Gamers all have their own personal genres that they tend to enjoy most. If you look at a list of the top selling video game franchises a few of them are surprising like The Sims, but many are no suprise at all. Among the most popular and unsurprising franchises out there is EA’s Madden NFL franchise.

EA has announced the cover athletes for the latest version of the game called Madden NFL 10. The game is set to hit store shelves for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox on August 14. Version 10 of the game is the first to feature two athletes on one cover.

Unless you are a pretty serious game geek, you may not recognize the name Will Wright. Wright is the guy behind some of the most popular game franchises in PC gaming including SimCity, The Sims, and Spore. Wright has been with EA since it purchased Maxis in 1997.

EA and Wright have announced that Wright will be leaving EA to start a new firm called Stupid Fun Club. EA will be a major investor in Stupid Fun Club and Wright will run the company. Stupid Fun Club will be an entertainment think tank with the goal of developing ideas for multiple fronts.

EA is the publisher behind most of the top sports video games on the market. The EA Madden NFL franchise is one of the top selling video game franchises around. I have never really been into sports games, I figured if I want to play football I would just go outside and play.

EA has announced that it is teaming up with Toy Island to bring sporting goods to market that will ensure I can still play with EA Sports gear outside as well as inside on my TV. The new line of sporting goods is aimed at kids of different ages.

One of the best games that I have played for the Nintendo Wii was Boom Blox, the game from EA and Steven Spielberg. The game has single and multiple player modes that were cool and innovative. The multiplayer action was particularly fun and can be played by up to four players at once.

The follow-up to the game has been announced and it is called Boom Blox Bash Party. The game features the solo and multiplayer play that the original offered, with more of it this time around. EA says that there are over 400 new levels of puzzles to be solved with some of them in space and under water.

One of the coolest games that was available for the PS3 and Xbox for the holiday season in 2008 was Mirror’s Edge form EA. The game is called a first-person action adventure and has players taking the role of Faith as she runs, jumps, and slides across the rooftops of a future city.

EA has announced that Mirror’s Edge has now shipped for the PC. One of the big changes from the console to the PC is that the PC version fully supports NVIDIA’s PhysX physics processing to bring more features and realism to the game.

I have been a big fan of EA’s Need for Speed franchise for years. Most of us have probably played the games and though that it would be cool to do those things in real life; aside from crashing, running form the cops and being arrested that is.

EA has announced that it will be bringing some of the cool Need for Speed action to the real world in a live racing event to be held next summer called Need for Speed Live. The event will last for a full week and include racing, drifting, and video game competitions.

I have talked before about how cool I think Burnout Paradise is. The game has great graphics and great gameplay to go along with it. One of the best parts about Burnout Paradise is that Criterion is always working on new download content that is normally free for owners of the game.

EA has announced a new box set of the game called Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box. The game has the Burnout Paradise original content plus comes with the Cagney and Bikes updates pre-installed. Also included with is a new party game called Burnout Paradise Party.

Not too long ago EA offered to buy Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two is well known as the publisher of some of the most popular and controversial games to be found for console and PC gaming systems. Take-Two is the publisher behind the Grand Theft Auto series, Bioshock, and Manhunt.

EA offered to buy Take-Two Interactive for a paltry $26 per share. I say paltry because Take-Two stock has been commonly trading for slightly more than the $26 offer. Take-Two recommended to its stockholders that they turn down the EA offer as inadequate.

A massive buyout has taken place within the world of video game development. One of the world’s biggest makers and distributors of video games, Electronic Arts, has agreed to buy out the holding company that owns BioWare and Pandemic Studios, two leaders in the industry for the princely sum of $860 million dollars. EA pays $620 million to the investors of VG Holding Corporation, the company that bought the two software developers two years back for $300 million, as well as $155 million in equity to employees, assume $50 million dollars in stock options and pay $35 million to cover the cost of the deal.

BioWare is the developer of the two “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” and “Neverwinter Nights” games, both of which proved to be bestsellers and the choice of many for game of the year. Since those two licenses are owned by third parties the intellectual properties are not included in the EA deal. What is covered are all the original IPs that BioWare and Pandemic have created such as “Jade Empire”, “Mass Effect”, “Mercenaries” and “Saboteur”. As well BioWare is in development on a top secret massive multiplayer online game set for release sometime in 2009. That also becomes the property of EA.

Electronic Arts, publisher of The Sims franchise, is developing a new line of Sim games titled The Sims Stores, that are aimed at the laptop toting, MySpace generation.

The Sims is EA’s number one franchise. EA has sold more the 70 million Sim’s titles worldwide since 2000. The Sim’s games are notable because half the players are female. Most video games are played by males.

EA has designed The Sim Life Stories to be less technologically demanding than other video games. The games do not require expensive video cards that are a barrier to play with other titles. This is a bonus to laptop users as most laptops do not have top of the line video cards necessary for may graphics intensive games.

The trend towards less technology is in parallel to the …