Until 8:30pm EDT tonight, when the NFL regular season begins, you can pick up EA’s Madden NFL 10 for the iPhone/iPod Touch for $7.99 in the iTunes App Store. After that, it goes back up to $9.99. Lots of good buzz around this game, and initial reviews are favourable. So far, this is looking like a football game I’ll actually enjoy playing, with what appears to be easier passing, “slowdown time” and other nice features. I’ll be playing this a bit over the next few days and putting up my thoughts, but so far it’s looking good from a couple of defensive plays and a kickoff. It’s the cheapest Madden game you’ll likely ever play. Press release below.

EA MOBILE KICKS OFF FOOTBALL SEASON WITH MADDEN NFL 10 ON THE APP STORE

A Fun and New Way to Play the #1 Football Franchise

LONDON, UK – September 10, 2009 – EA Mobile™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced the availability of Madden NFL 10 on the App StoreSM. Madden NFL 10 brings the most legendary football franchise in the history of sports to the App Store, delivering a realistic and hard-hitting football game right to the iPod® touch and iPhone™. Play through an entire season, including playoffs and the Super Bowl, in Madden NFL 10, complete with color commentary from John Madden himself.

“We think fans will be impressed by the amount of detail and authenticity in Madden NFL 10, as well as by how intuitive it is to just pick up and start playing,” said Travis Boatman, VP Worldwide Publishing for EA Mobile. “We really took advantage of the platform’s unique capabilities so players have a new way to interact with the game. They can control the speed of the game as it unfolds to make the right call, draw routes on the screen for pass plays or with the swipe of a finger, kick a winning field goal.”

In Madden NFL 10, players can take to the field with rosters packed with their favorite NFL players from all 32 licensed teams – nearly 2,000 players. The advanced roster management feature also allows players to have full control over their team’s depth charts, cross-team trading, and access to huge free agent pools. Experience the intense thrill of engaging in roughly 300 plays in authentic stadiums against life-like players from real NFL teams! Choose the “Play Now” mode for a quick fix, or “Season” mode to play through an entire NFL season chock-full of robust stats, individual player awards, and of course, the Super Bowl.

Using the innovative Multi-Touch controls players can draw hot routes for passing plays, a feature exclusive to Madden NFL 10, and also slow down the speed of the game to make choosing the right move easier and allow for more user-driven gameplay. The game includes the unmistakable voice of John Madden who will provide in-depth commentary, and colorful analysis from other renowned announcers like Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth.