Electronics - PC Video Game Madden 06 by EA Sports

Although thousands of them already line up each August to catch the latest edition of gaming's most recognized annual title, it's safe to say that football fans and sports gamers will have an even harder time passing on the "06" version of Madden NFL. This edition of the long-running series introduces a few changes and additions, designed to make the challenges of executing on offense feel more realistic than ever before. The most obvious changes to this year's edition come in the passing game, which introduces gameplay features based on quarterback-specific attributes. Most notable is the new "Vision Cone," which simulates the QB's field of view with a highlighted cone that fans out in the direction of the current intended receiver. The feature is designed to force the player on offense to commit earlier in the play, and to telegraph his passes much more realistically than in earlier versions of Madden, making those improbably easy "no-look" completions a thing of the past. The range of the vision cone is based on multiple factors, including the quarterback's "talent" attribute rating and the difficulty settings at which the game is being played. Madden NFL 06 also brings a new "Precision Passing" system to the series, which allows quarterbacks some direct control over the accuracy of their passes.