Having played practically all of the upcoming PlayStation 3 sports games, it's time for a Sixaxis progress report. I've been critical of the PS3's new controller in the past mainly for its bewildering lack of rumble features but, in the spirit of not looking back, I suppose it's time to finally accept the Sixaxis controller's tilt functionality and take a look look at how it will affect PS3 sports game. Here's how the upcoming crop stack up, with the standard disclaimer that the impressions here are based "unfinished" code and improvements can still be made. Best to remain optimistic, you see... 

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
How it Works: The Sixaxis controller is used to engage the spin of the ball in mid-air. You hold down the X button and then tilt the controller in the direction of the spin you wish to enact on the ball.
Bottom Line: Adding spin once a ball is in the air has always been a dubious concept in the Tiger Woods series, but the approach on the PS3 isn't any more or less intuitive than the old system. As with many of the tilt options described here, you can easily turn it off and go back to the old control setup if you wish.
The Future: There are lots of possibilities for golfing with the Sixaxis. Short of actually swinging the controller like a golf club, which would be dumb, one obvious possibility is to use the angle of the controller to serve as the angle of the club face as it strikes the ball. Tilt it upwards to get underneath the ball and add some loft, angle it down for a punch shot.

Madden NFL 07
How it Works: Out of all the EA Sports games, Madden makes the most use of the tilt controls. On offense, you can call a fake snap or control your lead blocking moves by moving the controller forwards or back. On defense, it's all about hit-stick moves and jumping the snap.
Bottom Line: The fake snap thing seems to be the best implementation so far but, regardless of context, you're still only moving the controller either backwards or forwards. Some variety of motion would spice things up.
The Future: Power and juke moves tied to the tilt controller are practically a foregone conclusion in future versions of PS3 Madden. Perhaps a pump fake move would make sense as well.

Fight Night Round 3
How it Works: Throw a head butt. Ram your knee into your opponent's soft bits. Jam an elbow in his grill. Go for the low blow. All of these illegal moves are controlled by jerking the PS3 controller either backwards or forwards.
Bottom Line: The moves are easy to control and loads of fun when you connect, but when's the ref going to step in and stop all of the cheating?
The Future: How about bobbing and weaving with the Sixaxis? Sounds good, right? Even better--find some way to make Fight Night's too-complicated counter system work with the new controller.

NBA 07
How it Works: You would expect a first-party Sony game to have a head start on the competition in terms of implementing the tilt controls and NBA 07 is a good example. You can spin, do crossovers, and juke moves, all by moving the controller in various directions.
Bottom Line: The biggest assortment of moves of any of the sports games I've played so far. Sony's NBA series has had its gameplay troubles over the years, so here's hoping the promising Sixaxis-enhanced controls are complemented with a decent basketball engine.
The Future: Well, free throws would be an obvious first choice. Wait, no, someone already got to that first…

NBA 2K7
How it Works: Channel your inner Steve Nash with the new free throw controls in NBA 2K7. Move the controller back, wait for the player's animation and, just at the right moment, snap the controller and the ball will drop through the hoop. Deep knee bends and pre-shot finger-licking optional.
Bottom Line: It's cool that the free throw controls are tied to each player's individual animation--which makes timing each player's shot different--but in the end, it's still just a free throw mechanic. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Future: Compared to the plentiful and intuitive controls in NBA 07, this seems like a paltry effort. We're waiting for the shot stick controls to move to the Sixaxis in future NBA 2K games.

NHL 2K7
How it Works: A tale of two control features. I could barely get the 2K-touted checking controls to work but the Sixaxis-enhanced crease control system is better than I expected, once I got used to it. Push the R3 button to go into first-person view then move the controller to position your goalie's vision cone. Once your opponent shoots, you aim your blocking cursor at the target icon to stop the shot. It takes some practice, but works as promised and is actually pretty fun.
Bottom Line: The goalie stuff works fine… the checking, not so much.
The Future: As with Tiger, there's a lot more you could do with the controls here. Face-offs, anyone? But, for now, I wouldn't mind some tweaks to the checking controls.