Football fever is really building up here at OnSoftware Towers before the start of the NFL season on Sunday. This week we’ve been frantically installing and testing football iPhone apps and games (as well as wallpapers), all of which have got us fantasizing about Superbowl glory. A search for ‘NFL’ on the App Store will return plenty of results, but many of them are a bunch of crap. However, here’s a selection of the cream of the crop, covering NFL and NCAA news services, fantasy football drafts, and game simulations of the great sport.
NFL News
ESPN ScoreCenter – ESPN can always be depended on for unbiased NFL news and its scores and results app is no different. ESPN ScoreCenter keeps you right up to date with what’s happening in all the NFL games, providing comprehensive play-by-play updates, stats and roster information. You have the ability to ‘favorite’ your team so its news always appears on the front page of the app.
Pro Football Live – Unlike ScoreCenter which covers a range of sports, Pro Football Live is 100% dedicated to football. You can see live, endzone-to-endzone updates, and check the latest player stats in-game. Our favorite thing about the Pro Football Live app is the SmackTalk feature, which allows you to trash talk fans of rival teams, posting messages live throughout games.
FOX Sports Mobile – This impressive app keeps you posted on everything that’s happening in the world of NFL and NCAA football. The amount of content included in FOX Sports Mobile is incredible. As well as reading the latest news for your team, or for the leagues as a whole, the app provides stats, schedules, rosters, information about injuries, and video reports.
Fantasy Football assistants
Fantasy Football Cheatsheet ’10 – This great app helps you choose and track your fantasy football drafts so you can formulate a team of winners. Fantasy Football Cheatsheet ’10 offers a guide to more than 500 players in the NFL, offering AccuStat projections and stats, as well as profiles and details of any current injuries a player is carrying. The scoring system can be customized, meaning the application can be used with virtually any fantasy football league.
Yahoo! Fantasy Football ’10 – Yahoo!’s league is the most popular on the web, and this handy app allows you to keep a close eye on your progress wherever you go. It features a live scoring system, which adds a new dimension to Sunday afternoons by displaying your players’ performances in real time. You can also use the Yahoo! Fantasy Football app to manage your roster, check forthcoming match-ups and look at current standings.
Football games
Madden NFL 11 – The stalwart of American football games, Madden is now available for both iPhone and iPad. The game combines stunning graphics with realistic gameplay to produce arguably the most authentic football experience you’ll find on a smartphone. You’re able to play an exhibition, a full season, or just the play-offs. You can also take on your buddies over Bluetooth, which is great fun.
NFL 2011 – Probably the strongest rival to Madden on iOS, Gameloft’s NFL 2011 is a polished football sim where you can choose to play as any of the 32 official NFL teams. Gameplay is great fun and you’re aided by selection of more than 200 different plays. This can be expanding even further using NFL 2011’s playbook editor that lets you fine-tune your tactics.
Super Shock Football – For a different kind of NFL experience, check out Super Shock Football. This fun recreation of the classic electric football game charges you with the task of getting a bunch of randomly-moving players to score touchdowns and field goals. Guiding them in the right direction is equally tiring and rewarding, and the controls are easy to get used to. The graphics are fun and the real crowd noises add to the electric atmosphere.
