So, did you hear that Madden 10 came out last Friday? Did you hear it might be pretty damn good (with a little tweaking). Oh, right, Bill has had that covered, hasn’t he? A good thing too, since I still don’t have the game. Dammit.
For the first time in years I *really* want to purchase Madden, so it kinda sucks that I have zero room in my budget for it. (Long story.) I keep going back and forth on just sucking it up and buying it or hoping to get it via Gamefly’s notoriously unreliable queue. The problem with the latter (besides the whole uncertainty of getting the game from them instead of something else) is that I want to finish my current GFly game, a little something called Red Faction. Currently, I’m in Oasis, so I’d guess I’m about half way through it, which means it’ll probably be a couple more weeks at the rate I’m going.
I sent some used games to Amazon this past week that were intended to fund my Madden purchase. (If Amazon ever acknowledges receiving them, I should have myself a nice $90 credit thanks to a promotion they’re running this month.) But then I remembered that I have to have Beatles Rock Band in my hands in a few weeks and I need something to absorb the considerable hit of buying the special edition.
Why the special edition, you ask? Well, first of all, damn does it look cool. Seriously, ‘nuff said there, right? I want that fake plastic wireless bass, yo! But more importantly, my drums have been a wreck ever since a drunken friend of mine forewent drum sticks and decided they’d work better as bongos. (Ass!) My GH3 guitar’s green button no longer sustains long notes, and the tilt sensor on my wired RB1 guitar (which had already twice been replaced under warranty) no longer works consistently. Besides, I need an extra mic for those kick’n harmonies Harmonix is putting in the game. So as you can see, if I’m to go on living in this world, I need a RB hardware refresh, and the Beatles Rock Band stuff is, in the words of Ferris Bueller, so choice. (“I could be The Walrus, but I’d still have to bum rides off of people.”)
In the end I’ll probably just take the hit and buy both. When it comes to this stuff I have the willpower of Gary Busey staring down a line of coke. I have to have Beatles Rock Band. Unless it’s a choice between the game and putting food on the table, not getting it isn’t even an option. And, honestly, even in that scenario, who needs food that badly, right? Certainly not my kids. They don’t want to eat anything I make for them anyway! (No, I’m not being serious about that.)
As for Madden, even if it’s not all the way there yet, I love the direction the Madden team is taking the game and I think that should be supported at retail. I just don’t know. I’m holding out for now, but with a Target, WalMart and Best Buy all on the way home, it’s probably only a matter of time. (Unless I hear Matt Stafford has an overall rating under 97, in which case I’m organizing a boycott. Such aggression, “will not stand, man!”)
