IMO, SKATE was absolutely the best sports game last year. The graphics were ok, but the physics were pretty right on.
But, for basketball and football, and...soccer...and golf, where was the leap forward? I'm not talking about being able to be tackled by 2 lineman at once. Remember the MADDEN CG trailer for 2006, which was said to be the goal? What happened?! And one question for EA about basketball: What was so wrong with the realistic look of LIVE'06? Why did they change it to a more cartoony look?
And NBA 2K8?!!!!! What's with those bugged out eyes?! After seeing such shooters as GOW, GRAW, and COD4-such realism, sports games have got to catch up. Although, MLB 2K7 looked great last year! And I wasn't even into baseball games, until I saw it. I didn't buy it because the gameplay wasn't quite there to match the great graphics. But, I'm really looking forward to it this year! Are sports games much harder to develop? I would think no, because it's not like there needs to be so much detail to different levels. And, do we really need 30 year Franchise modes, or Office mode? Personally, I don't care for all of the detail in stadiums. Just put all of the power into realistic animations and gameplay. What matters most is what's going on on the court, or field. I would gladly welcome crappy backgrounds for great looking players and gameplay. One exception is FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3-which achieved greatness. So how could the ball be dropped so far on the other majors?! I say, no more cartoon characters, unless they're on a XBL retro arcade game. It's time for sports games to grow up! EA says: It's in the game! So prove it again, please!
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/625/625795/every-360-game--20050617055555718-000.jpgRemember this?


http://img.hexus.net/v2/gaming/nba/nba3_small.jpg
What was wrong with this look?


http://www.ps3station.com/pictures/48/Fight-Night-Round-3-001.jpg All grown up!

I just picked up fight night again today. Still a fun fun game.

I just picked up fight night again today. Still a fun fun game.Fight Night Round 3 is one of the few EA Sports games that I ever crossed my "EA picket line" to purchase. It is every bit the amazing title that the reviews made it to be, and incredibly fun to play. RIP EA Chicago ... you were pretty much the only justification there was for the existence of Electronic Arts as a company.

I wanna see a Unreal Engine 3 developed sports game.

New sports IP's:
NFL TOUR-januuary
FIFA STREET 3-february
MLB 2K8-march
DON KING PRESENTS:PRIZEFIGHTER-Q2
NBA BALLERS:CHOSEN ONE-Q2

FIFA 08 and NHL 08 are both big steps forward in terms on gameplay. In fact the FIFA 08 developer said that he took power from graphics to improve the pyhsics.

posty's right, NHL 08 is a big step forward. The others not so much. I have fight night and it is a great game. Wish I could config the controller how I want to so I could use my joystick with it (jesus H xmas I'm getting sick of saying this for ever game). MLB 2k7 was gorgeous, but I agree the gameplay is strange. It seems like it can't get out of its own way at times, hard to explain. And the baserunning? Terrible. Remember RBI baseball? Hit up and b to go to second :confused:. Now we need 10 different ways and buttons to run the bases. I'd like to see Links come back. That was fun, and I guess the BIGS was a lot of fun too.

Budget is one of the biggest obstacle with getting better graphics. The development time is also an issue. Sports franchises are expected to make a game every year which doesn't leave a lot of time to reinvent the wheel.

Of course the biggest issue is sports fans are not using their wallet to voice their displeasure with the lack of progress.

I want MVP Back :(
I try to play MVP Baseball 2005 on the 360, since it SAYS it's compatible with the 360, but every time I load it with the update it says incompatible :(

I'm waiting for EA sports to finally figure out how to make a good game again. There is no excuse why Tiger Woods 2004 was the most awesome game ever, and 2006-2008 completely blow and STILL dont have as much content as 2004 had. Its baffling to me.

Budget is one of the biggest obstacle with getting better graphics. The development time is also an issue. Sports franchises are expected to make a game every year which doesn't leave a lot of time to reinvent the wheel.

Of course the biggest issue is sports fans are not using their wallet to voice their displeasure with the lack of progress.

Good point. Doing it every year is a challenge, and gamers must speak with our wallets. We must! But, I dont't understand EA and other developers making such drastic changes, trying to fix things when there's nothing broken. As I said about LIVE 06, it was realistic looking, then the next year it was totally cartoonish. And MADDEN 2004 is highly recognized as the best of the series.I totally agree. That was the year that introduced pointing and leading your receiver to certain spots. That was great! Then the next year it was gone bye-bye. But, we did get a flashlight. :confused: I didn't play much of sports games at all last year (except for SKATE, and MADDEN before I returned it). Fine, I was busy with all of the great shooters. But, I'm nervous about this year. They'll be more great shooters and other genres to pick from, but I really miss good sports gaming. And actually, it 's not fair for me to point to all sports games, because I don't play soccer, and I've heard good things about WINNING ELEVEN. But basketball, football and baseball, and golf have got to bring it. We won't even get a FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4, so here's to hoping DON KING'S PRIZEFIGHTER fills those gloves well. But really, all sports games need to step it up, IMO.

In LIVE 08, every time I play the demo, I can plainly see the shot sort of hang in the air. And the players still don't quite grip the rim. It's basic issues like that that should be non-existent by now! I won't even start on MADDEN right now.:(

I haven't played Madden since 01 on PS2. Traditional sports games (Madden, NBA, MLB, etc.) just plain suck from a technical standpoint compared to the other titles out there. That and it sounds cliche but it really is a $60 yearly investment for basically what could be done in a patch upgrade. skate. rocks though and games like SSX, etc.

Last gen, sports games composed around 60% of all my game purchases. This gen, that number is down to 20%. Sports games are not progressing as much as other genres, and in many cases, they have regressed from last gen. The only current sports series that I still enjoy is NBA 2k, and even this game has only marginally improved over the past few years. I have also been boycotting baseball games since EA lost the MLB license because I still have not found a game that exceeds MVP 2005.

Budget is one of the biggest obstacle with getting better graphics. The development time is also an issue. Sports franchises are expected to make a game every year which doesn't leave a lot of time to reinvent the wheel.

Of course the biggest issue is sports fans are not using their wallet to voice their displeasure with the lack of progress.

Somebody has been paying attention.... :D

Agreed on all fronts. I have a real goodie for you guys check out this game, 100% real physics controlled football game. Every tackle is different.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/814/814249p1.html


SIIIICK

That looks really cool, thanks for sharing. Yeah, now I don't have to play with my coveted Jaguars anymore. I no longer care about playing in the pro leagues. I just want a great, innovative football game. EA wanted the pro license so bad, and look what they did with it (nothing). So, maybe it's time to move on to a new league. Although, no uniforms can beat the Jags teal and black.

Everyone spread the word for a national wait and see with MADDEN 09. No one buy on the first day, until we rent or play the demo. Spread the word. This trusting relationship is over. They've let us down for the last few years, and enough is enough! Boycott!

^
...must buy... madden... again....

j/k

i want someone to ressurect HIGH HEAT BASEBALL for the 360 !!!!

i want someone to ressurect HIGH HEAT BASEBALL for the 360 !!!!

+1. The original was to baseball games what Forza is to driving games. The closest thing to baseball sim there was. No flames on line drives, no 20 home run games, it was great.

We won't even get a FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4


Huh,there's no Fight night round 4?Why...?

Huh,there's no Fight night round 4?Why...?

EA shut down the studio responsible for the Fight Night games. I think they gave the franchise to their Canadian branch, which did the PS3 port, but I haven't heard anything about a FN4. Strange since that's a really popular game and must've sold a ton of copies.

I still like FN3, but everything about it is so half-assed -- the career mode, the rings, some of the character models, the corner, etc.

Has anyone heard more about the Don King boxing game outside that press release?

stupid question but is 2K8 for 360 able to compete with 4 people? 2v2 or 4player co-op?

The main guy behind FNR3 (Kudo whatever his last name is) said in an interview that there is will be no FNR4 untill they can take the graphics up a BIG notch or the game itself can be revolutionized again.

I think this was in major nelson's podcast, possibly oxm weekly podcast.

The main guy behind FNR3 (Kudo whatever his last name is) said in an interview that there is will be no FNR4 untill they can take the graphics up a BIG notch or the game itself can be revolutionized again.

I think this was in major nelson's podcast, possibly oxm weekly podcast.

Kudo was fired, but I guess that could still be true with EA Canada.

They've had about two years now since the 360 version of FN4 came out. You'd think they could pull something together.

I'll add my $.02 -- I've played sports games since the Sega Genesis days. Sports Talk Football, NHLPA hockey -- those were great games. Honestly, other than NHL 08, I haven't played any good console sports games in a long, long time.

I pretty much agree with the OP's overall post. Sports gaming isn't where it should be in next gen consoles. I think your point about the bug-eyed characters in NBA 2K8 is valid, but it doesn't hurt the game that badly for me. I rented it and found the gameplay and animation quality to be of next-gen status, but I'm not a fan of pro basketball.

I picked up College Hoops 2K8 and I've got to say that it's the best console sports game I've ever played. College basketball rules yield a much more satisfying game, plus I like the atmosphere and less watered down season in the college game. In still screen shots, it's average at best, but in motion, I think it more than gets the job done. The roster sharing feature is the capper for me. It's so cool to be able to download the complete rosters for all the teams in one file. This is the kind of innovation we need in next-gen games.

The next-gen football games have been dreadful, IMO. I'm still playing NCAA Football 2004 on the PS2 for most of my football gaming thrills.

I'm even more disappointed in golf. The Tiger Woods series is still way to arcadey and short-sighted in its feature set and interface design. Links 2004 for the XBox remains the best console golf game ever made. I play Tiger Woods 08 because it's my only next-gen choice and golf is my favorite video game sport. I still think Links 2004 in b/c mode is more fun to play though.

Baseball? Forget about it... MVP 2005 puts any of the MLB 360 games to shame. I haven't tried it in b/c mode yet, but I will come April when I'm ready to play some baseball again (I'm very seasonal about sports games).

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 might be the Winning Eleven 8 of 360 soccer games when it hits. PES 2007 came close, but was a bit stripped down. FIFA? Don't make me laugh.

Not a fan of hockey or hockey games so I can't comment on those. NHL 2008 sounded like it made some favorible impressions though.

Racing? This is almost as bad a state of affairs as golf, IMO. Nothing on the 360 approaches the quality and flexibility of TOCA 2 or 3 on the XBox. NASCAR 2008... are you kiddin' me!? NASCAR Heat 2002 on the XBox kills this game! Forza 2 needs a full cockpit view and better damage modelling. And why can't a broadband next-gen console handle more than 8 racers online? My Pentium 3 computer with a Dial-up moded handled 43 racers online in NASCAR 2002 for goodness sake!

Baseball? Forget about it... MVP 2005 puts any of the MLB 360 games to shame. I haven't tried it in b/c mode yet, but I will come April when I'm ready to play some baseball again (I'm very seasonal about sports games).


MLB 08 The Show was a great baseball game. First one I've purchased in years. They made a fun single player experience.

IMO, SKATE was absolutely the best sports game last year. The graphics were ok, but the physics were pretty right on.
But, for basketball and football, and...soccer...and golf, where was the leap forward? I'm not talking about being able to be tackled by 2 lineman at once. Remember the MADDEN CG trailer for 2006, which was said to be the goal? What happened?! And one question for EA about basketball: What was so wrong with the realistic look of LIVE'06? Why did they change it to a more cartoony look?
And NBA 2K8?!!!!! What's with those bugged out eyes?! After seeing such shooters as GOW, GRAW, and COD4-such realism, sports games have got to catch up. Although, MLB 2K7 looked great last year! And I wasn't even into baseball games, until I saw it. I didn't buy it because the gameplay wasn't quite there to match the great graphics. But, I'm really looking forward to it this year! Are sports games much harder to develop? I would think no, because it's not like there needs to be so much detail to different levels. And, do we really need 30 year Franchise modes, or Office mode? Personally, I don't care for all of the detail in stadiums. Just put all of the power into realistic animations and gameplay. What matters most is what's going on on the court, or field. I would gladly welcome crappy backgrounds for great looking players and gameplay. One exception is FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3-which achieved greatness. So how could the ball be dropped so far on the other majors?! I say, no more cartoon characters, unless they're on a XBL retro arcade game. It's time for sports games to grow up! EA says: It's in the game! So prove it again, please!


You bring up some GREAT ****in points. I for one could care less about the 74 different modes of which to play the game. And I'm not making that generalized blanket statement for everyone. But I beleive for most gamers.. if they concentrated soley on the the single player or multiplayer VS departments the game would be alot more rewarding visually.

Id guesstimate 75% of all sports titles are played like this. You vs. CPU quick game, You vs. your Friend quick game, You vs. CPU season mode and finally You & Friend vs. Online MP from around the world.

So why not concentrate 75% of your efforts when developing and tweaking the game towards that. As you said the stadiums and stuff look great.. but thats not who I'm throwing or passing the ball too.

Give me the FightNight3 graphics, entirely too realistics animations, and good ole fashioned proven gameplay (without the 59 combinations I can do by pressing the 10 different buttons on the controller) and I'm happy.

My favourite sport games were always on Sega Genesis.. Coach K Basketball and Bill Walsh College Football.. And I loved it mainly because of the controller and the simplicity. 3 buttons. Turbo, Pass, Shoot.. in Basketball.. and it football Turbo, Spin, Hurdle.

(I must admit though.. the whole 2K series on Dreamcast and Xbox really was the best Sports Games I've ever experience.. it combined the best graphics, animations and gameplay).

MLB 08 The Show was a great baseball game. First one I've purchased in years. They made a fun single player experience.

I have MLB 06 The Show for the PS2 and it is indeed a fine game. Too bad we'll not get this series on the 360 :(

Nothing beats Super Tecmo Bowl on the old NES. I still play it on my PC Emulator. The stats, gameplay. It was really easy to pickup and play.

Today's sports games have WAY too many controls. It takes the fun out of playing the game.

Hope Tecmo and MS can strike a deal and get the Tecmo series to the 360. If they execute it right, it could become the greatest sports game on the next gen console ala Halo 3.

i wish they'd come up with a simple baseball game, even on XBL arcade, that's like the old nintendo baseball games (or does anyone remember Neo Geo's Baseball Stars?) these games were great because they only worried about pitches curving left and right (no up/down). with that, they could make the pitches go very fast and you could still have a way to hit and direct the bat at the same time. when you go up and down, you need the shadow of the ball for depth perception and it's just too hard for most, and you end up doing the auto-bat-aim and just hit the button to hit for timing.

Nothing beats Super Tecmo Bowl on the old NES. I still play it on my PC Emulator. The stats, gameplay. It was really easy to pickup and play.

Today's sports games have WAY too many controls. It takes the fun out of playing the game.

Hope Tecmo and MS can strike a deal and get the Tecmo series to the 360. If they execute it right, it could become the greatest sports game on the next gen console ala Halo 3.original Tecmo Bowl too. And Double Dribble... and lets not forget Bases Loaded and Mike Tyson's Punch out. Those were the glory days.

As for co-op in 2K8, Live doesn't even have it yet. I don't know if that was some lie to get people to buy it..? well it worked on me :mad:

I was one of those 'buy the latest NBA game year in year out' people.I was originally a Live fan from the Genesis days,then switched to 2k when dreamcast hit and been buying 2k ever since(I did break that with Live 04 and 05 for xbox). Last year I decided to skip,I've simply become tired of paying full price for games with little discerning features year in,year out.2k in particular has been using the same engine for years,so it's just a matter of adding the rookies,a new dunk,a few new animations.It's not like they're building from the ground up.Admittedly there's only so much you can do with sports games,but even still price them accordingly.

Admittedly there's only so much you can do with sports games,but even still price them accordingly.

Absolutely. Honestly, it would be better to have one game and then just update the roster every year.

The game itself doesn't really change enough to warrant a full dollar (or even $30) purchase.

Absolutely. Honestly, it would be better to have one game and then just update the roster every year.

The game itself doesn't really change enough to warrant a full dollar (or even $30) purchase.

I recall at the tail end of the last generation,2k priced their 2005 sports games at $19.99,the reason I think they gave had to do with the fact that they were pretty close to maxing out what could be done on the consoles at that time(xbox,PS2).

I really can't justify spending $60 on a sports game nowadays.Mind you,I can count on one hand the amount of games I've bought period at that price.With the software price increase,I've become much pickier about what I buy.Back on topic,I see that both NBA 2k8 and Live 08 have dropped to $40,so maybe I'll bite but I'll likely skip 2K9 unless they completely reinvent the wheel.

Kudo was fired, but I guess that could still be true with EA Canada.

They've had about two years now since the 360 version of FN4 came out. You'd think they could pull something together.
There's a guy I know who posts on a boxing forum I'm one of the admins on (Maxboxing.com for all you fight fans out there) and he worked for EA Chicago. He told me a few months ago that the FN series was on hiatus because EA feels that since Boxing doesn't have a "season" like other sports, there is no need to release a new one every year, or two years, or whatever.

Fight night looked great, but the gameplay was broken to the point where I wonder if the guys that worked on it were truly boxing fans.

As for everything else, I will say that I personally do need a 30 year franchise mode and things of the such. One of the main gripes about fight night Round 3 was it's terrible "career" mode. I like sports games to be complex and immersive outside of the main element of the game. Off-season, recruiting modes, training, etc... all of that makes the game for me.

I'm starting to agree with you dragon. I've bought Madden every year for the past 8 years, qand for the most part, there's really not a whole lot of difference between the '08 and '00 versions. Which, when you sit back and think about it, is pretty ridiculous. I mean really, what has truly changed over the past 10 years in that franchise? Prettier graphics? That should be assumed. Updated rosters? Sweet! QB vision, Playmakers, build-a-stadium, etc. etc.? Add-ons that may or may not make the next version.

I don't know what can be done differently, but then again, I don't do that for a living :). Just showing an effort being put forth for your customers would be great.

I don't know what can be done differently

I do! STOP with all of the goofy add-ons and new, wacky, useless features!!! MADDEN 08 is full of unbalanced, and plain terrible gameplay. There's way too many questionable fumbles and interceptions. On some of those two-handed catches, the player actually slides into position to catch the ball. HE SLIDES!!! Those supposedly amazing 1 handed catches happen waaay too much! Not to mention, the big tackling innovation is only 2 players. 2 PLAYERS!!!!
Even with such obvious, underdeveloped gameplay they decided to forego any corrections, and more effort towards the gameplay, and give us a....(sigh)...feature to make rings. RINGS!!!!!!!!!!! WHO GIVES A F%$# ABOUT MAKING A RING?!!!!!!!!!!!! AND, WHO CARES ABOUT THAT DAMN FLASHLIGHT?!!!!!!!!!!! (EA)IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :mad: :eek: :eek:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!..........

I for one dont understand the logic behind many sports gamers. If you are unhappy with the quality of titles that EA sports craps out every year, why do you continually purchase them? They practically have the market by the balls with all the licenses they have locked up, which allows them to release the same titles year after year touting some lame new feature or mode, when the core gameplay is practically broken. If you guys really want better games, stop supporting them and hold off on buying every yearly installment of a game, or maybe even *gasp* pick up a title from 2k, Konami, or Sony.

Anyways heres some sweet shots of MLB 08 the show, which I think show off what a "current gen" sports title should look like:

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/844/844654/mlb-08-the-show-20080109053657217.jpg
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/844/844317/mlb-08-the-show-20080108035833269.jpg
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/844/844317/mlb-08-the-show-20080108035850612.jpg
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/844/844654/mlb-08-the-show-20080109053702764.jpg
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/842/842425/mlb-08-the-show-20071218071421287.jpg

^ I stopped supporting EA's sports offerings years ago,ending with Live 2005.The last madden game I bought was 2002.So when I see the same thing over and over again,I do stop buying the games.It's just the nature of sports games,I guess there's only so much you can change on a yearly basis. The last major innovation in NBA 2K was the shot stick back in 2k6.My main argument is that they shouldn't retail for $60.

Hardcore sports gamers want to have the latest rosters,noone wants to play with outdated teams.These companies feed off that.The other thing is,12 years ago I had more disposable income than today,so it was easier to get sucked into buying the annual sports games.Actually,I wouldn't say my disposable is less,more that I have a greater sense of value for my money as I've gotten older.I don't see the value in habitually spending $60 bucks on games that improve in small increments yearly.Plus to make matters worse,sports games have the lowest resale value.Try selling your sports nut buddy a copy of Madden 2006,or take it to gamestop,so they offer you 50 cents for it.

I love that shot of the Granderson homer :) I thought MLB 08 was a Sony-only game, is that true? I really liked MLB 2K7, hopefully this years' edition makes some necessary tweaks.

I guess I am, or maybe used to be, one of those gamers who needed to have the updated rosters, so I buy the same game every year. I'm really getting tired of doing this, and the great titles that have been coming out lately in other genres may keep me from buying Madden 09.

changing topic back to madden, when did they remove madden and michaels from the booth? Thankfully I only paid 20 bucks for madden 08 for my 360, but the fact that they are not announcing, kind of ticks me off.

yea, he had stupid repetive phrases, but at least it was something consistent from year to year. I think now you only hear him during the ask madden play selection.

Can't wait for 09, when the NFL license expires with EA, and hopefully Tecmo steps in and locks in a deal.

I'm not certain Tecmo can fully replace or compete with the Maddens or 2Ks. We've only seen arcade sports titles from Tecmo. They are great in their own respect, but they are side scrolling hail mary fests. Be a nice change of scenery, but I'd have to wait and see what they can actually do with a "sim" football game.

Speaking of "sim"... that's what these Sports games are missing. TRUE simulation (to the level of a Forza2) Real injuries, where you choose whether to send players for surgery, or have them play hurt. Off-field controversies, Real rivalries that can be built upon in the duration of a few seasons, true control of the franchise (hot dog prices), building fan base, throwing red flags, etc, etc. These type of things, with the ability to download the draft would make for a full featured sim game that could last for 2-3 years.

changing topic back to madden, when did they remove madden and michaels from the booth? Thankfully I only paid 20 bucks for madden 08 for my 360, but the fact that they are not announcing, kind of ticks me off.

yea, he had stupid repetive phrases, but at least it was something consistent from year to year. I think now you only hear him during the ask madden play selection.

Can't wait for 09, when the NFL license expires with EA, and hopefully Tecmo steps in and locks in a deal.

08 was the 2nd year madden/michaels were missing. I agree, they need them back in 09, and get rid of the lame radio guy.

I know this was covered in another thread, but 2 more Madden annoyances i hope they fix: 1.) can I finally have a one-returner formation on kickoffs? 2.) when an injury happens, make sure I know about it..you don't need to zoom in on the scoreboard to let me know there's an injury, and then not tell me who it is. After a play is done, I repeatedly press "A" to skip past the replay screens, and if there is an injury, it also skips right past that. This needs to change.

Up until this year, I played Madden on the PC. I don't if you guys ever have, but it is so much better than the 360 version. It's got the announcers....it actually plays well, etc.

MLB 2K8-looking real good. Hopefully, it plays as good as it looks, this year. This could be the year for awesome sports games-with Baseball leading the way! I would love to be able to post in December and say: See, I told you this was sports' comeback year! I hope so!:o

http://xboxmovies.teamxbox.com/xbox-360-hires/6266/Major-League-Baseball-2K8-Trailer-in-HD/