The media frenzy surrounding Madden 08‘s release is about to kick in this weekend, but I don’t really care. To me, Madden has taken a turn for the worse on next gen, but I had some hope that this year would be better. That was until Speedy informed me they didn’t add 4v4 gameplay in AGAIN. That means I will be getting the regular Xbox version over the 360 version AGAIN. I was going to write a post about Madden, but I could care less now, so instead, I’ll share with you my most anticipated game of this year NHL 08.

NHL 08 will be shipping on 9/11/2007. It took many failed attempts, but EA finally outsold 2k sports with its hockey game (on next gen at least). For years, 2k sports ran the show, and EA even lowblowed them by snatching up exclusive ESPN licensing so 2k sports was forced to go back to NHL 2k and drop their SportsCenter themed game. But last year, EA busted out the skill stick, and revamped its physics for NHL 07. The puck no longer felt glued to the stick in canned animations, it was live, out there ready to take a wild bounce off anything it hit. I’ve played the majority of hockey games that have came out over the last decade and a half, and NHL 07 is my favorite of all time.

This year NHL 08 is adding online leagues and the online versus gameplay mode which adds the ability to play 4v4 online. These are things that felt very missing from last years game. I know that when I have 3 friends over, 4v4 hockey is the best game to play. But more importantly, there is an entire new game mode designed for pickup team play called online team play. In this mode, 6 different consoles can connect together online to play 3v3 over Xbox Live. This is a feature that has not been done in any hockey game to date, and I can’t wait to use it.

Theres plenty of other small additions, like create a play, enhanced player creation, team creations, and complete jersey customization. Create a play looks great, but screams exploitable to me. Thankfully, the games developers share the same thoughts and it will not be available for use in online play in this years release. Head on over here to read GameSpot’s first look or download the HD media over on fileshack. The official site offers non HD streamable media.

On the other side of the next gen hockey fence, 2k8 looks to close the sales gap by implementing a new feature called the “pro stick“, a move that surprised no one considering how well the skill stick was received. They also revamped their faceoff system, something that every hockey game needs to work on.

Oh, almost forgot, Bioshock went gold today.