Madden 11 - EA Sports Historically, injuries haven't really been a big part of video game sports. Showing the real-world effects of the devastating hits from an NFL linebacker tend to remove players from the fantasy environment.

With the next installment of its flagship Madden franchise, however, Electronic Arts plans to emphasize the seriousness of player concussions by preventing in-game players who suffer the head injury from returning to the virtual field.

The changes in Madden reflect real-world rules that the NFL put in place in 2009 amid concern about the long-term damage done to players who continued to play after receiving a concussion. And football officials are cheering the move.

"Good for EA

Fed up with repetitive, time-sink Facebook games? Is your farm going nowhere, your city a ghost town, and your mafia a morgue? Fear not: there's a lot more gaming to do on Facebook.

Led by big-name publishers like Sony and Electronic Arts, social network entertainment is getting bigger and better while remaining free to play -- and some of Facebook's new breed are nearly ready to take on the consoles at their own game. Here are five of the front-runners:

Dragon Age: Legends

Dragon Age: Legends - EATop of the list is Dragon Age: Legends, recently released by publisher EA to support its critically acclaimed PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 role-playing epic Dragon Age 2. Hand-drawn Legends isn't as graphically rich as its big

Niko is waiting, too - Grand Theft Auto IV Everyone knows a new Grand Theft Auto is coming. It is, after all, one of the biggest franchises in the video game industry. But to date, Rockstar Games hasn't dropped many hints about what to expect.

Over the past few weeks, though, there have been some cracks in the armor, indicating that work is well underway on the next installment in the iconic series.

It started in late February, with the registration of several domain names by Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive Software: LifeInvader.com, CashforDeadDreams.com, SixFigureTemps.com, StopPayingYourMortgage.com and HammersteinFaust.com.

Though it was hardly conclusive, each had a GTA ring to them, as the franchise likes to

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters [X360, PS3, Wii]

Between his well-chronicled off-the-course personal issues and mediocre on-the-course play, it's been a rocky road back to the top for Tiger Woods, to put it mildly.

You won't even see him on the cover of his latest game,
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters. Instead, EA's decided to prominently
feature The Masters tournament over the game's namesake, slapping a bright yellow
Masters flag right where Tiger's growling mug typically sits. A clever
marketing move to pull the focus away from the troublesome star? Could be,
though some would argue that featuring the most prestigious tournament in golf on
your cover -- the first time it's ever

LA Noir - Rockstar Games Rockstar Games has promoted their detective yarn LA Noire as being a truly cinematic experience. Turns out they were being quite literal.

The gritty game has been chosen as an Official Selection at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival in April, becoming the very first video game to be shown at the event.

"What Rockstar and Team Bondi have accomplished with L.A. Noire is nothing less than groundbreaking," gushed Tribeca Enterprises' Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore. "It's an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity, and immersion. We are poised on the edge of a new frontier."

That's some