Imagine the surprise on thousands of college football fans faces when they realized that in order to play the fully featured version of NCAA Football 2010, they'd have to pay an additional $20 on top of the $60 they just spent.

NCAA '10 features "Dynasty Accelerators", "Additional Team-Builder Slots", and "Maximum Player Training" for those willing to part with the dough for them. They're game play enhancers designed to give a resolute gamer an edge -- for a price. For about $1.87 a piece, or $12.50 for the entire "Dynasty Accelerator" pack, one can have a sizeable edge on their computer and online opponents.

EA sneakily released the features under-the-radar and the first time many heard about them was after they loaded the game. Many feel duped that they will now have to spend more money for the full NCAA 10 experience and now they are at a disadvantage to others for not buying said features.

So is it possible that the highly-anticipated NHL 2010 might feature similar microtransactions? There hasn't been any hard-news to suggest it, but EA's stealthy release of NCAA's features and track record could be hint at what's to come.

EA has pioneered the microtransaction market since the Xbox 360's release in 2005. Since then it's encompassed just about every game produced by the software giant. Microtransactions are usually for new levels, cars or guns, but EA has famously used this business model to sell items that were previously came for free such as jerseys and stadiums.

The 2010 class of EA Sports games is seemingly built around this microtransaction model with the recent release of Tiger Woods 2010 embracing it from the get-go.

Tiger Woods already features clubs, clothes and courses to purchase for those who don't want to spend the time to unlock them. Another instance was in FIFA 2009, where EA made gamers pay up in order to access key game play features such as dynamic AI for multiple user-controlled teams or real-time roster updates for each day.

Of course, if you don't absolutely need these features, what harm has been done? The controversy is that you're essentially paying for a feature twice. NCAA's "Dynasty Accelerator" is already installed on your disk -- you simply must pay to use it.

It's like buying an hamburger but having to pay a fee to take a bite into it. It's annoying and frustrating.

On top of that, the features are designed to give a gamer an advantage. So when you get beat 75-40 in football, don't come crying to me because you didn't want to pay more money to learn about the game!

The NHL series hasn't seen much in the way of downloadable content, but given NHL 2009's success, this year's release is much higher-profile than in the past. NHL 2010 is one of the most anticipated sports games of the year by non-puck heads and is already set to best the previous year's award-winning design.

So what does this all mean for the hockey gamers out there? Well, we could soon be paying for "In-depth Scouting Reports" or "GM Advisors". Keep in mind, EA just announced they're bringing fantasy draft back to NHL 2010 after a long, undeserved hiatus.

How much do you want to bet they market it as a "new" feature?

Let's just hope that paying for installed features isn't a part of the NHL 2010 experience.

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