EA: The Best At What They Do

EA showed why they are the world wide leader in sports video game production this weekend at their first ever Madden Challenge event held in Ocho Rios Jamaica. EA Sports in conjunction with Game Live Events threw a first class "shindig" for the 10 champions of the 10 city Madden Challenge tour which featured an all expenses trip to the four star Sandal's Beaches Boscobel All Inclusive Spa Resort & Golf Club.

Beaches Boscobel is an all inclusive spa resort and golf club.

The resort is nestled beautifully along the Caribbean Seas in Ocho Rios Jamaica, a two hour drive from Montego Bay. Not only did the ballers enjoy the lush amenities of the resort, EA had prime media coverage which included G4 TV and BET. Other media outlets were present as well including the local Jamaican media as well as other gaming magazine publications.

The fact that EA went all out to bring a tournament like this to the ballers says a lot about the company's willingness to be in tune with its consumers. "We wanted to bring the tournament to the ballers so that they can decide who is the best, and we could see who has game," stated Alison Ross, head of the Madden public relations department for EA. "It is also a way for us to give back to our consumers and let them know we appreciate how they support us."

The tour consisted of 10 cities, and the local tourneys were exciting in itself. However, the EA Jamaica finale was the coup de Gras. EA hired Game Live events to produce the tournament. "Frank Cabanski and Antonio and the whole Game Live Events crew was fantastic," stated The Swammi who took the trip to Jamaica to cover the event for Corradocardoso.info. Throw in DJ Mad Linx with the fresh mix of music and MC Dave calling the game play by plays you had all the makings of a first class event. "They even had guest of the resort into what the ballers were doing. It was great to see some people that booked their vacation surprised to see the media coverage and the entire Madden Challenge set up, and Game Live working the crowd, as though they had been invited solely for this event."

Beaches Boscobel is just on of several Sandals resorts in the Caribbean.

After the ballers knocked heads battling through a two division round robin series, the semi final participants battled it out. Afterwards it was on to the championship game where DaUntouchable eeked out a win over fellow GT Philly member 40 G's for the title. However, there was still more balling to come.

Thanks to the great work of Sandy Sandoval, director of ????, the 10 champions got the chance to face off against Ray Lewis, Joey Harrington, Roy Williams, Duante Culpepper and two members of N Sync in the Celebrity Pro Am Tourney.

Unfortunately for the celebs, they were over powered, all of them losing in the first round.

40 G's went on to win the pro am making it a GT Philly clean sweep weekend.

The ballers also received all other types of goodies including personalized NFL Jerseys with their names on the back, EA jersey's, t shirts, games, gift certificates and much more.

EA's Ross stated that the company plans to expand the tourney tour to include more cities, and perhaps more games as well. And once the word and media exposure gets out about how great an experience the EA Jamaica event was for the 10 champions, look for the local tourney numbers to reach close to 1000. Thus sweetening the pot for EA and Madden.

Moves like this is what keeps EA ahead of the 989's and Sega's, that are already getting blown away in the sports market. If they think their chances are slim now, wait until next year.