Well not smarter in the traditional sense, but in the Football sense. That's what a new survey done by EA Sports in conjunction with the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. Via Darren Rovell at CNBC....

The survey revealed that those who played "Madden" were 60 percent more knowledgeable about the game than those who just classified themselves as non-gaming fans of the league.

"This proves that our game is doing a tremendous service to the real sports," Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, told me. "Playing the game creates a better educated and more involved fan. And that means that all the people say gamers are wasting time while playing games on the couch are wrong. We've suspected it for years, but this proves that playing "Madden" helps create a deeper knowledge of the game that just watching on television."

Moore said he recently saw that first hand when he asked how his son knew how to recognize something on the football field. He told his dad that he had seen the play in "Madden."

The survey found that those who played Madden were 79 percent better in their general knowlege [sic] of the game, 54 percent better when being quizzed about game situations and 28 percent better on the rules of the game.

The game is so detailed nowadays that this isn't really a surprise. In fact, I would credit my own knowledge of the game to the game as well. Figuring out offenses is pretty simple, but everything on the defensive side of the ball I learned from Maddens 2003 to present. Now I don't know what "Madden Drinking Games" do to said knowledge, but I'm sure that they don't help. Drinking seven for a TD, and a full beer for a kickoff return, can't help.

Playing Video Games Good For You? (CNBC: Sports Biz)