[dowroa]

Operations Sports:

I am pretty disappointed with the listing of Top 3 games that I just heard. A lot of the explanations I heard were "playing current favorites", and not speaking to which is the best sports game of 2014.

Sports games (and racing games) have to be judged on different criteria than most other games. They come out year over year, and are additive (other genres are getting there, but not quite to the sports gaming level, yet). In my opinion, you have to have the fun, content, and breadth to be considered a "Top 3 game of X-year."

What astounds me the most is to hear what was the sports game of the year last year (Fifa 2014) not even be in the top 3 this year! Yet a fun and under-featured game like Super Mega Baseball be in 3rd is beyond comprehensible, to me. Fifa '15did NOT get worse this year. The online was better than anything else listed. The modes are still rock solid. Is it hugely innovative as 2K's Player Career is attempting to be? No, but that is a battle for 1st or 2nd -- not 5th.

People on this specific panel appear to be voting favorites -- not sports game of the year. This seemed to be the same on the Podcast from Operation Sports that did racing games as well (I couldn't even make it through that podcast as I was offended for some of the choices from the members in that episode, personally). A sports (or racing) game should have to be evaluated for the complete gambit of the game -- not just on what excited you today.

Simply, this is akin to Mariokart 8 getting Racing Game of the Year, which is even referenced as a joke at the top of this podcast! A "fun game" (which is always a relative metric) being highly ranked is misleading when a simple feature-by-feature or depth comparison would just show the "fun game" to fall hopefully short in comparison. That is not to say we should not enjoy these "fun games", but are they really "the best" or "the top" games of the genre? In my opinion, they are not (whether or not you think they should even be compared in the discussion or not).

I am glad everyone enjoys the games they enjoy, as they should. For example, I bought, play, and enjoy Super Mega Baseball as it takes me back to Tegen's RBI I played as a youth. But, please, discontinue ranking the games in an order if everyone's systems for ranking are so disparate. Super Mega Baseball isn't as feature rich as Madden, NBA 2k15, Fifa 15, PES 2015 or even Golf Club (it has on-line!).

Super Mega Baseball should get an honorable mention if everyone enjoyed it (like Rookie Game of the Year). That is perfect. However, It should not be #3 and it should not be displacing quality, high level feature content games like FIFA and PES.

Thank you for your high quality and almost always enjoyable podcasts, but I think I will skip ranking podcasts from this group in the future. OS panelist do a GREAT job of talking about WHAT they enjoy and WHY they enjoy it. I agree and have found MANY reasons to give games I would have never thought of trying a chance from listening. However, the "ranking" this year seems to as shallow as MarioKart 8 being voted the racing game of the year.

- brian