As we reported earlier, another Madden title will be releasing this year. This comes at no surprise, really -- it's not like EA Sports just announced Shenmue 3. For the last decade or so, Madden has released every single year, with little to no improvements on the previous version. It's time for Madden to take the year off, especially with an NFL lockout likely to wipe away the 2011 season.

Even the biggest fans of Madden -- you know, the people who only play Madden and Call of Duty -- can't argue that each installment is a new experience. Better looking visuals aside, if you put Madden 10 next to Madden 11 in front of the average joe, they won't be able to tell the two games apart. If Madden 2000 for the Nintendo 64 had the visual quality of Madden 11, why even play the latter of the two? They're essentially the same game, only the Raiders don't suck in Madden 2000.

Has Madden innovated the sports genre even once? You can't say EA Sports hasn't at least tried, but every time they have it's been a half-baked attempt at adding something that wasn't a good idea anyway (case in point: QB Vision).

Even the production values for Madden games are lacking. The in-game experience hardly feels like an actual NFL game, partially thanks to the lackluster commentators. In comparison, the production values for the NHL 2K games are so much better. There's actually this little thing called immersion in those games, thanks to excellent commentators and realistic arenas that feel like the real thing.

Franchise mode in Madden is also very poor -- it, like the rest of the game, is the exact same thing year after year. Tiburon has even stated that if they wanted to rework franchise mode, they would have to completely re-write the code. If that isn't lazy development, then I don't know what is.

So please, EA, if you're reaing this, give Madden the year off. Spend the time to develop a good game instead of rehashing the same thing over and over. Make franchise mode worth playing for more than one in-game season, and give online play some balance.

At the very least, don't charge $60 for a game that's essentially a roster update with prettier graphics.

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