Against NCAA Basketball, “Fringe” fell to a series low 1.3 in the ad demo and 3.8 million viewers overall. It landed in third place in its times lot. With this latest update in the season-long ratings saga for the beleaguered sci-fi drama, “Fringe” is now nearly certain to be canceled. While Fox President stirred the pot by saying “Fringe” might see a fourth season if it held 80 percent of its Thursday ratings, it has not done so, and its ratings have now sank 40 percent.

It’s time slot lead-in, “Kitchen Nightmares,” outdrew “Fringe” with a 1.5. “Kitchen Nightmares” is a reality show and thus far less expensive to produce.

CBS Friday was devoted to to the NCAA Tournament; those numbers are not final yet. ABC aired “Supernanny” and “What Would You Do;” NBC went with “Dateline” and a re-run of “Who do You Think You Are.”

Since most of the night was repeats, the Tourney or Reality, network averages are below.

CBS (Preliminary): 1.5 demo, 4.5 million viewers

Fox: 1.4 demo, 3.7 million viewers

ABC: 1.3 demo, 4.7 million viewers

NBC: 1.2 demo, 6.1 million viewers

Every year in the second half of March, sports nation explodes with what is arguably the most entertaining, and alluring sporting event of the year.‚  March Madness.‚  It is a time of skipping classes to watch your favorite team, a time to impossibly select the winners of every round, a time to waste valuable company time, to the tune of billions of dollars lost in productivity and wages alone, and a time to embrace the Cinderalla story and hope for the best.

Today you can watch the epic event everywhere you go.‚  Streamed to your mobile phone, your computer, and on every TV in every window of electronics stores, March Madness cannot be escaped.

So it comes as no surprise that Electronic Arts announced today a downloadable official NCAA tournament edition of its college basketball video game.‚  It was only a matter of time, it seems that every single other form of media has smothered the event.

Available exclusively on the Xbox 360 NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition will cost 1200 MS points ($15.00) and will be ready for download just in time for the start of the NCAA Tournament March 19^th.

NCAA Basketball will enable fans to replicate the entire NCAA Tournament and play through the “virtual bracket” with their favorite team under the same conditions they’ll face throughout March Madness.‚  Lead one of the 65 teams to Final Four glory at Ford Field in Detroit and finally, crown a champion, likely or unlikely, it’s your tournament.

The excitement surrounding March Madness is a feat in itself.‚  Every year offers a restored hope of “maybe this is the year my team wins,” or “maybe I’ll finally predict a perfect bracket.”‚  There is something refreshing, exciting, and gut-wrenching about this event, the likes that are comparable to none.

“We really wanted to make our game available to a wider selection of fans that are drawn to college basketball by the passion, excitement and drama that surrounds March Madness,” said Connor Dougan, Producer for NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition. “Fans will be able to experience the tournament, feel the adrenaline rush that comes with a single loss elimination tournament and write their own history.”

“Few sporting events capture the excitement and intensity of March Madness, so it’s great to be able to offer everyone a chance to play with NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition, an exclusive to Xbox LIVE and Xbox 360,” said Marc Whitten, General Manager of Xbox LIVE. “Xbox LIVE continues to break new ground, offering new ways to play and enjoy your favorite games and entertainment. With EA we are offering everyone a chance to experience a blockbuster game tailored specifically for March Madness in a way that has never been done before.”

Selection Sunday is not until March 18^th so the game will initially feature the teams from last year’s tournament, but on the 18^th immediately after the announcement, the accurate teams and ratings will find their way into the virtual brackets.

Emphasis will be placed on playing true to your team’s real life attributes, and with the help of authentic Division 1 in-game Coaches providing real time instruction and criticism, the sense of immersion will be incredible.

I always lose money I don’t have on March Madness, thankfully this year I’ll have fun doing it.

At worst, NCAA March Madness 2008 is a pretty solid game.

At best, NCAA March Madness 2008 is a pretty solid game. 

EA’s competitor with 2K’s College Hoops had high expectations. Fans of the relatively new series were disappointed in its predecessor, but anxious to see where EA would go with it this year. It’s an improvement, but they just didn’t go far enough.

The graphics are quite good. The atmosphere of a college basketball game could not have been captured any better. The fans constantly cheering and jeering, psyching out opposing teams while they are at the foul line, and the players actually look real. In this game; they actually have facial expressions depending on what they’re doing. It’s about as good as it’s gotten in a basketball video game.

The sound is another strong point. Voice-overs from Dick Vitale are good. He doesn’t just shot off a bunch of one-liners like in most sports simulation games. He has different ways of saying different things, and it doesn’t get too stale.

The gameplay has been revamped with more moves, especially in the post where players will find themselves able to move around freely. This is an improvement over what we saw in March Madness 07, which the game pretty much crumbled around.

The shooting system is also great — finally; a basketball simulation where luck doesn’t play the major role. Shots are hard to master, but when you get the system down, it becomes much easier.

You can also curve game physics around with sliders in the options menu, but physics is the biggest problem with this game.

The.

Game.

Is.

Slow.

It’s a ridiculously slow-moving game. The player movements are pretty choppy, and there is no turbo. Also, shot blocking is a near impossibility.

The online is good. It’s a mirror image of playing the game with a friend right next to you. As long as your friend is running broadband, lag isn’t an issue.

A huge array of playable teams, the best graphics to date on a basketball simulator game, and some great replay value are all huge pluses for this game, but March Madness 2008 suffers from poor gameplay that is just too slow. In the end, that’s going to be enough to sink this game from greatness.

Quick hits:

Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Sports
Platform:Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2
Launch Date: December 11, 2007

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars