Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground does it again. The team at Neversoft has taken a great game and improved it like we’ve seen time and time before.

For me, the role of handheld gaming in the industry is about fun. It’s about tuning out distractions, clicking off your brain for a few minutes and just killing some time. NBA 08 embraces that role by providing a fun alternative to the usual fare during basketball release season.

Perhaps the place where FIFA 08 shines the brightest is in what I am considering the revolutionary mode of online play.

After a bunch of games and trying almost every game mode, I can say without a doubt, this is my favorite baseball game of the year.

The series has “returned to its roots” in a way, beginning with the handling model. At the same time, it’s managed to incorporate very new features, throwing in motorcycles that feel completely fresh and weather that can change every race you run.

While there’s really nothing groundbreaking this year, it’s hard to argue with the formula that works.

Skate is a resounding success, a game that has complaints that are barely even complaints when compared to the rest of the product.

Bottom line—if you play online and like hockey, then NHL 08 has you covered. If you play offline and like hockey, then NHL 08 has you covered.

While Tiger Woods himself continues to reach new heights in his golf game, the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise also made noticeable improvements in the last year.

It’s the best football game available on the Xbox 360 and a solid improvement over last year’s maiden Next Gen voyage.

Hot Shots Tennis is as fun and challenging as you want it to be.

It is easily among the top sports titles available on the PSP.

Overall, The Bigs is a well executed attempt at your unconventional take on the baseball video game market.

MLB 07: The Show plays a fantastically realistic and remarkably fun game on the field - in fact, it's perhaps the best on-field baseball game ever created, and certainly the best one this year.

Probably the most entertaining and enjoyable sports game available for the Playstation 3. While the Homecourt Challenge mode gets monotonous, the offline multi-player is where this game truly shines.

The lack of a true Franchise mode is still noticeable, but aside from the disappointing frame-rate issue and exceedingly long loading times, there's a lot to like here.

When the dust settles, SCEA San Diego has done something that few have ever seen – they produced a follow up that was as good as or better than the original classic.

This is a really good game for not only kids, but for adult gamers who want to share gaming with their children. If you’re a 21 year-old college kid looking for a game to play between keg-stands, this isn’t the one. If you’re looking for spot-on, photo-realistic NBA action, skip it. My daughter and I loved this game for the experience. It’s not about the AI, the graphics, or the animations. It’s what gaming should be about – fun. And when it’s family fun, well, that’s a huge bonus.

The most realistic and enjoyable basketball game on the market.

Sure, they could have done more with the two-year development cycle since the last release, but the game is worth a look for fans of the series and rookies alike.

I won’t sit here and tell you that the game is perfect. It’s close, but there are still holes. I thought the create-a-skater function that went with the Career/Story mode was painfully underdone.

There’s a heck of a lot more competition out there. But, what they do, they do very well. It’s a fun arcade racer in single player and a blast of an arcade racer online.

It’s the best game of soccer available on the “next-gen” console and one of the best soccer titles to date.

A good game of golf. A beautiful title on the Xbox 360 that should be used to sell HDTVs. A fun and deep experience on Xbox Live.

FIFA 07 will continue to make me a bigger fan.

I’ve just had so much fun with this game that it’s practically renewed my interest in PC racing single handedly.

Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball MAX’D made me do three things that I didn’t expect when I slid it into the PS2. First, I found myself watching some tournament paintball on ESPN2 last weekend. Second, I started the ball rolling on getting my softball team to sign on for a pre-season paintball outing in March of next year. And finally, I kept playing the game after I had enough time in to write my review.

I’m going to make this really simple: this is the greatest basketball game I’ve ever played. This is also the greatest one year leap I’ve ever seen in a series.