I’ve never really played a Sports Game during the active season, but stuff like the weekly roster updates in Madden make it pretty tempting. You’re playing with the real teams, with stats and rankings changing constantly to reflect what’s going on in the NFL.

The sophistication is increased with features like Madden Moments (where you are challenged to recreate events like the Jags' 59-yard game winning field goal last week), or NBA2K’s Jordan Mode (a playable recreation of 10 of his most memorable games).

Like flight sims, it must be increasingly difficult for the developers to maintain the balance between casual gamers and hard core simulation fans. Though apparently that’s something Madden 11 specifically addresses. Anyone for a game of footy?