One thing gleaned from last week's EA Sports announcement setting the table for its next year of game titles was the lack of the next college baseball title. And is it turns out, with a two-year deal expiring, MVP 07 NCAA Baseball will be the last.

"This is our focusing on delivering things that can move the needle for us," EA Sports President Peter Moore told SportsBusiness Journal. "It's tradeoffs and prioritization. Nobody is a bigger baseball fan than I am, and we love our friends at the NCAA. But there's obviously a big difference in the interest between MLB and college baseball, whereas in football and basketball, that gap is much narrower."

Is MVP 07 NCAA Baseball destined to live on the same way MVP Baseball 2005 has, lingering in the systems of gamers everywhere. Ultimately, Moore is probably right and that won't be the case.

As the SBJ article points out, EA could jump right back into an entirely different baseball offering -- as soon as today -- if the hostile takeover of Take-Two Interactive (which includes 2K Sports) goes through today. Friday, May 16, is the final day for the current offer of $25.74 per share. Kotaku has a nice roundup of where things currently stand in the takeover attempt. Take Two has been spurred recently by the little title that could, Grand Theft Auto IV. It's the story of an immigrant trying to just make ends meet in the U.S. (Yeah, that's an accurate description, minus the awesome and joyous mayhem.)

After the jump, check out the first video of gameplay from Madden 09 along with a few other Madden-related notes.

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Rich "MaZe" Lopez is the founder and editor-in-chief of KixAndTheCity.com. Lopez will keep your feet fresh every weekend with the latest release info. E-mail him at info@kixandthecity.com.

Although the sport of basketball is now more popular than it has ever been, especially world wide, many still clamor for the spirit and feeling of yesterday's, namely the '90s, footwear. There is just something about the edge and attitude, and of course the vivid memories, of '90s basketball sneakers that even after nearly a decade since the close of the last millennium, we still long for the '90s.

In a nod to the old and a step into the future, Nike recently released the Nike Zoom Sharkley a combination of Charles Barkley's Nike CB94 and Dennis "The Worm" Rodman's Nike Shake N'Destrukt. The upper on the Zoom Sharkley features the same metallic holes as the CB94 and the overall shape, while the outsole and toe area, features the design characteristics of the Shake.

Though the upper construction features a '90s retro look, the Zoom Sharkley does features Nike's newer Zoom technology in the heel and a Phylon midsole.

Player Exclusive versions for Carlos Boozer, Ben Gordon, Tayshaun Prince, and more are available soon at the House of Hoops in Harlem and several Nike Zoom Sharkleys in general release colorways are widely available now in several colorways at $85 a pop.

Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force made his weekly appearance on SN Radio's The Matt Spiegel Show this morning. It's Friday, and this is funny, so do yourself a favor and waste 10 minutes:

While collecting some info for a post that'll go up later today, I stumbled across something that is going to be huge with you BCS school college football fans/gamers.

This year's NCAA Football 09 covers have been announced -- Matt Ryan (PlayStation 3), Darren McFadden (Xbox 360), DeSean Jackson (PlayStation 2), Owen Schmitt (PlayStation Portable) and Sparty (Wii) -- but you can take the mascot cover goodness to a new level with a do-it-yourself project.

The Gamestop blog directs you to something new from the company where it will allow you to print 41 different custom covers with mascots from major powers.

After the jump, check out which king of the ice has landed this year's cover for NHL 2K9.

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Up front, let me say my disdain for most reality TV knows no bounds. It is where good TV goes to die because it's so cheap to make. OK, now with all that said, I bring you the news that Versus will air 10 one-hour episodes of a series called "Legends Challenge." Former NFL receiver Tim Brown -- wow, they're digging deep -- will host the show.

16 contestants will face a series of football-themed challenges and eliminations in order to determine a single winner. Tryouts will be held in 10 cities prior to filming.

According to SportsBusiness Daily, the show is slated to start in September. I believe that if you multiply the return of new TV shows, the widespread appeal of Tim Brown and the fact that its on Versus, this show could crack triple digit viewership.

While I might watch an episode or two of this show just to see the train wreck, I will not be watching Hulk Hogan's new series. In what is certain to be a cross between The Contender and Celebrity Apprentice with the "Terrible" knob cranked up to 11 and ripped off, Hogan will host an eight-episode series titled Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling on Country Music Television, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The series will feature 10 celebrities competing for the title of "Celebrity All-Star Wrestling Champion" through challenges and elimination matches. Two former pro wrestlers will train the contestants, with Hogan and former World Championship Wrestling president Eric Bischoff serving as judges. A third judge along with the competitors and trainers will be announced later.

Hogan said he's looking "to shake things up" in terms of sports entertainment with "something different and more contemporary."

Celebrities competing in staged events, now that is shaking things up!

I wouldn't be doing my part if I didn't remind you that Part 2 of Rich "MaZe" Lopez's interview with Jordan Brand Director of Footwear Gentry Humphrey is up on KixAndTheCity.com. MaZe promises some tough questions in the later portions of the interview, but in this installment, he gets a lot of background and history on the man running the brand who catches a lot of heat for the decisions they're making.

I interviewed Dave Willis, the co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies, over lunch in Atlanta. We discussed, among many other things, getting athletes to make effective cameos in cartoons, how Georgia announcer Larry Munson ended up playing God in Squidbillies, and the irrationality of sports fandom. Here are the coherent parts:

SH: So, are you a sports fan?

DW: For baseball, yes. I follow the Braves?

SH: A serious, serious Braves fan.

DW: Well...yes, and no. People get so upset about the game when they're watching, and I'm thinking, "How can I get mad about something I can't control." But it happens for some reason. I don't really understand it sometimes.

SH: And were you the UGA fan responsible for getting Larry Munson in an episode of Squidbilles? How did that come about?

DW: That's not me. Jim Fortier, the writer for Squidbillies, is a huge Bulldogs fan, and he lives and dies with them. He's the one who came up with the idea for the "Original Gator Hater." I grew up pulling for Georgia and watching Herschel Walker, but he's the diehard.

SH: How was Munson? Good and game for his part?

DW: Very. We made a special trip up to Athens for that. We did it in some small old studio up there. Munson came to the place in his sweatpants and was telling us stories about filming fishing shows with Jerry Reed in the 1970s with Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner on the set.

He played God in the episode. He was very game, and that was what was so cool. He was great; I couldn't really believe we were sitting there working with him.

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Under Armour officially got into the athletic shoe game beyond cleats on Saturday, May 3. We put the first three models for the line through their paces. Previously: Littmann on the Proto Speed and Pinkerton on the Proto Evade.

Before we get too far into the review of Under Armour’s Proto Power shoe, I should let you know that I am definitely not the “athlete of tomorrow,” which is apparently who this shoe was built for. With that in mind, and knowing that I’m a blogger in marginal physical condition, here we go.

The Proto Power is the first non-New Balance work-out shoe I’ve ever owned. And it’s the first new pair of work-out shoes I’ve had since I bought my last pair of NB 574s (yes, those are what I typically exercise in) about five years ago. To say I wouldn’t typically buy the Under Armour shoes from a store is an understatement; I wouldn’t even so much as look at them in the store. Everything about them is not my style, mostly the fact that they’re hightops and, well, they’re really quite ugly. There’s no doubt that the Proto Power is the least aesthetically pleasing of the three Under Armour trainers (which is odd, cause I’m obviously the most attractive of the three guys who reviewed these shoes).

But, in desperate need of new kicks and intrigued by the fact that these were UA’s first ever non-cleat, I was willing to give them a shot. Plus, I could use some extra “devastating power,” as the UA site claims these help achieve.

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When I heard ESPN2 was airing a film titled The Zen of Bobby V, a film about former Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, I assumed that the Harold Reynolds Hug flick was only a week or two away.

After all, Valentine had spent some time on the ESPN set, and so often these ESPN movies are absolutely atrocious. Further diminishing my interest was the fact that I'm not a huge baseball fan.

With all that said, The Zen of Bobby V is completely worth your time because it not only focuses on Valentine's cult status in Japan, but it takes an interesting look at Japanese baseball as a whole. Plenty of fun spoilers after the jump.

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I have never stood successfully on a skateboard for more than about three seconds. If you incorporate movement, I believe that time span is reduced to something around zero seconds. It is for that reason that I must live out any fantasies of skateboarding in a video game system.

EA Sports developed Skate for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 late last year and it became a worthy challenger to the longstanding Tony Hawk, even surpassing the title in the eyes of most reviewers. The Nintendo DS and Wii were initially left out in the cold, but fear not, you shall be able to shred with your motion-sensitive controls.

Here’s the exciting part: Wii Fit’s Balance Board will be supported by the game. (Reminder: Wii Fit drops one week from today.) Anyway, you’ll also have the choice of using the Wii remote or the stylus in the case of the DS.

I’ve avoided a lot of the latest skateboarding titles because they generally rely on what I loathe in any video game titles: button mashing. Introducing some sort of new control system is something I can get into. No release date for these titles is available at this point, except that they will release some time this year.