Let's face it, a growing portion of gamers are becoming increasingly addicted to the thrill of competitive gaming. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I'm glad that developers are rewarding that behavior with progressively stable online matches and game modes.

But where does that leave the other half of sports gamers? The ones that would do anything to create an accurate representation of their favorite sport. Practically speaking, online gaming is never going to fill that niche - and we shouldn't expect it to. There will always be an opponent who fails to provide a realistic opposition. So, more or less, we (the single player gamer) are left with the CPU and AI components.

There's a whole argument to be had that developers are too concerned with pleasing the online crowd to focus on the CPU AI. Instead, let's just assume (probably unfairly) that developers pour every ounce of attention they have into creating a genuine and simulation-ready CPU. There is still this one, very important, detail that will always be overlooked as long as online competition is looked at as more important than single player gaming.

Variance. Who hasn't watched a game of NBA basketball where your team's best 3 point shooter doesn't miss any wide open shots? Who hasn't seen your team's starting center fling the ball over your QB's head at least once or twice? Who hasn't watched Tiger Woods miss a three foot putt, despite doing everything he could to making sure the read was correct? The answer is this: we have all seen these things. And yet, they are noticeably absent - or at the very least, misrepresented - in each and every sports game that we play.

This all boils down to competitive online play. It is nearly impossible to imagine a world where EA Sports would feel comfortable letting players go head-to-head online only to have some random act of variance affect the outcome of the game. And for those of us who want that simulation experience, that sucks. We are forced to reconcile with the fact that our values and wishes will always play second-string to the online community.

That said, there's a compromise to be found, here. Customization is the way of the future, and if developers can find a way to please both crowds (like having the option to toggle bad snaps on and off) then we will have officially reached a sports utopia. Until that day comes, it's really hard not to feel like us single player gamers aren't being overlooked.