Remember When Sports Games Were Just "Fun"?

[matt8204]

Sure do. I guess your tastes and expectations change as you get older and the technology becomes more sophisticated. I can't tell you how many games of NHLPA '93 (before one-timers if you can believe it) and NBA Jam I used to play and didn't think anything of what the game lacked.

[ODogg]

Matt - Because it was easier to not question reality when the games back then were more cartoon like and further removed from it. Your brain wasn't comparing the game to reality, your imagination was filling in the differences. Now because games are so realistic your brains imagination is shut-off mostly while playing and you expect the game to create the reality.

If you think back on those old games and how great they were, and you tell stories about games you remember, and then you go back and play some of the games now, you will find that a lot of the stories that you told were more based on what happened in your head, and less as to what actually happened in the game.

I discovered this when I used to talk about my Atari 2600 games all the time and then I actually went back and played some of the games. What I remembered was no way possible as having happened in those actual games. It was my imagination that filled in the blanks.

My theory is that older gamers enjoy modern games more is not because they have lower expections..but because they have the ability to still rely upon their imagination filling in the blanks as to what is missing from the current games, whereas younger gamers have never utilized that before and thus notice the more obviously lacking areas in modern games.

[mgoblue]

Now people get pissed when simulated stats aren't right, that's kind of a separate issue where some people are that into stats.

I think the big culprit is that now all the "basic" parts of these games are pretty good, so we end up nitpicking on AI issues. Blocking and CB play in football, player logic/AI in basketball, etc. No matter how technologically advanced we are, AI is damn tough.

The issues people find now aren't usually easy fixes like they were in the past.

It also doesn't help that a majority of people have some sort of blood feud with EA so they're way way too hard on games because of that.

[CaptainZombie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I used to have the most fun playing sports games when I liked winning 100 - 0. Now I just don't have the patience for that lol.

Oh man, I remember those days. Now if I am walloping the CPU every game it is no fun at all.....time to change sliders or up the difficulty.

[TheKasmar]

I remember playing NHL 93(Genesis) with my brother and finding out about a certain way to score on the breakaway(Yzerman FTW). Our scores would consistently be in the 15-20 point range and it was some of the most fun I've ever had with a sports game.

I have never paid much attention to the franchise aspects of sports games. I was shocked when Front Office Football came out. Yah, it's nice that they are there, but what really matters in the end is how fun is it on the field of play.

What I find hilarious is how seriously people take these games. You'd think their very existence is dependent on how realistic these titles play and look. Lol, seriously, it literally makes me laugh out loud sometimes.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by DickDalewood

What I find hilarious is how seriously people take these games. You'd think their very existence is dependent on how realistic these titles play and look. Lol, seriously, it literally makes me laugh out loud sometimes.

some of these people absolutely terrify me when I think of how they would handle an actual real life crisis. I truly think they would simply breakdown.

[bcruise]

There are certain things I'm a realism stickler for in sports games - walks in baseball, fouls in basketball, things like that. But they all relate to how the game actually plays, and how closely it resembles the the real thing. Graphic omissions and inaccuracies really don't bother me as much because, let's face it, I grew up on Bases Loaded, RBI and Baseball Stars, and later played an (at the time) subpar game graphics-wise for years because the gameplay was just so good - High Heat 2004 PC with a heavily tweaked tune file.

Aside from those little points (which, given the number of games that get them wrong, may not be so little after all), I'm usually just able to have fun with most games. I used to to be a chronic slider tweaker, but I've tried to go back to just playing the games for fun.

I think I have The Show to thank for that as it requires little or no slider adjustments to create a realistic baseball experience (IMO).