NEW YORK CITY – Calvin Johnson, Jr., wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, was selected by millions of fans across the country to grace the cover of Madden NFL 13, which will hit store shelves August 28.  Johnson, a No. 6 seed, defeated fellow NFL Pro Bowler Cam Newton, a No.1seed, in a thrilling matchup culminating in a live unveiling on ESPN’s SportsNation and a cover photo shoot for the winner in New York City’s Times Square. This year’s vote campaign surpassed last year’s totals by 54% (19.6 million vs. 12.7 million), ending with Johnson triumphing over Newton by a final margin of 52% to 48%. EA Sports Anthony Stevenson breaks down the live event in this exclusive video interview below.

Electronic Arts is adding another big game to its lineup for 2013. Joining SimCity next year is Crysis 3 from Crytek. Set in a very different New York City, Crysis 3 puts players in the role of Prophet. With the entire city encased in a Nanodome called the Liberty Dome, the environments players will be exploring are swamplands, rivers and dense overgrowth. In other words, players will be exploring a literal jungle, not an urban one.

In the face of right-wing attacks by the Family Research Council, consumers and citizens around the world are strongly backing one of the largest video game makers, Electronic Arts, for their inclusion of lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) characters in the new video games Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3.  Both games from BioWare have allowed gamers to create unique characters and decide what types of sexual relationships to pursue within these complex virtual worlds.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin captured his second career Art Ross Trophy as the National Hockey League’s scoring champion, Tampa Bay Lightning center and NHL 12 cover athlete Steven Stamkos claimed his second Maurice Richard Trophy as the League’s goal-scoring leader, and St. Louis Blues goaltenders Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak combined to win their first William Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders on the club allowing the fewest goals during the 2011-12 regular season. The four trophy winners will be honored at the 2012 NHL Awards, which will be held Wednesday, June 20 at the Wynn Las Vegas.

EA Sports unveiled the first Madden NFL 13 screenshot showcasing new Nike uniforms. The EA Sports development team was granted early access to the new designs of the NFL uniforms and used this insight to meticulously recreate the Nike clothing in Madden NFL 13. Nike signed a five-year exclusive deal with the NFL, which brings Reebok's reign as official clothing manufacturer to an end in real life and in videogames.

Electronic Arts, 38 Studios, and Big Huge Games are further expanding Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning with Teeth of Naros. In the second downloadable content (DLC) pack for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, players will journey through a forgotten land called the Teeth of Naros, a harsh environment named after an ancient troll god. In this new journey players will encounter the Kollossae, a devout race of giants, and uncover the mysteries of their faith. Teeth of Naros will be available starting on April 17, 2012 on Xbox Live for 800 points and PlayStation Network, Origin and Steam for $9.99.

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs just around the corner, Electronic Arts is adding yet another fan voted cover athlete to its roster of games. Following in the footsteps of NCAA Football and Madden NFL, NHL 13 will feature a cover athlete voted by gamers. The EA Sports NHL Cover Vote Campaign – sponsored by BlackBerry and hosted on NHL.com, kicks off today. The voting process will consist of two preliminary rounds, followed by a 16-player bracket as a field of 60 NHL players is narrowed down to one. The winning player will be unveiled as the NHL 13 Cover Athlete at the 2012 NHL Awards on June 20 at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas. Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes, who was on the cover of NHL 08, talks about gaming in this exclusive video interview below.

The Battlefield army is over 12 million strong and growing every day as Battlefield 3 and its first expansion, Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand, continue to recruit gamers around the world with its sandbox gameplay and state-of-the-art technology. DICE, an Electronic Arts studio, will keep the action coming throughout the year with three new themed digital expansion packs that will introduce new modes, unique environments and more ways to wage all-out-war. Powered by the Frostbite 2 engine, the next expansion packs are: Battlefield 3: Close Quarters in June, Battlefield 3: Armored Kill in the fall, and Battlefield 3: End Game in the winter.

“All good things must come to an end.”  It’s a quote that resonates in pretty much anything, including sports streaks, careers and life itself.  And it also resonates with story arcs in video games.  We’ve seen several conclusive chapters over the years that have wrapped up sagas either in style (Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3) or disappointment (Resistance 3…seriously), but it just goes to show that developers are ready to move on to the next thing.  But there’s something bittersweet about seeing the end come in Mass Effect 3.  The first two games have been so great – especially part two, which some of us are still playing – that it’s just hard to imagine life without dealing with some new adventures of Commander Shepard.  Still, outside of DLC, Bioware is pretty much done with this story.  And what a way to go.

With FIFA 13 still a long ways off, EA Sports is offering soccer fans a reprieve with the new FIFA Street relaunch. Just as Electronic Arts went back to the original name for SSX last month, the game developer is taking a fresh approach to arcade soccer and eliminating the numerology in the title. The community has already gotten a kick out of the free FIFA Street demo to near-record levels of global excitement. More than 2.1 million people have downloaded the demo in the past two weeks, making FIFA Street the second most downloaded demo—behind only FIFA Soccer 12—released by EA Sports over the past year.

EA SPORTS today predicted that defending champion LA Galaxy will continue its dominance over MLS this year, completing a record-setting regular season and winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield for the third straight year.  No team has ever finished first three consecutive MLS seasons but EA SPORTS declared LA Galaxy the winner of the upcoming 2012 MLS regular season using FIFA Soccer 12 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Phoenix Suns NBA All-Star Steve Nash talks FIFA 12 in this exclusive interview below.