THE RISE OF 2K - Dazraz's Blog

Dazraz's Blog

THE RISE OF 2K

Posted on October 10, 2010 at 04:02 AM.

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Cast your way back to the 2K9 series of games & the future for 2K was looking bleak.

NBA 2K9 - Was still the premier basketball title but came under criticism for it's unplayable online mode as well as some graphical issues such as blurred logos on the court.

NHL 2K9 - Was awful. 2K completely lost sight of what gamers wanted from a hockey game & ended up releasing a product that didn't know whether it wanted to be a sim or a arcade game.

MLB 2K9 - Was getting a slating & 360 owners could but look on with envy as the PS3 was graced with a stellar MLB the Show.

Now fast forward to the current time & the feeling towards 2K is now of a company listening to their audience & working hard to deliver a line of quality releases.

NBA 2K11 - Is already being hailed as the best sports simulation of this generation & maybe of all time. Not perfect (no game ever will be) but far ahead of where it was last year. The keyword this year, PRESENTATION.

MLB 2K10 - Okay still in the shadow as far as PS3 owners go but now a solid title in it's own right. 2K will struggle to compete with The Show series as SONY have the luxury of developing a game for their own console. One that they know inside out & therefore are in the best position to exploit. 2K's title is multi platform which in regards to development will always lead to some levels of compromise. We have consistently seen 2K's products look inferior on the PS3 compared to the 360 versions. However this title is massively improved over the previous couple of iterations & now appears to be heading in the right direction.

NHL 2K11 - Oops! Or is it? When 2K announced that they would not be releasing a hockey game this year everyone thought that 2K had laid down their gloves & conceded the franchise to EA. However in the aftermath of EA's NBA Elite disaster & it's decision to drop an awful looking product just 1 week prior to release it now seems 2K's decision was based on great foresight. Rather than release another drab game they have sensibly taken a year out for additional development time & I for one would not be surprised if they come back stronger than ever next year. EA's hockey series is well supported within the community in regards to it's realism but the game has become stale in regards to it's presentation elements & lack of depth within it's career modes.

Now factor in the growing rumours of an NFL title from 2K for the 2K13 season & a soon to be released new version of their Top Spin series & 2K's future is looking pretty rosy.

EA may currently have the bigger budget & a bigger worldwide reputation but could the crown be slipping. The size of this company may in fact be it's weakness. Every decision EA make, every innovation they bring & every feature they put into a game is weighed on it's possible affects to it's profit. Why put it in unless it's going to add a few thousand to the sales figures? EA have become the kings of colouring their games with fancy slogans such as Gameflow & Locomotion that scream big innovation but deliver much smaller than anticipated changes to the game.

Also how often have we heard developers run the line 'We wanted to include that this year but we didn't have enough time'. Yawn, Yawn. 2K have made an unbelievable amount of changes this year to NBA 2K11 that blows the argument out of the water. It completely destroys EA's excuses for not touching the Franchise mode in MADDEN 11 one bit from last year to this. 2K HAVE SET THE STANDARD for all to follow.

The secret to 2K's success is not only getting it right in regards to gameplay but in recreating the whole feeling of watching the sport on TV. For the majority of people we watch the sports we love, not live but on TV most of the time. TV is the same medium in which we play our games so therefore it makes sense that if we see & hear the same things when we play the game, as when we watch the game, then the sense of realism is automatically heightened. 2K's Dynamic Commentary & vast array of on the fly stats are a long way ahead of what anyone else is doing. EA's boast for Madden 11 was 'Everything you see on Sunday'. What we got was repetitive commentary & the same dozen cut scenes game in & game out.

2K have bravely laid down the gauntlet for what can be achieved in a 12 month development cycle. It is a standard that they have set not only for themselves but the entire industry. The next couple of years will be massive in terms of who earns the market share of top release titles. I don't expect 2K to start releasing soccer or golf games but could 2K be the number one when it comes to not only basketball but baseball, hockey & football titles too. As long as they have guys who love the games they are developing then I think this is a real possibility. Because when it comes to videogames, passion = profits.