I too, love sports games, and like the true simulation games best, not that street ball stuff like NFL Street or NBA street, though I do like games like that.

I feel that at least for me, that since about the time the Play Station came out, that my mainstream games have been limitted to sports games because of the configurability of them and more recently, the amount of commentary in them.  That said, I dont' think you're gonna find a truely accessible main stream sports game.  Sure you could memorize menus, but that gets pretty complicated after a while.

Wii Sports is awesome, but I already made another thread about that.  As far as games that've been around awhile, I love Madden.  Last night I played Madden 07 on the PS3, and it was alright, but I was a bit disappointed.

One thing I don't like is that selecting a play is so different from year to year.  I can do pretty good on Madden 2005 for Xbox, but this one was a bit harder.  On the flip side though, kicking was made a zillion times easier thanks to the fact that you use the right stick to kick instead of a dumb power meter.

I wasn't playing it on a super high tech HD home theater system, but what my friend had it hooked up to was pretty good.  You can hear the players on the field talking to each other, and the hits sound awesome!  You can even hear the players' footsteps as they are running, which makes it all the more satisfying when you break away for a Touchdown.

The thing that disappointed me is that, at least in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, the normal commentary is gone.  They seem to have gone for a more live at the stadium feel as opposed to making you feel like you're watching NBC Sunday night football.  I like it better that way.  Now, the stadium PA announcer will tell you things like where the ball is, and how many yards you gained/lost, like they do in real life or at least I've noticed that from the few games I've been to here at college.  When the ball is in play, some radio announcer who I can't seem to find who he is, gives the play by play as if you were listening to it on headphones or something, because it does sound kinda muffled.  I think they were aiming for an experience like if you were at the game and had a little AM radio with you, because the guy calls the game with a bias for the home team.  John Madden now gives you tips like a coach, as opposed to saying stuff like "boom!  He stepped up and took one right in the face!"  This time if you have a big lead with time about to run out as I did, he'll say something like "just take a knee and let the clock run out."

So I feel like they mesed with it a bit too much, although from an audio standpoint if you played it with the right kind of surround sound set up, you could very well feel as if you were really at the game.

Brian

Hmmm, I don't know who the thunder is either.  I'll have a look at that site.

No skype, although I wish I could but I don't have a mic.  If I could get wireless access working on my PAC Mate again, I could put skype on it, but I've heard that is really hard to use.  As for MSN, I used to have you on my list but I must have deleted you for some reason.  Anyway, now that I know you like games like Madden you can add me.

brian+giles+7+@hot+mail.com

Just remove the plusses...

Brian