If you had any doubts or questions about Madden 08 improving on almost every area that had issues in 2007, consider them answered. Madden 08 takes the ultra-precise game control that was first installed in NCAA 2008 and has improved on it. It showcases the new ?weapons? feature that takes utilizing the best players on your team to a new level. The presentation of it is vastly improved and it even offers a new ?championship ring? feature that will allow you to build your own ring through accomplishments in the game and will actually offer you the chance to buy the ring and wear it. So let?s get into breaking this beast of a game down.

Presentation. The outstanding presentation is one of the first things you?ll notice about the game. It doesn?t load slow like Madden 2007 did and it even shows your trophy case and championship ring on the main screen. In exhibition games against other users, you have the ability to wager various trophies (15 in all) that you can accumulate through game play. Your Madden gamer profile will log each trophy that you win against the specific opponent and, if you win the same trophy three consecutive times against the same person, you are dubbed the ?champion? of that trophy. For example, if I were to beat someone three times for the Coliseum Trophy, I would be considered the Coliseum Champion and it would be exclusive to the match up that I have against that person. This elevates smack talk to a whole new level. Like years previous, you are asked to pick your favorite team and on the main screen there are video panels that show highlights from your team. Unlike years past, however, you can turn those panels off and bask in the glory of your championship ring that sits in the middle of the screen.

In Franchise mode, you no longer have to put up with the random radio and newspaper stuff that would usually clutter the screen. Instead, it?s just a simple menu that has all the options including Front Office mode available to access. Like I mentioned earlier, EA isn?t throwing anything incredibly complicated at you as far as presentation goes. That goes a long way in making the game more enjoyable because it makes it easier to enjoy and there are fewer distractions.

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The folks over at Nintendo were kind enough to send us an advance copy of their new Wii sports game, Mario Strikers Charged. I’ve always been a big fan of all Mario sports games over the years, whether it’s golf, tennis or soccer. Strikers signals the debut of Mario sports games for the Wii and proves that the Mario Sports franchise is as strong as ever. If you’re feeling a bit hesitant about making this purchase, don’t be. Strikers utilizes the Wii Remote and Nunchuk perfectly, allowing for very intuitive gameplay and ridiculously fun times.

Let’s start with the Wii controller setup. Sports gamers like myself were initially turned off to the idea of the Wii’s controller mixing with sports games. But Wii Sports and Mario Strikers are proving the naysayers wrong. Players use the joystick on the nunchuk to move their character, while using the Wii Remote’s buttons for the essentials: Shoot and pass. However, there’s far more than that. The motion-sensing capabilities on the controller are used as a hit stick. By flicking the remote, you can control some bone-crushing tackles not normally found on a soccer field. Games of Mario Strikers resemble a hockey game more than soccer with the amount of hits you can lay on people. Using Donkey Kong? You’ll be able to physically dominate most games.

There’s a few noticeable upgrades in Mario Strikers Charged when compared to its Gamecube predecessor, Super Mario Strikers. Unlike the Gamecube version, which required you to play with a team of generic characters alongside your captain, Mario Strikers Charged allows you to choose your entire team, similar to Mario Baseball (Note to Nintendo: PLEASE release Mario Baseball on the Wii.) After choosing your team captain, you’re able to choose three “sidekicks” to play with him. Whether you’re looking for playmaking (Boo and Toad), balance (Koopa and Shy Guy), defense (Dry Bones) or power (Birdo and Monty Mole), you’ll be able to build your team. However, your goalie will still be a Kremling from the Donkey Kong Country series.

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We promised a review and here it is. Thanks to the kind folks at EA Sports, Sportable was able to secure a retail copy of their new release, NCAA Football 2008. Last month, I was able to get an early peek at the game at the Tiburon Studios in Orlando. The game that I saw there made me excited about football video games again. The finished product has confirmed that excitement. This game is a must-buy thanks to a bunch of new features and animations.

Before looking into the new bells and whistles of Dynasty Mode and Campus Legend, you need to break down what really matters here: the gameplay. Complaints over a herky-jerky NCAA 2007 on next-gen have been addressed in the best way possible. Instead of the game playing at 30 FPS (frames per second), it’s now playing at 60 for the XBOX 360. This means the game will be playing smoother than ever, which makes those new animations look even sweeter. It’s a change you’ll notice right out of the box and it’s one of the reasons the hardcore players are loving what they’re seeing thus far. You’re in control of your player at every possible second. Instead of an animation controlling you, you’re controlling the animation.

With the improved framerate of the game, you’re able to see plays unfold like never before. Offensive line play is greatly improved, which makes the running game an absolute blast. An early game with Arkansas and the 99 overall Darren McFadden showed exactly why. Because of improved fatigue settings, I felt like I was able to wear down an opponent thanks to the running game. This led to McFadden getting more breathing room and the chance to break off some nice runs. Past titles didn’t seem to place enough emphasis on progressive fatigue but in NCAA ‘08, you can effectively wear down the opposition or viceversa.

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Earlier in the day, I chronicled my trip to Orlando, which included hands-on time with NCAA Football 2008, set to launch on July 17th. With tales of my cab ride and tournament beatdown now told, I thought it’d be appropriate to review the game I was sent to look at: NCAA Football 2008 for XBox 360. Keep in mind the game was not in its final build yet. I played a version that still had some bugs in it, bugs that will be corrected before release day. But from what I gathered, this game is going to be incredible.

After we spent some time with the game, Craig from ConsoleSports.net put it pretty well: We finally have our football game back. After the phenomenal NCAA ‘04 was released, the consensus was that EA Sports took a couple steps back in ‘05 and ‘06. After a couple disappointing installments on next-gen consoles (XBOX 360), everybody was itching for a football game that was worthy of such a powerful system. I think we have that now. The graphics and player models were obviously going to be phenomenal. But the big talk of EA Sports’ Community Event was the much improved gameplay.

The complaints about NCAA Football 2007 were numerous. While the current-gen versions of PS2 and XBox were both solid, the 360 version was lacking. But it definitely appears that incredible progress has been made. While playing with David Johnson from MaddenMatrix, we both noticed how tight the controls were. We were able to change directions smoothly and precisely this year, as opposed to last year’s momentum problems. If you caught a swing pass on 2007, all of your momentum would be going towards the sidelines and it would be tough to turn upfield. Not this year. The controls are tight and the improved framerate (60 FPS) insures you have complete control of your players at all time. Read the rest of this entry »

The John Amaechi book, Man in the Middle was supposed to be a huge leap forward for homosexuals. It was supposed to be a big coming out for a former NBA player. In my eyes, it was just your average biography. Yes it was well written, and yes it had moments where it was very interesting but when it comes down to it, John Amaechi wasn’t a star player, and this detracts from his story.

This was a pretty good underdog story, which kept me turning pages. Amaechi was basically the fat, out of place kid who no one really cared about. He never played basketball until he was a teenager. Even then, Amaechi barely had any talent, and growing up in Britain, he wasn’t exactly aware of the sport and certainly wasn’t up against much talent. He basically got through for being the tall kid.

Amaechi then moves to the United States to finish up high school and go to college. It is at college where he has his first gay moment, and describes it to the reader in no uncertain terms. It really is impressive that Amaechi managed to improve his game quickly enough to play at a Division I level. Throughout this story, Amaechi constantly refers to his “plan” which was supposed to guide him to a career in the NBA as well as shaping him into a good person. This plan guides his life, but for all the importance it appears to have, he never lays out the plan for the reader. I guess you have to hire him as a speaker to get that part of the story.

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The fact that I finished this book the day before the Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game was pure coincidence, but it works out perfectly. This book is a journey into the depths of the North Carolina Duke rivalry. I always knew the rivalry was intense, and I always made it a point to watch the games, but I honestly didn’t know that the rivalry was as intense as it is, To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever gives good insight into it.

These two schools simply don’t like each other. It is upper class meets working class in a present day industrial revolution style conflict. The author, Will Blythe does a great job taking the reader into the middle of the rivalry. Blythe grew up as a North Carolina fan, he was raised in a household that bled the baby blue of UNC. As a result of this, he hates Duke and everything about them, all the way down to Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale. So what does he do? He takes a year off to go back to North Carolina and immerse himself back into the basketball culture for a year.

Blythe just happened to pick a perfect year for this jaunt back down memory lane. He followed the team in their 2004-05 campaign, one which culminated in them winning a national championship. Blythe openly admits in this book that while he is a die hard fan (which he calls the beast) he must also be professional in his journalism efforts (the part which he calls the journalist). Because of the intensity of the rivalry, and perhaps because of his personality, Blythe often lets the beast slip and take over. Despite his blatantly obvious bias, Blythe does a good job getting both sides of the story. Read the rest of this entry »