Football Video Games: 2006 Season Preview

Football season is just around the corner. Thank God! With NFL training camps set to start in the next 2 weeks (with or without T.O.) and college football practices beginging soon after, we about to be flooded with new football games. Here's run down of some of the interesting ones:

-Blitz: The League
Now that EA Sports owns the exclusive license to the NFL (Madden will be only game with official teams and players), the other gaming companies had to get creative to keep up with EA. This game may be the most creative take. Imagine a videogame based primarily on that ESPN showPlaymakers - that's Blitz: the League. There's more to this game than just playing seasons and managing a roster. Users "are put in charge of a team that is coming off of a bad season and requires some significant regrouping. Instead of a normal play schedule there are three tiers of competition that must be completed in order to reach the final game which is comparable to the Super Bowl."

"Off the field, the gamer will have to make some moral choices that will directly affect the gameplay. Considering the writers, we speculate that we'll be seeing some dirty dealings like harming rival athletes and the use of performance enhancing substances."

And here's another twist, since they can't use NFL players' names without the license. Midway can make up any name they want. So you can expect to see a lefthanded, athletic black QB for the Atlanta team by the last name "Mexico".

-Madden NFL 06
Blah blah blah. New year, same quality Madden game. Here's a trailer. Comes out in August. One new feature will be Superstar mode. You take an NFL prospect from the college ranks, perform at the scouting combine before NFL scouts, get drafted, sign an agent and play/guide his career choices.

-Arena Football 06
This is the most intriguing new game. In addition to the NFL, EA scooped up the exclusive license to the Arena Football League. If you've ever been to one of these games, they're pretty damn cool to watch. High scoring, hard hitting. Here's the trailer, though EA may not release it until 2006.

- NCAA Football 06
This game will be awesome. As if Dynasty mode wasn't cool enough, now there's Heisman mode (second part here- I love how the girlfriend gets more attractive as your stats/popularity improve). Here's a preview of Heisman mode. Comes out July 15.


JD