There's a reason that year old sports games don't cost anything in relation to the current class. I dropped $50 on Madden after buying ESPN a couple of weeks ago. I like Madden better and honestly hated the ESPN presentation style that so many other people loved. Is the extra $35 worth it? Well, I know by the time I'm done with this game I'll have played well over 100 franchise games, so for me I would say yes. If you're going to play often then the $35 is more than warrented, if you'll only play a little then go ahead and get the old version, it just won't matter.