Thumbs at the ready, Madden nation is ready to celebrate this week's release of Madden 08. Searches on the oh-so-popular football franchise are up 70% this week and have propelled the title to the top of video game buzz.

As you might expect, searchers are almost all dudes and many of them come from the no-mortgage age range of 13-29. Completing an entire season on the All-Pro level comes with an even higher degree of difficulty for those with bills and kids to worry about.

Gamers looking for the early line on revisions in this latest version are busy searching on "madden 08 reviews" and "madden 08 preview." Hardcore Madden-ites are curious about the game's intricacies and are searching for "madden 08 rosters" and "madden 08 player ratings."

While it's difficult to predict future Search events, we have a hunch there'll be spikes on "work excuses" and "sick days" thanks to the Madden phenomenon. We won't tell the boss...