About two weeks ago I plunked down five beans to reserve Madden NFL 08. I was really looking forward to this year’s version, as it would be the first Madden I’ve played on a next-gen console. The release date has come and gone, though, and I have yet to pick the game up. I figured I would wait it out and see how it fared in some reviews before I made the whole investment. I checked out IGN and found that they gave Madden an 8.7. So now what?

Apparently there are some cool new features, some new animations and such. But holy hell, Tiburon - why do you keep neglecting online leagues? I’m really at a loss as to why this feature has been missing year after year. Ask NFL 2K5 owners what they liked most about the game and the online league system is sure to make the top three. It’s really disappointing that EA is the only company able to put out an officially licensed NFL game, because I’m sure with some competition they’d be motivated to dramatically improve their product. Oh well.

Since Madden NFL 08 is the only game in town, I might be forced to pick it up, anyway. Or maybe I’ll hold off - after all, BioShock comes out next Tuesday. I played the demo for that a few days ago, and I’ll probably talk a little bit about it tomorrow.