Get excited, people. Get very excited.

When 2K Sports announced that they were putting His Royal Airness on the box cover of their upcoming iteration of NBA 2K, the staff in the SI Kids office was so excited that we stood up out of our desk chairs, let our tongues hang out Jordan-style, and involuntarily did "the wave."

Hall of famer and all-time great Michael Jordan, a.k.a. Number 23, graces this year's cover, representing a departure for a series that historically has only put current phenoms--Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, etc.--on the front of the box. And we have to say: This box cover looks awesome.

With new versions of b-ball games being pumped out every 12 months, sometimes it's hard to keep all of the annual releases straight in your head.

The truth is, if you want to distinguish yourself, you've got to do something special. That's what 2K Sports did this year--something very special. 2K is going the nostalgic route this year by taking one of the greatest athletes of all time and putting him on the cover of their game: Michael Jordan.

Cars Race-O-Rama is made up of a lot of mini-games put together. I don't love that in this game, but other people might. What I love is the actual racing. It's very quick and clean, and keeping control of the car is easy. I think it's cool that you use different characters for the different racetracks. I found that the cars can be easier to control or faster than the others (even though I didn't really expect that), and that makes Race-O-Rama a whole lot more fun.

Videogame baseball fans: You are truly spoiled. Each year, baseball simulations get better (and better), but all you ever want to do is quibble over how the batting mechanics have been tweaked, or how the shoes on Albert Pujols “look a little funny” this year.

Truth is, you live in a golden age, an age when real-world stats can actually have an impact on what happens in the virtual world of MLB 2K10. It’s also an age when play-by-play and color commentary has gotten so sophisticated that you don’t even notice it anymore.

Case in point: John Kruk, Steve Phillips, and Gary Thorne do an incredible job of calling your games in 2K10. On a recent weekday morning, the Sports Gamer caught up with Mr. Thorne, and asked him what it’s like to call a virtual baseball game.

With the Super Bowl only a couple of days away now--the Sports Gamer is already preparing a big vat of chili--everyone in the world is offering up their predictions for the Big Game, including the Madden-makers at EA Sports. Once again, they've used this year's version of Madden--Madden NFL '10--to simulate a full four quarters of Super Bowl-caliber football.

The result...