Unless you don’t mind playing NFL games where ‘KC #10’ passes to ‘KC #87″ instead of ‘Chiefs QB Trent Green passes to wide receiver Eddie Kennison’, you are not going to be pleased with this news. The NFL and Players Inc. today announced an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts granting a five-year exclusive right to the NFL’s teams, stadiums, and players across PCs, consoles, and handhelds. Five companies reportedly bid for this exclusive right, and EA came out on top in the undoubtedly high-priced bidding war. Why is this bad news? Exclusivity sucks for the consumer on all fronts. I hate my DirecTV (fade out, spotty service), but I’m reluctant to drop it ’cause I love Sunday Ticket. Guess what – DirecTV is the only licensee for that. Same deal here – ESPN’s NFL2k5 is a much better game than this year’s Madden – I can only hope that EA steps up and improves their product. More at Gamespot, Slashdot. Joystiq suggests an alternative – Maximum Football. And get a load of this illustration on Joystiq as well – a bit of a strong statement, but it shows how people feel…

For those fans of the seminal ramen-cult film, Tampopo, video game giant Namco plans to launch a theme park dedicated to these underappreciated bits of gluten. This is from the press release, via BoingBoing:

Today, [game company and Katamari Damacy publisher] Namco announced plans to open a ramen noodle theme park in the southern Japanese city of Nagoya. The “Nagoya Noodle Shop Alley,” due to open for business on February 25, is meant to introduce visitors to the history of ramen noodles and the different types of ramen available around Japan. [ …]

The visual theme of the park is intended to reflect Japan in the pre-war 1930s, but the ramen on offer are to represent the “new wave” of noodle development around the nation.