The Game makes a pup of Bow Wow in Madden NFL 09

It started with the kind of potty-mouthed verbal sparring that YouTube is made for in the world of rap beef. Early last Friday evening, in a pre-MTV Video Music Awards gathering, the Game played Bow Wow in a $100K charity contest to see who could best whom in the latest edition of the ultra-popular (and street certified) Madden NFL 09 video game. 

Simply called Madden (for those in the know), Electronic Arts' franchise football game has been nurturing competition by arm-chair quarterbacks for more than a decade.

The Game's Black Wall Street camp and several cohorts of Bow Wow, including Jermaine Dupri, filled a small club in Hollywood with MTV and area bloggers in attendance. The 40-minute match pitted Game's New England Patriots against Bow Wow's Cincinnati Bengals, and ended in a friendly, yet smack-talk-filled, 55-23 victory for Game. The Game issued a challenge to Olympian and Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade, following his win.

The Game, a regular player of sports video games, both on and offline, called his win "another victory for Los Angeles," football helmet mouth guard still dangling from his lips. He's also up for all challengers who can find him on Xbox's online gaming forum. "My gamer tag is 'L-A-X'. Everybody knows what it is. Challenge me and get beat on."

--post and photo by Camilo Smith