Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis put fear in opposing defenses last season after tearing through opposing teams like they were made of tissue paper. His offensive output landed him on the cover of the most popular sports video game in the United States - John Madden Football. The bad news, however, is what seems to happen to players after landing on the cover of the game. Numerous times throughout the history of the game players have had injuries or subpar seasons following a feature on the game's cover. Hillis has had a little bit of both this season.

When the Browns dumped head coach Eric Mangini following another disappointing season, gone was a rugged offense that fit Hillis' attributes to a tee. Put in its place was the "West Coast Offense" which thrives on the short passing game. The Browns do not possess the receivers to strike fear in opposing defenses, so they line up daring Colt McCoy and company to throw the ball down field. This has attributed to Hillis' meager 3.5 yard per carry.

Social game developer Kabam will soon be bringing the mafia to social networking after announcing that Paramount Pictures has agreed to license them The Godfather to be turned into a social game for Facebook. Fans of Mafia Wars might not care all that much, but film buffs who love the classic Godfather film series might find themselves particularly drawn to the game.

The name of the game is The Godfather: Five Families. It takes place in New York City in the 1930s, one decade before where the first movie in the trilogy starts. As a player in the game, you are born into one of the five famlies that Francis Ford Coppola created. Then, you must by any means necessary find a way to be come don.

The game is free to start, so you'll get sucked in more easily, but if you want to become don, you'll eventually have to start shelling out some cold hard cash to buy the weapons and special skills you'll need.

Nintendo announced on Tuesday that the successor to the Wii video game console will broadcast high-definition video and feature a touchscreen controller featuring the ability to detect motion and broadcast video that can interact and switch back and forth to the television display.

The next-generation Wii console is named Wii U, which Nintendo unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The white 6.2-inch touchscreen controller features a directional pad, dual analog sticks, a microphone, two speakers, a front facing camera, and pairs of shoulder buttons.

According to the Japanese company, Wii U will be compatible with Wii games and controllers and the system will be released sometime between April and December 2012.

The price of Wii U has not yet been announced.

After all the great reviews the first Portal game received, many players have been anxiously waiting the next one. Well, it was well worth the wait. Let me just say this game not only delivers, but excels when it comes to gameplay and humor. My hands were shaking with anticipation as I sat watching that clock count down on my computer. Portal 2 is a sequel to Portal, which seems pretty obvious. You play the same character as the first game Chell, who is a test subject in Aperture Science. You wake up in a hotel-type room in the Aperture Labs, and all hell breaks loose from there.

Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis will be featured on the cover of Madden 2012 after having defeated Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in the final round of voting on Wednesday.

Nearly 13 million votes were cast in the selection process, with about 1 million cast in the final round. Seeded 10th overall, Vick overwhelmingly defeated Vick, who was a third seed, with 66 percent of the vote. He beat out 31 other players in the 32 player bracket, beating out many higher seeds, to become the cover of this year's version of the popular football video game.

It was the first time that fans were involved in the process and were allowed to vote for the game's cover.

After being named the cover winner, Hills said he was "excited" and thought that he didn't have a chance up against Vick. He thanked his fans, and said "I just want to tell them thanks and I'm going to play my best for them."

But the Browns made sure that Hillis had support, launching an online campaign that included a front page feature on the team's website, as well as on-going Facebook and Twitter campaigns.

Vick responded to the news by saying that he was happy for Hills and that he was proud of how far he made it in the voting. He said:

Gate Five, a video game company, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Beyonce for making an "extortionate demand for entirely new compensation" at a "crucial moment" in the development of the would-be dance video game "Starpower: Beyonce."

The company claims that what resulted was "a bad faith breach of contract so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five's business, and drove 70 people into unemployment, the week before Christmas." Ouch.

It's official! A successor to the highly popular Nintendo Wii video game console will be launched sometime in 2012. Nintendo officially made the announcement on Monday, but was vague about details.

The Wii was launched in 2006, and since then it has sold 86.01 million units. In 2010, 15.1 million Wiis were sold, a 25% drop from 2009 when it sold 20.1 million units globally. Nintendo's net profit also dropped sharply in 2010 at $825 million, 66% less than 2009.

This makes it the perfect time to announce plans for a next generation Wii, that could help revive lagging sales next year.

Nintendo said nothing more than it would have a "2012 launch", but did promise to have a playable unit, additional details and specs at the E3 Expo being held in Los Angeles from June 7 to 9.

ESPN.com voters are determining who will grace the cover of EA Sports' Madden NFL 2012 video game, and it's now down to the final showdown between Cleveland Browns' running back Peyton Hillis and Philadelphhia Eagles' quarterback Michael Vick. If Hillis wins the popular vote, he'd be the first Brown to ever be featured on the cover of the popular video game series.

The video game series, which was known as John Madden Football pre-1993, first debuted in 1988. The game did not feature real NFL teams until the 1994 version, and until 1999, every cover featured John Madden.

In 1999, EA Sports selected Garrison Hearst to appear on the cover, and since then they've chosen one of the NFL's top players to feature on the cover of the game each year. Being featured on the cover has become an honor much like appearing on the Wheaties box, but it seems to come with a price. Similar to the way Sports Illustrated is said to jinx certain teams, being featured on the cover of Madden is said to invoke the "Madden Curse." Certain players who have appeared on the cover have experienced a decline in performance, usually due to an injury.

During the 2010 season, Hillis became the first white running back to top 1,000 yard rushing in 25 years.