Madden
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HDTV Game of the Week: Fight Night Round 3
This is a game I've been waiting for since the impressive demo Sony used to advertise their PS3 at E3 last year, and EA's Fight Night Round 3 has not failed to impress. Every bone cracking punch, every drop of sweat and blood, almost every boxer you could ever want to fight is ready in glistening 720p. If you were waiting for the "next generation" feeling to hit you, put your gloves on and find your mouthguard because it is here.
Super Bowl: What TV is that behind John and Al?
It's been troubling me since the pregame, I just can't place it. I'm sure they're using it to watch all the high definition ads during commercial breaks. Sure the NFL's official HDTV sponsor is Samsung, while ABC at least used to have a deal with Zenith, but now who? Stuart Scott and the rest of the halftime and postgame crew have one too.
Madden NFL '06 demo for Xbox 360 available via Xbox Live
You can now download your favorite only option for officially licensed NFL goodness, Madden NFL '06, via Xbox Live. Be warned however: the demo logs in at a relatively hefty 699.95 MBs. The servers are quite busy at the time of this posting, so you might need to be a bit persistent to make it to the download screen. Happy downloading.
A closer look at Madden 360
IGN recently spent a few hours checking out a near final build of the Xbox 360 version of Madden 06. The next-gen Madden has actually been built from the ground up. This is most evident in the completely re-worked menu system of Franchise mode-the heart of the single-player experience. Of course, the visuals-particularly the animations-have been stepped up a notch (note: the game will only run at 30 fps). There's even a new play call screen, which gives users six different options for sorting plays; now players can select plays according to type (e.g. Quick Pass, Clock Management, Shotgun, etc.). There's been a ton of speculation about Madden 360. Will it rise above and beyond its current generation counterparts? It just might.
Metareview: Madden 06
The latest installment of the Madden NFL franchise, Madden 06, has been on the street for a little while now, so we figured it was time to pull together some reviews for those still wondering what to think about this game. You might say "Why wait so long?" Well... most reviews hit the streets after the reviewers only have moments to smash around the game space, while in truth, it can take some time to dig into some games and really figure out what they are all about. What we did find was that some scores didn't seem to line up with the critical nature of the reviews, and that people's expectations for being blown away somewhat clouded an ability to just review the game as it is. Average score of reviews considered : 8.5 After consideration of the replay, adjustment for butt-kissing nature of reviews in general, then re-adjusting for the expectations reviewers clearly placed upon this title... Metascore : 8.3 With a Reviewer Vision cone extending from 7.8-8.8, so you might want to rent first and see how it goes. Excitement over this game seems to be sensitive to your skill level and expectations. Reviews of the '05 version of Madden averaged as high as 91-ish, so its wise to put the '06 reviews in that context.
Jeb Bush in Madden '06?!
Gov. Bush recently visited the Tiburon Studies to applaud the staff for their work on the latest installment in the perennial Madden series. In return, Bush was treated to a demonstration of the game that featured his likeness and his brother's (Pres. Bush) pitted against each other. In the staged sequence, Gov. Bush enters the game as a wide out for the Miami Dolphins, catches a deep ball, and then proceeds to flatten the President (playing DB for Dallas Cowboys) en route to the end zone. Gov. Bush will not be featured in the retail version of Madden '06. [via GameBrink... also bringing you this eye-popping surprise]
