11/23/24
July 24, 2002
Sports Fantasy Is Catching Up With Reality: "Sports video games are a best-selling genre in the $10.8 billion interactive entertainment business, representing 22 percent of video game sales over all, according to the NDP Group, a market research firm. Sports gaming is primed to get even bigger as Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube prepare to offer online versions of the games later this year."
The great thing about sports games is that you actually learn about the strategy that might not be apparent to the occasional viewer. I was a casual football fan until the advent of Madden 94. Watching football became much more enjoyable because I understood dedfensive and offensive sets, and the positives and negatives of each. Anyway, I just got a gamecube over the weekend. My new addiction is FIFA 2002. Great stuff. I'm far from unbeatable, but I love it. I guarantee you that I'll be all over the premier leagues from now on, all due to the appreciation I have gained from video games. My only gripe is that sports games tend to evolve very little. If you are totally whoop-ass on one football game, you can at any other. If a PGA sim with a full, active board comes out for gamecube I will drop out of school and quit my job.
posted by ttrendel at 01:38 AM on July 25, 2002
I suck so bad at football video games. I really liked NFL Blitz though, that game was hardcore. Since I don't have all those fancy schmancy video game systems, I spend most of my sports video gaming time playing Tennis 2k2 on Dreamcast. Oh and Tony Hawk too. Skateboarding's a sport, right?
posted by corpse at 08:24 AM on July 25, 2002
Give me Blades of Steel, Arch-Rivals, RC Pro Am, 10 Yard Blitz and NBA Jams (He's on FIRE!) anyday. Need one joystick and two buttons, that's my kind of game.
posted by vito90 at 08:42 AM on July 25, 2002
There's not a better game right now than Madden 2002. Or, at least until Madden 2003 comes out in August...
posted by Conquistador at 08:45 AM on July 25, 2002
[USING ROBOTIC VOICE]
"Double...Dribble!"
"Blades...of Steel!"
posted by Conquistador at 08:46 AM on July 25, 2002
Mike Tyson's Punchout!
posted by corpse at 09:17 AM on July 25, 2002
tecmo bowl, four plays is all you need!
posted by mick at 11:29 AM on July 25, 2002
I play NHL 2002 for the PC almost religiously. I'm way too good at it, but it's still fun. I try to see how high I can run up the score.
posted by Succa at 12:28 PM on July 25, 2002
Hardball 1: Was there ever a more disciplined hitter than the All-Stars' left fielder, the eponymous "Jose"?
posted by Bob Jones at 12:43 PM on July 25, 2002
Ditto mick's affinity for techmo bowl. Could anyone block Ronnie Lottt? Or catch up to Walter Payton? Sadly, at 29 I no longer have the hand-eye coordination to keep up with the 10 or-so buttons of today's controllers.
posted by herc at 04:13 PM on July 25, 2002
Nothing bets the great simplicity of NES's Ice Hockey. Think of the strategy involved in that game: do you go with a team full of average guys? Do you get the one super fast skinny guy for speed and give him a pair of fat goons to protect him? Or do you try to go for the balanced team? Ahh, memories.
posted by mkn at 07:43 PM on July 25, 2002
Hi. My name is jerseygirl and I'm an SSX addict.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:32 PM on July 25, 2002
and yet they can't make a single, not one, decent football game for the console. everything is arcade style, with simulation either completely forgotten, or if it exists, generating woefully erroneous gameplay. everyone touting madden -- yes, i mean you too owillis, is simply wrong. madden football is an interesting experiment, but in the end the real life player has *way* too much control over the performance of individual runners, tacklers, passers, et al. the game, like the supreme court [every good rant has to throw a shot at bush in, don't you think?], is completely compromised. actual understanding and real game savvy is subsumed by button punching ablility. you might as well be playing atari football. give me some strat-o-matic and the dice anyday. off tackle right, joe morris, guessed wrong. no men in the zone -- anyone, anyone?
posted by lescour at 01:04 AM on July 27, 2002
First, a low-intensity laser mounted on a robotic arm is used to capture the contours of his face. Then digital photos are taken from various angles to help create realistic patches of digital skin or "textures" that are later applied to the 3-D model. Okay, that's really cool. Take that, pong. Anyway, when it happens, I have three teammates that cannot be beat at NHL2002 on the X-box. I look forward to the time when we all can play over the internet. Do you play, and if so, what game are you unbeatable at?