football

PES 2010 (or Pro Evolution Soccer 2010) has some of the most realistic soccer gameplay in the iTunes App Store, but it suffers from a lack of FIFA licensing and perhaps a slowish pace. Like many soccer games for iPhone, you can play in tournaments or league play, and you'll be able to select from teams all over the world, but the player names don't match up with their real-world counterparts, which will be disappointing for many fans. PES 2010 is also a bit slower-paced than most soccer games on the iPhone, but this is not necessarily a … Read more

I know it's summertime, but there's only so much fresh air and sunshine a person can take. Sometimes you just want to hole up in an air-conditioned room and play games till your brain rots. Then, back outside for fresh air and sunshine.

With that in mind, let's take a look at four new games sure to rot your brain--er, keep you entertained--during these lovely summer months:

Despicable Me: Minion Mania: I always find it a little strange when a movie tie-in arrives before the movie ("Despicable Me" opens July 9), but when it's … Read more

Vuvuzela 2010 is a free vuvuzela simulator--an iPhone and iPad app for reproducing the droning buzz of the globally infamous stadium horn heard in every World Cup 2010 soccer match.

Vuvuzela 2010 has a simple interface: a long vuvuzela fills your screen lengthwise, and you just tap it (or, even better, shake your device) to produce a loud, realistic "vuvu" drone, which sounds even better on speakers or headphones.

You can tap (or shake) it repeatedly to create a looping--and potentially even more irritating--sound, and you can customize the horn's color by tapping one of 10 jerseys … Read more

Super Football Kick 3D is a simple, one-player game in which you attempt to kick football field goals from varying distances.

The touch interface is easy to master: you just swipe up the screen quickly, with your vertical motion determining how far the ball will go and horizontal motion determining its direction. The game looks great, with sharp graphics and 3D camera views that randomly alternate between different points of view (including occasional "ball's-eye view" shots in midair). The sound is also fun, with rousing drumline intros to each round (six rounds in all, each 10 yards … Read more

There is another football game in town, and it's a new one: it's called Backbreaker, and it's been developed by NaturalMotion. It doesn't have an NFL license. It's not Madden. So why should anybody be interested? Well, there's the real challenge.

Madden's sales have been dropping off. Its stronghold monopoly on NFL video games remains absurd and tends to result in laziness in the game's innovations. However, there are a lot of things Madden still does right. Statistical engines, play-calling realism, and online play are still second to none. We have a soft spot for the days when 2K Football actually had a better game, and kept Madden honest. And, at first glance, Backbreaker reminds us of that game's debut back in 1999.

Scott: Backbreaker's real claim to fame is its physics engine, the same Euphoria system that's in games ranging from GTA IV to The Force Unleashed. Tackles and player motions are astonishing and fun to watch, and have less predictable outcomes than the sometimes canned-feeling Madden tackles. Backbreaker also lowers the perspective closer down to field level, creating a shaky-cam realism that aims to shake players out of the complacent eagle-eye Madden view that turns plays into living schematics.

Because Backbreaker has no NFL license, it's created a bunch of fictional teams and stadiums in the spirit of NFL Blitz. Stadium designs are often overexaggerated and colossal, and the borderline reckless feel of the game is a nice break from Madden (although it's not as vicious as Blitz). The playbook, however, is far smaller than Madden's, and the control scheme is reinvented. It's not fully explained or easy to use.

Players can customize their teams with a graphics-editing engine, inviting a lot of risque designs. Playing online against others might lead to discovering some interesting acts of creativity. It's clever, but a gimmick in the long run. Not having an NFL license is a deal-killer for any game that wants to be about football.

The real moments when Backbreaker shines are on scrambles and running plays.… Read more

With today's launch of the iPad 3G, the battle between Apple and Adobe over Flash, and the drama that continues to unfold regarding the leaked iPhone 4G, there's plenty of Apple to go around in the news. But instead of adding my two cents on any of these stories, I'd rather relay the rumor I read about over at Apple Insider.

Apparently, according to "sources familiar with the situation," the iPhone 4G may go on sale June 7, on the first day of the Worldwide Developers Conference. Like many Apple events, Steve Jobs will be … Read more

LONDON--After 16 months at Yahoo's helm and an expectations-beating first quarter, new chief executive Carol Bartz brought some of her down-home style to the Old World for her European press debut Wednesday.

Bartz fielded questions, touted Yahoo's refurbished strategy, and, flanked by the company's head of European operations, touted news that the Internet pioneer won sole rights to show game highlight videos for the Premier League, the 20-club group top of the English football competition pecking order. Bartz was here as part of a tour to meet senior ad agency executives in London and was due for … Read more

Football fever is catching on in the U.K., with the 2010 FIFA World Cup just around the corner. To cash in on the festivity, Toshiba United Kingdom has launched a new "England Expects" campaign through which consumers there can get a full refund of the company's selected products if the U.K. team emerges as champion.

The promotion is limited to a few series of Regza HDTVs and the company's Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 laptops purchased between April 12 and June 10. This is definitely one of the more unique sales-related programs involving … Read more

You might soon have to wear stupid-looking glasses to watch a football game down at the pub. With its first dedicated 3D TV channel, Sky 3D, launching this April, U.K. satellite broadcaster Sky TV is desperate to get 3D-capable TVs into bars around the country. To meet this goal, Sky has reached into its Tardis-like pockets and bought 15,000 LG 3D TVs.

It looks like the Korean giant has taken the initiative with its , since most manufacturers have avoided polarized televisions and pinned their hopes on active-shutter technology for the home market.

The disadvantage of LG's system … Read more