EA Sports Restores Warner, Other Retirees, to Madden Roster [Sports]

A week ago EA Sports removed Kurt Warner and other NFL players who retired at the end of the season from the final Madden roster update. Pressure from the game’s community and a sports gaming website has restored them. The removal was apparently a departure from past practice, although EA Sports told Pasta Padre the decision to remove Warner, the Arizona Cardinals’ starting quarterback is because he retired before the conclusion of the season. (Two others, Junior Seau and Bertrand Berry, were also removed.) But Madden NFL 10 is supposed to represent the rosters of the 2009-2010 season, and Arizona Cardinals fans were left without the starting quarterback who led their team into the second round of the playoffs. They were stuck with Matt Leinart, who appeared in eight games and completed 51 passes, none for touchdowns. Naturally, you can imagine their unhappiness. Madden NFL lead producer Phil Frazier said the team heard the outcry, and gave a statement to Pasta Padre saying that “overwhelming response” via a poll on that site (and also EA Sports’ own forums ) has led the team to reverse itself. An update, which is expected to move by the weekend, will add back all the retired players who had been removed. This is the right thing to do. While fans could play with the roster that shipped with the game, it was accurate as of August and if anything was even less realistic than one absent the Cardinals’ starting quarterback (It also lacked Brett Favre). And that’s for singleplayer or offline play; online multiplayer requires the latest roster. So kudos to EA for fixing the problem, and to the community and Pasta Padre for keeping after the issue. Kurt Warner Returning To Madden 10 [Pasta Padre]

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EA Sports Restores Warner, Other Retirees, to Madden Roster [Sports]

Grading Madden’s Preseason Predictions [Super Bowl XLIV]

EA Sports is mighty proud that its Madden NFL simulation has correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner all but one time since it’s run the promotion. But how did its predictions for the season, made back in August , turn out? To recap: On Aug. 4, a full month before the first regular-season kickoff, EA announced the division winners, playoff teams, MVP and all-Pro selections returned by a simulation using Madden NFL 10 . Granted, this was before the preseason even kicked off – before Brett Favre announced his return to Minnesota, which absolutely changed the NFC dynamic. Still, let’s grade how they did. The Madden sim accurately named just three of eight divisional winners and one of four wild card participants. Overall, it did get seven of the 12 playoff participants. And none of its playoff team predictions finished worse than .500. Given how the year started for the Titans and Panthers and how it ended for the Steelers and Giants, that’s actually pretty good. EA Sports said the AFC division winners would be New England, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and San Diego. Only New England and San Diego panned out. EA Sports said the NFC division winners would be Philadelphia, Arizona, Atlanta and Chicago. Just Arizona won its division, although Philadelphia made the postseason as a wildcard. For the wildcard teams, EA said Indianapolis and Baltimore would get bids in the AFC. Both did visit the playoffs, but Indianapolis won its division with a 13-3 record. In the NFC, the Madden simulation said New York and Carolina would make the playoffs. Neither did; both finished 8-8. That means the Madden simulation’s division winners’ combined, real-life records were six games worse compared with the records of real life division winners in the AFC (42-24 to 47-17). They were 7 1/2 games worse in the NFC (39-27 to 45-18). Now, for the individual honors. The variables at work here make picking even a majority of actual NFL All-Pro first team selections a real longshot. But Madden only got three out of 25 right – Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis, and Browns kick returner Josh Cribbs. None of the awards Madden picked – MVP, Offensive Players and Rookies of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc. – came true. What does this tell us? Dunno. The game’s on. But it’s one thing to simulate one game between two teams of 50 players and make five correct predictions in six years. Quite another to simulate a few hundred football games and thousands of events and come up with anything close to reality. It’s probably an unreasonable expectation, especially considering how the rosters vary over the season. So with that, enjoy Super Bowl XLIV , and feel free to talk about it in the comments here. And, apropos of nothing, on Friday Luke and I were talking about Rules We’d Like to See Added to the NFL. Being that he’s an Australian who enjoys American football, he’s got a pretty smart perspective on this sort of thing. I said I wanted to see a rule where a punting team that catches its own punt on the fly is awarded a free kick from placement on the spot it is caught – similar to the mark in Aussie rules . Luke pointed out the total destruction awaiting anyone attempting such a catch, and a fair-catch rule in such an instance would almost defeat the point. It would increase scoring and make the kicking game more relevant, however. Luke instead said he’d like to see a penalty rule similar to rugby, in that for certain infractions (say, 10 yards or more) the ball is kicked across the sideline in the direction of the offending team’s territory and where it goes out of bounds is where play resumes. While pass interference (fresh set of downs, and a spot-of-the-foul placement) is the closest U.S. football comes to this, I like Luke’s idea better for adjudicating the game’s harsher penalties.

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Grading Madden’s Preseason Predictions [Super Bowl XLIV]

Backbreaker Going For Broke [Impressions]

I can’t imagine how scary it is for a developer to pitch a football video game when their name isn’t EA Sports . I imagine a room full of people going dead silent before someone says, “You mean like Madden?” That may not have been what developer NaturalMotion went through while pitching Backbreaker to publisher 505 Games — the name doesn’t even suggest football — but even when the dreaded Madden comparison was made, it was successfully dodged with “This is an alternative to Madden.” The idea is that the developer approached football with a completely clean slate and no aspirations of doing what Madden does only somehow better. Instead, NaturalMotion is using the Euphoria engine (of Grand Theft Auto IV fame) to craft a more game-y feel for the classic American sport. All the animations are real time as opposed to canned and the perspective from which the developer showed me the game was something like a third person action/adventure camera angle. Like GTA IV, only with football. Backbreaker was in pre-alpha, so I wasn’t able to see much. I watched an 11×11 Exhibition match in a Day Mode stadium (the game will have both night and raining modes for stadiums as well). A bug prevented us from switching views or switching between players, so I watched two or three plays from the perspective of a quarterback and a linebacker. Immediately, it felt like a more intimate experience from what I remember of Madden’s overhead God view — although I confess I lack Owen Good’s extensive knowledge of the series, so I’m not sure if there’s a comparable camera angle in Madden NFL 10 . Either way, I can definitely say that the football players move differently than I expect from my sports games. It’s almost like they’re less-realistic to look at, but when they tackle somebody, the response of the character model is more realistic. Stuck in this perspective, I worried that it would be hard to see where the ball was — that is the challenge of sports in real life that they don’t come with glowing icons. To tackle this problem (pun intended), the game makes the player who has the ball glow red. I like this because it doesn’t make it too easy to find the ball, but it does cut back on the chances of me tackling the wrong guy. When Backbreaker is finished, NaturalMotion plans to have all kinds of views in place during games, including a jumbo-tron view mode to review tackles or spectacular plays. At launch, they also plan to have 32 teams (and the ability to make your own) with 16 stadiums in day, night and raining modes. (Note that these teams and stadiums are only modeled after real life teams and stadiums — Madden sort of has the market cornered on that kind of realism.) Backbreaker will also have mini-games like something called Tackle Alley that I didn’t get to see, and two difficulties for both the casual and hardcore players and online functionality for all. A press release sent out last night also says that the game will have two variants for on the field play: evasive mode and aggressive mode. I assume it has to do with offense and defense, but all the release says is “in evasive mode, players are more agile … though they are more likely to fumble when tackled” and “in aggressive mode, players can stiff arm and fight through linemen, run faster and fend off big hits and tackles.” Hm. Sounds like it might be more fun to be aggressive. B-E Aggressive (sorry, had to do it!). Backbreaker is looking at an April 2010 release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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Backbreaker Going For Broke [Impressions]

The PlayStation 3 Buyer’s Guide [Shopping Gift Guide]

With at least one potential game of the year exclusively nesting on the Playstation 3 and a price drop under its belt, the PS3 has had a pretty darn good year. My favorite among the games listed is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which probably isn’t surprising. What is yours? Anything we didn’t review that you would suggest? Remember, the games listed aren’t all recommendations. Instead we’re providing this as a quick reference guide to help you decide if a game is a good gift or not. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Third-person hip-hop shooter Subject Matter: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand tells the unintentionally(?) amusing tale of rapper 50 Cent as he struggles to reclaim his diamond encrusted skull from a Middle Eastern bad guy. He’s assisted by his G Unit hangers on and some laughably outlandish moments. Value: An adequately long adventure, made seemingly longer by endlessly looping 50 Cent songs. There are much better games to give this holiday season. Buy it for: someone as a gag. Or a die hard 50 Cent fan fresh from a six month coma. Read the Full Review Assassin’s Creed II Price: $59.99 Rating: M Genre: Free-running platforming adventure game Subject Matter: Assassinations and conspiracy spent mostly in 15th century Renaissance Italy. Value: Lots more content than the first game had, probably lasting gamers at least double the time they spent with the first Assassin’s Creed. Buy it for: People who were let down by the first game, people who like history, beautiful scenery, dynamic platforming, solving mysteries and games that might be the Game of the Year. Read the Full Review Batman: Arkham Asylum Price: $59.99 Rating: T Genre: Action/Adventure Subject Matter: Join one of comic books’ most iconic heroes on an adventure in Gotham City’s insane asylum, where The Joker is on the loose. Value: With character ability customization, bonus challenge maps and tons of riddles courtesy of The Riddler, Arkham Asylum offers at least three playthroughs’ worth of fun. Buy it for: Batman fans and anybody jonesing for a Mark Hamill voice over fix. Read the full review The Beatles: Rock Band Price: The stand-alone game sells for $59.99, the Limited Edition Premium Bundle sell for $249.99, the Rickenbacker 325 Standalone Guitar and the Gretsch Duo Jet Standalone Guitar sells for $99.99. Rating: Teen Genre: Rhythm music game Subject Matter: The Beatles: Rock Band is a musical journey through the history of one of the world’s most popular bands. Value: For those new to the Rock Band phenomenon and fans of The Beatles, this 45-track game is well worth a purchase because this is the only way you’ll play The Beatles music in a Rock Band game. If you’re not into the band, give this a pass. Buy it for: huge Beatles fans. Read the Full Review Borderlands Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre: First-person shooter RPG Subject Matter: Borderlands targets the loot-hungry region of the brain, offering four classes with which to stalk the planet Pandora, shoot things and level up, acquiring cool guns, sweet armor and totally rad superpowers. As role-playing games go, it’s shallow, but offers a constant stream of junk food gaming. Value: Seeing all that Borderlands has to offer could take hundreds of hours. But the real value comes in the form of being able to play with friends on PlayStation Network or via splitscreen. Buy it for: the loot glutton with an itchy trigger finger and a history of playing Diablo. Read the Full Review Brutal Legend Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre : Action Adventure Subject Matter: Brutal Legend is a heavy metal-themed action game that combines racing, shooting, real-time strategy, and hack and slash into one slightly disjointed mix. Value: Brutal Legend is a game from Tim Schafer, one of gaming’s greatest comedy minds, and the absurd humor carries the game a long way. It’s the story of a roadie who gets transported to a heavy metal world where he must raise an army to free the oppressed inhabitants. There’s plenty to do, though the odd mix of genres might be too much for some players. Buy it for : Anyone with a strong affection for heavy metal music or sa twisted sense of humor. Read the Full Review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Price: $59.99 to $149.99 Rating: Mature Genre: First-person military shooter Subject Matter: Lead a team of elite commandoes in Modern Warfare 2 as they try to prevent a Russian invasion and global thermonuclear war. Then take the action online, going head to head against other well-armed gamers. It’s loud, violent and a hell of a lot of fun to play. Value: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s single-player storyline may be short, but the package more than makes up for it with ample cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. Near endless replayability will be stoked with future downloadable content. Buy it for: the Michael Bay action movie fan who likes his shooters bombastic and nearly devoid of a comprehensible story, one who doesn’t shy away from ultra-violent fare. Read the Full Review Critter Crunch Price: $6.99 Rating: Everyone Genre : Puzzle Subject Matter: A puzzle game with bug eating, cute critters and sorta cut, sorta gross tecnicolor yarn. Value: The good puzzle game mechanic is strong and addictive — add to that beautiful graphics, a lengthy adventure mode and super fun multiplayer and you have a good time. With barf. Buy it for : Gamers with a strong like of puzzle titles and no fear of cute puke. Read the Full Review Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Price: $39.99 Rating: Mature Genre: First-person shooter Subject Matter: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a Civil War era first-person shooter. Value: With an engaging story, wide open maps and plenty of mulitplayer options, this game will take up quite a bit of your time. Buy it for: First-person shooter enthusiasts, fans of the Wild West and Civil War buffs. Read the Full Review DJ Hero Price: $119.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Rhythm Subject Matter: DJ Hero is a rhythm game featuring a replica DJ turntable so players can mix and scratch to the beat of original music mash-ups. Value: DJ Hero features upwards fo 100 different DJ-driven mash-ups featuring songs from the 70’s on up to present-day hits. Unlike the latest Guitar Hero or Rock Band games, however, it’s only good for one or two players, so the party element just isn’t there. The innovative turntable-based gameplay makes it a breath of fresh air in the currently band-centric music genre, but it certainly isn’t as social. Buy it for : Fans of eclectic music mixes and lonely Guitar Hero fans. Read the Full Review Dragon Age: Origins Price: $49.99 Rating: Mature Genre : Roleplaying Subject Matter: An epic action roleplaying game set in a world besieged by evil inside and out. Value: Dragon Age: Origins packs more than 100 hours of gameplay into this action RPG, with branching story paths that encourage multiple play throughs in order to experience it all. BioWare designed the game so it can be played by RPG gamers of any skill level, but mature content and strong sexual situations mean you might want to keep it in the high teens. Buy it for : Anyone who has ever conversationally mentioned hit points. Read the Full Review EyePet Price: £20 game only, £35 with PlayStation Eye (game currently only available in PAL territories) Rating: E Genre: Virtual Pet Management Subject Matter: Using the PlayStation Eye, “directly” interact with a digital pet on your TV screen. Value: Smaller kids won’t mind the game lacks any real direction, they’ll be happy to play it every few days just to check on their pet. Buy it for: Kids who think Tamagotchi is so 20th century. Read the Full Review Fallout 3: Broken Steel Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3) Rating: M Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game Subject Matter: Fallout 3 expansion involving missions with a high-powered fighting force. Value: High because it extends the level cap to Fallout 3, changes the game’s ending and allows the adventure to be played infinitely once the story has “ended” Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans who want to play more; essential for anyone getting any Fallout 3 downloadable content Read the Full Review Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta Price: $10.00 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3) Rating: Mature Genre : Still a post-apocalyptic RPG Subject Matter: It’s Fallout 3 in space! Value: Mothership Zeta gives the Fallout 3 player an entire spaceship to explore and make their own, some futuristic new weapons, and tacks a good five hours onto the regular campaign, making it a relatively fair value for your money. Buy it for : Fallout 3 fans. Read the Full Review Fallout 3: Point Lookout Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3) Rating: M Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game Subject Matter: Fallout 3 in microcosm, set on a spooky island. Value: Tons of content, and widely seen as the Fallout 3 downloadable content that best shares the strengths of the base game. Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans. Read the Full Review Fat Princess Price: $14.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Action Subject Matter: Capture the flag? No, capture the princess. And feed her cake, so she’s fat and hard for enemies to cart her off. Value: Single player weakness aside, the main draw here is multiplayer. That, and cake. Cake’s always a draw. Always. Buy it for : Gamers with a sweet tooth for multiplayer. Read the Full Review FIFA Soccer 2010 Price: $49.99 Rating: E Genre: Round-Ball Football Subject Matter: The best football game on the market. Value: Almost endless. There are so many leagues and cups, and such a deep singleplayer experience, that it can be played to death until FIFA 11 is released. And that’s before we even get to the 10v10 multiplayer… Buy it for: Anyone who has even a passing interest in the world game. Read the Full Review Fight Night Round 4 Price: $59.99 Rating: T Genre: Boxing Subject Matter: Boxing Value: Tons of fighters, good online options and no real competition. Buy it for: Boxing fans or people looking for a fighting-based game that has longer-lasting fights. Read the Full Review G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Price: $49.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Action Subject Matter: A arcade-style shooter loosely based on the live-action G.I. Joe movie. Value: G.I. Joe is a movie tie-in strangely reminiscent of Konami’s Contra series. One or two players take control of their favorite Joes from the movie and take on Cobra across multiple levels of run-and-gun action. There are a few unlockables catering to fans of the old cartoon series, but other than that this is strictly a movie-lover’s affair. Buy it for : Really, really big fans of the G.I. Joe live-action movie. Read the Full Review Guitar Hero 5 Price: $59.99 for the game, $99.99 with a guitar controller included Rating: Teen Genre: Music/Rythym Subject Matter: It’s Guitar Hero. You play a quintet of color-coordinated “notes” as they scroll downscreen to a new selection of music. Value: Guitar Hero 5 offers a great suite of single and multiplayer modes, the most robust options yet for the series. What it doesn’t offer is the series’ most attractive soundtrack, despite an 85 song strong line up. Good for the new Guitar Hero gamer, but that money may be better spent on downloadable songs. Buy it for: for Guitar Hero noobs who have extremely eclectic taste in music. Read the Full Review inFamous Price: $59.99 Rating: T Genre: Open-world action game Subject Matter: Gritty adventures of an electricity-based super-hero from the makers of the Sly Cooper series. Value: Designed to be played through twice to explore two distinct moral paths. Buy it for: Super-hero fans and folks who like Grand-Theft-Auto style open-world games. Read the Full Review Katamari Forever Price: $49.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Planet-building action Subject Matter: Katamari Forever offers a greatest hits style package of the Katamari Damacy series’ more memorable levels. Players will roll the titular sticky katamari over objects, building bigger and bigger piles of stuff to replace the universe’s missing stars and planets and ultimately please the King of All Cosmos. Value: At $49.99, Katamari Forever is the most expensive entry yet, a high price for a game that’s largely rehashed content. But the content is vast and offers plenty to play. Sadly, there’s no online component to help extend the experience. Buy it for: the fan of quirky games who somehow missed every other Katamari Damacy game or the kid that longs to make snowballs in the summer time. Read the Full Review Killzone 2 Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Single-person shooter Subject Matter: Killzone 2 takes the fight to the Helghast, with an invading force landing on Helghan. Value: Even though this game landed back in February, you would be remiss if you forgot to check it out. Next to Uncharted 2, this is one of the top games for the Playstation 3. The chunky single-player experience backed by 32-player multiplayer matches makes this a very good deal as well. Buy it for: Anyone with a Playstation 3 who some how missed this title when it first hit. Read the Full Review The King of Fighters XII Price: $59.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Fighting Subject Matter: SNK Playmore’s latest entry in its King of Fighter series is a return to its roots with 2D fighting and hand-drawn graphics. Value: The game feels largely unfinished — though, the parts which are done should please the hardcore fans. Buy it for : Die-hard SNK fighting game fans. Read the Full Review Madden NFL 10 Price: $59.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Sports Subject Matter: The only video game licensed by the NFL, covering the current season. Value: For the first time on the current console generation, Madden earns its must-own status among sports gamers. The fine-tuned action is slightly slower, creating greater big play potential on both sides of the ball. Buy it for: Any sports gamer who doesn’t yet have it. Madden is a no-brainer gift that any sports fan will enjoy. Read the Full Review Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Price: $59.99 Rating: Teen Genre : Action RPG Subject Matter: Tons of Marvel heroes take on tons of Marvel villains Value: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 may not quite live up to the thrill of the original, but it is a more cohesive package overall, with a storyline ripped from Marvel’s Civil War storyline and a good dozen hours of heroic fun for 1-4 players. Read the Full Review Marvel VS. Capcom 2 Price: $15.00 Rating: Teen Genre : Fighting Subject Matter: Marvel characters. Capcom characters. Fighting. Value: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 contains one of the largest roster in fighting game history, with 56 Marvel and Capcom characters to choose from. The sheer amount of variety plus online multiplayer makes this one downloadable title well worth the price. Read the Full Review Mini Ninjas Price: $49.99 Rating: E Genre: Juvenile Bush Disguise/Phantom Removal Subject Matter: Play as one of a band of adorable child ninjas on a quest to kill a bad guy and free the adorable little forest animals. Value: A somewhat short singleplayer game, but the ability to play as one of several ninjas means there’s plenty of replay value. Buy it for: Anyone. Everyone. Kids will love the straight-forward combat, adults will find there’s a great stealth and combat system lurking under the hood. Read the Full Review Modern Warfare 2 Combat Controller Camo Price: $49.99 Rating: N/A Genre: N/A Subject Matter: This wireless controller features programmable buttons, better triggers and a Modern Warfare 2 theme. Value: It’s a bit pricey, but if you’re a big fan of the game and like the idea of programmable buttons, it’s probably worth the $50. Buy it for: Fans of Modern Warfare 2. Read the Full Review Modern Warfare 2 Combat Controller Camo Faceplate Price: $14.99 Rating: N/A Genre: N/A Subject Matter: This faceplate snaps onto your Playstation 3 controller. Value: For $15 it’s not bad, but not a great deal. Consider it a cheaper alternative to buying a new controller. Buy it for: HUGE fans of Modern Warfare 2. Read the Full Review Modern Warfare 2 Combat Wireless Headset Price: $39.99 Rating: N/A Genre: N/A Subject Matter: This wireless headset gives weak lip-service to Modern Warfare 2. Value: The painful design and static-filled connection makes this a bad deal. Buy it for: Someone you hate. Read the Full Review NCAA Football 10 Price: $59.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Sports Subject Matter: The tradition and pageantry of college football’s 115 teams, plus any schools you might choose to create. Value: NCAA Football 10 is the deepest simulation of a sport, on and off the field, of any currently available sports title. Buy it for: Any sports nut with a serious helping of school pride or leftover nostalgia for college days gone by. Read the Full Review NBA 2K10 Price: $59.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Sports Subject Matter: NBA 2K10 celebrates the 10th anniversary of 2K Sports’ best-in-class basketball simulation. Value: NBA 2K10 offers a much more varied set of gameplay modes, both single- and multiplayer, than its challenger NBA Live 10. Its season simulation lacks the aspect of playing in this year’s league but is deeper in all other regards. My Player, in which you create and control one player on his journey from prospect to all-star, is tough but a rewarding experience. Buy it for: Serious basketball fans with some exposure to the sport in real life, either as a player or a devoted fan. Read the Full Review NBA Live 10 Price: $59.99 Rating: Everyone Genre: Sports Subject Matter: NBA Live 10 is EA Sports’ current title covering pro basketball’s upcoming season. Value: EA Sports has poured a ton of effort into resurrecting the franchise. New controls enabling you to move players off the ball on offense and defense are easy to learn and a real plus. Dynamic DNA allows you to run your season simulation as if it were taking place among current league events in real life. Buy it for: Basketball fans who prefer singleplayer sports gaming, want a very accurate league simulation, and an easy-to-comprehend control set. Read the Full Review NHL 2K10 Price: $39.99 Rating: Everyone 10+ Genre: Sports Subject Matter: NHL 2K10 is 2K Sports’ current title covering professional hockey’s latest season. Value: NHL 2K10 is still a runner-up to EA’s NHL 10, but it is not without merit. It features the same robust multiplayer package as its NBA cousin. The action’s a little arcadey, but it also is the only NHL title with the league’s popular outdoor classic venues. Buy it for: A casual-to-moderate hockey fan who enjoys lots of scoring action. Read the Full Review Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Realistic military first-person shooter Subject Matter: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a relatively open-world tactical shooter that has players trying to take the fictional island of Skira from China. Value: Plagued with problems this shooter doesn’t deliver much for the premium price you pay. Buy it for: hardcore fans of realistic shooters that offer no chance for mistakes or do-overs. Read the Full Review Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Price: $59.99 Rating: E Genre: Sports Subject Matter: Football title encompassing international and club tournaments, manager modes and online play. Value: Pro Evo’s “Master League”, a time-devouring game mode incorporating RPG and strategy elements, is the one area fans remain devoted to this series ahead of its rival, EA Sports’ FIFA. Buy it for: Football fans who like to not only play a good game, but also roll up their sleeves and get lost in a sea of statistics and growth charts. Read the Full Review Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time Price: $59.99 Rating: E10+ Genre: Third-person shooter (Ratchet sections); Third-person time-manipulation puzzle-platformer (Clank sections). Subject Matter: The third PS3 Ratchet is still an action game, but has a stronger than normal narrative, as Ratchet discovers he’s not the last of his species, while Clank discovers his origins. Value: A bombastic single-player campaign full of spectacular cartoon visuals is designed to be replayed, with new content and missions available only after the first play-through is complete. Buy it for: Jaded Ratchet fans who were waiting for the series to feel special again; fans of cartoon visuals who don’t mind their entertainment feeling like a fun all-ages sci-fi adventure. Read the Full Review Resident Evil 5 Price: $39.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Survival Horror meets third-person shooter Subject Matter: The latest iteration in the famed survival horror game ditches a bit of the slow pacing and fear for a bit more of an action feel. Value: A worthy addition to anyone’s library, but perhaps not the sort of game you’ll keep around after it’s completed. Buy it for: fans of Resident Evil and those interested in the premise of the franchise but not in the steady pacing of the gameplay. Read the Full Review Street Fighter IV Price: $29.99 Rating: Teen Genre: Fighter Subject Matter: The next iteration in the storied and fabulous fighter brings with it a dynamic new look and a death grip on classic mechanics. Value: Packed with playable characters both old and new and a mechanic that is timeless, the online play and in-room versus mode make this a great deal.. Buy it for: fighting fans, Street Fighter fans. Read the Full Review Tekken 6 Price: $59.99 Rating: Teen Genre: Fighter Subject Matter: Once you’ve mastered the moves of your favorite character, Tekken 6’s 3D fights are all about timing and tactics. Value: With 40 playable characters and a seemingly endless single-player campaign, Tekken 6 is a good deal for fans of the franchise willing to put up with some online issues. Buy it for: fighting fans, Tekken fans, and maybe as a taste of something different for Street Fighter IV fans. Read the Full Review Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Price: $59.99 Rating: Teen Genre: Action adventure third-person shooter. Subject Matter: A well-crafted story and pithy dialogue is backed by solid third-person shooter action, stunning Himalayan backdrops and a smattering of puzzles to solve and things to climb. Value: The story-driven campaign will only take up about eight hours of your time, but the plentiful and creative mulitplayer modes are sure to be a lasting time drain. Buy it for: anyone with a Playstation 3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is destined to be one of the best games of the year. Read the Full Review WET Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre: Third-person acrobatic shooter. Subject Matter: Rubi Malone is a leather-pants wearing, wall-running, pole-spinning death machine. She can shoot two shotguns while flipping through the air, slide under tables to hamstring and gut with her sword, and regains health by swigging liquor. Value: The single-player only game has a sizable campaign, fantastic music and troubled controls and camera work. It’s sort of a mixed bag. Buy it for: fans of Kill Bill and fast-paced action noire games. Read the Full Review Wolfenstein Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature Genre : First-Person Shooter Subject Matter: World War II First-Person Shooter with Occult Tendencies Value: While Wolfenstein is an excellent first-person shooter from a technical standpoint, the story is a bit far-fetched and the multiplayer is disappointing, especially in the face of games like Modern Warfare 2. Buy it for : First-person shooter fans looking for a little something different. Read the Full Review WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 Price: $59.99 Rating: T Genre: Pro wrestling Subject Matter: WWE wrestling, with deep customization options allowing players to create and share their own characters, moves and — the big new addition — storylines. Value: High value for those who will take advantage of the online play and content creation/sharing. Buy it for: WWE fans, even those who don’t like current WWE programming, since those disgruntled fans can create the WWE of their own liking using the game’s deep editors. Read the Full Review

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The PlayStation 3 Buyer’s Guide [Shopping Gift Guide]

Football Fans — Here’s Collinsworth NFL 10 [Madden]

Cris Collinsworth took over as the color analyst for the Madden franchise last year. John Madden retired from broadcasting this year. As this video suggests, it’s only a matter of time before the ex-Bengals receiver takes over the title Collinsworth (as voiced by NYC comedian Rob Lathan) has to start out somewhere, so here he begins by calling the action for Intellivision’s Rural New Mexico Six-on-Six Football NFL Football (and the later All-Pro Football, with the forward pass perfected by the Mattel LED handhelds years before). Remember, “You’ve never lived until one of those clowns flips you upside down.” It’s a sound bite you hear 48 zillion times in the most mundane Madden NFL 10 game. It’d also take up 20 times the memory of one of these ROMs. Collinsworth NFL 10 – Rated E for Effort [YouTube, thanks Ian V.]

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Football Fans — Here’s Collinsworth NFL 10 [Madden]

Show Your NFL Pride On Xbox Live [Avatars]

If anyone was crazy enough to spend $4 on a tiny virtual football jersey it’s those whacky NFL Football fans. The Xbox Avatar Store now contains football jersey’s for each of the thirty-two current NFL teams, each coming in both male and female versions, courtesy of Madden NFL 10 . From the amazing Philadelphia Eagles to the even more amazing Pittsburgh Steelers, your avatar can show his or her pride for football teams from Pennsylvania for the low price of 320 Microsoft points, or $4.00 real-world money. I suppose you could buy jerseys representing other teams as well, but that simply doesn’t make any sense at all to me. It’s crazy talk. Buy Your NFL Avatar Jersey Here [ Xbox Live Marketplace via Major Nelson ]

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Show Your NFL Pride On Xbox Live [Avatars]