Madden '06 in-hand

...or in my case July 28th.

Yesterday I ran home for my lunch break to let my miniature schnauzer out for a piss, and upon arriving I was met at the front door by that oh-so-familiar package leaning up against it. Madden '06 was here, and visions of hours upon hours of gameplay danced around in my head like those little reproducing broomsticks in that one Mickey Mouse movie, "Anastasia" - or something like that. Anyway, I didn't exactly get to enjoy the game as I had planned, I mean...after all, it was my 4th wedding anniversary and I had a full night's worth of plans with my lovely wife that evening. She did go to bed around 12:30 last night (err this morning, whatever), but I for some reason logged online to get smacked around in NCAA for 2 games before retiring for the night.

But hey, the movie "Wedding Crashers" is freakin' hilarious, and it definitely gets the FM recommendation on the women in the movie. I can't speak for blog spammers Swade and Boz, but I'm sure they'd agree with me knowing that they're your typical, hard-dicked male-Americans.

So! I have softball tonight for a while and then I'll be manning the forums at MM answering whatever questions you or whoever may have for me to the best of my ability, after all I feel like I owe it to the football community after that ill-timed vacation during NCAA's pre-release. Feel free to click the link to the right or any one of 10,000 other places I may have linked MM here in this blog to find me (like in this very paragraph).

My initial impressions so far are good, as I feel from my experience of 12 total games of Madden '05 that I'm not the best person to compare the 2 versions. I'm not a hater by any measure; I'm just a hopeless NCAA junky who typically uses the newest Madden edition as a coaster after the initial rush. The Bengals are looking pretty good on the game this year, and hey - if I don't suck then by god I'll play the damn thing maybe, try to win some tournaments or something.

...and by tournaments I in no way am referring to the Madden Challenge, as it's been moved to Xbox this year (?) - and the NCAA Challenge is still homoerotically a requirement to be enlisted at the school where you'd play from.

On the NCAA tip, I had to share this recent discovery with you. Apparently, there's a glitch in the Xbox versions of the game where random recruits come into school at a playing size of ooooooohh, about 8" tall. Now I know there's a minimum size and everything when creating prospects, but for some reason something got jacked up in the whole ordeal and as a result, there's some awfully funky happenings going on in the top #25...

Anyway, here's the thread at MM & here's a video for your amusement.

Manny Ramirez closet rocker and PADS WIN!

Ok, I've said it a million times, Manny Ramirez is the worst Outfielder in the history of Major League Baseball. Ok, before you freak out at me, I said Outfielder! Not hitter!

My argument is there are hundreds of thousands of High School Outfielders that are better defensively than Manny is, shows how much priority defense takes these days. I think we may have found the reason why he's so bad.

Introducing the Oakley Thumps, a $495 pair of sunglasses expertly equipped with a media player for MP3's. Apparantly, Manny has fallen in love with the sunglasses and has actually worn them in Left Field (see pic below) caught live on someone's DVR.

Terry Francona claims that no batteries were in the glasses and he knew about them the whole time. Ok, sure, and I knew all about the 9-inch police stick hidden in my wife's top drawer. I'm sure everyone will make a bigger deal than needed about this, in fact I'm included, I posted my first blog in 3 weeks about it. All I know is that Manny blows in the outfield and don't give me the "he leads the league in assists" jargon.

IN OTHER NEWS

The San Diego Padres, my team of choice, finally snapped their 8-game slide back to .500 beating the Cardinals in bottom-of-the-9th walk-off fashion on a Robert "Wildman" Fick double. Peavy punched out ten Rolen-Walker-less Cardinals for the no-decision. Hoffy grabbed his first win of the season. So the world is complete until around 3 pm again today when they go at it again.

Watching the Nats/Bravos game today, the Nats are officially finished. How they hung in there this long with the makeshift team is a miracle, a friggin miracle.

My source for my early copy of Madden fell through so I'm back to waiting like a normal human for the game to release. I told myself "Self, you're a beautiful man". After that, I continued "If you have to pay for Madden this year, don't buy it, just wait for the Xbox 360 version". Sure, like that is going to happen. I've already collected a grip (love urban slang) of games together to hand in for the xbox version of the game, hopefully my boy will get me a free PS2 version.

I know biron aka Chuck has the game already so he'll be putting some impressions of the game on here shortly. And don't worry Swade I still enjoy your company, platonically, you and Chuck should come out for a Rangers/Bluewhackets game followed by dolla bill drops at FDancers. Gotta love the big city.

Peace out till we meet again. Here's a hot mormon with instructions:

NCAA '06 Impact Tournament

Just posting to attract attention to my first online event of the year, you know, as if Maddenmania doesn't get more hits per day then we get here at FM in a year. Anyway, tournament is 32 competitors with a backup list of an additional 10, and after the first 3 days so far it's been a huge success.

(click for large view)

That's the layout, it's a tournament using 'B' rated teams and you're allowed to use any team off the list one time. I like these kinds of setups because you can't blame the outcome on someone having a better team or getting stuck with a team that doesn't play to your strengths, and you essentially in this scenario have every opportunity to matchup and return whatever you're facing at any point throughout the competition.

The winner is set to take home (err, rather "get sent") his own copy of Madden 2006 courtesy of MM, but I can't say that in public just yet (oops...) because we don't actually have the copies as of this very moment. In the least, winner takes home grab bag items from EA - but pretty sure it's going to be Madden for 1st and maybe 2nd place.

Anyway, for those of you scoring at home you can follow the action on the bracket post in the NCAA online section. Tournament allows 3 days per round of play, and should be over prior to Madden release.

Hot Coffeegate...

I gotta say I can't help but follow this story going on with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at the same time as I absorb every ounce of my video game energy into NCAA 2006. Apparently a mini-game was discovered within the retail version of the game, and by using/installing unauthorized software that alters the content of the original retail version of the title, users are treated to a sex mini-game following the conclusion of a successful date.

Now sure, if I'm a parent I'm outraged that I bought such content for my kids in the first place. I mean, back when the game was released, the MA rating it received from the ESRB didn't detour me at all from purchasing it for my underage child - but now that there's dry-humping in provacative positions there had better be some action against Rockstar. It's like...did you even stop to check out what this game may consist of?

In all rights, GTA:SA may as well come packaged with a 40 oz. of malt liquor, a Glock 9mm & dime bag of weed. It builds itself on what reality early 90's culture in Los Angeles consisted of and exaggerates it to entertaining proportions. The whole fucking game is a giant suggestion, including your moaning girlfriend as you rock her world after being invited in for "coffee" - you don't see anything, but the bitch ain't moaning over the coffee being too hot. Point being, I fail to realize the outrage and sudden pulling of the game off shelves, leading to lost revenues of department stores carrying the game over greater than $50M - all because of this mini-game? Bullshit. That's my opinion.

But at any rate, hell can't talk about it without spilling it...

Using your ARMax device, you can enter these to observe for yourself:

Date & Girlfriend Codes...
D1U0-7U5R-BJ2ZC

Date Modifier...
39VZ-NARK-06RVU
8UQH-1851-EZQPC

Always Driving Date
8JKP-4XPM-Y2W6U
12UF-9DF5-0P0RG
7ZPF-J4VG-C20FY
vAUN4-Y662-7NFV0
7ZPF-J4VG-C20FY

Always Dancing Date
9YZR-17TF-MWZU4
5JC3-M4E8-VQ4CX
6BHH-ZW1G-YH2TU
AUN4-Y662-7NFV0
6BHH-ZW1G-YH2TU

Always Dinner Date
HRHT-J8VC-2P05M
5JC3-M4E8-VQ4CX
NG2H-VX0E-Z0G2T
12UF-9DF5-0P0RG
NG2H-VX0E-Z0G2T

Quick Fun Increase (Driving Dates)
HC35-44B7-1B0QY
DVN8-B67P-H075B

Hot Coffee (After Successful Date)
WARNING: Uncensored Hot Coffee CODE UNLOCKS ADULT CONTENT HIDDEN BY ROCKSTAR GAMES
7UZJ-9YW8-0T45Z
8UQH-1851-EZQPC

Censored Hot Coffee
Note: Use this code if you wish to save game with Uncensored Hot Coffee disabled
1NQR-NVFE-NXV1Q
20MW-A62G-9MQ30

Uncensored Hot Coffee
Note: DO NOT SAVE WITH THIS CODE ACTIVE This cheat will save and MAY corrupt your save USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
You will be stuck in an invisible box after adult scene Press R1 R2 L1 L2 buttons at the same time to escape.
JD3N-EV68-AGRW0
4PMG-6VNA-PBZQ7
BKR1-JF84-6Q23C
U7Q0-6H91-6JATX
5540-HY63-181MY
7FB5-3052-PWB8N
03AH-5PBC-9K2T7

But at any rate, one day I'll go back and finish this game someday - and hell, maybe spend the time to enter these codes and find out just how dirty Michelle really is...

(not real worksafe, click at your own risk)

Ice, Ice Hockey...

Ice is back with a brand new invention…

Just like Vanilla Ice, hockey sold its soul for mainstream markets and money and is now an afterthought in most circles. Moreover, just as Vanilla attempted a comeback by reinventing himself, hockey is now attempting the same comeback. Complete with wider nets, removed red lines, and new rules to speed up play. Hopefully the NHL will fare much better than Vanilla…Hockey: A brand new invention.

Anything less than the best is a felony…
So now that the new CBA has been ratified and hockey will be back this fall, will the powers that be finally understand their actual market? I doubt it. Gary Bettman and his purse-fighting basketball background pretty much destroyed the three pillars of hockey. Anyone who watches hockey wants to see a goal, a fight, and a win. Since Bettman took charge, fighting has dropped to .61 fights per game, the lowest since hockey’s heyday in the late 70s when the Broad Street Bullies ruled the rink. Goals have dropped from almost 8 per game in 1985 to around 5 two years ago. However, nothing is worse than the antiquated tie. Ties are for sissy whiners and this new age bullshit about “learning is more important than winning.” Fuck that. Baseball is America's pasttime, and no ties is a contributing factor to its greatness. There is no joy in the tie. It’s the equivalent of meeting the hottest girl at a bar and ending up as friends. Yeah, you didn’t get shot down (loss), but you didn’t hook up (win). And no, making friends with a girl is never, ever, a win. Ever.

If there was a problem, Yo I’ll solve it…
So how does the NHL get its ass back up off the mat? Simple, listen to me, because I know best.
1. Remove the instigator rule. Fighting up, space to skate up, scoring up, attendance up.
2. No more ties. None. Ever. Anything else works, especially shoot-outs.
3. International rink size. Salaries have been cut so much that now they can afford to expand the rinks and give these guys some room to skate.
4. Sidney Crosby and Jerome Iginla in a Rangers Uniform. The best young player since Gretzky and the best black Player ever in the largest market in the world. Fix the draft, whatever…make it happen.
5. Remove Conferences and Divisions. Top 16 make the playoffs. If I have to see one more sub-.500 team in the playoffs while three teams from the other conference are sitting at home with 50-32 records I’m gonna shoot someone.
6. Gary Thorne announcing every game on TV. Seriously, the guy could make paint drying sound interesting. He even made curling captivating during the Olympics. Best. Announcer. In. Sports. Period.

Word to your Mother.

Couple downloads...

I wanted to hop on before someone else posted an article (I ice-skated to work today) and put up a few downloads for NCAA 2006.

First, I came up with a spreadsheet that I originally posted at MM listing every team's playbook in the game, and its available here (Microsoft Excel required). Some people ask what it's for, and after resisting the urge to hit them over the head with a tack hammer I explain how it's much easier to glance at this one time printable sheet to try out a new playbook versus blindly going into a game with one that's not going to jive with your playing style. I mean, you may know about Urban Meyer at Florida but I bet you had no idea of Eastern Michigan's new offensive sets after being option for as long as I can remember.

Also on the download tip, user "Marino" over at MM has also posted a list of online teams, their grade ranks and their impact players found here (must be registered...and you know what, if you're not by now you may as well). This makes for a handy reference when searching for teams to match-up versus opponents, especially knowing going in who your impact players are against them as well.

Finally, "Blitzburgh" has finally compiled all his custom NCAA/Madden covers in one location, and those can be found here. He unfortunately does a lot of Steelers, but he has done some pretty bitchin' Buckeye covers as well - most notably Archie under Swade's name on the Now Playing list. The guy is pretty good and sent me my Madden template, so when you see Carson and Chad showing up on Madden covers here shortly - that's where they came from.

NCAA '06 Online

I guess I'll start my series of reviews on my newest bundle joy delivered from the game stork a few weeks ago, since my last post left my colleagues so dumbfounded and worthless feeling that they haven't so much as viewed this site other than to - well, you know...get an image after dark if you know what I'm saying. I plan to cover every aspect of the game in a series of rants and rave articles (all done accordingly), from the gameplay itself, the game modes and the online features.

First thing I want to cover is the online stuff. Now every year for the past 3 years I've bought NCAA with the belief that online play was going to be this flawless, smooth-running flagship of online games that would revolutionize online football - you know, everything they build Madden up for every year. Unfortunately, just like the others - NCAA failed in this respect again.

The current thing that's pissing me off the most is that Boz and I can't connect - it pits us on the matchup screen and then taunts us by saying "connecting" instead of placing us inside the game. After sitting there several minutes talking about how maybe this time it's going to be different, we're both promptly tossed out to do our bitching over AIM instead. If that's not enough, my man from down around N'awlins has disconnected on me 2 out of 4 times - both times the disconnection has come when he's been beating me, so you'd think I'd be happy...but no, both of us get a loss and a disconnect percentage.

How am I supposed to tell Teebee he's a lazy fucker for not blogging when I can't connect to him online?

The online interface this year is neat, however laggy as hell. Upon logging into the EA servers you're met with the fast-beating menu noises as your screen loads, and trying to scroll thru the online lobbies can best be compared to old people screwing. You still have all the options such as your own leaderboards, the ability to incorporate a seemingly endless friends list and the feedback feature is still in place (hopefully it's taken seriously) as well as the ever-revolving EA ticker. Nothing like keeping NCAA up to check on the Reds when they're not on TV.

So connection issues aside, the game has a few issues in itself. For one, again EA did not give you the option to play a ranked game on any other setting then the one it's always been on, All-American. This year the consensus is that Heisman provides a better game, but you're likely never to know that - especially if you enjoy viewing your user stats on the EA Sports site that's touted to track your progress online. Basically reminiscent of MVP '05 and Madden '04 - you get dicked out of a good game in a sense. Not sure why different levels would be an issue, if MVP '04 played any difficulty and Madden '05 can give the option to play ranked on All-Madden - then I don't understand the revolving door surrounding the game settings for every EA online game. You're still playing an opponent regardless of the level - and isn't that what online play is all about? Does the fact that "GRNDRNR 34" averages 600 rushing yards a game mean that much to you that you can't overlap statistics whether the game is played on JV or Heisman?

And to boot, every stat is outrageous on account of some prick plugging in another PS2 to drive his record up...his passing stats up...his rushing stats up...see what I'm getting at here? Ever wonder how one guy is 110-0? It's because he plays his right hand and has a prejudice for the left. So I ask again...what's more important? Me enjoying my experience on whatever gaming level best suits the version of the game or someone's outrageous statistics that I'll never come close to?

Few other things - deep ball, impact HB's and Vince Young. They all suck. My man Rhombic has uploaded a video depicting exactly why the free world will hate him this year.

All that said, I'm still plugging away. For my online forum at Maddenmania I'm still working at coming up with a list of certifiable simulation-type ballers to insure quality online games, and to date my list is some 40-strong. I'm 14-3 so far online and I've played with 8 of the top 25 (won with 6 of 'em), so I'm getting there in terms of getting that all-important (/sarcasm) top #25 teams trophy as well. My goal this year is at least recording 100 ranked wins, as I missed by 12 or so in '04 and then quit prematurely in '05 after recording a DaONE league championship.

Back like a vertebrae...

Well for the most part, things didn't go dormant here and stayed interesting while I was on the illustrious, sunny beach of Wells, Maine last week. And coincidentally, if you're scoring at home, that's 2 heavy doses of irony in just the first sentence...

At any rate, allow me the opportunity to regain your interest like a real man:

(this would be your cue to click the pic & take a quick break)

Ok so last time I left you, NCAA 2006 was delivered and I sheltered myself from the sun with my ass firmly planted in my PS2 chair as to avoid exposure to ultra-violet sun rays, which are slowly leaking into our planet's atmosphere due to a depleting Ozone layer - you know, rather than the fact that delivery day could loosely be labeled "My Christmas" as I prance around the house screaming like a 13-year old girl after seeing Tom Crui - err, marrying Tom Cruise for the first time. Be sure to note my lack of using a Katie Holmes pic in this provided space as to not trump Boz's earlier picture of her. At FM, we piss around our pics and mark our territory like wolves.

Fast forward to present day, my ill-timed vacation kinda stung me in my video game committments (my wife says I don't get paid so they're not committments - little does she know I won a free EA hat 2 years ago in a tournament), but I'm getting a hold of it. After becoming the NCAA Online Director guy at Maddenmania last year, this year is my first in essence - "launch", and I'm trying to get a list of users up, rules, coordinate events and line up prizes and whatnot to keep my forum hoppin'. On top of catching that stuff up, I wrote a feature article in the 3rd edition of "MMM", or the "Maddenmania Magazine", which came out available for your shitter-reading material yesterday (click pic to download). It's called "The Online Edge", starts on page #8 and goes on for a god-awful long time, but if you read pretty closely you oughta pick up some pretty valuable tips from who some refer to as "the greatest that ever lived".

(The "some" that I speak of more or less means myself...ok, it is myself)

I've tried to provide as much insight as possible on the NCAA and NCAA Online forums during my original 2 days prior to vacation and my 21-hour session upon arriving home last Saturday night, so if you read this and were interested - hope you got over and asked some questions.

So for the most part, the next few months will more than likely consist of many NCAA praises, rants and ridicule (most ridicule aimed at a frustrated Teebee), until I'm sure Teebee will either abandon it for Madden or become obsessed with NBA Live because he doesn't suck at them. Right now I have my #2 "Now Playing" game set at - you know, I have no idea, but rest assured I ain't playing it - but point I was going for, I'm sure the other 2 non-obsessive (ok, less obsessive) writers here will cover other things if NCAA isn't your game. The only thing you'll be interested in from me for a while is seeing the hottest bitches on the site - I mean, Swade and Teebs ain't in my league in that respect.

know what I'm sayin?

Mike Hart for Heisman

First off, I don't have a whole bunch of information to blog about here, I simply want to bump the presidential poll down from the top of this site, seriously, the next time someone posts the approval rating for the French Chancellor will be way too soon, take that stuff to the Joy Luck Club.

I'm supposed to be in beautiful Mobile Alabama right now, covering the AA Southern League Allstar game but alas, Hurricane AKA Tropical Storm Dennis has delayed that or possibly canceled that. By the way, when did we stop naming Hurricanes/storms after strippers (Jewel, Isis and Charlotte) and start naming them after middle-aged men (Ivan, Dennis and Marvin), just an observation.

Back on topic, Played about 10 games online in NCAA 2006 over the weekend, which has confirmed one thing for me: This game is a debacle. The running game is so unbalanced it is really hard to stop when you play someone with veritable skills. Played some dude , I was Bama (to get into the Mobile spirit, Roll Tide) he was Michigane.

To put it mildly, my Running back, a Bettis type runner had 195 yds rushing, his guy, Mike Hart, are you ready for this? 340 yards! THREE HUNDRED FORTY YARDS AND NO/100's! I will admit, at least 100 of those yards are from some poor tackling that allowed him to bust out on some huge runs but a vast majority of the runs were from him breaking at least 5 tackles a run. Final score, I blow a 28-3 first half lead and lose 38-34. Fun game but the running game is killing it for me at this point.

I'm sure I'll play Biron and the other autistic kids at Maddenmania.com and they will completely shut me down with their "stick skills" but for now, i'm 3-13 overall, the only 3 wins coming on people quitting. I've yet to finish a game with a W after the final seconds have ticked off. Horsebleep city.

Ok, back to your CNN talk, I'll keep it trivial for now. Mike Hart's performance has inspired me to compile a top 10 list of most dominating video game athletes, I'll try to put that together and post it in the next few days.

Peace out, Go Hurricanes. Here's some love for my boy Chucks hometeam come January:

Anti-French? No, Pro-Crybaby…

Yesterday the International Olympic Committee selected London over Paris in a 54-50 vote to host of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Now if you must know, I love the French. I’ve spent many years learning the language and the culture, and I consider Paris one of my top 5 places I’d love to live. However, can the French be any bigger crybabies? It’s not the world’s fault the French built the Maginot Line and screwed themselves in World War II, but by God they sure as hell hate those countries that saved their asses. We all know they hate Americans, but what do they have against the UK?

French President Jacques Chirac was anti-London because, “We can’t trust people who have such bad food. After Finland, [England] is the country with the worst food.” To some it may seem far fetched that food flavor should be the basis for site selection of an event as important as the Olympics, but Chirac has a proclivity for being downright absurd. He once justified his issues with NATO and ex-NATO leader George Robertson because, “Robertson made me try [haggis,] that is where our problem with NATO comes from.” But don’t think for one minute that his own people, his own constituents, don’t back him up. In a poll published last week, a whopping 21% of his country has faith in him, even President Bush is above that. Clearly Chirac knows politics, knows people, and especially knows how to appease the voter’s minds.

So what did England provide that won them the Olympics and not France? Chirac claims the only thing England has provided the world is mad cow disease. Au contraire, mon frère. Ladies and…well, ladies…allow me to present David Beckham.

(You didn’t honestly think I’d put a picture of Beckham up without Victoria…)

English Prime Minister Tony Blair paraded Becks and Posh in front of the IOC exactly like the pieces of meat they are. Just like WWII, France was out-maneuvered and unable to counter. Perhaps Chirac could have brought Zinadene Zidane the man who scored the winning World Cup goal, but let's not kid ourselves, he's no Becks.

So what is France left to do for their next bid? Maybe they’ll bring a star athlete, maybe they'll bring some baguettes, maybe they’ll finally ditch Chirac. But until then they have one consolation prize...

Congratulations France…still the crybabies of the world.

Future Heisman-winner: #14 Oklahoma Scrambler

So I figured, stop being a baby and start playing a game you have like two weeks before everyone else and post about it here. Hell, if Biron gets back and I haven't posted one blog worth a damn, well, I just don't wanna feel the wrath of Xenu on that one.

I started out with NCAA 2006's biggest hyped feature, The race for the Heisman (heretofore mentioned as RFTH) in which I first picked between a pocket qb, a scrambler QB, a HB, WR, you get the picture. I picked of course a scrambler QB. After picking I had to run about 15 plays, in which I had to choose to run pass or option the ball off, each good and bad play receiving postive and negative points which in turn determine what level of a school will offer a scholarship.

I basically kicked major ass, as #2 Tennessee, #4 Oklahoma and #8 Louisville offered a full ride. I also had the option to walk-on, but after wagging my dick in their faces, I decided to go to Oklahoma. I figured I didn't want Ainge and the other big QB blue chipper at Tenn. to be breathing down my neck and Oklahoma had Adrian Peterson.

This turned out to be a wise decision. Adrian Peterson, is the ultimate video game running back. Shades of Bo Jackson, shades of Marcus Allen and most of all, shades of Herschel Walker in my Madden 90 season in which he scored an unprecedented 80+ touchdowns.

First touch of the game, AP goes for 76 on a TD run. The Free Safety made a move to get in front of him, with a swift straight arm he was down for the count. #28 ended up with 286 yards rushing and 5, that's right, Five effing touches, plus 89 yards receiving.

Back to the fresh-face #14 freshman starting QB, Barton was dominant and quite a leader for his first game. After deferring to Peterson the first half, I decided to let it hang loose and put some distance between the Sooners and TCU Horny Toads. Ended up throwing for 289 3 TDS and rushing for another 114 and 2 more TDS. An epic debut.

After you decide which school you're headed to you are introduced to your dorm room, something I feel is quite offensive to the sensitive scientologists we've become accustomed here at Fmode, Inc. Why offensive? On your PC in your dorm room, is a picture of your current squeeze, your boo-boo, your girl. At the time of signing you have such a hideous beast,a true Denny-ho, someone you would never put up in your college dorm. Sure she may suck the chrome off a trailer-hitch but never someone you'd put on your computer monitor to display, but I digress.

I guess pretty girls and football are all that matters to a college kid, back at my school at Bob Jones University we studied the Bible, and dammit, looks aren't everything.

I actually enjoyed the Heisman mode, amazingly, I'm seeming to lose a bit of my sim or die edge I've been so stuck on for the past generations of NCAA. I can imagine that having your guy win multiple heisman's, go to the NFL draft and play on Sundays in Madden 2006 would be a pretty damn cool feature, so we'll end this blog with a too be contined in August with the release of Madden.

Its July and I can't get into NCAA 2006

Alright , I know, I'm not complaining, I was lucky enough to get an early copy of NCAA 2006 and was also lucky enough to be outscored by an average of 40-7 against biron in our first 5 games.

I'm not into football. Its July 2. It isn't even the allstar break. THIS IS TOO DAMN EARLY FOLKS! I mean, I have the game and have absolutely no desire to play it right now. Maybe its the fact that the game plays almost identical to every other football game on this generation of consoles or that I'm just tired of football games on the PS2. I'm ready for these next gen games that's for sure.

Few quick observations, good and bad, I've noticed about the game so far:

*The Animations are amazing, your WR goes over the middle and catches a bullet pass, he braces himself for the pass if you throw it too hard and it slows down his pattern he's running. You really have to thread that pass to him nicely to have him continue to do his Jerry Rice Impression.

**The DB's do the amazing Leap, you know, you try and float a pass well over their heads and they jump out of their shoes. This is another reason that the game bores me already, its pretty much Madden 2005 with coeds.

***The Heisman mode is pretty sweet, you start out at some High School running drills for scouts/recruiters, you have to run patterns and other football moves. After you're done you get the chance to pick a school, i've not seen if you suck major ass if no schools offer you a scholarship or you are headed to Skaggit Valley, but its worth a try.

I'll post some more impressions, also you can hit the forums at geekrosters.com to ask some actual questions.