Musings for a Wednesday afternoon:

• Finally! The NCAA Football 09 (PlayStation 3 version) cover athlete was announced; Matt Ryan, quarterback for Boston College. Whew - I was worried that EA might make a monumental gaffe by picking say, offensive lineman Jake Long of Michigan or something. Can you imagine what might have happened to their sales? I can - absolutely nothing. EA Sports has an exclusive NCAA football license, so if they spray-painted, “Let’s be honest - you don’t have any other options” across the front, they’d sell the exact same number of copies. Yet there’s still this overwrought song-and-dance about who’s picture is on the box. I’ve never understood it; I love college football as much as the next guy, but has anyone - ever - made a decision to purchase or not purchase a sports game based on the athlete pictured on the box? If so, I’d love to hear from you - you might be qualified for a job in Congress.

• Yeah, it’s a month old, but hearing All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday talk about his playing days - with RBI Baseball - is still worth a read.

• Lost Cities, one of many genius games by the estimable Reiner Knizia, has been converted to digital form and arrived on the Xbox Live Arcade. Knizia’s board and card games are often deceptive; simple in rules, but complex in regard to strategy. This one’s definitely worth the coin, but games like this make me lament the passing of the old Dreamcast controllers and their VMU (Virtual Memory Unit), which housed a tiny screen - perfect for online card games so one could play their friends in the same room.

• Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser speaks with 1Up.com about Grand Theft Auto IV, which releases next week. What’s more interesting is how he calls attention to the fact that the Xbox 360’s disc storage limitations are becoming a problem, but he insinuates that the concerns could be alleviated with mandatory hard drive usage. Regular readers of this site know that I’ve argued that the Xbox 360 Core system was a monumental mistake back in 2005, and now, even Microsoft’s publishing partners are joining the chorus. I’ve put a pre-order down for GTA IV on the Xbox 360, thinking that the online modes and forthcoming content over Xbox Live merit a purchase. But I’m seriously reconsidering it.

• Not all is bleak in the world of the Xbox 360, however. Partnering with Companions in Courage, a nonprofit organization founded by former Buffalo Sabre Pat LaFontaine, Microsoft is providing nearly 500 rolling Xbox 360 kiosks, pre-loaded with games, to childrens’ hospitals across the United States. After spending more than my share of time in hospitals as a youngster, the push to bring gaming into hospitals (Sony has been bringing PlayStations to childrens’ hospitals for years) has been brought to the fore by the incomparable Child’s Play Charity, and is welcome indeed. Kudos all around, people.