OS Roundtable: Looking at the Best Sports Game Tourney

[Steve_OS]

For this week's OS Roundtable the OS Staff take a retrospective look at the Best Sports Games Tournament. NFL 2K5's victory over College Hoops 2K8 in the final has sparked some heated debate.

Quote:

Anyone who thinks College Hoops 2K8 will have the same lasting power as Mike Tyson's Punchout, Tecmo Super Bowl or even Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is just kidding themselves. I usually don't belittle people for their opinions but anyone who thinks that is the case has to own stock in Take-Two or something because that is one of the dumbest claims I have ever read on an internet message board.

[JonahNYC]

My Final Four would be:

Earl Weaver Baseball (Amiga), Front Sports Football: Pro (MS-DOS), Out of the Park Baseball 6 (Windows), and NBA 2K2 (Dreamcast)

[catcatch22]

I played tecmo superbowl back in the day, I am 30 yrs old and it is no where close to Joe Montana Football especially the 1994 edition. Tecmo Superbowl revolutionary, HA!

[yamabushi]

I'll preface this by paraphrasing my statements from the tournament forum:
To me ‘Best’ is quantitative. A quick look at the ‘numbers’ (ie: features, options, gameplay) eliminates every pre-PS2 era game. Plain. and Simple.
I'll offer this example: What's the Best Corvette? Your favorite might be a '58 or a split window '63, and you might hate the ’08. but which car accelerates, brakes, and corners better? ....Exactly.

That being said, What should have been in the final four? In no particular order:
MLB 08: the show
CHoops 2K8
TOCA 3
NFL 2K5
All pinnacles of their genres, which have yet to be surpassed in features or gameplay.

And Ill add this; I hear a lot of claims that the 2K games where sentimental picks, because they're the last of their line, but cant the same be said about TSB, Tyson, Baseball Stars? Did any these games have any significant, or any at all, follow ups?

[muggins]

Props to stewaat for being one of the few to not whine about College Hoops 2k8.

[LiquidCrash]

Quote: Originally Posted by yamabushi

I'll preface this by paraphrasing my statements from the tournament forum: To me ‘Best’ is quantitative. A quick look at the ‘numbers’ (ie: features, options, gameplay) eliminates every pre-PS2 era game. Plain. and Simple. I'll offer this example: What's the Best Corvette? Your favorite might be a '58 or a split window '63, and you might hate the ’08. but which car accelerates, brakes, and corners better? ....Exactly. That being said, What should have been in the final four? In no particular order: MLB 08: the show CHoops 2K8 TOCA 3 NFL 2K5 All pinnacles of their genres, which have yet to be surpassed in features or gameplay. And Ill add this; I hear a lot of claims that the 2K games where sentimental picks, because they're the last of their line, but cant the same be said about TSB, Tyson, Baseball Stars? Did any these games have any significant, or any at all, follow ups?

Technological superiority does not necessarily mean better. It's hard to objectively quantify "best" when talking about this. I had more fun and spent more hours playing Tecmo Super Bowl as a kid than I ever have with any other game. Does it stand up to modern games in terms of graphics or options? Of course not. But it's still a ton of fun to play and was certainly the greatest of its era. Throw in the ability to play full season and track stats with real teams and players and was a groundbreaking title.

Just as your Corvette analogy is also flawed in similar ways. I'm not going to say one of the terrible 80s/early 90s version of a Vette or a Mustang or any other number of cars was better than those classic 60s versions simply because they came later and have more bells and whistles. I guess it's all how you look at things. To me, better isn't always as simple as looking at tech specs.

I have no problem with NFL 2K5 winning as it was a great game and it clearly got the majority of the vote. It's not my personal choice, but it certainly is a justified winner.

[yamabushi]

Quote: Originally Posted by LiquidCrash

Technological superiority does not necessarily mean better. It's hard to objectively quantify "best" when talking about this. I had more fun and spent more hours playing Tecmo Super Bowl as a kid than I ever have with any other game. Does it stand up to modern games in terms of graphics or options? Of course not. But it's still a ton of fun to play and was certainly the greatest of its era. Throw in the ability to play full season and track stats with real teams and players and was a groundbreaking title. Just as your Corvette analogy is also flawed in similar ways. I'm not going to say one of the terrible 80s/early 90s version of a Vette or a Mustang or any other number of cars was better than those classic 60s versions simply because they came later and have more bells and whistles. I guess it's all how you look at things. To me, better isn't always as simple as looking at tech specs. I have no problem with NFL 2K5 winning as it was a great game and it clearly got the majority of the vote. It's not my personal choice, but it certainly is a justified winner.

Im pretty sure Superior does mean better.
My car example may be gimped due to 3rd party intervention (govt. regs.) but I could offer other examples that prove my point.

[LiquidCrash]

I guess it all depends on how you look at things. I'm just suggesting that simply being a newer game on a higher tech console doesn't automatically mean the games are better than those that predated them. There were plenty of classic games on old consoles I'd take over new ones.