Submitted by: kirkland on Tuesday July 20th, 2004 at 08:13 AM EST

Exactly one week after its rival ESPN NFL 2K5 tackled the production lines, Madden NFL 2005 is itself now rushing to the factory. Electronic Arts made the gold announcement this morning and said the game will make its August 9 ship date. As a result, the game should be in stores by August 12. The game is rated "E" for Everyone and will be available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. PC and original PlayStation versions are due in September.

The Xbox version of Madden NFL 2005 will also be the second EA title to have Xbox Live functionality, following last week's semi-rocky launch of NCAA Football 2005. PlayStation 2 owners can buy an exclusive Collector's Edition of the game, which will sport a trivia challenge, a making-of documentary, playable 16-bit and PlayStation Maddens, and a selection of "Madden Moments" and "Madden Music."

Though it faces a challenge this year from Visual Concepts' newly discounted ESPN NFL 2K5, Madden is traditionally the best-selling game of the year. Madden NFL 2004 sold more than 5 million copies, with 37 million copies of Madden games sold since the series debuted in 1990.

» Read full story @ GameSpot