McLeod-Domas' 2010 Sports Gaming Predictions Results Show...(Better Than the VGA's) - Bumble14's Blog

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McLeod-Domas' 2010 Sports Gaming Predictions Results Show...(Better Than the VGA's) Stuck

Posted on December 15, 2010 at 03:55 PM.

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Taking a cue from my colleague Chris Sanner, I decided to make some 2010 industry predictions of my own last December. Not knowing any better, I wanted to make a splash with some huge predictions. 2009 was relatively stale in terms of sports gaming, so it was time for a change. So here we sit in December of 2010 -- did my predictions of the future come true, or should I throw my crystal ball away for eternity?

Recap of McLeod-Domas's 2010 Predictions with Results:

1. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 Will Release Without a Hitch

By June no one is going to remember about Tiger's holiday "transgressions" as he will be fresh off a Masters victory. Just like Kobe Bryant, the world will quickly forget about all the off the course issues as soon as Tiger returns to his dominant form on the course. EA, unlike Elin, will stand by its man, releasing Tiger 11 for all three systems, even the family friendly Wii.

Result: Outside of Tiger winning the Masters and being dominant on the course, McLeod-Domas knew the future of TW11.

2. MLB 2K10 Will Be the Last Baseball Game Released by 2K Sports

The MLB 2K series is in serious trouble, and Sony's first party MLB: The Show series is receiving critical praise throughout the gaming world. Look for an announcement of "2K resource reallocation" (aka cancellation) shortly after MLB 2K10 releases to less than stellar reviews, followed shortly by a press release from the MLB announcing the dissolving of the MLB exclusive license.

Result: MLB 2K11 will release, but 2K brass is admitting that the MLB exclusive license was not the best idea. I'll cover myself on this one and state that the crystal ball told me that a game would be canceled in 2010 -- little did I know at the time that this game would be NBA Elite, with the struggling MLB 2K franchise living to see another year.

3. MVP Baseball Will Be Announced by Year's End

In a stunning development it will be revealed that EA has been anticipating MLB 2K's failure for over a year and has already begun working on a current-gen version of the MVP Baseball series. EA will announce that the game will be released in the spring of 2011, and baseball gaming fans with 360's will rejoice.

Result: McLeod-Domas was a bit premature on this prediction -- it's going to happen, it's just a matter of when. Again, sometimes the crystal ball just throws an image out there -- I just interpreted it wrong. Don't blame me, blame the crystal ball that I bought at Walmart that was made in China.

4. NCAA Football 11 Will Be a Smash Hit

Coming off a sub-par year of little innovation and numerous gameplay issues, the NCAA Football development team will take a cue from the Madden 10 team and deliver the most authentic college football gaming experience this side of NCAA Football 2004. Gamers will be amazed by the game's tagline "We finally took everything from NCAA 06 and added it to current-gen systems," and the Operation Sports forums will actually praise the game for at least a week before finding its flaws. 2011 is going to be the year where NCAA really shines, and it will have nothing to do with the fact that the series will have been renamed Tim Tebow Football 2011 to honor the greatest athlete in the history of the universe.

Result: This was more accurate than a Nostradamus prediction. Even better was that I did accurately predict that our forum users would love the game for approximately a week -- spot on! I wonder what's in store for Tim Tebow Football 2012?

5. Nintendo Will Announce the Return of Griffey Baseball

Not to be outdone by EA's MVP announcement, the Big N will announce that the company has been hard at work on a baseball title -- a fully motion-controlled Wii rendition of the Ken Griffey Baseball series. With Griffey back in Seattle for what looks like his last season, he will be hard at work consulting with Nintendo's Redmond Washington studio to create his video game swan song. The game will actually get hardcore sports gamers interested in the Wii, and interest will peak when it is revealed that Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson were all brought in for mo-cap work.

Result: It was a stretch, I know. It was Griffey's last season though. I can neither confirm nor deny that Jay, Edgar, and Randy have been working for Nintendo. Hell, if Randy Johnson is doing Geico commercials, anything is possible.

6. True Broadcast Presentation Will Be Integrated Into Multiple EA Titles

Taking a cue from the solid NCAA Basketball 10, EA will finally integrate the ESPN license into all of its games (with Versus making an appearance in NHL 11). Both the ESPN and the TNT licenses will be added to NBA Live, and CBS will be added to NCAA Football 11. Finally, look for Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth to be replaced in Madden 11 with the ESPN trio of Tirico, Jaws and Chucky.

Result: Not quite sure why this hasn't been done yet. McLeod-Domas now predicts this is nothing but a hardcore sports gaming pipe dream.

7. NHL 11 Will Mark the Slide of the Series on the Current Generation of Hardware and Disappoint Many

Let's face it, aside from the board play and slower gameplay settings, NHL 10 was a bit of a disappointment. NHL 11 will release to much excitement and solid reviews, only to be shelved days later by most of the gaming population because of a lack of innovation. The NHL team will state that it is difficult to improve upon such an already solid title, but the statement will not resonate with hardcore hockey gamers who will cite the fact that the core gameplay of the series has not evolved from NHL 09.

Result: This is a tricky one, but I'd have to say it's relatively accurate. Personally, outside of HUT I haven't touched this game in months, and based on discussion in our forums many others are feeling that the series is becoming a bit stale. Let the slide begin.

8. There Will Be Another NCAA Basketball Game From EA

Amid rumors swirling that NCAA Basketball 10 would be EA's last entry into the series, NCAA Basketball 11 will be announced in the summer and will feature John Wall on the cover. This version of the collegiate hoops series will actually iron out many of the gameplay issues seen in both the '09 and '10 versions of the game, but will once again leave the bland offline Dynasty mode unchanged. Thankfully, the new addition of an Online Dynasty mode will make everyone forget how lame offline dynasty is (I hope the NCAA team is reading this).

Result: I was very positive and decided to ignore all the signs that NCAA Basketball was DOA when it released last year. That doesn't mean I'm not dying for a college basketball game right now though. Maybe next year? Still, how amazing would online dynasty be in a college basketball game?

9. Madden 11 Will Win Multiple Sports GOTY Awards

After a solid gridiron campaign in Madden 10, Madden 11 will blow football gaming fans out of the water with its fully fleshed out Online Franchise, polished gameplay and graphics. Look for weekly highlight shows from around the league, a refined and more realistic Pro-Tak system, stunning dynamic lighting, and "over 200 new gameplay refinements" that no one even knew existed. The game everyone loves to hate will finally get some well deserved street cred from the OS community. This credibility will propel the game into the "Greatest Football Game of All Time" discussion by the year 2015 after a bare-bones version of Madden is released for the Playstation 5. Soon after this discussion begins the OS forums will erupt into a go-nowhere flame war between Madden fans and some very disgruntled gray-bearded NFL 2K5 fans. Some things will never change.

Result: While I was very tongue in cheek with this prediction, I honestly had very high hopes for Madden 11. The game played great, it just wasn't the step up I expected- more of Madden 10.5 in my opinion. Maybe next year?

Overall: I was honestly pretty surprised when I went back and took a look at these predictions a few weeks back -- I didn't do half bad. Okay, yes, I did actually do pretty poorly. Even with that being said, taking a chance and making a bold prediction for the coming year is what makes this time of year so great.

Happy holidays to all, Merry Christmas to some, and I hope everyone has a most blessed New Year. Look for my 2011 predictions in the coming weeks.

Comments

# 1 tabulaRasa @ Dec 16

You could be right, meanwhile enjoy those EA goggles you have on. You sure have alot of confidence in that company.

# 2 Bumble14 @ Dec 16

Wow. That comment wasn't that funny last year....and hasn't gotten any funnier with age..;-)

# 3 Bumble14 @ Dec 16

In all seriousness Tabula, it is very difficult to comment on a developer like 2K in a prediction article like this because:

#1 they do not offer a very good baseball game
#2 do not offer a football game
#3 do not offer a college basketball game
#4 do not offer a golf game
#5 do not offer a viable hockey game,

So that leaves me with what, NBA2K? Well that game is pretty darn solid on a yearly basis, so what prediction can really be made? Like it or not, EA is the industry leader in sports gaming due to the lack of competition--which logically leads to the majority of "predictions" in these yearly articles being EA related. If that gives me "EA" goggles than so be it. It's not my fault EA's competition has disappeared--(although in the case of football it was their's :-D )