After years of excellence, video game giant Electronic Arts, has raised the bar so high that cynicism naturally just takes place. In some aspects it can be looked at as a badge of honor when a brand achieves that level of stability. When a brand is so successful that the consumer marketplace is used to greatness says a lot about the forward thinking of the company. With that in mind last weeks EA showcase was still I looked forward too, its just that I wasn’t doing cartwheels on the way over there. I mean what else could they really do?

Quite a bit apparently. I stopped at spent a good five minutes just looking at Dante’s Inferno before I even asked any questions. Every year with these sort of mythical battle games is essentially re-inventing the wheel but the graphics are so high-end, so glorious that you can’t help but marvel at it. Beyond the look, the actual game itself comes off as well conceived and complex. It’s a nice game man.

I always was impressed by the hyper-realism of Mass Effect 2 and the moody, dramatic feel of WWII epic The Saboteur. Had I just left then I still would have came away with a positive experience. But once I went upstairs and played NCAA Basketball 10, well, everything changed.

First off it elegantly captures the pageantry and co-ed energy of college basketball. The fans of these schools care deeply about their teams and that aspect it captured exceptionally. Second, the movements of the players as they run real actual collegiate offensive sets (the Princeton, Flex, Motion etc) is just stunning. But what puts it over the top is that they’ve employed the best announcers to call the games. You can either use the ESPN team or CBS Sports. The latter is my favorite. It just feels like a real game with Bill Raftery and Gus Johnson calling it. The joint is near perfect; they even use their real catch phrases-Onions!! — K. Salaam