When it was originally announced, Backbreaker had built up a fair amount of buzz. As a new football IP, and one of the first games to license the Euphoria physics engine, gamers were cautiously optimistic. However, that was way back in 2008. Since then, there hasn't been a whole lot of information, good or bad, about the game. Sure, an iPhone version was released in September of last year, but that game is really little more than just a running simulator that incorporates Apple's accelerometer. All of sudden, though, the dried up river of news about the game is starting to trickle out a few drops. Towards the end of last year, we learned that the game had secured a publisher, and today a developer diary has been unveiled, showing off the most footage of the game we've yet seen.

Take a look:

Once I got past my initial shock of an American football game being created by a team of developers that sound like the cast of Trainspotting, I have to admit that I'm a bit leery of Backbreaker. As they say throughout the video, we've been playing football games for decades with a broadcast camera as the default look. To move the camera to a third-person point of view is a bold decision, and not one I'm sure is going to sit well with football fans. You'll notice that in the gameplay sections, the camera has a tendency to blur motion, as well as shake as though the Steadicam had never been invented. Honestly, after a few minutes of watching, I was starting to get a little bit nauseous. On the other hand, the way the game implements Euphoria to create dynamic on-field action (specifically the tackles), lends a level of reality to the game that has been lacking from Madden. The game is scheduled for release in May of this year, so I guess we'll just have to wait to find out if EA needs to watch their back.