New duds coming to Madden, NCAA

Electronic Arts has taken a lashing from critical gamers for its use of the Xbox 360's Marketplace. Many think that the publisher is egregiously charging for content in games that it shouldn't--including its recent string of purchasable shortcuts of unlockable items.

As the holidays approach, it appears EA is getting into the spirit of giving. On the official forums for Madden NFL 07, an EA rep who goes by the handle "EA Sports RAC" says that the company will be releasing alternative jerseys for both Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 07 on Xbox Live Marketplace for free download.

For Madden NFL 07, each NFL team will have an extra jersey to sport, with older teams getting uniforms of the throwback variety and more recently added teams getting alternate jerseys worn in the 2005 season.

For NCAA Football 07, alternate jerseys will be available for teams in the following conferences: the ACC, Big 10, Big East, Conference USA, Pac 10, Mountain West, SEC, Big 12, and the WAC.

As of press time, the jerseys were not yet posted on Marketplace. EA has not mentioned how big the files will be or at what time they will be available.