The future of sports videogames

Videogames are getting closer and closer to emulating real life every year - at least in terms of looks.

This is mostly true in sports games. Gawkers are impressed - year-in, year-out - with how far graphics are being pushed. Nobody seems to mind that sports games are generally the same every year, albeit from a few minor upgrades and roster swap.

But how many people honestly care how a game looks? [The answer is "plenty"; have you seen sales figures for sports games nowadays?] Isn't the point of a videogame to enjoy playing it?

Enough with the technicalities. I'll let the videos do the talking for this post.

First up, let's take a look at "Madden NFL 2008," the yearly update to the million-selling series from Electronic Arts' Tiburon studio:

The players run like constipated robots (is that even possible?) and it's just plain boring to watch.

It's the exact same game as "Madden NFL 2001," except with a prettier face and a few extra (negligible) bells and whistles.

But wait, virtual pigskin fanatics, your savior has arrived.

"Backbreaker" is a new football game from NaturalMotion using cutting-edge animation technology.

Granted, you won't be wrapping up LT for a loss or making Eli Manning cry because of the game's lack of an NFL license, but it's the game itself that matters, right?

Right?

Information on the new technology can be found at http://naturalmotion.com/ .