Seattle Seahawks stud superstar running back Marshawn Lynch is brining his “Beast Mode” persona from the pigskin gridiron to the first-person shooter battlefield as a character Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

An article in ESPN the Magazine has the full scoop on Lynch’s day spent getting his face scanned and performing motion capture work at Activision’s studio. Details about his character and how large of a role he plays in the game are not clear at this time, but the ESPN article describes him acting out a scene in a Singapore tavern, apparently as a villain, where he chats a bit with some mercenaries before shooting the place up in an ensuing firefight.

Lynch, already a big Call of Duty fan, had this to say about his video game cameo:

“You’re shooting up everything but always fighting for a bigger picture. The whole game is Beast Mode.”

Obviously Lynch is far more comfortable playing make-believe soldier than participating in ultra-violent fisticuffs in Mortal Kombat X.

In other, non-Beast-Mode-related news, Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops III is now also in development for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360–but still not for Nintendo Wii U. While Treyarch is handling the new-gen versions, Beenox and Mercenary Technology have been tasked with keeping the last-gen fires burning. Naturally, the PS3 and 360 versions will have certain features dialed back, such as support for only two players in campaign co-op instead of four players on PC and modern consoles.

Source: ESPN.com

Tonight, during the final round of the Madden NFL 15 cover vote on ESPN.com, Seattle Seahawks star cornerback Richard Sherman was elected cover athlete for this season’s football video game from EA Sports, topping Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton by a 56% to 44% margin. Throughout the voting, Sherman also won popularity contests against Alshon Jeffrey, Jimmy Graham, and Colin Kaepernick.

Richard Sherman is considered by many analysts to be the premiere cover cornerback in the NFL, so it’s only fitting that he landed the cover athlete gig. It’s also an appropriate choice since EA Tiburon’s main focus for this season is improving upon the Madden defensive game plan with a more intuitive tackling system, smarter coverage logic, new pass rush moves, and new camera angle options promising to add greater immersion and excitement to playing on the defensive side of the ball.

Another all-pro defensive player, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly, joins this evening’s festivities by appearing front and center in the first official Madden NFL 15 gameplay trailer. OK, so the trailer really only shows maybe 15 seconds of actual game footage, but hey, that’s better than nothing leading up to E3 where we’ll no doubt get a more in-depth look at the game.

Madden NFL 15 launches August 26th on lead platforms PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Last-gen versions for PS3 and Xbox 360 are in development as well.

In the spirit of March Madness, a time when every media outlet and blog (except for this one!) goes obnoxiously overboard with bracket tournaments to pick “the best” of random things, EA Sports, in cahoots with ESPN’s “SportsNation” TV show, is putting its cover athlete selection process for Madden NFL 12 into a 32-team bracket format, with the winner to be chosen by you, the fans.

The tournament consists of one representative from each of the NFL’s 32 teams, and you can vote for your favorite by visiting www.ESPN.com/MaddenVote. Every Monday throughout the tournament, “SportsNation,” airing at 4PM EST, will reveal the voting results to show who reaches the next round, culminating with the cover athlete coronation on April 27th. My money (not my personal vote) is on a showdown between Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick (baggage and all) in the final, with Rodgers the odds on favorite to win the prize. However, my gut tells me fan favorite Tim Tebow is poised for a possible Cinderella run.

According to EA, the seeding and team representative’s were determined “based on a variety of criteria including on-the-field performance during the 2010 NFL season, their visibility within their franchise and community, and their personal career journey,” but honestly, some of the picks are an absolute joke. Like the Seattle Seahawks, who apparently are so bad that the “12th Man” identity of the team’s crowd was chosen over an actual player. And Danny Woodhead of the Patriots!? What is that about? I think a man by the name of Tom Brady plays for the Patriots, and he was only Offensive Player of the Year and league MVP this past season…

But hey, if you don’t like EA’s picks, you can create your own bracket and use it to compete for prizes over on the Madden NFL Facebook page.

So, who’s your pick for Madden NFL 12 cover athlete?