Where Do Sports Games Need to Focus Most? (Roundtable)

[mcdowell31]

Re: Where Do Sports Games Need to Focus Most? (Roundtable)

Bravo Joel Smith!

For years I have wondered why sports games cannot start with a foundation of fundamental strategy, logic, and biomechanics based on reality. This would be boring to most, but from there it would be easy to bend and distort reality by applying various modes and using sliders.

Also, unlike other game genres, sports have huge statistic databases listing likely probabilities based entirely on reality. A disadvantage of a reality-based Skyrim is the lack of dragon fighting statistics.

At the moment, NBA 2K is struggling with Steal outcomes: There are a finite number of turnovers in an NBA game, and of those, approximately half are defensive steals and the other half are offensive mistakes. It would seem pretty easy to attain a probability based on the number of possessions in an NBA game. From there onscreen win/loss outcomes from game theory would need to be linked to the probabilities, along with outcomes linked to what happens when the threshold is exhausted. That is just off the top of my head, but it is hard to understand how this is not a foundation in this particular game.

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Could companies just make hardcore statistically probable sports games, and then turn them over to various creatives to make them more fun for the casual majority? After all, anyone can put mag wheels on a Mercedes and paint it like an Easter egg if they really wanted to; hardcore Mercedes drivers would prefer the factory reality.

[BannaCricket]

I personally dislike the fantasy modes that sports games are spending all of their time on, particularly EA. They might as well change the names of the games to "NHL Fantasy 19", "FIFA Fantasy 19", and "NFL Fantasy 19". Sports games are catering more toward casual fans who are just looking for a video game. Fans who don't know Dustin Brown from Charlie Brown; Rangers FC from the Power Rangers; or the Philadelphia Eagles from The Eagles of Death Metal. And don't even care. That's fine. To each, his own. If creating a fantasy sports universe is your thing, then go for it. It just sucks that people who still enjoy playing with actual professional sports teams, are having an increasingly difficult time doing so. Features that add to realism, such as the ability to edit players once starting an NHL season, have been taken away. A couple of years ago, the NHL devs decided that the NHL series would be the only sports game that lists players by rating -not alphabetically, with out the ability to sort- making if frustrating and time consuming trying to find players. This year the FIFA devs decided that to take away calendars from tournament mode, making it impossible to view you fixtures. I don't play Madden, but I would not surprised if it is being decimated as well.
I don't even give a crap what new "features" there will implemented anymore. I just want to know what they are taking away from us. 

[arinezii23]

Re: Where Do Sports Games Need to Focus Most? (Roundtable)

This is a good article to learn new and very useful thank you.

:R