One of my most anticipated games this summer is NASCAR 09 (XB360).   I’ve never purchased a NASCAR game the day it was released, but that’s going to change this year.

The NASCAR 09 demo was released on Xbox Live on May 24th and I haven’t stopped playing it since. A big complaint with last year’s game was with the handling model. EA worked hard to offer to distinct driving models so that the casual and sim racing fan can enjoy this year’s game. You can make the driving as easy or hard as you’d like.

The graphics have also seen a nice upgrade this year. The jaggies that plagued previous titles have been almost completely eliminated and the game runs at a smooth clip with all 42 cars on the track.

I’m not a fan of 2K Sports and haven’t enjoyed any of their games since ESPN NFL 2K5 on the PS2 – ESPN MLB 2K4 (PS2) was the last baseball game I enjoyed by them – but I was pleasantly surprised when I put MLB 2K8 into my Xbox 360.

Let me get the major issue out of the way first – the frame rate. The frame rate while fielding is absolutely terrible. Fortunately, it can be fixed by signing out of your Xbox Live profile once you start your game. Unfortunately, none of your stats will be recorded to your VIP profile for the games you play. 2K Sports is aware of the problem and has a patch in the works to resolve the problem. Let’s hope the patch arrives soon and actually works.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the graphics of MLB 2K8. Many people think last year’s game looked better and while I can’t argue with that – I don’t own MLB 2K7 – I do think that the graphics and animations in MLB 2K8 are much better than people give it credit for. To be fair, I did download and play the MLB 2K7 demo and didn’t think there was much of a difference in how both games looked.

Another positive feature in this year’s game in the inclusion of different camera angles with adjustable zoom levels. While 2K Sports used to provide more camera angles than needed in their older games, it’s something they’ve moved away from recently and it’s nice to see it return in MLB 2K8.

Finally, we get to the gameplay. I’ve always felt that 2K’s gameplay was very gimmicky with many of their past titles and had concerns with the new fielding, pitching and batting schemes introduced in MLB 2K8. Surprisingly, I enjoy all three new additions. What’s funny is that I never liked the analog pitching, batting and fielding in EA’s NCAA Baseball series, but absolutely love it in MLB 2K8, and you can revert back to the older schemes if you don’t enjoy the new ones.

The pitching has undergone the biggest change and after getting comfortable with it, it would be hard for me to go back to the button-pressing schemes of the past. Be aware that it will take a little while to get comfortable with the new mechanics and I suggest the pitching tutorial to help you along. Now that I’ve gotten better I find myself almost never throwing “Meatballs” but still having problems with accuracy (that’s a good thing).

The “Swing Stick 2.0″ has been simplified this year. There are no longer contact and power swings (even though the manual says there are). You simply pull the right-stick back when the pitcher releases the ball and push it forward to swing. You can also push up and in or up and out to pull the ball or go to the opposite field. It’s good feeling to pull an inside fastball down the line.

The fielding is probably my favorite change in the game. The analog throwing meter is done much better than in EA’s NCAA Baseball titles – you now have more control over the power and direction of the throw. A complaint I heard about last year’s game was a detached feeling to your fielders. That’s not the case here as the fielders feel responsive to your controls.

The baserunning has also been changed for the better. I’ve always been a big fan of the baserunning model used in EA’s MVP and NCAA Baseball titles, but found myself very comfortable with MLB 2K8′s control scheme. You can now use the left-analog stick to point to the baserunner you want to control (it defaults to the lead baserunner) and choose a face button to send them to the base of your choice (Y = 2nd base, X = 3rd base and A = Home). LT and RT are also available to move all the runners. It’s a very elegant solution that makes baserunning much easier than in the past.

While there are still many things that need to be improved (the frame rate being the most noticeable), there is a solid base for a good baseball game here. I’m hopeful that the patch will help elevate this game to a higher status and am actually looking forward to MLB 2K9 – something I never thought I’d say.

I have a new-found interest in tennis games lately and after playing  the enjoyable Hot Shots Tennis on the PS2, I was looking for something similar on the Xbox 360.

I owned (and still own) a previous version of the Virtua Tennis series on the PS2 known as Sega Sports Tennis. It was a fun and addicting game with horrible, jaggied graphics and unfortunately, a sequel was never released on the PS2.

Many years later (over 6 to be exact), I find myself enjoying the sequel I never got on the PS2. Virtua Tennis 3 for the Xbox 360 is nearly the same game with much better graphics, online play, more pro players and tweaked gameplay. It also corrects one of my biggest complaints with Sega Sports Tennis, you can now keep your player/camera view  at the bottom of the screen when you’re not serving – this small detail bothered the hell out of me with  Sega Sports Tennis.

Some might be disappointed that the gameplay hasn’t changed much in all these years, but I’m a firm believer in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The simple gameplay mechanics also mask a solid game of tennis. You basically have three types of shots mapped to the face buttons (top spin, slice and lob) with timing, position and  aiming playing a major part in the speed and direction of the ball. What this does is give you a real sense of control without overwhelming you with complex controls – something  that  EA’s NHL series accomplishes too.

The graphics won’t blow you away but they’re certainly acceptable for a next-gen game while  the players sport many animations and move realisticly. The courts and stadiums look good with subtle details all around.

The sound is farily standard and luckily VT3 offers the option to turn off the out-of-place rock music that plays during the matches. Many of the grunts and groans (especially from the female players) have been toned down. You can even choose what language the judges make their calls in.

The game offers the standard single & multi-player exhibition matches, tournaments, online play and a career mode. I just started my career and hope to post some more info soon. I haven’t had a chance to try out the online play yet either and hope that it doesn’t disappoint.

The gameplay is quite fun and while the players make more diving shots than their real-life counterparts, it doesn’t hurt the realism of the game. I’m also seeing a fair amount of shots that are hit out. The only thing I’m not seeing is balls hitting the net during serves or volleys. Hopefully, I’ll start seeing this as my career progresses. In the meantime, I’ll keep enjoying the game I hoped for many years ago  on the PS2.

I’ve always been a fan of arcade racers and finally had a chance to try the popular  Project Gotham series on the Xbox 360. Forza 2 was included with my Xbox 360 and is a beautiful game graphically but I was looking for something that was a bit more “pick-up-and-play” and PGR 4 fit the bill perfectly.

I had downloaded the PGR 3 and 4 demos from Xbox Live and enjoyed them both, but the popular opinion was that PGR 4 was a much better game than 3. While I can’t say for sure whether that’s true or not, I can say that PGR 4 is a fun, graphically impressive and addicting game. I’ve never been one to play racing games for hours at a time but I find myself doing exactly that with PGR 4.

The selection of cars and motorcycles is pretty extensive – I have no problem finding multiple cars in each class that I enjoy driving. What’s better is that almost every car sounds and handles differently while winning and losing is  based almost as much on the car you choose as it does your driving skill. You’ll certainly find that certain cars are better for certain tracks.

Graphically the game is very impressive. It’s only running at 30 fps, but it doesn’t hurt the visual experience at all. To be honest, I would have never known that the game  ran at 30 fps  if I didn’t  find out online. The tracks are varied and the scenery is impressive. There’s some jaggy graphics on the horizon but everything looks very clean and detailed closeup. I also haven’t experience any slowdown during races. There are nine cities with each city containing multiple tracks and I’ve  crashed more than a few times because I was checking out scenery around me.

The gameplay is where PGR 4 shines. It’s a good combination of arcade and sim racing. The controls are much more forgiving than Forza or GT, but it’s not as “arcadey” as some of the popular “arcade” racers like the Ridge Racer series. You do have to use your brakes in this game and it’s very easy to lose control of your car during powerslides. Some people may not like that the game isn’t completely sim or arcade, but I find it to be a good mix of the two.

Online play with PGR 4 is probably its best feature. Up to 8 players can race against each other online and from my experience so far, there’s no lag or slowdown issues at all. I couldn’t tell any difference between offline and online play with a  room filled of racers and that’s an impressive feat – the game runs just as smooth whether you’re offline or online too.

If you’re looking for a good-looking and enjoyable racer, you should look no further than PGR 4.

I’ve always purchased a football game to go along with my new console purchases. I bought Madden 93 with my Sega Genesis, Gameday (the original) with my PS1 and Madden 2002 with my PS2, but I broke that ritual with my Xbox 360 purchase 2 weeks ago.I had played the Madden 08 and NCAA Football 08 demos on Xbox Live and came away less than impressed. The talk of bugs and issues in  each game didn’t make me feel much better about them either so I was happily surprised when my rented copy of NCAA Football 08 showed up in the mail.

One of my biggest complaints with the demo was the speed of the game and how slow the QB’s moved in the pocket. Neither one of these complaints  applies  to the full version. To be honest, the game speed seems almost perfect to me. I have no problem following the ball or the plays during the game.

Besides the beautiful graphics, smooth framerate and detailed stadiums, the best feature of NCAA 08 is the running game. It is finely tuned to near perfection. The offensive line does a good job of picking up blocks and opening up holes for your backs, and the responsive right-analog stick makes juking easy. This is where the speed of the game really shines. You can see holes develop and  due to the  smooth and clean graphics, runs up the middle aren’t a jumbled mess. The elimination of “Mario-running” is icing on the cake. Your backs will now “get skinny” or try to move behind or around your offensive lineman instead of running in place.

The passing game is well-done but not perfect. It’s kind of hard to lead with soft/lob passes but using the right-analog stick to direct your passes helps. Luckily, the receivers don’t drop everything thrown at them like they did in the PS2 version. There  have also been  a   bunch of new catch animations added. The more I play the game, the more comfortable I find myself getting with the passing game.

Defense is well-done and  gang-tackling adds an entirely new element to EA football. Not only does the game look more realistic, but it makes playing defense much more realistic too.  I love having one defensive player slow down a running back while another defensive player takes him out. I know the 2K series has been doing this for a while, but it’s nice that EA finally caught up.

I’ve never been a big fan of the analog kicking game but don’t really have any complaints with this year’s version. It’s responsive (except online) and intuitive. That about all you can ask from the kicking game.

There are some negatives to the game though. First of all, the play-calling screen is  light-years behind the last-gen versions. I don’t know what EA was thinking, but when you have only 25 seconds to pick a play and the only way to get to it is by moving the selection box onto the play and hitting “A” it becomes a bit ridiculous. I should be able to hit any four of the face buttons on the controller to select any of the 4 displayed plays.

While some people may think using Auto-Strafe is cheating, I’m no longer the joystick jockey I once was and hope this makes it back into next year’s version. While they’re at it, add referees to the  game and the option to view the line-of-scrimmage along with the first down line on the playing field. Finally, I’d like the ability to make offensive line adjustments like they last-gen versions allow you to do.

As mentioned by many others, I have seen the super-DB AI and poor CPU QB play. One of the advantages of playing online is that the QB problem completely disappears (unless the person you’re playing is terrible) and the DB AI is not as good if the other player takes control of his players in the secondary (like I do). There’s talk of a patch coming sometime during the first two weeks of December and I’m hoping the rumor turns out to be legit.

I have to admit that I’m glad I was talked into trying NCAA Football because despite its flaws, it’s still a very fun football game. Also, the two online games that I’ve played were smooth and lag-free. I have high hopes for 09.