Madden kicks off EA Sports content on XBL

Electronic Arts has a firm hold on sports games, with franchises like Madden NFL, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, NBA Live, and others under its belt. Even though a slew of themes and picture packs based on those games is available for the Xbox 360, little in-game content from those titles has been posted on Xbox Live.

Today, the first premium EA Sports-related items that move beyond dashboard aesthetics became available on Xbox Live Marketplace. And, according to EA, that's just the beginning. The publisher will be rolling out regular content for all of its sports titles.

The first downloads available are video strategy guides for both Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 07 and classic stadiums for Madden. The videos, four for Madden and four for NCAA, are each approximately five minutes long and cover the finer points of rushing, passing, run defense, and pass defense. Each video is 160 Marketplace points ($2.00). The LA Rams Classic Stadium and Seattle Seahawks Classic Stadium are also available and run 300 points ($3.75) apiece.

More content will be "coming soon," including video guides for NBA Live 07, courses and pro-shop items for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, more stadiums and alternate uniforms for Madden NFL 07, and alternate uniforms for NCAA Football 07.

For more information on EA Sports' Xbox Live Marketplace initiative and a video preview of Madden NFL 07's rushing strategy guide, check out GameSpot's interview with Chip Lange, EA's vice president of online commerce.