOISTHEBEST26

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 4:45 pm PT

    okay i know everyone says that its the same every year but it has 1 or 2 new features and updated players, now for hardcore football fans thats great, but in my opinion i dont think that this is worth $60 every year, i think they should do a $10-$20 yearly online update with the new feature and updated rosters, and maybe every 2 or 3 years release a complete new game with updated graphics, but the new players should not cost $60, some of you might not like my idea but i think that would make sense.

  • The_PC_Gamer

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 4:09 pm PT

    dudes...its a football game...who the heck lines up at midnight to get a yearly edition of a football game....@_@

  • gzibocod

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 3:26 pm PT

    Klaimore

    "So far there is only two games worth staying up till midnight for. bioshock and halo 3 not a "football" game"

    I agree with Klaimore.

  • Klaimore

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    So far there is only two games worth staying up till midnight for. bioshock and halo 3 not a "football" game

  • NandoSupes

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 2:12 pm PT

    I can't believe people will wait at midnight to buy this piece of garbage of a football game,what a disgrace.EA keeps getting more richer with a game thats offers anything but football mechanics or animation,but I don't care cause they are not gonna get my money,thats for sure.

  • dt2003

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 1:56 pm PT

    the game doesn't look that great from what i saw last night during the marathon. I even saw some glitches and there wasn't even a single ref on the field. And the touchdown celebration look so cheesy, how come is it always one guy who celebrating the touchdown by himself, and the rest of his team mates are just walking around like nothing had happened? All this stuff is small but it still contributes to the gaming experience. And for a next-gen game, the players look like thier robots, non of the in-game animation look fluent. 8.5?? comon now.

  • keci_kt

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 1:11 pm PT

    Wow this is just as crazy as the last book of harry potter.... I remember i was at the store 2 hours before midnight and i was #250 on the line....lucky me... This time i gotta make sure i get there pretty early.

  • Enterprise-E

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 12:13 pm PT

    Once again Louisiana is screwed.

  • MegaJynx

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 11:49 am PT

    Boo, the Best Buy I work at isn't doing it :-/

  • Moldy10

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 11:32 am PT

    People that say it is just the same game every year need to shutup. You just don't like football. Go play your Madden 99! Noobs!

  • ebookerd1

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 11:12 am PT

    What I find really finny about the Philadelphia locations are. They are all an hour away. That is pretty stupid!!! even though you couldn't pay me to sit over night to play madden. I ordered it online because I don't care when it comes but I might just take it back and get a good game like I should have with last years piece of crap. I played ESPN more than this Career ending NFL repeating game. For all you madden heads that probably think that video game systems were meant for sport games. You can at least buy a good game cause this one like the last 5 (yes only the last five) sucked!! I can only pray this repeating no competition having franchise will try something better. Even though they don't have to due to the slaves that still think this franchise is getting better. and Yes Jasongm I wish Tecmo would make another football game too. That way there might be a good football franchise out today. I feel like crap because I only brought this one so that my Nephews could play this crap. I hate my self for this but I love my Nephews!! This game could wait till 11 am for a smart person to pick it up.

  • jasongm

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 10:52 am PT

    geez its just a football game people, its nothing to go "nuts" about, The only football game i still use is Madden 04... sure i dont know who the players are, for me its just a sports game....

    Wish Tecmo would make another football game...

  • Jharper

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 10:31 am PT

    I'm with mjwickstrom1 here, I'm gonna rent due to all the positive reviews. 06 and 07 fell into the category of "same ol' same ol' Madden" that everyone here is spouting off at. WIth 08, nearly all the reviews (if not all) say that 08 has the modes and the features to finally justify the purchase unlike in past years. That's good enough to at least jusitfy a rental to see if I actually want to buy it.

    So many people are quick to just rag on something because it's the cool thing to do on the internet. Guess I'm one of the last people out there to do some research before I run my mouth about something.

  • mjwickstrom1

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 10:18 am PT

    I'm not a Madden fan, but I'll give 08 a rent, because it's gotten great reviews!

  • icym

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:57 am PT

    Well, if there were PS3, Wii, Harry Potter, and Transformer lines.... how is this any worse of a event? Its all good and glad to see the stores taking care of their customers

  • FLEEBS

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:56 am PT

    Who freakin' cares?

  • backinthekrak

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:34 am PT

    Get a life, people....

  • pridex

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:26 am PT

    gamestar412 dude you dont get it. New players thats why! haha

  • Sonicgod

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 9:25 am PT

    mtbHanzo Those "Clunky CRT monitors "are better in everyway to those fancy slim monitors you use There image quality is far superior to any LCD or flat panel at every resolution while Your LCD stretches pixels and destroys black Levels into a big mess.

    High end 3d graphics work for film and games and CG work are only viewed and done ON large expensive advanced CRT monitors for that very reason.

    With LCD you pay more for less since they have no clue what they are doing and CRT have been around for 50 years to be perfected.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:52 am PT

    Dammit there was one in Dallas. I knew I should have checked.

  • drewcal58

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:43 am PT

    mtbHanzo, I could be good at any game, that includes Madden, the thing is I really don't care that much. I asked my roommate why he was so good, he said he used to play every day in high school. Now I had better things to do in High School like actually playing real football. How about you give me your xbox live gamertag, if you have one, and I'll go get Madden just for you, then we'll see who bad at Madden

  • gamestar412

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:37 am PT

    I wasn't aware Madden's fan base was awake at 12AM on a Monday night. And on that note, who the hell actually buys this game anymore? I can imagine buying it because you need your football fix and you just bought a 360 but why the hell would you spend money on it each and every year?

  • mehoff88

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:33 am PT

    Words cant describe how dumb a midnight release for a Madden game is. People who buy this obviously dont know what a quality game is. HELLO!! wake the F**K up its just Madden 07, 06, 05, 04 etc... with updated graphics and maybe 1 or 2 more game modes. EA is just milking the "im a dumb**s" pot.

  • Smogtoe

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:28 am PT

    It's the same for us when one of our favorite games comes out........the excitement! I'm not seriously excited about Madden, I play it from time to time, but I'm not standing in line for it. The people that get excited about Madden are probably the gamers that have friends that come over to play with them, and/or have parties to organize tournaments. Keeps trouble off the streets if you ask me! Therefore, it becomes a social event, good ol' competition among friends! So in that, I can understand the excitement! You go Madden-heads!!!! Cause when August 28th gets here, or the 27th or something! I'll be excited too, .............Metroid Prime 3......Oh yeah!!

  • Guiltfeeder566

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 8:03 am PT

    I don't get it. Why do people get so excited about a game that comes out every year and changes so little? You don't see Best Buy giving Dynasty Warriors a party.

  • Sonicgod

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:48 am PT

    People buy the exact same game since SNES started every year on the dot.

    And it's still boring but slight bit more entertaining than being forced to watch real football on TV at least my hands are moving it keeps me awake.

    But Hey every year I never buy the sports game and Save tons of money to Buy a real game, I think I will go to this event and buy Resident evil 4 on Wii and get a better game for less money.

    I got nothing to do on that day I will see if there really is a line there never is any other year.

    When EA straps time Bombs to the players Chest in madden 2009 forcing them to score to the touchdown area to disarm the bomb before it explodes, taking out half of the city. Then EA will wake me up enough to at least get my attention.

    And they should dress them all in Pickle and hotdog costumes, and the guy who throws the Ball can be the mustard costume so you can tell him apart from all the guys that push. I don't know any of there names so It don't matter If i can not see there head.

  • rome_tx

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:41 am PT

    I don't have anything against Madden, but I'll wait for the price to drop to buy it.

  • BigDaveyDogz

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:18 am PT

    It may be the same thing year after year with a few tweaks but it is NFL football. So if you wanna play some fooseball they only way right now is through Madden....BOOM, tough actin Tinactin!!!

    I'm not saying this is a good thing...I'm just tellin it like it is. I was a 2K fan myself back in the Dreamcast days and it has been hard for me to make a 60 dollar purchase of something that will be obsolete in a year...and have to do it every year. 2K football 20 bucks...ahh those were the days!!

  • Savier989

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:10 am PT

    Oh boi! I can just see the massive lineups now!

  • eredgar

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 7:06 am PT

    NJ has a NY address
    and visa versa

  • BlizzardAcolyte

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:45 am PT

    Cool...there's gonna be a pretty funny show going on about half an hour from my house, what with the sheer hilarity of lines for "Madden with a new hat!" or Madden '08, whatever you want to call it.

  • taurus702b

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:44 am PT

    Same stupid game as the other Maddens before it. Why don't they just go out to the park and ACTUALLY play football. Stupid people who buy this.

  • Atarii

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:35 am PT

    Same game, different year.

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