[BlyGilmore]

The whole license debate is a tricky subject, and honestly a great topic for a future roundtable.

At this point gamers are so used to having real teams and real players it provides a pretty big obstacle to overcome. And I think it blinds game developers as well.

Take APF. The folks at 2K Sports were so concerned about getting old players on board so they had something to market, they really neglected the idea of a franchise in their title. Personally I liked APF - it has the best on the field action of any next gen football game to date.

But they concentrated too much on the legends, not enough on actually having a franchise system - killing the long term playability of the game and leaving a big hole in the list of features on the back.

If I had a nickel for every time I talked to somebody who was all excited about APF, until seeing the life drain from their faces as they found out the franchise was just a series of seasons strung together with no draft, no trades, no salaries - well I'd have a ton of nickels.

This is my concern about Backbreaker (should it ever be released). I'm afraid we're going to get a game that concentrates so much on the mechanics of game play that we're left with a title that does little else. Sure the tackles are going to look purty - but you need more than purty tackles for a game to be successful.