By now, everyone’s heard of the Madden cover curse. If you’re on the cover, you’re going to get injured. It happens every year. This year, Tennessee Titans fans are already worried, since EA announced Vince Young as the NFL star for the cover of the newest edition of the Madden franchise. Heck, even EA’s worried about the curse at this point. Chris Erb, director of marketing at Tiburon, even admitted, “I’ve got a bottle of champagne in my office that we’re ready to pop once someone breaks the curse.” All I can say is Good Luck, Vince.

Nintendo of America has donated 100 Wii Party Packs to the YMCA in an effort to support the Y’s stand on physical fitness. The YMCA will be adding Wii-time to their “Healthy Kids Day” events on April 14. Now I appreciate that “some” movement is better than “no” movement, and the Wii may be a “healthy” alternative to the PS3 or 360, but give me a break. This is about like the woman telling me how much money she “saved” us during the big 70% off sale. Bank account is still empty, and you’re still not exercising. Sorry.

The employee shuffle continues at the new Take-Two this week. CEO Paul Eibeler got the axe just after the shareholders took over, now Chief Financial Officer Karl Winters is walking away. Regarding Winters departure, new T2 CEO Ben Feder said, “He was instrumental in assembling a highly competent financial team that will serve us well in the future. We appreciate Karl’s hard work and his continued support during the transition.” Winters, I understand not wanting to hang out for the conference call that is sure to lead to your departure, but have you seen what they give away when they fire people!?! Take the resume hit and get paid sucker.

Microsoft has announced a slew of XBL upgrades that will release in early may. The “Spring Update” will bring a host of new features including an updated achievement system that displays the title and value of your accomplishment on-screen, a ton of changes to the way downloadable content works, and the incorporation of instant messaging via Live. MS also showed off their new keyboard equipped controller, which reminds me a lot of the original Xbox controller. Except of course that this one is white, has a keypad, and is smaller than a Grizzly Bear paw.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an Xbox 360 television spot that they feel “gave the impression that reckless street car racing was exciting and fun.” The spot, which is amazingly mild by my perhaps questionable standards, features a group of people scampering about the rooftops before jumping into their cars and swerving through traffic. Hardly a scene out of Ronin if you ask me. I would have expected more lenience from a county that prides itself on the comic genius found in animal cruelty and abuse of a corpse.

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV is now in the wild. It looks like every game site out there is talking about it so perhaps I should as well. Let’s see…it’s prettier than any other GTA title. There I talked about GTA:IV. I would tell you more but 1) You’ve got eyes and 2) I could really care less. I mean I’m sorry but am I the only person that thinks the concept is getting a little old? Hopefully Rockstar added something really fresh and innovative. Otherwise I’ll just have to be content with the soundtrack, which always rocks. Yea yea, I have an opinion, if your gonna hate at least buy the T-Shirt.

Ok that’s a lie, they don’t hate us, they just like Europeans better. Sure the Europeans have to pay a higher price and they won’t get the same level of backwards compatibility, but I’ll tell you what they got instead…46’ televisions. That’s right, waiting in line stateside for the PS3 launch got you a PS3 (if you were lucky). Across the pond waiting in line got you a PS3, a new television, and a cab ride home. Facts are facts; Sony thinks the Euros are more important.

Seems Blizz may be getting a little looses with the old Ban Hammer. There are always a few players complaining they were wrongly accused following one of Blizz’s sweeping account closures. Difference now is that a lot more of those players speak English. Perhaps it would be easier to spot true power levelers if it was harder to level in the first place? To those of you who feel wrongly displaced fear not. I hear Vanguard has room for new faces. There is also a rumor they are giving free hugs to new players! Hey SOE, where’s my check!?!

A few things I have learned from Nintendo: 1) They KNOW how to work customer service; 2) They KNOW how to do charity. The folks over at Penny-Arcade snapped a few pics (scroll down) of the latest shipment of gear they received from Nintendo in support of their Child’s Play charity. Once the forklifts arrive, that mountain of DSs will be shipped to various children’s hospitals. If you aren’t familiar with Child’s Play, or wish to make a donation, please take some time to check out the site. Every bit goes a long way.

Street dates are a big deal here in the States. In the land of the lawsuit, and with the possibility of no longer receiving product in advance, businesses here just don’t play around. Overseas however, not so much. Various outlets in Italy have canceled their PS3 launch events and opted instead to start selling. Broken European street dates are not unheard of but as Davide Sher of Trade Interactive Multimedia told GamesIndustry.biz, “It’s a strange situation. This is the first time retailers have broken street dates by two days.” Shame on you retailers.