Last week, EA Sports dropped the news that online co-op will be part of Madden NFL 10. The mode, which will allow two players to play on the same team against a CPU team, will feature headset support and allow either player to play as any position the field. In between plays, you'll be able to switch between players, which will be perfect for changing up between running and passing plays when on offense. When playing online, the game will focus on position-specific cameras that will follow each player's selected player throughout the entire play.

　　Apart from online co-op play, the big Madden NFL 10 news--which was announced seemingly accidentally last week in a video detailing Madden's online cooperative play--is the inclusion of an Online Franchise mode. This is a feature that Madden fans have wanted for a long time. While the online league feature in last year's Madden NFL 09 felt more than a bit tacked on, online franchise, by contrast, seems as if it will be remarkably well rounded--at least based on what EA Sports has said about it so far.

　　In addition to supporting real NFL schedules, online franchise will offer many of the same features you've come to expect from the Offline Franchise mode, including full stat tracking, the ability to set/save depth charts for your team, and trade support. It will also include both a fantasy draft and live draft option, the latter of which sounds like it will be a highlight for dedicated Madden franchise fans. While the best online franchise leagues will be those with a full slate of human players, you'll be able to fill in gaps with CPU control if you like.

　　For Madden fans who live and breathe their favorite game, you'll be able to follow your franchise, even when you're away from your game console. The Madden NFL 10 Web site will allow you to manage your online franchise team, and it seems that everything--from setting your depth charts to proposing trades--will be available to you via the Web site. There's even an iPhone application in the works that will let you handle your franchise business when you aren't near your PC. No price or release date for the app has been announced yet, but we'll be following up on that soon.

　　While online franchise sounds like it's off to a promising start, it likely won't be as in-depth as the Offline Franchise mode...at least at the start. For one thing, trade logic isn't as flexible as it is in real life; you won't be able to trade draft picks for a player, for example. That said, because the franchise information is server-based, it follows that the development folks at EA Tiburon will be able to add features (and, perhaps more importantly, fix bugs) throughout the life of the game. For example, when online franchise was introduced to the press last month, producers told us they were currently in the process of adding commissioner tools that would give a franchise commissioner more control over rosters (presumably for such things as moderating one-sided trades and the like).

　　Presentation looks to make a big jump in Madden NFL 10 as well. The fans have been asking for a proper Super Bowl ceremony for a while now, and this year, they'll get it. It will be complete with confetti and a trophy ceremony that will make it feel like you won something more than just another regular season game. In addition, there will be more elements of a pregame football atmosphere, such as camera shots of fans filing into the stands, USAF jets flying overhead after the National Anthem, and the occasional shots of players or referees doing their thing on the sidelines. When you add a postgame show called the "Extra Point," hosted by Fran Charles and Alex Flanagan from the NFL Network, it seems like Madden will feel more like a real broadcast event than it has ever since the game moved to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

　　We're very curious to see how online franchise works--especially its implementation on the PC and iPhone--so we'll be keeping up with its development up until Madden NFL 10's release on August 14. Until then, stay tuned to the GameSpot sports blog for the very latest Madden 10 information.