Electronic Arts calls the annual announcement of the soundtrack for "Madden" "the most important showcase for music industry icons." The company's boast, delivered in a press release hitting on Thursday morning (June 28), presumably was meant to also include the phrase "in video games."

Regardless, the advance "Madden" tracklist EA provided to MTV News indicates that the Queens of the Stone Age, Daddy Yankee, and Timbaland will be enjoying that showcase. This summer's "Madden NFL 08" will include a 29-song soundtrack, including previously unreleased songs from Atreyu, Murs, the Hives and Yellowcard. The mix, as it's been for years, is a little bit hip-hop, a little bit rock.

"The annual goal of the 'Madden NFL' soundtrack is to give unprecedented exposure to new artists, bring established stars to a whole new level, and single-handedly define the sound of the coming year via the biggest sports franchise in video game history," said EA executive Steve Schnur.

Schnur has spoken to MTV News regularly about his efforts on EA's soundtracks (see [article id="1553668"]"EA Offers Up Snoop, Peas Tracks; Exec Talks Future Of Video Game Music"[/article]). In an interview a year ago about the "Madden 07" soundtrack, he suggested that the days of a fixed soundtrack for that game might be over. Online consoles, he said, would allow EA to supply gamers with a constantly updating musical score for their "Madden" play. "By the time 'Madden 2008' comes out, we should be able to deliver some of the exciting ideas here," he said. "We're going to have a much deeper 24/7 relationship with 'Madden' gamers" (see [article id="1534925"]"Soundtrack For 'Madden NFL 07': New Tracks From Audioslave, Sparta"[/article]).

A year later, however, that vision of a malleable "Madden" soundtrack remains in the future tense. Maybe "Madden 09"?

This year's edition of the game will ship on all major gaming platforms on August 14.

Full tracklist for "Madden NFL 08":

»Airbourne -- Runnin' Wild"

»Atreyu -- "Becoming the Bull"

»The Bravery -- "Believe"

»Brother Ali -- "Whatcha Got"

»Daddy Yankee -- "Impacto"

»Datarock -- "The New Song"

»Earl Greyhound -- "S.O.S."

»Enter Shikari -- "OK, Time for Plan B"

»From Autumn to Ashes -- "Daylight Slaving"

»Hellyeah -- "You Wouldn't Know"

»The Hives -- "Tick Tick Boom"

»Jupiter One -- "Countdown"

»MIMS -- "Cop It"

»Murs -- "Dreadlocks"

»O-Solo -- "Monsta"

»Operator -- "Soulcrusher"

»Ozzy Osbourne -- "I Don't Wanna Stop"

»Pharoahe Monch (featuring Showtyme) -- "Desire"

»Pitbull (featuring Don Omar) -- "Fuego" (remix)

»Queens Of The Stone Age -- "3's & 7's"

»Red1 (featuring Afu-Ra) -- "Dem No Worry We"

»Shadows Fall -- "Redemption"

»Swizz Beatz -- "It's Me Snitches"

»Sum 41 -- "Underclass Hero"

»Team Shadetek (featuring 77Klash & Jahdan) -- "Brooklyn Anthem"

»The Used -- "The Ripper"

»Timbaland (featuring Justin Timberlake) -- "Release"

»Yellowcard -- "Fighting"

»Zion I & the Grouch -- "Hit 'Em"