Have Sports Games Lost Their Accessibility?

[Armor and Sword]

The only two sports games my young 9 year old loves to play me on my PS3 are The Show and NHL 13

With The Show we use my auto field manual throwing approach....and he loves pitching and hitting using classic and timed. We have so much fun.

NHL self explanatory via your article. A blast.

But for basketball and football we go to my old trusty NES system and rock with Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Basketball. We also go slam dunk crazy with his Wii version of NBA Jam.


I hope the new PS4 eventually gets some family friendly sports games by the time i come around to making the jump.

[shotgun styles]

This article neatly sums up everything that is wrong with Madden today.

Football is a VERY complex game. And most of the things wrong with Madden have to do with people like this author who demand the game be dumbed down for the masses. Pick Up and Play is slowly killing the Madden franchise.

Simplicity is not sim. Period. I really think you need two games (now the NCAA is dead). The regular Arcade Madden, dumbed down for the author and his kids. And a Sim Madden, for those of us who know our stuff.

[scottyp180]

I'm not a big fan of voice command in video games, but I think the implementation of voice controlled substitutions, play calling, etc. would be a great way to reduce the barrier to entry of sports games. Consider in Live and 2k how many buttons you have to press in order to call a specified play or substitute a player... way too many. Too difficult to explain to a newbie.

The only real answer to the problem is for all sports games to have very deep training/tutorial modes. They are a MUST HAVE.

Completely agree with both points. I'm not a fan of voice control but it could definitely help especially in the areas you mentioned. I don't call too many plays while playing 2k because it a) takes me to long to pick a play and by the time the play runs shot clock is running low and b) I need to take my eyes off the action to pick a play leaving me suceptable to steals and turnovers.

A deep tutorial is a must. My main sports game is 2k and the game is notorious for changing and tweaking controls year to year. The tutorial is the only way I am able to learn all the moves and even then I will still forget how to do certain things or forget that I am able to do certain moves. Not to mention that it would be impossible for me to learn everything by simply reading the in game manual. For those who don't know the tutorial is setup so that the cpu will perform the move, while an on screen controller demonstrates what you need to do and then its your turn to perform said move. Imo its a fairly easy way to learn how to do some of the more advanced and complicated moves in the game with out having to figure it out on your own or ask yourself "am I doing this right?" More games should adapt a similar tutorial if they don't already have one

[birthday_massacre]

the NHL series handles it perfectly. Just give us different control types. Ill use madden as the baseline.

You could have the old school controls like Tecmo used, where you just use the four face buttons, then have the advanced controls where is the ones we get now,then have a hybrid where is a little of both but nothing too crazy like leading the pass or stuff like that.

[PamTIde]

My last pay check was $9561 working 12 hours a week online. My sisters friend has been averaging 15k for months now and she works about 20 hours a week. I can't believe how easy it was once I tried it out. This is what I do... Buzz19.cℴm

[lynkraid]

It usually comes down to practice making perfect. The more you play a game the easier it gets. Its just like a new tv remote with a million buttons, in which you have to keep looking down to see what button your pushing, but after a month or so your flipping though channels and running the dvr without even looking at the remote. The same goes for all video games. Give a PS4 controller to someone who has never played a video game before and they have no clue what to do. But if they play the game enough, they catch on. But at the end of the day its not about the controls so much, its about the gameplay, if the gameplay is great people will learn to play it and learn all the controls. But of course the controls need to be good and fluid to start with.

FPS gamers have it easy remembering buttons on a controller, run, aim, shoot, jump, action, crouch. Try a Madden game where the buttons are all different per the offense and defense, preplay, post play, during the play ect.. Same button that throws to receiver square is also the tackle button on defense, or the audible button on preplay, and it also acts as selecting a play, so just 1 button has 4 different actions to remember, same can be said for all other buttons on the control, very complex. To imagine gamers who can go from playing Madden to NBA2k14, to WWE2k14, to GTA5, all of which have some complex controls, amazing stuff to think about, but easy for most of us gamers lol.

I do though wish all games had a super simple controls though like shown above with NHL94 controls. No not for me, but for those who cant possible get into gaming because of the complex controls.

[moose616]

Re: Have Sports Games Lost Their Accessibility?

I think a lot (not all) of you "hardcore sim" gamers have forgotten where you've came from. If you're anything like me, your gaming knowledge and style has grown with each generation of systems.

My first Madden was Madden 93 on Sega Genesis. It was simple, fun, and didn't take a lot of football IQ to play. As I progressed to PS and NFL Gameday (As a side note...in case you didn't know, 989 Studios became SCE San Diego, who makes the loved-by-all MLB The Show games) then back to Madden with PS2/PS3, my gaming abilities evolved, as did my knowledge of the game of football.

Gamers are often clamoring for customization, down to being able to choose the color of your created player's shoelaces. Controls, one could easily argue are as, if not more, vital of an option to customize. Many of us that have grown from a d-pad with 2/3 buttons to what we have now (d-pad, two joysticks, 8 buttons) are now having children who will someday (if not already) join us in our sports gaming enjoyment.

The next generation (for the most part) has a hard enough time paying attention to multiplication, let alone trying to decipher the difference between zone or man coverage. Along with that topic, I wouldn't hurt some of these sports games to add in more training. Madden could add in to to read a defense, The Show could add in when to put on a hit & run, etc. Most fans (gaming and real life) would get much more enjoyment out of a sport if they knew more of the "strategery" behind it.

The End
Game on...

[BDawg35]

YES! ... YES! ... YES! ... It's about time somebody wrote about this subject. I know that this forum mainly attracts serious gamers who can master the myriad of controls in today's video games, but I have always been digitally challenged (no stick skillz). Many of today's games require so much stick skill that I'm scared away from purchasing them. I don't buy MLB The Show anymore for that reason. The baserunning is too complicated (for me) compared to the old MVP series. It's a game I really wish I could get into, but it's been too frustrating. Same with many other games. I love playing NCAA Football. While it helps to be a stick jockey, I can still enjoy it with my limited ability at the sticks.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: Have Sports Games Lost Their Accessibility?

Sports games need to be made for both. I am hardcore, love my complex controls and am a longtime gaming veteran.

But for our kids.....it can be cumbersome....and they want to play sports games with their daddy.


NHL is a perfect example. I can play with my default controls while my son has a blast playing against me with the NHL 94 classic controls.


Customization is key.


We are able to play NCAA with him using one button control.


So that is the real point.

[Blzer]

It depends on the sport, really. Personally, I think baseball could use more complexity. User Trevytrev and I came up with a defensive system that incorporated things such as a sprint button, catch button, "strafe" button, shade sun option, different types of dives with the stick, etc. It would be an option of course, but it made perfect logical sense with the controller and put the control properly in the gamer's hands.

I'm all for inaccessibility, as long as it functions as intended and there are simpler options for others..

[jdareal21]

Personally, I don't see why a sports game needs to be any less complex than any other type of game. Just because it depicts a sport shouldn't necessitate that it be easy, unless it's made for that purpose, like NBA Jam or NFL Blitz. This is why we have distinctions like Arcade or Sim.

If I'm picking up an RPG, there's certain elements and rules I know I need to be prepared for, or else I just move on to something else. I feel, particularly in Madden's case, the incessant need to make it more "family friendly" or accessible is one of the exact reasons it fell apart in the previous generation. Real life football on Sundays is a complex game, the NFL didn't try to make it easier to understand so women and kids could enjoy it more, some women and kids simply decide to try to watch it and enjoy time with their husbands/fathers. Video Games should be no different...

[ngreatshark]

I don't think its too complicated. What I hate is when I finally master a control scheme, like I did with NBA 2k at one point, then they will just totally revamp everything and I have to relearn everything. As in sports a lot of your skills come from muscle memory, reps, and reactionary response, and its just frustrating when a new game comes out, and you feel like a total newb at the start because you have to re-learn the controls.

[MossMan84]

Sports games have become to complex in the sense that menus and controls are out of control! Take Madden for example and the run free controls, to me it just kills that part of the game! Why do I have to pull a trigger, push a button on my cell phone, and tweet something just to make my RB juke or spin??? I dont want it to be dumbed down either, I just want it to be simple and plain like Madden 06, one button for each move, simple! In a way the menus look simple enough but really they are a mess and not very user friendly and again the Madden 06 menus were simple but very inviting and fun! To me franchise mode has been destroyed as far as the fun factor because of poor menu system! Im all for deep modes, menus, and control options but would rather have the fun factor and excitement that sports game use to bring to me! Thats what this article is really about and its 100% right!!!

[chadbeuoygolf]

Re: Have Sports Games Lost Their Accessibility?

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