UPDATE: EA released a software update that fixes the problems detailed below. Nice work and thanks, EA.

Of all the Electronic Arts titles announced back in June, it was Madden NFL '08 that I eagerly anticipated. It's finally here, and it's unfortunate that we're going to have to wait for EA to release software updates before we can have any fun with it.

Madden NFL '08 has video problems with the alumminum iMac. I loaded the game on my 20-inch 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac. The configuration screens are incomprehensible.

For whatever reason, you can't see the Game Modes, but they're there. If you click in the Game Modes area, you'll select something. YouI just can see what you've selected.

This new way of displaying overlapping text is a great way to defeat Belichick-like spying.

The graphics problems spill into the actual game. Look at the overlapping items in the top score bar.

We were able to run Madden NFL '08 on a 15-inch MacBook Pro with an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card without these problems.

According to a posting on EA's support forum:

We are currently aware of some graphical issues for those of you with with ATI video cards, in particular if your system has the ATI Radeon HD 2600.

Apple is planning to release a software update with updated ATI drivers later this month that should address many of these issues.

Gee, I wonder if that "software update" comes in the form of Leopard on October 26?

Way to half-ass it, EA.