Press Row Podcast - Sports Game of the Year

[Steve_OS]

Here it is! The most anticipated show of the year – the 2014 Press Row Podcast Sports Game of the Year. The votes have been tallied and the winners are announced. As always, none of the panelists are aware of who wins coming into the show, and the discussions leading up to the unveiling and the reactions afterwards are the best part of it. This year we also add two new twists – we award our first-ever Rookie of the Year award and we “present” the Sports Game of the Year award to the development team for their reaction! It’s our best-ever Game of the Year episode, and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it all together. Happy Holidays!

Joining us this week:

• Owen Good, Polygon (@owengood)
• Bryan Wiedey, PastaPadre (@pastapadre)
• Kat Bailey, US Gamer (@The_Katbot)
• Chris Sanner, Operation Sports (@ChrisSnr)
• Samit Sarkar, Polygon (@samitsarkar)
• T.J. Lauerman, ThatSportsGamer (@ThatSportsGamer)
• And your host, Richard Grisham, GamesRadar/OXM/@GAMER (@richgrisham)

Send us your feedback! We love to hear from you and can’t wait to read your stuff on the air in a future episode. Do it one of these ways:

1) Follow the show on Twitter at @PressRowPodcast and send us some Tweets while you’re there
2) Email the show at [email protected]
3) Respond to this post

Also, the Press Row Podcast is now available on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/...ow/id563624090) and Stitcher Radio (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/oper...ss-row-podcast), so subscribe to it and rate it too!

Enjoy the show!

Run Time: 1 Hour, 51 Minutes

If you can't view or listen to the embedded player below, please click here.

[stos5363]

i think the show was great game but NBA 2k15 was game of the year by leaps and bounds.

The upgrades they did to playcalling and there motion sets alone would puts over the top. You can teach people the triangle offense by just playing 2k. They added a weekly tv show,2 more park modes and another voice for my player and the level of detail from on court animations and graphics including lighting were incredible. Yeah they had a bad launch with the servers but since then the servers have been fine for me and even better post patch #2. I just think the panel held that first week over 2k's heads.which imo is not fair.

Say what you want but nba 2k15 had excellent gameplay, and they added bold new features that other companies are not doing.

I feel like the show was just a 1080p upgrade to an already great game but it didn't show me anything new in terms of new modes or features and the online games are pretty laggy to me.

[Ginesis22]

How did the lag fest of The Show win? If NBA 2k gets points taken away for online issues then The Show should also. But then Super Mega Baseball would of won and imo the very fact that it made it into the top 3 is crazy but I guess to each his own.

P.S. Next year you should have a most improved award.

[BBallcoach]

My list: (Have not played the show or NHL)

1. NBA 2k15... Best game in the series gameplay wise. And just outstanding.
2. The Golf Club- An indie golf golf with an in-depth course creator. And ever continuing upgrades.
3. FIFA 15- The all around better game. The Career mode is deeper and FUT is better than PES
4. PES 2015- This was my first PES, And wow. Blown away with the gameplay on the pitch
5. Madden 15- I mean it's good. and improved, but it;s a tough year this year.

[Introvese]

i cant take this podcast serious anymore. u can play 2k my player & My gm offline. but not one person acknowledged that smh. i love the show, but their online is by far worst than 2k. but with all that said i aint mad at the show winning

[bxphenom7]

I have to say Kat, MLB, NBA, and PES, definitely are ahead of FIFA. I understand people's issues with PES' licensing, but my goodness, the game itself is too much fun to play because it looks like real football. I find FIFA's gameplay less simulation, actually much less, but it has the better modes for sure. So I understand the argument of being the "overall" better game, but I, personally, am having a blast playing PES' Become A Legend and Master League, somehow, when there are better career modes. I think that just speaks to its gameplay.

I think MLB The Show has got to improve its modes, presentation, and add new features for next year. It may be close to becoming like Madden, where not enough updates are being made to distinguish itself from previous iterations. It was my favorite sports franchise a year ago and before that, but MLB 14 The Show didn't feel different, perhaps because of its first year being on PS4.

In regards to NBA 2k15, too many modes is not a problem imo. It creates even more value for the $60. However, I personally don't like how the career mode has become story-oriented and the lack of extra voices now. I liked the career mode when there was no story, because it felt like you were making your own story. It needs to give you options on how you want to start your career, and also provide decisions you want to make that are not the product of set pieces always. I like the sponsorships, and I don't mind cutscenes, but no forced rivals, let me develop my own rivalry based on how I play, something like Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor where enemies remember you and what you've done. In fact, this should be an improvement for all sports games.

Great show guys! I feel the topic will be much harder next year with WWE 2k16 and UFC coming full circle, hopefully.

[ocat]

So a game that's been out not even a week gets the #3 spot!? Come on guys, clearly you're in the honeymoon period. As for The Show winning, meh I guess it's a worthy winner but it does nothing different from the PS3 version and the online sucks (which NBA 2k gets criticized for, lol). But SMB being better than FIFA, PES and madden? Take the rose coloured glasses off........

[JohnDoe8865]

Great listen, surprised MLB 14: The Show won but it's that good! I hope they revisit Super Mega Baseball sometime in March to see if the "honeymoon" period swayed the voting.