Is This Madden NFL 09??

Today on GameStop's Blog, yeah the game retail giant has a blog too apparently, they are continuing their Monday series of blogs revealing some features in this year's Madden along with this screenshot above of a snow game since today's post was about the weather effects. This pic has raised some eyebrows of whether or not it is real or fake as they did a comparison of shots to Madden 08's snow effects. Then again, this is getting closer to what EA showed that target video before the Xbox 360 even came out. I have a feeling EA is ready to blow out a cover athlete and the major gameplay improvement (if there is) at this weekend's NFL Draft, but as history says, last year was the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare reveal and that shook the gaming world for a week. I also have a fetish of buying the new Madden every year since 2003 being a cultural phenomenon it is now, so I will still give 09 a shot whether if it sucks or not.

Clip of the Day (4/21/08) - The Presidential Candidates on tonight's WWE RAW

To prepare for tonight's WWE RAW featuring the return of King of the Ring, our presidential candidates for this year's election have decided to make an appearance. Here's their promo for the night, but be prepared for a horrible spoof in the actual ring like what WWE tried to do with the feud between Rosie and Donald Trump last year. This upcoming segment has Botchmania material all over it as if Mike Adamle's horrible announcing from last week's ECW was enough. Anyway, enjoy Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John McCain try to make their own versions of past WWE superstars' catch phrases.

Racing Games for 2008 (My Picks to Watch Out For)

So the racing game genre has been doing well this year with Burnout Paradise and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, but the remainder of the year for these games seem good so far (I'm not counting Mario Kart Wii even though it is a racing game). Here are my top picks of racing games to watch out for the rest of the year (I may repeat this post again to remind y'all of this).

WipeOut HD - I already went crazy about this one in an earlier post so read that and watch some awesome footage while you're at it. It is still one of my reasons to get a PS3 now for its June release or maybe even next month.

Race Driver GRID - (pictured above and below) After the success of DiRT, Codemasters is at it again with GRID, their current-gen take on their TOCA Race Driver series, and changes are abound if you're played the previous TOCA games before with this one being more arcade-focused than simulation. This is also one of the best looking racing games so far even though it is based from screenshots and limited trailers. If this is running at 60 frames per second (I think it is 30 for now, but steady), this could be another sleeper hit like DiRT was last year along with the DiRT style navigation menus maybe making a return to this one and proper online multiplayer. I'm hoping for a demo of GRID before its June release (also pictured below). If u want more info on GRID, check out this recent IGN preview.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles - (pictured on the right) I was a fan of the last two Midnight Club games with 2 being a challenging, but fun racer and DUB Edition being a little easier along with the addition of licensed cars. With this new one, but set only in Los Angeles (previously seen in Midnight Club 2), so far it looks like the same old Midnight Club game adding along elements seen in 2006's sleeper racer, Test Drive Unlimited. Cockpit views are also added in this game as well. The release date was announced today for MC: LA which is September 9th and I can't wait to go back to Rockstar's successful racing series even though not a lot of features have been finalized yet or any footage despite a recent showing at an Auto Show. As long as it is done right, I'm happy (also pictured below).
Well's that my top 3 picks for racing games to watch out for this year (still not counting Mario Kart Wii). Even though it is still April, there's still more racing games to be announced like another Need for Speed game that EA is promising a return to the series' roots and the inevitable F-Zero game for the Wii along with others I won't even mention. The racing genre is not usually as consistent as the constant flow of first / third-person shooters, but the limited number of them are great quality, which goes along to the whole quality over quantity thing. Also, factor in more downloadable support for Burnout Paradise, last year's Forza 2, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and we will have another good year for racing games.