So Much Football, Only One Xbox

For those familiar with the fine art of football simulators, we've been privy to some fine games coming out from the fine folks at Electronic Arts. Madden NFL allows you to steer the fates of a professional franchise as NCAA Football puts you in charge of a Division I program. Despite their similar base premises (i.e. playing football games), I've been a steady purchaser of both games for the last few years. My favorite aspect of the games is the behind-the-scenes construction of the teams, so I enjoy the difference between recruiting in NCAA and drafting/free agency in Madden. That's usually enough to get me to play both even though the core of both is very similar.

I do rarely play both at once, though. It seems I have a pretty regular annual cycle of when I play each. In July, the new version of NCAA Football comes out and I play that pretty regularly until August when the latest Madden is released. When September rolls around and the college guys take the field before NFL's Week 1, I put my NCAA disc back in the Xboxen and usually don't take it out until after the Bowl games are done. During the NFL's post-season and business season (or off-season to the lamen), I'm all about the Madden. Usually, around the end of spring, I'll pop NCAA back for a few weeks but will put both football games away by the official start of summer. I use the time to cleanse my system in preperation of the cycle beginning anew with another new edition of NCAA Football.

Now EA's putting another game in this already-crowded market: Arena Football. AFL has gotten so-so reviews but I still would love to play it at least once. I mean, look at that hit! It's probably a rental unless I can use my connections to swing a free game. Does anyone plan on getting this game? Do you already have NCAA or Madden? I hear the game's a little bit cheaper ($30 it looks like) than your standard new release. Does that help?

"You know, I vaguely recall seeing footage somewhere of something exactly like this, which leads me to believe this probably won't work."