In this week’s Three Point Thursday, we take a look at the upcoming Madden NFL 09.

Point #1: As the only NFL game in town, the Madden NFL series has a responsibility to push the envelope.

Madden became the only kid left on the block when EA acquired the exclusive rights to the NFL’s video game license over three years ago. Like any rational person, I understand that the move was purely a business decision and there was nothing inherently unethical about the purchase, as the masses who scream of a monopoly protest. But while it comes down to the bottom line in the end, a company in this situation still has a responsibility to its customers to deliver the best product possible. The game will sell a ton of copies regardless of how good or bad it may be, as the appalling Madden NFL 06 effort on the Xbox 360 demonstrated. Despite this indisputable fact, you have to reason that it would sell even better if the game’s quality lived up to its titanic name. If that is the case, why not do everything possible to take the game to the next level, and give sports gamers what they’ve been begging for?

Point #2: The Madden NFL series has been a tremendous disappointment on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.

There is no denying that Madden has failed to live up to expectations in the three years since its move from the previous generation of systems. While the graphics made enormous strides in the transition, other elements of the game suffered immensely. The gameplay improved after the embarrassing Madden NFL 06, which marked the series’ arrival on the Xbox 360, but it has still fallen far short of reaching its potential. The presentation continues to resemble the games we played on the Sega Genesis, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who can explain the inclusion of the game’s radio announcer for three straight years. Top that off with the bland game modes and absence of online leagues, and you’re looking at the NFL video game version of the Knicks. Sure they look imposing in uniform, but who really cares when they struggle with the most fundamental aspects of the game?

Point #3: We have a few reasons to be hopeful about Madden NFL 09.

We’ve already established that Madden has disappointed on the new generation of consoles, but it’s hard to deny that each edition has improved at least marginally on the previous one. When you ignore the stale features and presentation and instead look solely at the graphics and gameplay the progress becomes even more pronounced. We can hope that this trend continues with Madden NFL 09, and the early whispers on this year’s game give credence to that belief. Last week’s declaration from audio director Aubrey Hodges that we’ll finally have new commentators this year – “some of the biggest names in the business” – suggests that at least one monumental change is in the works.

The Point: Let’s be cautiously optimistic about Madden NFL 09.

This series has let us down time and time again over the last few years, so we shouldn’t get too excited about these early revelations. I know a lot of us are desperate for a good NFL video game, but lofty expectations will only lead to more disappointment. It’s far too early to make any kind of accurate predictions about how the game will turn out this year – we haven’t even seen a features list yet. However, people expecting the series to undergo a massive transformation in one year to turn into a next generation NFL 2K5 – or even to fully realize the potential of a “next generation Madden” – will find themselves upset once again when August rolls around, so temper your expectations now.