Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

[countryboy]

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

[Cebby]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

Obviously they would not, but I think they'd do a hell of a lot better than NCAA 08 or NBA 2k8 did. Vice City was made in a year.

While they have time constraints, they also haven't made a new engine in 6 or 7 years. Again, we've seen what can happen as with NCAA 2004, NFL 2k5, MVP 05, and NHL 07 (or whichever one they improved), so clearly it's possible to revamp a game and make it great.

The additions to NCAA 09 have clearly been a joke, and it's not like 08 was a God send of a football game.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Soldier

Obviously they would not, but I think they'd do a hell of a lot better than NCAA 08 or NBA 2k8 did. Vice City was made in a year. While they have time constraints, they also haven't made a new engine in 6 or 7 years. Again, we've seen what can happen as with NCAA 2004, NFL 2k5, MVP 05, and NHL 07 (or whichever one they improved), so clearly it's possible to revamp a game and make it great. The additions to NCAA 09 have clearly been a joke, and it's not like 08 was a God send of a football game.

[umd]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

Or, (just posing this not attacking you) do you think that given it has been about 3-4 years into next gen that certain games have really "jumped ahead" in quality since the last generation?

I'm saying, take the 3 years total spent on 3 yearly versions of the same franchise and compare the last version of this gen (360/PS3) with the last version of the game from last gen (PS2/xbox)? Is there a huge leap - like GTAIV or COD4 size in quality?

It's an apples and orange kind of argument, but we should be seeing a more significant cumulative improvement - even if versions are being released along the way at yearly intervals. I don't really think we are seeing that improvement for any of the sports titles, which has made next gen sports gaming overall pretty disappointing. Especially when compared to many great non-sports releases.

[rm217]

It's not about expecting perfection. It's more about sports games getting stagnant by either not changing much from the year before or in some cases going backwards and actually making a worst game a year later. With so much money invested in exclusive licenses it's no wonder why these companies don't have much money left over to actually make a true next generation game. Stop relying so much on the exclusive license and you'll see an expotional improvement in our sports games.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by umd

Or, (just posing this not attacking you) do you think that given it has been about 3-4 years into next gen that certain games have really "jumped ahead" in quality since the last generation? I'm saying, take the 3 years total spent on 3 yearly versions of the same franchise and compare the last version of this gen (360/PS3) with the last version of the game from last gen (PS2/xbox)? Is there a huge leap - like GTAIV or COD4 size in quality? It's an apples and orange kind of argument, but we should be seeing a more significant cumulative improvement - even if versions are being released along the way at yearly intervals. I don't really think we are seeing that improvement for any of the sports titles, which has made next gen sports gaming overall pretty disappointing. Especially when compared to many great non-sports releases.

I agree that some sports games have become stagnant on next gen, but the criticism of sports games goes back to the PS2/Xbox days and before that.

[sqeg]

Quote: Originally Posted by rm217

It's not about expecting perfection. It's more about sports games getting stagnant by either not changing much from the year before or in some cases going backwards and actually making a worst game a year later. With so much money invested in exclusive licenses it's no wonder why these companies don't have much money left over to actually make a true next generation game. Stop relying so much on the exclusive license and you'll see an expotional improvement in our sports games.

Exactly. Nothing is ever perfect, NOTHING. Especially not a video game... especially not a sports video game. Any non-ignorant person knows this & honestly can't expect perfection. But, sometimes we come across the most obvious of bugs or imperfections & are left thinking to ourselves, they really went gold on this game in this state?! Where's the quality control testing?! I mean, we are talking about a multi-million dollar industry here. Consumers have every right to scrutinize the games to whatever extent they choose to, meaning legitimate issues & not just for the sake of bashing.

How can we say something like Madden for an example, has honestly made a great stride in the right direction as a next-gen football game, cuz frankly I honestly don't see it. Sure the graphics are pretty, but the gameplay?! I'd rather play a last gen Madden for gameplay. Franchise mode, same as gameplay, I'll take last gen. Just look at the poor frame rate Madden had on the PS3 last year. That was just sad...period. The frame rate drops with just going thru the menu screens on both consoles for crying out loud lol.... Sorry didn't mean to turn this post into a minor Madden dissection. Just needed an example & honestly it was the easiest target. :x

TheSoldier & umd have awesome points as well. I think GTA4 as made a huge leap in every aspect compared to its predecessor. While it as well is by no way a perfect game, GTA4 has gotten rave reviews for it's use of the new physics engine & it's honestly a thing of beauty. I don't think you can say that, cumulatively, any next-gen sports game has made that big of a stride in the right direction to making it feel like an actual next-gen sports game within the past 3 to 4 years that the next-gen consoles have been out for. Not when all we've been getting is the same engine just with more & more gimmick's every year.

[countryboy]

I should've put quotations around the word perfection. I didn't mean it litterally.