I hope you like football. If not, then you can go back to sleep until next week, because just short of 70% of this week's release list involves games played with that oblong pigskin, and frankly that's fine by me. Even as we slog through the dog-days of summer, our consoles will bring to us dreamy early autumn days of blue skies and crisp air, the sound of pads smacking as great hulking men of odd girth lunge and struggle across the gridiron. Did anyone else get a weird vibe off that last sentence?

While All-Pro Football 2k8 is a guaranteed buy for me, it loses a little ground to NCAA Football 08 simply for being such an X-factor. NCAA is the football game I look forward to every single year, and a stellar demo on XBL has left me feeling as confident as ever in its consistently excellent presentation. Even as I prepare myself mentally to many losing struggles for my virtual Golden Gophers, particularly at the hands of the Buckeyes and Wolverines, I anticipate the experience. And who knows, there could be an upset in there somewhere! NCAA Football 08 is my game of the week, and with much stronger online support and integration the nod has to go to the 360 version.

Side note: the effort could be described as Herculean to not start this blurb with Are You Ready For Some Football?

Hope you're enjoying your football games, because there's virtually nothing on DVD this week. Proof's in the pudding.

PC:
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (07/17)

XBOX:
NCAA Football 08 (07/17)

PS2:
NCAA Football 08 (07/17)
Hot Shots Tennis (07/17)
Rugby 2008 (07/17)

PSP:
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (07/17)
PaRappa the Rapper (07/17)

XBOX360:
All-Pro Football 2K8 (07/16)
NCAA Football 08 (07/17)

PS3:
All-Pro Football 2K8 (07/16)
NCAA Football 08 (07/17)