Madden NFL 13, Video Game Review Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Sports For PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; rated E for Everyone Because EA Sports has an exclusive license with the National Football League, its Madden franchise may be subjected to more nitpicking and ax-grinding than any other video game. But it's also true that this series entered 2012 having failed to deliver any kind of landmark entry since that arrangement began in 2005. Madden NFL 13 makes a sincere effort to delight in new ways, principally through a new physics engine that delivers eye-popping hits and breathtaking broken-tackle runs. The new Madden also introduces "Connected Careers," which allows up to 32 friends to play in their own universe, as either superstar players or as heads of entire franchises, and to "retire" and jump to or create another player or coach without restarting if they become bored. A "virtual Twitter" populated by real media personalities documenting your league, week by week, is delightful and informative. And Jim Nantz and Phil Simms of CBS provide a pick-me-up in the booth as one of the few broadcast teams to record lines together. Some little-used features were dropped to add "Connected Careers," and the run blocking is still controller-throwing terrible. Whether it will be the landmark entry fans have craved remains to be seen. But Madden 13 is transformative in ways that legitimately challenge sports video gaming, not just the narrow field it dominates.