Yesterday, EA quasi-announced Madden NFL 25, at the time presumably a name-change for its annual football sim. Today EA confirms that Madden NFL 25 will indeed be this year's game, choosing to forego the usual title for one that celebrates the franchise's silver anniversary: 25 years on store shelves.

Fan voting for the cover athlete will kick off on March 11 featuring two 32-player brackets on ESPN and SportsNation - one bracket will be all-time greats, the other 32 modern players. A special episode of SportsNation will air at 4pm ET on March 11 where both brackets will be unveiled.

Over 25 years, the Madden franchise has managed to sell 99 million units and earn EA Sports "more than $3.7 billion in net revenue." Last year's entry in the series, Madden NFL 13, introduced the Infinity Engine, providing more realistic physics, dynamic player collisions and hilarious gifs. Madden NFL 25 launches on Xbox 360 and PS3 on August 27, 2013.