Michael Crabtree, formerly of Texas Tech University, graces the NCAA Football 10 Xbox 360® cover. A top 2009 NFL Draft prospect and two-time recipient of the Biletnikoff and Paul Warfield Awards, Crabtree is a highly recognized wide receiver who led Texas Tech in a close race for the BCS National Championship up until the final weeks of the 2008 season. Texas Tech’s victory over Texas in Lubbock is considered one of the defining moments of 2008.

The Playstation 3 cover features University of Utah’s former quarterback, Brian Johnson. In 2008, under Johnson’s leadership, the Utah Utes became the only undefeated NCAA Division I team, boasting a 12-0 record heading into the 2009 Sugar Bowl. In that game, #7 Utah upset #4 Alabama to finish the season with a perfect 13-0 record. Johnson was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

The PSP  (PlayStation Portable) version of NCAA Football 10 will showcase University of Southern California’s former quarterback, Mark Sanchez. In his only season as USC’s starting quarterback, Sanchez led the Trojans to a near perfect 12-1 season, narrowly missing the opportunity to compete for the 2008 BCS National Championship title. Sanchez was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player in the 2009 Rose Bowl.

University of Texas’ former defensive end, Brian Orakpo, is featured on the PlayStation®2 cover. In 2008, Orakpo was unanimously selected as a first-team All-American and named the Associated Press Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. In his final season with the Longhorns, Orakpo won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Ted Hendricks Award and the Lombardi Award. Under Orakpo’s leadership, the Longhorns were one of the most dominating teams in the college football last year, defeating numerous top 25 teams including eventual Big 12 Champion and BCS National Champion contender Oklahoma in a memorable Cotton Bowl confrontation.

Familiar faces indeed.

NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is not going to be for everyone out there, but for some people it’s gonna hit the spot. It gives you a great sporty FPS feel without all the blood and guts typically associated with those types of games. (Some people like those, but they’re not for all types of people, which makes games like this welcome additions.)

If you’re ready for one of the more realistic paintball games on the market, load up the hopper on your weapon of choice, lower your mask, and take cover because “it’s on!”

“We appreciate the fact that the bar has been raised with extreme sports games, and that paintball enthusiasts demand an obsessive attention to detail. Our goal has been to over-deliver in a way that pleases both camps,” said Shawn Walker, NPPL President. “It’s been a long wait for next-gen paintball experience, but the work on NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 has paid off and the game is a huge step forward for the genre and the sport.”

NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 had in-depth design consultation by Team Dynasty and Bob Long. The game strives to make players feel like they are on the field – with motion-captured player movements such as slides, dives, snapping and leading-edge ballistics that affect where the paintballs go.

Ryan Greenspan of the world champion San Diego Dynasty paintball team said, “We’ve gotten to play the game quite a few times along the way, and it is definitely the best paintball game we’ve ever played. The graphics are amazing, it’s lots of fun, and super realistic. The beautiful thing is that people are going have an absolute blast playing it from the most hardcore paintball junkies to those who might never have even tried the sport. The breadth of its appeal is huge.”

If you’ve played this game, leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

With single player and 2-player action (including online play), MLB 09 is the way to experience baseball. As they say on their website – “nothing gets you closer.”

If you’re a baseball fan, you’re also going to appreciate the attention to detail when it comes to the teams and players on the teams.  MLB 09 The Show is more about making MLB 08 the Show better rather than trying to invent a totally new baseball game. And it shows. The latest game in the series is one of the most realistic ways to experience baseball … in a video game anyway.

If you’re not a hardcore baseball fan, you might have a little trouble getting into the game. It’s definitely not an ‘arcade’ or ‘action’ baseball game. This is more of a fun simulation of what baseball – the game the passtime – is all about.

Dave Campbell, Rex Hudler,  and Matt Vasgerian are the ‘broadcasters’ in the game, giving you the play by play action. While they’re pretty good, things do get a little repetitive after a season or two, especially the cliches. What would baseball be without the cliches, though?

If you’ve played MLB 09: The Show, we’d love to hear what you think. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on one of the best baseball video games ever created.

Til next time …. Batter up!

Gameplay – 7.5

The game allows you to play around four huge mountains to feely explore. In there, you can do whatever you want with unlimited time, as well as create exhibition and tricky scenes, which can make the game really entertaining.  The players’ role is seemingly like the errand person of Shaun White where you will be ask to create your desired character at the beginning.

The game is coupled with simple controls allowing you to easily spin and grab the boards with ease.  But how the output responds is a bit slow such as the nonexistent speedy effect, which was evident when flying down the slope at top speed (still seems really slow).

Graphics and Visuals – 6.5

The graphical and visual effects speaking of the locations at Alaska, Japan, Europe and Park City seems to be realistic but how the visuals are projected seems to be inadequate most especially when you are jumping high from above, the motion seems to still and slow.

Multiplayer – 8.0

The multiplayer aspect is the edge of the game as it allows a bunch of 16 snowboarders to take on to the mountain at one single time. And still, they would be able to explore freely in the open world.  Several events are scattered around the slopes for players to compete on and much more adding spice to the game is the ability for players to toss snowballs with each other. Although it might seem chaotic and non-sense it adds a little joy to the game.

Overall – 7.0

Shaun White Snowboarding might not be the perfect game for someone looking realism. But definitely a good fit for the people looking for fancy games. Although way far than the real game, it is a bit fun tricking around exploring how to fly from the slopes.