OS Roundtable: What Will Be the Story of 2011 for Sports Gaming?
 

Take out your crystal ball and gaze into it. What do you see being THE big story of 2011 for sports gaming?

Dustin Toms: Obviously the BIG story of the 2011 sports gaming season will be the potential lockouts in the NFL and NBA and how they will affect Madden, Elite and NBA 2K.

But I'm also going to branch off from the masses. I believe the real big story in 2011 should be NBA 2K12. 2K11 is the best sports game I have ever played. I may be biased since basketball is my favorite sport, but the game has it all, even my Sonics. Now enter 2K12. What's next?

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"What will draw us gamers into 2K12 that 2K11 doesn't already have?"

As far as I'm concerned : classic teams need to be playable online, otherwise it's a possible no-buy.

I have a few thoughts about the upcoming year.

1) Madden 2012 will be the return of the offline franchise mode.

2) Top Spin 4 will be an amazing title and be the tennis games by which all others are judged

3) The Show 2011 will give NBA2K11 a run for it's money. I am too on the bandwagon that NBA2K11 is the GOAT in console sports games arena and for the recrod Baseball is my favorite sport.

4) Fight Night Champions is a huge success. And the Contender mode is huge suprise.

I don't think College Hoops is coming back. With the pending lawsuits by former players seeking money for the use of their "likenesses", I can't see 2k jumping back into that potential shark tank.

EASHL as a MMO is a really good idea. Is EA smart enough to think of it?

the exclusive licenses coming to an end would be a big enough story for me

Good point about the NCAA lawsuits, but on the other hand, 2K is faltering with poor sales and lack of innovation in MLB 2K and NHL 2K franchises. Once the licensing deal expires, I could see either (or even both) game go away. If they exist only to make NBA 2K and Top Spin, that's fine. However, EA's failure to win a one-horse race with respect to NCAA basketball means the Collegiate Licensing Company might want to get some revenue from console games.

Also, the NCAA tournament format will be a little different, teams have new logos and jerseys, and teams will realign conferences. Now is the time for a company to step up and make a college basketball game.

Remember the NBA Lockout during the 1998-99 season where they didn't start until February 1st and played a 50 game season?

Well NBA Live 99 released on time that year in November 1998 (this was the average time when basketball games were released then)

The only difference was no rookies were included in the game that didn't sign after July 1. Peja Stojakovic was the only rookie, and Chris Webber to Washington were the latest transactions in the game when it was released, both happened in June 1998. Usually rosters are accurate as of mid August when new NBA games come out, in this case of the lockout it was June.

12 years later who knows if they can even release a game until the lockout ends, but when they do (or eventually do) rosters will be accurate thanks to online. For Live 99 we had to create the rookies like Vince Carter and Paul Pierce due to no online rosters not being available yet.

Overall I think a game will release on time, but only players that are under contract at the time of the lockout will be included.

FOOTBALL:
The biggest story of the year will be "the story of next year"...follow me...the biggest storry of 2011 will happen around November and it will ALL be around NFL 2K division BECAUSE 2K will begin the creation of their new NFL licensed game for 2013. There will be widespread news about how 2K is going to go all out for the licensing and give the fans what they want. The new 2K football game will be similar to all the buzz Gran Turismo 5 got in 2008.

BASEBALL:
MLB 11 will not be as big of a success as we think it will. The analog controls will be a pain in the beginning and the responsivness will be better in MLB 12, but it will still sell like hotcakes. MLB 12 will be the catalyst to which all baseball games will be judged. And as stated by others, MLB 2K12 will be the final year of baseball for 2K BUT MVP Baseball will be revitalized by EA.

GOLF:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 will be created without a hiccup and will sell moderately. That moderation will eventually lead into EA dropping the Tiger Woods name in late 2011 and creating "PGA Tour Golf 2013" the following year.....POSSIBLE HUGE NEWS: If Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 "tanks," dont be surprised if 2K Sports attacks the golf gaming world and tried to create a golf game rivaling EA's Tiger Woods series. If this happens, it would be PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BASKETBALL:
NBA 2K12 will be a great game. Historic teams will be introduced to a greater extent. Since 2K11 made so much money, they company will have more money to spend and hand out to more of the historic players for licensing, which will in-turn let most all NBA teams have atleast 2 major classic teams.

MISCELLANEOUS:
-The EA Sports division will begin its major crumble into oblivion. (eventually Madden and Fifa will branch off to become their own entities and the "EA Sports" moniker will be no more and will be renamed EA World: which will include all Electronic Arts games...............................dreaming..i know)

-Sad news: 2K Sports will adopt the same STUPID idea that EA has of online access codes for $9.99