Sony, 2K, and EA all released their NBA titles for the 2007-2008 season this week. The jury is still out on Sony's latest offering, but DSM is feeling lukewarm about Live, and as for 2K...Well that review won't show up until next week, but hint hint, we're impressed. However, this is the roundup, and so it's time to get to all the major digital sports news that released during this first week of October. So in this edition DSM will be covering College Hoops 2K8, Go! Sports Ski, Football Manager 2008, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, MLB Power Pros, MLB 2K7, FIFA 08, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, Madden NFL 08, NBA Live 08, and NBA 2K8.

Firstly let's talk about the aforementioned basketball games. While DSM feels Live 08 is just average, we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't seek out and read other opinions. And one very well written and in-depth opinion on Live 08 comes from Shawn Drotar over at 5w-g. It's not a review, but rather a look at what worked and what didn't work this year in Live 08.

The Live 08 coverboy, Gilbert Arenas, is also making an appearance in the roundup this week. He doesn't talk about Live much at the MTV Multiplayer blog, but for anyone who doesn't already know, Agent Zero is an avid gamer and blogger. For example, this weekend he will be staying up 48 hours straight to play Halo 3 multiplayer. That's dedication folks.

NBA 2K8 fans who own more than one next generation console might want to head to GameTrailers and check out the video comparing the PS3 and 360 versions of the same game. Personally, I find it hard to see a difference visually, but I'll let gamers make their own decisions.

The other 2K Sports hoops game also made an appearance in the news this week. College Hoops 2K8 emerged from the shadows, and 2K released some information about new features that will be included in the game this year -- specifically the All-American Training Challenge and the 6th Man Advantage.

Here is an excerpt from the College Hoops 2K8 press release explaining the features:

In the All-American Training Challenge, players will be able to improve their game skills by competing in passing, shooting, and defensive tests against former college basketball standouts like Mike Conley Jr. of Ohio State, Julian Wright of Kansas, Glen “Big Baby” Davis of LSU, Alando Tucker of Wisconsin, Al Thornton of Florida State, J.J. Redick of Duke, and College Hoops 2K8 cover athlete, Greg Oden of Ohio State. Gamers can progress through the challenge drills against these great players while tracking their best times and highest scores in the game. With multiplayer support for up to four players, gamers can compete against their friends to see who has the best College Hoops skills.

College basketball fans will truly feel the benefit of playing in front of a frenzied crowd—be it at home or in a neutral tournament venue—with the 6th Man Advantage where the energy of a team’s fans can motivate a team to play harder and with more confidence. During a game, the 6th Man Meter measures the current energy and excitement level of the crowd. By scoring often, playing good defense, and raising the excitement level of the crowd, the 6th Man Meter will rise. Once the meter is full, the home team will gain the advantage of playing with less fatigue for a brief period while the opposing team will start to lose confidence in their playing ability. The 6th Man Advantage delivers a realistic element with how a great crowd can inspire their team to victory.

Baseball fans are now enjoying the MLB playoffs -- and Padres fans are probably still trying to drink away their memories of that one game playoff -- but 1UP and GameTrailers are giving baseball fans a reason to pay attention to video game baseball once again. 2K's MLB Power Pros arrived this week on the Wii and PS2, and GT posted some new videos here and here. If you don't know much about Power Pros, then listen up. The game is sim-based even though it looks more like a Backyard Baseball game, and has been a successful title in Japan for over 10 years. Early impressions DSM has read seem more positive than negative, so it may be a game to at least rent if you're in need of yet another baseball fix.

1UP simmed the MLB playoffs virtually in MLB 2K7 and picked a Mr. October at every position based on the stats from the simmed games.

Fans of the Madden Nation television show will be happy to know that the third season will start airing October 9th. Xbox Evolved posted the press release of the announcement. Here is an excerpt from the press release.

ESPN and Electronic Arts will present the third season of Madden Nation – a reality series taking fans inside the world of Madden NFL football competitive gaming. Airing as back-to-back episodes on Tuesdays, beginning October 9 (11 and 11:30 pm. ET on ESPN2), the eight-episode series will pit the nation’s top 13 Madden NFL 08 gamers – each representing a real-life NFL player sponsor – against each other in elimination-style tournaments. NFL stars Matt Leinart, Larry Johnson, and Steven Jackson will be among the players featured during the gamers’ nine-city bus tour. The finale, which takes place in New York City’s Times Square, will be televised Tuesday, Oct. 30, with the Madden Nation winner claiming a $100,000 prize.

Playstation 3 owners may have noticed that a new game has found its way onto the PSN, Go! Sports Ski -- but before ponying up the dough for this over the top skiing game people should check out IGN's review of the game. Yep, it would be wise to save the dough if you trust IGN's review of Go! Sports Ski.

North American soccer fans only have to wait one more week before FIFA 08 is released. Nonetheless there's still information being released, at least as it relates to the Wii version of FIFA 08. Brad Porteous, FIFA 08 (Wii) Lead Producer/Designer explained the Wii controls at GamesRadar this week. In the blog he explains the Family Play controls as well as the Advanced controls.

Soccer fans awaiting Football Manager 2008 also have some more information to check out this week. Gamespot has posted a Q&A with Sports Interactive's managing director, Miles Jacobson. Also FM 2008 has gone gold and will release October 19th on PC and at a later date for the XBOX 360.

The depth of the FM games has always boggled my mind, and facts like these are the reason why:

The game features individual data and statistics gathered by a small army of researchers on about 300,000 players and coaches, and the development team is so confident that its database is accurate that it is releasing a list next week of 20 almost unheard-of youngsters it tips for success.

Tony Hawk fans only have two more weeks to wait until Proving Ground releases. This week IGN posted some images of the DS version of the game, and also posted a hands-on with the game. The guys at ConsoleMonster also posted a Q&A with Brian Bright, Project Lead, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. The Q&A deals with the XBOX 360 version of the game.

Real world WWE wrestling was turned upside down this week when the now former WWE Champion John Cena suffered an injury which will keep him out a minimum of 6 months. In the same way real wrestling was turned upside down, the career and general manager modes have been turned upside down and in fact dropped for the new 24/7 mode in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008. IGN and CVG have the scoop on how this new mode will work, as well as the positives and negatives of the new mode. 

That's all for now, see you all next Friday for the next installment of the Weekly News Roundup.