It's the beginning of August. Call it a feeling, but I'm sure that if I were to walk into a GameStop right now to pick up Dead Rising, I'm pretty sure there'd be some poor bastard wearing an NFL jersey trying every trick in the book to get me to pre-order Madden 07. That book was probably written by some corporate asshat with no clue about video games whatsoever, but a lot of savvy about profit margins. But it's a testament to one thing: The Madden Effect is in full swing right now.

I wrote an incarnation of this column a year ago, on my first week at GameSpy. However, as I got caught in the day-to-day of learning the ropes and going to my first few press events, it fell to the wayside. Don't get it twisted; I'm hardly an EA shill. Read any of my FIFA reviews for 360 if you don't believe me. I do, however, marvel at how much a game that I still can't freaking play has become a cultural event every single year; word of mouth is still stronger than the millions spent on advertising. But with Shaun Alexander replacing Donovan McNabb on the cover, and another year passing, I thought that it would be a good time to grab the ball and run it in-zone for some yardage.

Remember when Madden 2001 was next-gen?

The reason for that opening paragraph is a personal one. I used to be that poor bastard working behind the counter. On my last day, I printed out an internal company e-mail listing irrational comebacks for customer objections to pre-ordering Madden, including things as ridiculous as convincing a Halo fanboy why he would enjoy pigskin, or why someone who is buying Shrek 2 for their five-year-old should also pre-order some NFL action. Sadly, I lost it, or I might've reprinted the most despicable of them. It still reminds me, though, that August is most gaming retailers' first Christmas of the year. All because of one game.

So, why am I talking about Madden in a State of the Station column? Let's face it: For this generation, Madden's unofficial home has been PS2. No matter what the year, from the system's 2000 launch to last year, Madden on PS2 has always been an NPD chart-topper. Why do you think that game store employees begrudgingly suggest pre-ordering on Super Bowl Sunday? We all know it's ridiculous, but it's because Madden drives hardware sales, and the suits in Grapevine, Texas, demand it. Besides the holiday season, July and August are some of the top months of the year for game console sales. Football fans know what comes out in July and August.

Let's go back to that monumental year in gaming, 2004. Remember how hard it was to find a brand new PS2 in the period between August and the October launch of the slimline PS2? The reason that hardware was tough to find after August? It was partly because Sony had discontinued the bulkier models. But is it safe to say that Madden played a heavy role in that? I think so. One could argue that NFL 2K5 took a chunk out of Madden's sales, but that's another column completely, and while I can talk all night, I can't vouch for your collective attention spans.