Adrian Peterson Makes Madden Cover After All

A few weeks ago, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson lost in the finals of the tournament to be on the cover of Madden NFL 25, named because it's the 25th anniversary of the iconic gaming franchise. He lost to legendary Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, who will appear on the game for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii (among others that I'm missing, I'm sure).

However, it turns out that Peterson is going to be on the cover of Madden NFL this year after all. How so?

It was announced today that the latest installment of the Madden series is going to be a launch title for the next generation of video game consoles, namely the PlayStation 4 and the XBox One, both of which are slated to make their debut during the upcoming holiday season. And, as it turns out, everyone's favorite running back. . .or, at least, our favorite running back. . .is going to be the cover athlete for the PS4 and XBONE (heh, "XBONE") versions of the game.

There hasn't been a firm launch date given yet (that I've seen) for either of the new consoles, other than the nebulous "holiday" designator. However, there are many places that are taking pre-orders as of now. I'm not going to endorse one particular retailer over another, but there are quite a few of them out there. (I'm weighing the different options myself.) If you want to discuss the merits of the PS4 and the XBONE, feel free to do that here as well.

Congratulations to Adrian Peterson on becoming a Madden cover athlete, particularly after we thought it was all settled for this year.