Yesterday afternoon, Acclaim showed several members of the press the latest regarding its newest installment of Quarterback Club. The game is slated for release on the PS2 sometime this year, and Acclaim was pleased to announce that the series is back in its hands, not to mention eager to show the press the state of the game's progress.

　　Many will undoubtedly remember the poor reviews that the High Voltage-developed Quarterback Club 2001 received. Acclaim, rabidly eager to bring the series back to where it was in the mid-'90s, is developing the next installment in-house, and it was not modest about the game's feature set.

　　The game will include, most notably, the series' namesake Quarterback Challenge mode, which has been absent from the series since 1995. The QB Challenge mode, which is based on the famous event devised by a handful of NFL quarterbacks' marketing teams, pits top quarterbacks from the NFL against each other in a series of events revolving around what they do best - throwing footballs.

　　While the game was not shown in motion, Acclaim did demonstrate some of the game's elements to the press members present. A mostly complete stadium - whose final form will boast 23,000 polygons - was shown, along with a fully rendered 3,000-polygon player. Both looked very impressive, with the player model easily rivaling those found in Madden 2001. The stadium's richly textured grass was also of particular note.

　　Acclaim also went on to describe QBC 2002's improved play-calling system. Based on the NFL's actual process for devising plays, QBC's system will be three-pronged, allowing would-be coaches to construct custom plays by manually configuring their lines, assigning coverage, and devising blitzes and stunts.

　　Acclaim was also quick to point out that Quarterback Club 2002 will enjoy twice the development time of its predecessor and that it's in the hands of a team twice as large as the ones for previous games in the series. Finally, the Acclaim representatives mentioned that Quarterback Club 2002 will feature some kind of Internet play, but they neglected to elaborate on what that feature will entail.

　　Quarterback Club 2002 is scheduled for release sometime this year. Look to GameSpot for continuing coverage.