Before College Lacrosse 2010 was lacrosse, it was soccer. More accurately, the coding roots of College Lacrosse 2010 (released today via Xbox Live's Indie channel) can be found in the Xbox Live Indie game Fitba, which is a soccer game currently available on the Indie channel for 240 Microsoft points. Jonathan "Fritz" Ackerly, the programmer behind Fitba, massaged the code to fit the physical mechanics and rules of lacrosse into it. He was also guided by Carlo Sunseri who self-financed the game and whose years of experience with the real sport of lacrosse fueled the project.

"I've been involved with the lacrosse community my whole life," said Sunseri, who attended college and played lacrosse at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. He also spent two years coaching the RUM team after graduating with a degree in business management. The evolution of coaching lacrosse to re-creating it in pixilated form came not just from Sunseri's passion for the sport but also from a lack of competition. "There's never been a true representation of lacrosse in the video game industry. There was Blast Lacrosse for PlayStation. It was indoor [lacrosse] though."

A quick check of the GameSpot database reveals a couple of other lacrosse games out there, including a mobile game called Brine Lacrosse released in 2005 and last year's Activision-published Big League Sports, which was a collection of sports minigames that included lacrosse. So, when looking to fill that lacrosse-shaped gap in the gaming industry--and do so on a budget--Sunseri turned to perhaps the most logical place: the Xbox Live Indie games channel. Along with his partner, programmer Jonathan "Fritz" Ackerly, Sunseri looked to turn Fitba's soccer game into College Lacrosse 2010. We recently spoke with Sunseri about the game and what it's like bringing lacrosse to life on a limited budget.

GameSpot: So, this game sort of took me by surprise. I didn't know it existed until I saw it on our site. Give me some background of how it came about and how you decided to start this project.

Carlo Sunseri: Well, I've played lacrosse my whole life--went to college and played at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. And then, once I graduated, I coached lacrosse there for two years. So, I've been involved with the lacrosse community my whole life, and there's never been a true representation of lacrosse in the video game industry. [There] was Blast Lacrosse [http://www.gamespot.com/ps/sports/blastlacrosse/index.html] for [the] PlayStation. It was indoor, though. So, there's [never] been actually field lacrosse--no outdoor. So, it's always been a dream of mine to be part of building a lacrosse video game, but it was always a long-term dream…basically, never anything that I thought would ever come to be. But it was always a dream, and I always wanted to play an outdoor lacrosse video game. When I was at Robert Morris, I had heard about the XNA [game development software] name when Microsoft announced [it]. They [called] it like the YouTube for video games or something.

GS: Right.

CS: I saw that, and I was like, "Wow, that could be perfect for building a lacrosse video game." But that was like four years ago. And around April, I was looking through the Indie Games, [or back then] it was Community Games, and [College Lacrosse 2010 developer] Fritz had just released his Fitba soccer video game. So, when I saw that, I was like, "This can definitely be lacrosse. I mean, with a little bit more development. It has all the ball physics. I mean, it probably won't be the best game ever, but you know we could definitely make this into lacrosse."

And I e-mailed him and he was very responsive. And he thought he could definitely do it. We met, had a webcam meeting, and figured out what we would need to do to turn his Fitba into College Lacrosse 2010. Essentially, we agreed to build the game, and I hired him for five months to [port] his soccer video game into lacrosse.

GS: In terms of changing the game to fit lacrosse, what kind of changes did you have to make from the original game? I mean, obviously, you have animations and things like that. And the ball's got to change sizes, but were there any, like, sort of fundamental changes you had to make?

CS: Well, better ball control. I mean, he had his soccer game set up pretty good where [the ball] wouldn't just stick to your feet: You had to control the ball. So he increased the level of control on the ball, you know…move the ball from the ground up to the guy's chest and then eventually added the stick and moved the ball to the end of the stick. [He] made the field smaller [and] moved the goals out 10 yards. Because in lacrosse, you can go behind the cage; in soccer, you can't. You know, shut off your front formations that the guys go into when transitioning from offense and defense. When clearing the ball from the defense, the offensive zone…they set up in different formation. Adding the physics to the sticks…so with the right joystick you can control the stick on defense and throw stick checks and try to whack the ball out of the offensive player's stick.

[All of these] things that I was pretty amazed that Fritz could do. Once he even just made the game where the guy could pass the ball around real fast, like lacrosse. I was like amazed. I was like, "It's awesome!" They had no arms, no legs, but all they could do was pass a ball around the circle. I was ecstatic.

GS: How many sort of iterations have you gone through leading up to release? Can you talk about how the game has changed from those original points when you finally got passing to work and some of the milestones that made it feel more like lacrosse as you went?

CS: Oh yeah. There've been 61 versions. Each week, he would send me an update, which I would test and give him my feedback on. So, the process has been pretty awesome for me. I mean, to be directly involved with getting to test each version and see the transformation--from a very simple soccer game to what College Lacrosse 2010 is now--is pretty amazing. I actually put a small progression video together where it shows, like, that first version and them just learning to pass the ball around to implementing the models--lacrosse models--and adding the stick. But overall, I think when he added the ability to control the stick on defense…in being able to actually, like, move your stick around and throw stick checks on a guy that's carrying the ball…I thought that was pretty amazing. Again, when he put in the ability just to pass the ball around real quick--like lacrosse--I thought that was pretty cool.

We tried a bunch of different shooting systems. At first, we had it where you could lock onto the cage with the right trigger and then you'd release the right trigger to shoot, but we didn't like that. So, we went with the right joystick shooting, which is another step, which was…I mean, upped the gameplay 100 percent.

GS: So, you have to be accurate with how you move the stick in order to have a more accurate shot? Is that a fair way of putting it?

CS: Yeah. It's very similar to all the other hockey games out there. You pull back away [with the right stick] from the cage and push toward the cage to shoot. The longer you hold the right joystick back, the harder it will shoot once you push it forward. The major difference is that [unlike in NHL 10 where] you go straight down and then straight forward, this is 360 degrees. So, if I'm top left away from the cage, I have to pull back top left away from the cage and then go toward the cage to shoot.

GS: Down toward the right?

CS: Yeah, exactly.

GS: Got it.

CS: And then you aim with the left joystick as you're shooting.

GS: As you've been going through all these different versions of the game, have you given other people a chance to, sort of, be testers with you and check out the game? And sort of fine tune things along the way?

CS: Oh, yeah. When I coached at Robert Morris, one of my really good buddies coaches there also, and he was directly involved the whole time…just us playing and trying to figure out how to simulate outdoor lacrosse the best we can. And I had people coming in and out all the time at the very beginning of the project, and they'd look at it and be like, "This looks like Pac-Man." And I'm like, "This is so awesome! This is going to be the next lacrosse video game!" And they all looked at me like, "All right…let's put on a real game here." And I'm all frustrated, like, "Why don't you guys want to play? This is awesome!"

But now it's really come together. People are starting to see the huge following that it has, the passion that the lacrosse community has for this game, and how bad they want a video game.

GS: Lacrosse is obviously big on the East Coast, especially in New England, but around the rest of the United States, it maybe is not a well-known sport. Is there any concern there? What are you doing to get the word out?

CS: Well, I mean, they say that lacrosse is the fastest growing sport right now. I mean, in California, it's exploding. In Denver, they have two professional lacrosse teams that are the most successful professional lacrosse teams in the country. Texas is starting to really pick up the game. So, the spread of the sport is just…I mean, it's exploding right now. We're at, like, a tipping point for this sport. So, I hope College Lacrosse 2010 really helps take lacrosse to the next level, spread the game across the country, and really make it truly mainstream. But to get the word out, I've been mostly using Facebook.

GS: Right. The game has a lot of Facebook fans.

CS: Yeah, I mean, there's actually a petition on Facebook that has 160,000 people that are asking EA to make a lacrosse video game. So, I kind of saw that….and there're forums all over the Internet that these young kids are just begging for a lacrosse video game. So, I've been using the Internet, really, to try to spread the word. And we've got a pretty good response, and it's been pretty crazy so far.

GS: This is a college lacrosse game. Was there ever any thought to try to go after the Major League Lacrosse license? Or how did you decide on going with the college game? Was it simply because you wanted to do outdoor lacrosse?

CS: Yeah. I mean, that's what I grew up playing my whole life…is field lacrosse. And they had Blast Lacrosse, which was indoor, and it seemed like the demand for an outdoor game was a little bit stronger. I did some basic market research through Facebook. I set up an ad and put, "Lacrosse Video Game. Click here to tell us what you think." And, I mean, I got a ridiculous response--something like an 80 percent click-through rate on these ads.

And I asked them--the user[s]--what they thought the best name for the game would be. I listed out, like, 15 names, and College Lacrosse 2010 came back as the most popular. So, that's what I went with. [The game is] not NCAA licensed just because they are going to a charge ridiculous amount of [money]. I've done my best to talk to them a little bit, but at this point, it's just not financially viable for us to do that. But it's definitely our goal long term to get all the NCAA-approved teams and be able to actually use college lacrosse team names.

GS: We've talked a lot about the things surrounding the game, but tell me about the game itself. What can you do in this game? Just tell me about how you play it; what modes there are and that kind of thing.

CS: You know, it's your standard sports game. You got your just local single-player Season mode, and then you have your multiplayer two-to-four players. You can build your own teams. That was kind of our workaround for not having the NCAA license…and allow the user to build their own team and they can make any team they want, high school, pro. They can adjust and make their own jerseys, different colors. They can customize their stick, the shaft of their stick, the head of the stick, make those different colors. There's Training mode. There's, like, a simple passing game, how many passes you can make in 60 seconds. If you complete a pass, the time goes up. If you drop the pass, the time goes down. There's free shooting where you can just go out on the field and practice shooting by yourself and just get used to the controls. There's a thing called "Braveheart" where it's one-versus-one, who can score the most goals in one court or one-versus-one.

And then there is also statistics. It keeps your user statistics, how many passes you've made in your whole career, your win/loss/tie [records], your shooting percentage, how many goals you've scored, how much possession time you've had. And then there's also scoreboards or…so you can compare your stats and how much money you've earned to the rest of the people that are playing College Lacrosse 2010. Because the more you play and the better statistics you have, the more money you earn. Once you earn money, you can upgrade your equipment to earn better attributes in the game, which is another pretty sweet function that brings a little bit more replay value to the game to try to earn the best gloves, try to earn the best helmet.

GS: This is for all the members of your team? All of them get the same helmet?

CS: Yeah, yeah. It's, like, more of your profile. So if I'm logged in under my Xbox gamertag, then whatever team I use has that upgrade. So, if I have the level-two helmet, no matter what team I play with will have that level-two helmet.

GS: So there's that element of progression there?

CS: Exactly. The more you play, you can earn a faster shot. Or you can have more powerful body checks, more powerful stick checks, and take the ball away from your opponent.

GS: Let me ask you about the AI in the game. As a former lacrosse coach, how did you approach making the game realistic?

CS: AI, for me, was a little bit more difficult. I kind of explained to Fritz about the game more of, like, formations to get into as the ball is transitioning into offense…the different formations you can be in on offense. On defense, we worked in a double-team system, so you can send a second guy to go play the ball by pressing Y. It's like an on/off switch, so you press it once the onscreen display comes up. It says, "You're doubling the ball right now," and two guys will actually go play the ball.

GS: Like a help system--help defense?

CS: Exactly. Two guys go to play the ball. Then all the guys on the backside bump over a guy and lead the farthest guy away from the ball open. Fritz did an amazing job with that…getting the defense to share responsibilities and switch guys and constantly shift. I think the defense is pretty impressive AI wise. [When it comes to offense], people in the lacrosse community [are] pretty picky on how the game is supposed to be played and what they, in their minds, think of lacrosse. So I hope it lives up to what everyone wants.

We had an issue where the guy would just go straight to the cage, and, you know, it was definitely pretty frustrating at times, but we got them moving the ball. You draw the double team, you draw two guys to you…obviously, there's one guy open. So Fritz got them passing the ball around much better and, you know, from trying to find the open guy in front of the cage…and when they are in shooting space to let it fly and score some goals. But I mean, I'm never going to say right now that the AI is the best it could be. It's fun, and I truly think that multiplayer is the strength of the game, but the AI is decent enough that you can, if your buddies aren't around, play and have a good time and get challenged by the computer.

GS: Did you have any specific games that, sort of, inspired you to create your own game? Any games that were particular favorites that made you think, "Hey, I'd like to do this!"

CS: I've always been a huge gamer. I love video games. Every night, I'm playing video games. I was just on there checking out all the Indie games and just downloaded the…"I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1", which is pretty fun.

GS: I know the game you're talking about. That game is nuts.

CS: But you know, when I was younger, I loved Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and NHL. We play online a bunch--me and my buddies. When I was in high school, we played Madden a good amount. So, I'm really into gaming pretty much my whole life…so [it's] definitely a dream comes true to be involved in building a video game. And then the fact that it's a lacrosse video game is, you know, out of this world. I'm so thankful I have the opportunity.

GS: Are you already thinking about the next lacrosse game? Or are you just focusing on this one for right now?

CS: No, we're thinking about the next version already. We need to see how well the lacrosse community responds to this version. It is our goal to turn around and make College Lacrosse 2011 probably [in] the spring…updating this version and making better graphics and all-around better AI, better gameplay, better online experience. It's my goal to make lacrosse video games as long as I can. But it really…it's all depending on how well this game does because I'm basically a poor college student that needs to make some of my initial investment back before I can invest again into College Lacrosse 2011. But it's definitely a long-term goal to continue building lacrosse video games.

GS: Thanks for your time, Carlo.

Up until this point, EA has been teasing us with bits and pieces of information on its upcoming mixed martial arts game. We knew a few of the fighters on the roster, including Fedor Emelianenko, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture, Jason Miller, and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal. Thanks to an event scheduled the day before last week's Fedor-versus-Rogers fight, we know some additional members of the EA Sports MMA roster, and a little bit more about what the development team intends to do with the game to make it stand out.

This is Fedor's happy face.

But before jumping into any details about the game itself, EA revealed its partnership with Strikeforce as a premier league featured in MMA. This means that Strikeforce matches in the game will feature the same cage, ring announcer (Jimmy Lennon), and commentary team (Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo) that you see on TV. This doesn't mean that all fights are Strikeforce matches, but rather that it's potentially just one of many other leagues featured in the game. And finally, EA Sports announced that both Jake Shields (who would go on to win his fight the next night) and Brett Rogers (who lost to Fedor in the main event match that same night) would be available on the EA Sports MMA roster.

With that out of the way, executive producer Dale Jackson took to the stage to give an overview of the gameplay, and from the very outset it's obvious that EA is putting a lot of focus in one particular area: making fighters behave much as they would in a real fight. "The example I can give you is Fight Night Round 4," says Jackson. "When you play with Ali, he fights like Ali. That's what you have to capture. There are no two guys that go out there in the ring that are an exact, mirror copy. [You have to] learn how to adjust to people's styles and take advantage of [their weaknesses and strengths]. That's what I don't think you've seen in an [MMA] game before."

"[THQ's UFC] game is button masher game to be real with you," adds MMA fighter King Mo, who was on hand to talk about EA Sports MMA and answer some questions. "It takes no real skill to be good at the UFC game. It's not even that realistic. You can pick Rampage and submit everyone with arm bars. In this game, every person is realistic."

The first few seconds of the demo illustrated part of Jackson's point. It showed Fedor's and Rogers' unique stances in the cage--Fedor bounces side to side on the balls of his feet, while Rogers takes a flat-footed stance. As the fighters move away from each other to opposite sides of the ring, they drop their hands. We then see some of their respective strikes. Then, Fedor showed off a massive overhand punch--almost like the one he used to knock out Rogers the next night. Meanwhile, Rogers' strikes are a little more orthodox, nothing fancy about them, but there's a lot of power behind every punch. "Those are some of the subtleties that make a difference and can help you identify fighters," says Jackson. "If you go out and start throwing strikes with Brett [Rogers] versus Fedor or any other fighters in the game, you're going to notice a difference in the way they play and how you operate them."

EA Sports MMA runs on a modified version of the Fight Night Round 4 engine.

Next, we saw some of the finer points of fighting. First were hit reactions, which showed that a fighter's reaction to strikes changes the longer a fight progresses. This opens up opportunities that you wouldn't normally have at the beginning of a fight. For example, if a fighter has a weakened leg, it makes him less mobile and potentially more susceptible to a takedown from his opponent. We then got a glimpse of some parrying and countering with Fedor throwing a kick at Rogers and Rogers catching it.

Since Rogers is more of a stand-up fighter (and not one to take a fight to the ground, especially against someone like Fedor), he throws a few punches while holding Fedor's foot. Conversely, when Fedor catches one of Rogers' kicks, he takes him down to the ground. Still, every fighter in the game has a basic set of skills, so while Rogers may not be a submission fighter, if he sees that Fedor has a weakened arm, he might still be able to pull off an arm bar if the opportunity presents itself. "Everything we have in the game, we have to think how we could make it so a stand-up striker or a wrestler who wants to stay on his feet can stay within their game plan or stay within their comfort zone or take someone out of their comfort zone," Jackson explains. "If we had this and the only thing you could do is take a guy to the ground every time you caught a kick--as a stand-up striker, I'm in a miserable spot." It's also worth pointing out that in situations like this (or when you're on the ground in the guard position) either fighter can throw strikes at any time. Or to be more specific, you don't have to wait for one fighter's punch animation to finish before the other can throw a punch, so either combatant can let the fists fly in any position. We saw a little bit of this when Fedor and Rogers were in a clinch, continually maneuvering their arms and body position to set up a strike or a takedown.

Strikeforce matches will be featured in the game.

At the end of the presentation, the EA representatives controlling Fedor and Rogers went at it for a bit. We saw Rogers give Fedor a pretty good knee to the head when Fedor shot in from too far away. If anything, the entire presentation and demo showed that EA is really trying to make the fighters in EA Sports MMA as authentic to their real-life counterparts as possible, and from a visual standpoint, the team is well on its way to accomplishing that goal. But we're still interested in how the game controls. We were told that there will be fully customizable controls available, but the default setup (which maps strikes to the right analog stick) is designed to take full advantage of the complexities of the sport that arise in different situations. We're also eager to learn more about the different arenas EA has planned for the game. We got a brief glimpse of several different arenas (or training areas), including a traditional dojo, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym, and what appeared to be a boxing ring. EA Sports MMA is scheduled for release in 2010 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

I'd like to take complete credit for Madden Ultimate Team, but I know better than that. Ever since the From the Bleachers days--heck, ever since EA Sports released its collectible card feature back in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007--I've been clamoring for just such a card feature to make its way to other EA Sports games, and I've hardly been alone in that regard. Soon, those requests will be answered with Madden Ultimate Team, an upcoming feature update to Madden NFL 10 that mixes trading card collecting with fantasy football. And best of all? It's free.

If you've seen the Ultimate Team feature for FIFA, then you probably have a good idea of what Madden Ultimate Team is all about. Once you've downloaded the feature, it will become a separate menu item in Madden 10, and after loading it up for the first time, you'll be given a randomized set of cards, enough to get you up and running right away. Playing games with your team, you'll earn credits that you can then use to buy bronze, silver, or gold packs full of more cards you can use to bolster your team. You'll also be able to spend real-world cash to buy in-game credits.

Those cards include players, stadiums, playbooks, coaches, injury cards, and contract cards, and the quality of the card will be reflected in its status as either a bronze, silver, or gold card. Elite players like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady will obviously be gold status, while the majority of NFL players will be either silver or bronze level cards. The players in your initial pack of cards will be mostly bronze with a few silvers thrown in (the equivalent to overall ratings of 75 or below), but once you have some credits in hand, you can start working on improving your talent level.

Of course, there's a flip side to getting talent--there are those pesky contracts to worry about. As in FIFA's Ultimate Team mode, every player on your team will have a contract number associated with him. Using a player card in the game will subtract one from that contract number, and once it's reduced to zero, that player card will be discarded and that player will no longer be available to you. That's where another card type--contract cards--comes in so handy. Playing a contract card against a player (or coach) will increase his contract by the amount listed on the contract card. For instance if you play a four-game contract card against a player with one game left on his contract, he'll end up with five games left on his contract. As you probably have figured, contract cards are valuable, especially when it comes to keeping gold-level talent on your team. There are also injury cards, which you can use for injured players to accelerate their recovery.

Other cards available to you include team-specific playbooks, coaches, stadiums, and uniforms. You can have multiple playbook cards in your deck and use the ones you like for any game you play--either offline against the CPU or in online matches against other Ultimate Team players (there will be a matchmaking feature to pit teams of similar skill level against one another). Perhaps most intriguing is the team chemistry feature that has also been carried over from the FIFA and UEFA games. In those games, a team's chemistry rating improved depending on what position a player played (playing a midfielder in the midfield is a good thing after all). In addition, playing in a preferred formation and with players who spoke the same language also helped team chemistry.

In Madden Ultimate Team, chemistry matters, but different factors are taken into consideration. Players who play on the same team in the real NFL will earn a chemistry boost; players who were on the same team in college will also get a boost. You'll also receive boosts for players who are playing with their real-life playbook, with their real coach, in their real uniforms, and in their home stadium. It begs the question: Why, in a game mode that's all about fantasy, do you want to encourage players to homogenize their teams along NFL team lines? Still, with the wide variety of talent available in the card packs, the chemistry boosts probably won't outweigh the simple fact that player skill will win out in the end. After all, why pair Aaron Rodgers with Jordy Nelson at wideout when Andre Johnson is also available to you?

Your Madden Ultimate Team deck will be limited to 100 cards total, with a maximum of 55 players available to you. Any extra cards you get through buying packs can either be discarded, which will earn you a small number of coins per card, or be sent to the auction block for selling to other users. As with FIFA's Ultimate Team feature, you can put any card in your collection up for auction, and the value of that card will be driven by the market. Unfortunately, Madden Ultimate Team won't have the addictive collectible card book that was found in UEFA--which served as a great place to dispose of unwanted cards--but producers said that feature could be a possibility for a future version of Madden Ultimate Team.

In addition to the bronze, silver, and gold cards, there will be a couple types of exceedingly rare cards available to players. The first will be legendary cards--these will all be current NFL players (no legends like Walter Payton or Jim Brown, unfortunately), but the players' ratings will reflect their "glory years." Think of Brett Favre with the Packers or Randy Moss with the Vikings at the height of his power. Playing a legendary player in a game will give your entire offense or defense a boost, and naturally, you'll want to protect those cards' contracts as much as you can. The other type of special card will come through weekly deals--these limited-edition cards will feature only elite players and will be available only for a short time.

The presence of Madden Ultimate Team looks to be great news for those who will be looking to get back into Madden after a few months away. There's no firm release date yet, though producers are aiming for early January as a tentative release window. In the meantime, they'll be tuning things, including features like the final roster in the game, the balance of players' starting decks, final card artwork, and more.

Will Madden Ultimate Team take off? It's hard to say. I was a huge fan of the feature in UEFA and last year's FIFA game--it got me to play more soccer games than I had ever played previously. And while producers are hopeful that Ultimate Team will turn into an annual addition to the Madden series, there are no guarantees. After all, it's telling that the Ultimate Team feature was not included in this year's FIFA 10 (though it conceivably could be added at a later date). On the other hand, FIFA 09's Ultimate Team was a $15 DLC add-on. If nothing else, by giving Madden Ultimate Team away for free, EA is looking to expose the feature to as many people as possible. We'll see if the experiment pays dividends when Madden Ultimate Team is released in January.

Forza Motorsport 3 is released in the US today, and if you didn't already know, the game is pretty darn great. If you even have a passing interest in cars or racing games, you'll likely find something to like (if not love) in the game.

Late last week, we got a package from Microsoft--a huge wooden box, inside of which was a Porsche 911 Turbo S Wheel and a RennSport Wheel Stand. Now I've played with the Porsche wheel before; it's a pretty decent product, though a bit light on force feedback. The real gem here was the wheel stand--a compact and relatively affordable solution for those of us (like myself) who don't have the room (or the money) for a full cockpit in their living room.

Instead of attaching your favorite wheel to a table or a desk, you can use this wheel stand (which is available for $129.95). You attach your favorite wheel--it supports Fanatec and Logitech models, as well as the Microsoft racing wheel--for an adjustable and storage-friendly option. For more on the RennSport wheel stand, check out our photo feature we just put up today.

So, with this wheel and wheel stand at the ready, it got me thinking about which controller is actually more conducive to speed in a game like Forza 3: the wheel or the Xbox 360 controller. I've dabbled with wheels in the past, but, for the most part, I'm a controller guy. My guess was that, thanks to the sheer amount of hours I've put into the game with the Xbox 360 controller, I'd be considerably faster using the wheel. So I fired up Forza 3 and did a little analysis of my own.

My methodology was simple: I drove time trials in a single unmodified car (the rally-ready 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000) on three separate tracks: Suzuka, LeMans Sarthe (old course), and Road Atlanta. I drove no more than three laps with either controller in order to give myself enough time to warm up the tires and then drive two flying laps. Here are the results:

Suzuka
Controller: 2:17.161
Wheel: 2:21.208

LeMans Sarthe (old course)
Controller: 4:20.995
Wheel: 4:27.126

Road Atlanta
Controller: 1:29.909
Wheel: 1:33.901

As you can see, my laps were considerably quicker using the Xbox 360 controller than the wheel. I attribute that to a couple of possibilities: First, I've had a lot more practice playing with the controller. Second, the force feedback when using a wheel makes you much more aware of how the road and the car can fight you in corners, especially if you aren't driving an ideal line. As a result, it's easy to overcompensate for that motion by overcorrecting and making things worse as you try to straighten the car out.

There's one other possibility, too: Playing a driving game with a wheel is much more akin to real driving, and, as a result, when using one I become much more of the senile 'fraidy cat I am when I drive in real life. Maybe if I put someone who drives like a friggin' maniac in real life behind a Logitech wheel--someone like, say, my wife, who has broken land speed records in residential neighborhoods--the results would probably be considerably different.

So, what's your controller of choice for Forza 3?

You press a button, and a player on your opponent's team freezes in a block of ice; or you toss a ball with the kind of velocity that would make Jeff George wince; or your team gets an extra "fifth" down to try to punch it into the end zone; or you can flip-flop your score with that of your opponent. These are just some of the power-ups known as "gamechangers" in EA Sports' upcoming Madden NFL Arcade, due for release soon on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

The concept of gamechangers is nothing new for EA's approach to arcade football. They've been around since at least the NFL Street days (though they were known as gamebreakers back then), and they've always treaded the line between being a fun addition to the fast-paced football and a teeth-grinding annoyance that often felt cheap and contrived. That said, gamechangers in Madden NFL Arcade are nothing if not inspired, and unlike in the NFL Street games, you'll be using them early and often in this five-on-five football game.

EA Sports producers like to refer to Madden NFL Arcade as a "halftime" game, ideal for firing up when the real NFL game you're watching goes to halftime. Considering the game's extremely quick pace--only one set of downs per team, no kicking of any kind (including kickoffs), and basic playbooks--you can easily finish games in less than 10 minutes, depending on your settings. There are only four plays in your playbook: run and three pass plays (short, medium, and deep). On defense you have four plays as well: blitz and three pass defenses (short, medium, and deep). You flip plays by pressing the right bumper, and you enable gamechangers, which appear at random each play, by pressing the left bumper.

Here's a list of the available gamechangers in Madden NFL Arcade:

• Turbo: Play speed is temporarily sped up.
• Molasses: Play speed is temporarily slowed down.
• Fumblitis: Ball will be fumbled by ball carrier upon contact with defender.
• Frostbite: When enabled, a player on the opposite team will be frozen in place for the remainder of the play.
• It's Alive: During a passing play, the receiver will drop the pass and it will automatically become a live ball.
• Fast Pass: Turbo passing for one play.
• Flip Flop: Players will switch scores.
• Bonus Play: When enacted, this gamechanger will give your team an extra down.
• Entourage: On offense, you'll get an entire offensive line to protect your quarterback or ball carrier. On defense, you'll get the benefit of a full defensive line to put added pressure on the opposing QB.
• Make It, Take It: If you score, you get the ball back immediately.
• Triple Threat: Used during passing plays, this causes three balls to be thrown into the air, effectively confusing defensive backs as to where the "real" pass is heading.
• Dud: Every once in a while, using a gamechanger will result in a "dud," and that gamechanger simply won't work.

As I found out in my time with the game, when you engage a gamechanger counts, because you can choose to use it before the play starts or at any time after the snap of the ball. For example, if you have the Entourage gamechanger at your disposal, the best time to spring it on your opponent is after he has snapped the ball. Use it too early, and your opponent will see that you have those extra linemen and will know he has to get rid of the ball quickly. If you spring it on him at the last moment, however, you're almost guaranteed a sack.

Fumbilitis, molasses and dud aren't just descriptors of the Oakland Raiders--they are also gamechangers in Madden NFL Arcade.

Unlike 3 on 3 NHL Arcade, a downloadable game from earlier in the year, Madden NFL Arcade will have actual teams--all 32 NFL teams and stadiums will be represented in the game. Five of the best players on both sides of the ball make up each team's roster, and EA Sports said those players were voted on by Madden fans via a Twitter campaign. So, if you're not happy that your favorite player didn't get into the game, it's sort of your own fault now isn't it?

There are two control schemes in Madden NFL Arcade--one for those used to the controls in Madden and a simplified version that puts most of the special moves, like stiff-arm and spins, on the A button (with the AI choosing the right move depending on the context). There are also some customization options for the game--you can choose what score to play to, where each team starts on the field, the skill level, and whether or not you want to use gamechangers. Having played a game of NFL Arcade without gamechangers, however, I can't imagine why you would want to play the game straight. After all, there's nothing like the look on your opponent's face after you freeze one of his DBs in mid-pass, catch the ball, and run it in for a touchdown.

Sure, it's not much like football and your opponent may call it "cheating," but in Madden NFL Arcade, it's simply playing the game the way it was meant to be played.

One of the big recruiting features in this year's NCAA Football 10 was the ability to recruit directly against other teams. Unfortunately, the feature was never really adequately explained, and, as a result, I pretty much stayed away from it when I was still playing the game. Now EA Sports producers have put together a new strategy video that shows exactly how to make the system work for you.

When downplaying a rival school to a recruit, you'll actually be taking away interest points away from that school, allowing your program to potentially move up that recruit's list of schools, which should be extra gratifying when playing against real opponents in an online dynasty. This wasn't 100 percent clear in terms of presentation, so it's nice to see EA clarifying exactly how it works. Who knows, maybe I'll bust out my copy of NCAA 10 this weekend to try downplaying some fellow SEC schools--I already do that on my couch on Saturday afternoons anyway...

Madden NFL Arcade?

Think Madden NFL 10 is the only football from EA Sports this year? Think again. The publisher has just lifted the curtain on Madden NFL Arcade, a five-on-five downloadable arcade football game for XBL Arcade and PSN Store. It will be available in December and will run you 1,200 MS points or $14.99, respectively. Here's a description of the game from the EA Sports Web site:

Choose one of your favorite 32 NFL teams and distinctive home stadium for a battle with the best five players on each side of the ball, and let the excitement begin! Each team is given four downs to march 60 yards to pay dirt--no penalties or field goals allowed here, pal! Get your Madden NFL fix in a completely new way, with fast-paced games where the first team to 30 wins. Want to mix it up? Madden NFL Arcade can be tailored to fit your liking by changing options, such as skill level, points to win, and more--making each game unlike the one before. Take advantage of 13 unique "Game Changers" to break the game wide open on a single play. Add an entourage of lineman to get the sack, freeze an opposing player, turn off your opponent's passing icons, and much more. No lead is safe in Madden NFL Arcade.

This is the latest in a line of download-only games from EA Sports this year--including 3-on-3 NHL Arcade and NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition. EA reps will be coming by next week to show us Madden NFL Arcade, so I'll have impressions up sometime after that. I have no idea how this game will play, but if the past is any indication, arcade football has a tough time holding my attention for long. Of course, at $15, there's a better chance of the price matching the content, something that definitely could not be said about 2008's mediocre NFL Tour.

Look for more on the game next week.

Here's the real appeal of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, EA Sports' upcoming online-only PC golf game: Your golfer is your golfer, and he or she will linger for as long as you play the game, and as long as the game's servers are running. That's a significant difference from how the long-running Tiger Woods PGA Tour console games handle things--where every year, you have to start your golfer from scratch, knowing that a year or so down the line you'll be scrapping him for a brand-new model.

Back in the '90s, I played the PC version of Links for years, and by the time I finally gave up on the game, I had a golfer who had accumulated hundreds of rounds of virtual golf. It sounds preposterous, I suppose, but the connection I had to that pixelated little duffer was stronger than any created character since. Tiger Online has that same potential--after all, the golfers you create in the game will persist as long as you keep paying the subscription fee, and it's that continuity that has me excited about the game's potential.

When EA Sports' Greg Rinaldi came by GameSpot HQ to give us a look at Tiger Online, I asked him about the subscription prices, and while he wasn't able to comment on exact pricing yet, he did tell me that it wouldn't be "anywhere close" to the monthly fee for a game like World of Warcraft, and the game would have different subscription packages available (three-month, six-month, etc.). For that subscription, you'll get six playable courses at the outset, and Rinaldi said the goal would be to add a new course each month, as well as other upgrades and features as the game continues. As to the possibility of microtransactions for things like new golf gear, Rinaldi admitted it was a possibility for the future, but no concrete plans have been announced. Considering the rampant microtransactions in other EA Sports games, however, it seems like more a question of "when" and not "if" they'll make their way into Tiger Woods Online.

What could some of those upgrades be? I asked about two console-specific features--namely support for the photo GameFace feature (which lets you import a digital photo to serve as the face of your golfer) and support for the Xbox 360 controller, which would give you a control option other than the default three-click swing that you'd expect in a PC golf game. Rinaldi said that both features are a possibility down the road but didn't give a timeline on when to expect them.

The game has gone through several private betas over the past few months, and developers at EA Tiburon are prepping the game for its upcoming public beta (though the date for that open beta is still under wraps for now). We saw the game for the first time in May just before E3 2009, and it has come a long way, evident in things like the new swing trainer, which EA first showed back in July.

The swing trainer requires you to upgrade specific areas of your shot by spending money you've earned playing the game. You can alter the attributes of any of six shot types: full, punch, pitch, flop, chip, and putt. Within the "full shot" type, you can upgrade any of the following attributes--swing plane, tempo, balance, swing speed, timing, and touch--and any upgrade you make will have a beneficial impact on your game. However, I'm curious to see how obvious those improvements are; for example, how will a maxed-out tempo rating affect a shot, as opposed to focusing on swing speed or touch? Also, as Rinaldi pointed out to me, you're not required to upgrade shots you don't use. If you never use a flop shot, for example, there's no point in sinking money into upgrading it.

Another aspect of Tiger Online is the idea of course mastery. Essentially an achievements system, each course in the game will have a series of objectives you need to complete in order to move up the rankings from course member, through course pro, and finally up to course master. These objectives can be $5,000 on a certain course, or sinking a 10-foot putt on a hole, and will gradually get more difficult as you go. Once you've obtained "master" status on a course, you'll be able to enter special tournaments available only to other players who've mastered that course.

It's those tournaments, and the idea of playing golf with others, that is at the heart of Tiger Woods Online. Even jumping into a single-player round, you'll be able to chat with other players on that course and even watch the arcs of other players' shots as they play on the same hole as you (though, it should be noted, you can turn these off if you find them distracting). You'll also be able to play in tournaments and in online foursomes with friends. As of now, the game will only support stroke play, though Rinaldi did say that other game types, like match play, will be added in the future.

The game runs in a Web browser, and with multiple graphical settings, it seems prepped to run on modest PC and Mac setups as well as high-end PCs. You'll be able to save your game at any point as well and return to your round the next time you log in, a feature that will sit well with someone who has only a few minutes at a time to devote to his virtual golf swing.

I'm looking forward to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, but I'll admit to a certain level of puzzlement regarding its future. In a perfect scenario, the game turns out to be affordable, always updated with new content, and playable on a huge variety of PCs--from modest netbooks to full-fledged gaming rigs. If that best-case scenario does happen, what does that mean for the console versions of Tiger? At least in the short term, the console series will have a huge head start in terms of content and refinement. What happens, however, after Tiger Woods Online has been out for a couple of years (assuming it lasts that long) and the content of both games is more or less on even footing? I've only got the budget for one golf game per year, and I'm probably not alone there.

Am I overly optimistic in thinking this could signal the return of my Links-style love affair with PC golf? What do you think of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online?

The whole Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace thing has always struck me as a bit squicky--why would you pay real money for fake stuff for your fake online persona? But Microsoft and EA Sports are doing their best to change that perception of mine. Their latest assault on my principles (not counting all that nice Forza Motorspot 3 gear that recently went up) is the introduction of authentic NFL jerseys for sale. All 32 NFL teams are represented, though there aren't currently any alternate jerseys. That's the good news.

The bad news is that each of these jerseys will run you 320 MS points ($4) and you can't customize your number or name on the back of the jersey. It would be cool to have your XBL handle on the back of your jersey and the fact that you can't pretty much... oh, hell, who am I kidding?

I am so weak. No word from EA Sports on whether or not NCAA football jerseys will be made available at some point but, if they do, I'll be down another 320 MS points.

UPDATE: The jerseys are also available for purchase via PlayStation Home.