People brag. People talk trash. And rapper Game has been doing a lot of that as he’s been hyping his album-promoting $100,000 “Madden” face-off against fellow rapper Bow Wow. My colleague, MTV News hip-hop reporter Shaheem Reid, has been following the hype for the face-off which will finally occur this Friday in L.A.

But I’ve been skeptical.

Sha’s latest story about the face-off quotes Game saying he’s the best “Madden” player in the world. Really? I didn’t believe it, even though Game gave out his PSN ID (he calls it a Gamertag even though he loves the PS3 enough to have a PS3 necklace) and challenged doubters to look at his record on EASports.com.

I checked his record. It isn’t as good as he says it is. He’s not top in the world. But he’s close.

As of this morning, the Game, aka PSN player “L-A-X” is #6 “Madden NFL 09″ player in the world of EA Sports.com, with a record of 174 wins, 31 losses and five games that he didn’t finish. Note that last night, when Sha ran the story, Game’s record was 171-30, so he managed a 3-1 record in the last 16 hours.

Not bad!

Johnny Drama, star of “Viking Quest” and brother to “Aquaman” actor Vincent Chase, is upset about being left out of the profits from a video game version of his once-hit fantasy show.

The game is tied to the release of the DVD box sets of “Viking Quest,” prompting Drama to use the Internet to express his anger. “I won’t have it,” he exclaims. “And nor should you! I want you to rise up and be heard!”

There’s a big catch to all of this: none of it is real. It’s all part of a viral marketing campaign for the season premiere of the HBO show “Entourage.” Johnny Drama is actually actor Kevin Dillon and Vincent Chase is really Adrian Grenier, and they’re not brothers.

Drama is complaining about not being compensated for the “Viking Quest” game’s use of the character he portrayed. He’s also complaining that it doesn’t look like him. We’ve seen big publishers work hard to ensure that their virtual actors look like whichever real ones they’re based on. See Activision’s efforts to make virtual James Bond look just like Daniel Craig, for example. But one has to wonder how often, in real life, a star might have reason to complain that their gaming self doesn’t quite resemble their flesh and blood self.

You can actually play two levels from the “Viking Quest” video game — which has been rated V for Viking, of course! — on another viral website. Poke around enough, however, and eventually the site gives up the farce and promotes “Entourage”’s return to TV.

Comedic video game tie-ins are not foreign to TV; a video game version of “The Office” was released on the PC last fall, and is still scheduled to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade sometime. Did anyone actually play “The Office”? Chime in with a comment if you think it’s a worthy endeavor for Hollywood.

There’s no indication the “Viking Quest” game will become an actual storyline this season, but “Entourage” fans know it wouldn’t be out of character for Johnny Drama. Just in case, we’ll be tuning in on Sunday to find out.

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Viewers of CBS’ Early Show yesterday were treated to a sight arguably more extraordinary than swimmer Michael Phelps‘ procurement of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

To win eight gold medals, a man merely has to swim faster than any other man in the world. That’s easy compared to what appeared to happen on the Early Show, when the producers appeared to bend the laws of space and time as they presented Phelps a copy of “Call of Duty: World At War” for the PS3 - a game that won’t be released for at least another month or two, if not further into the future than that. The CBS host assured Phelps that Activision wanted Phelps to have the game first.

I asked an Activision PR rep yesterday how this happened and found out that there was an asterisk to this extraordinary achievement. All Phelps really got was a “Call of Duty: World At War” box, with an I.O.U.

So if you’re ever on the Early Show yourself and the host hands you a game box, do what the people who take trade-in games do at GameStop and open that case up.

“World at War” development studio Treyarch provides a little more information about the Phelps stunt on their blog: Michael Phelps Gets A Special Gift From Treyarch & Activision!

Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

I have brought shame upon the house of MTV Multiplayer, readers.

The cocky attitude I brought to the table after destroying IGN at “Reset Generation” last week did not translate into any actual…skills…in the second round.

Writer Chris Hudak of Playboy, Game Revolution and other outlets swiftly destroyed me in less than four minutes. Half the time I didn’t even know what he was doing! One minute, I’d be a move away from stealing his princess, and then suddenly his character was invisible and the round was over!

It happened far too quickly for me to even process what happened. Clearly, Hudak had been smart enough to actually practice before entering the tournament. Afterward, he called me to talk “Reset Generation” strategies and all I could do was politely nod my head. Most of what he said went over my head.

This is why I never play strategy games! If you’re so inclined, you can continue to monitor the progress of the tournament right over here.

At what may have been the biggest launch event for a video game this year, MTV News tracked down rapper Busta Rhymes and rock band Good Charlotte to talk about “Madden NFL 09.” Listen to them and check out the sights of Maddenpalooza (EA’s term, not ours!) in the videos above.

(Video will not be accessible for users logging in from Canada or parts of Europe)

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Rock Bands, Roving Wal-Mart Highlight Epic ‘Madden NFL 09′ Launch Event

Rushing through e-mails, sometimes you agree to things by accident.

Take, for example, entering a journalist tournament for N-Gage strategy game “Reset Generation.” The game showed up last week, punctuating what I’d done.

Today, I was matched against IGN writer Christopher Carle. I’d barely played more than the tutorial of “Reset Generation.” I was prepared to accept defeat and move on with my life. But instead, MTV Multiplayer delivered two crushing blows to Carle — his pixels swiftly defeated.

Maybe I’m…good at this game? Nokia wanted us to play “Reset Generation” on phones they’d sent, but neither Carle or myself could get the phone to hold a Wi-Fi connection. Thankfully, the web version allowed us to compete just fine. If by compete, of course, you mean I stomped Charle out! Ooh!

You can track the tournament here, and I highly recommend you check out “Reset Generation” (available free here); it’s an immensely addictive combo of “Tetris” and “Advance Wars” and only takes a few minutes to pick up. It’s too bad it’s limited to N-Gage, but at least you can check it out on your PC, too.

Earlier today we posted the first comprehensive description about the U.S. version of Sony’s strange upcoming downloadable PS3 game “The Last Guy.” It’s not out yet — merely “coming soon,” according to Sony reps. But could we interest you in playing a watered down version that uses this website or any other as its terrain?

Last night I went to a Japanese website for “The Last Guy” and inputted “multiplayer.mtv.com”. Suddenly I was using my mouse to control a little guy who was walking all over our blog. He could run through the lanes and into the nooks of our front page, rescuing people while avoiding spiders. The goal was to bring a parade of people to a safety zone near our top banner ad.

You can do play a rough version of the game using Multiplayer’s front page as the game’s level at this direct link, but first, take a look at what I did and note the instructions for the game (which you can only find here at Multiplayer, I believe)… Read more…

Lauren Bernat swears she didn’t know her boyfriend was taping her when she was doing the “Wii Fit” hula in her underwear.

In fact, the 25 year-old Florida native, now dubbed the “Wii Fit girl,” claimed she “cried her eyes out” when she learned that her boyfriend, Giovanny Gutierrez, posted the video on YouTube. “I mean, I rolled out of bed, I was in my underwear, I just had a T-shirt on, I had my glasses on and my hair was up,” she told me following her TRL appearance yesterday afternoon. “I swear I had no idea he was [recording] it.”

Read more…

Lauren Bernat, the “Wii Fit” hula girl, has been seen doing the hula in her underwear nearly 4 million times on YouTube since May 25. Yesterday afternoon, she came to MTV’s headquarters in New York all the way from Miami, Florida with her mischievous boyfriend Giovanny Gutierrez to appear on TRL.

Check out a short clip and photos of Bernat in action during the show. And sorry, fellas — she kept her pants on. [UPDATE: Read the extended interview with "Wii Fit girl" here.]

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

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Ladies, forget “Sex and the City.”

Now there’s Wii Sports Boxing… and the city.

Last night, Nintendo invited women around the Big Apple to participate in a “Wii Sports Boxing in the City” competition (similar to last year’s Wiimbledon). The event was held at a bar and restaurant located in midtown Manhattan, and Nintendo touted it as a chance for females “to throw a virtual punch or two while unwinding from a long day at work.”

Seven women. One free Wii. Fourteen furious fists.

Click below to see images of the event, and who ultimately was crowned the “Wii-nner” (sorry).

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People have watched Florida’s Lauren Bernat do the “Wii Fit” hula in her underwear more than 2.7 million times since May 25. That’s when her boyfriend uploaded a clip he says he secretly filmed.

Who knew so many people needed such extra insight to decide whether “Wii Fit” was for them?

Bernat’s path to stardom is next taking her to TRL. The world’s favorite “Wii Fit girl” will appear on the show Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern/Pacific to talk about her video and, of course, to demo the Wii live.

Outside the Virgin Megastore this afternoon, more than 200 “Metal Gear” fans are waiting patiently in line for one thing — to get their copy of “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots” signed by its creator, Mr. Hideo Kojima.

This morning I saw a few stragglers hanging around in front of the store outside MTV’s Times Square headquarters, but as the day went on, the line grew and grew. It now wraps halfway around the block. Around 3 p.m., I walked over and spoke with the first four people in line.

(Image gallery of more “MGS4″ Times Square superfans lined up around the block, below the jump.)

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