every game this day should be built around connecting gamers with the product youve produced for them. that should be the main focus for releasing a game. Dey should ask themselves, " is our game able to connnect gamers to the highest possibility.

Not here at OS. That being said, the students at my school love the sports titles that are out this year...except, MLB 2K. They prefer the SHOW. Cannot blame them. I think some of the members here at OS only play sport games to find the faults and not enjoy them for what they are...video games. Does anyone remember Madden 95 on the SNES, where you could run sweeps all day and score at will? Well I do. Games have come along way from then.

No game will ever be perfect, and no company will ever get patches out quick enough to satisfy the members on OS.

I wsa just think about this exact topic.
Personally, I think the hard core sim gamers are just asking for way too much. The good and bad is that the developers are listening.
The end result may just be the alienation to both sides of the spectrum.
There may be no happy medium. 2k is trying by offering lots of customability, yet the hard core and casuals still complain.

It's hard not to look at games like Dark Souls, Skyrim or Battlefield 3 and ask yourself:

"Why aren't sports games this good?"

What is a lofty expectation? Maybe that since EA owns the ESPN license they would have a presentation package equal to NFL 2K5? I mean we are only 7 years removed from that game and onto a more powerful console generation.
Is a lofty expectation one were we expect the game modes to play the way they are advertised?
Perhaps game company's have far too lofty price points with what they are providing?
No game will be perfect or meet everyones expectations. I don't think people here on average have expectations that are too high. I would say people are more likely to call out the company's for failing to deliver on the promises they made. This community is passionate about sports and most of us do get sucked into the hype because when a developers starts going on about how great the game will be and how all the cool improvements will blow us away we all desperately WANT to believe. And when those promises turn out to be nothing but BS, we get mad. We say we are down with it and not buying it again next year. Then of course things like E3 come along and we get sucked in again.
Addiction sucks.

I think the problem comes from our knowledge of the sport.
I mean, I'm from Canada so I know more about hockey, thus I notice more bugs/glitch, ai logic problem and such in hockey games.

I enjoy football, but never played so I don't know all that much about the strategies of playcalling. I'm able to enjoy both NCAA and Madden because I don't notice ALL that is wrong.

The key to me is switching games. I go from NHL to Madden to Fifa to NBA, then I play any ''my player'' type mode in each of these games ; it keeps your mind off the little details.

Honestly if they put out REALISTIC GOALS and stop OVER HYPING their product they can. Problem is nowawadays they hype their games so much for months as the next great thing, but then when the game comes out, it doesn't deliver what they hyped.

Take NCAA 12.......hyped HDR Lighting, 3D grass, zone defense, no suction, killer cpu running game, custom playbooks, custom conferences, coach caroseul. Of all those thngs that WORKED was custom conferences. Everything else was either glitchy or just didn't work.

Take Madden 12, hyped presentation and improved franchise. Commentary was terrible and it rainned all the time in franchise.

Take NBA 2K12, hyped a new website, more Legends, improved leagues. Online don't work most of the time, new website still hasn't launched yet.

If they just deliver on what they hype, they wouldn't be under so much scrutiny. I mean what these sports developers are doing is the same thing men be doing to women. Saying they living large, nice job, nice house, but in reality they still living at home in their mama house in the basement, with no car and just a part time job.

They need to focus on one part of the game, do that CORRECTLY, then move on to another part of the game for the next year. It is very apparent now that these developers can't work on multiple things at the same time in one cycle.

I rather have one feature worked on and done correctly, then have 5 features worked on and none of them work right. They need a dose of reality, their programming skills aren't that great, so they need to do baby steps and stop trying to run a sprint when they can't even program the basics of the sport they trying to represent CORRECTLY.

Stay within their skill level of programming. That would be like me saying I'm going to build a 100 story high sky scraper, knowing full well I never built something that tall before, but I do it anyway. Then when the sky scraper starts cracking and having electrical problems, I go on vacation for a few months and say hey guys, I will attempt to fix some cracks but the whole building can't be fixed, you will just have to live there until I build another one next year.

Agreed Chris.

Funny I don't think there will ever be a happy medium, because like you said hardcore gamers will get alienated at some point and so will the casual player. I don't think we have unrealistic goals either. I agree with most of the posters here companies hype their game and you get excited and expect it to work and then you get the game and out of the 10 features only 2 work correctly so guess what we are pissed. Like someone said not to start a 2k vs EA debate at all but look at 2k5 with the presentation and fundementals of that game. Well you are right 7yrs later I do expect whoever has the NFL contract to be years above and beyond what a game did 7yrs ago.

I also feel some ppl do complain too much about lil stuff, like hair, shoes, etc. Yes i want my game and players to look as realistic as possible but I much rather have realistic and great smooth gameplay.

At the end of the day it's just a video game. I know it's not going to be perfect. But I choose to play games I feel represent the sport the most realistic way it can. I don't hate Madden and NCAA bc it's EA I don't like em b/c they are not realistic and not fun for me to play. Ppl like to start EA vs 2k that's not what it is for me its about gameplay. End of the day ppl enjoy what you like and have fun remember it's a video game. I prefer 2k b/c I feel they give me the most realistic and accurate gameplay for nba and nfl games.

I don't feel most gamers have lofty goals b/c most of the goals were done and proving they could be done in older games.

I think the problem is the overall staleness of all sports titles. Madden, NBA2k, the Show are all similar to the previous versions that have been released every single year since these consoles hit the shelves. It's just fatigue. No big sports game title pushes the envelope like titles from other genres do and people get bored with the repetitiveness.

The funny thing to me is that you would think they would want to please the hardcore gamer more just from the fact that casual gamers are gonna buy whats known as the trademark game of whatever genre. I dont like racing games so you could put me in the casual catogory of that. So if I want to get a racing fix I buy gran turismo because thats the ultimate most would say. So casual will be there just off the name and respect of a game. But the medium is to make 2versions in 1 game. Sp the "noobs" can enjoy and hardcore wont have to sacrifice

Personally, I think people whine to much. Sure it would be better if everything was flawless. But there's never going to be a perfect game. People should just get over it. If it's that bad don't buy it. Save your money buy something else. Personally I think 2k12 is pretty great, yea the online is broken, and trade logic, but it's still fun I think. There is always room for improvement, because a game will never be perfect. That's kinda the problem, people expect to much.

At times do I think there is a bit of tears that are not needed, yes but at the same time I don't think its to big of request for a hardcore gamer or a sim gamer to look for the sports titles they love to meet their expectations. When you look at what a game like battlefield 3 and even Batman A.C. has done this year, with the graphics, the gameplay and the fill of the game, that is what I think makes sports gamers jump up and question things. It seems to always look as if other genres of games go all out and provide as much detail as possible and sports games give you just enough or borderline. Do I ever think there will be the perfect sports game...no, but what about making one that is close as possible...just give the fans the best possible.

When companies say their game is simulation and realistic it gives hardcore fans a reason to bash and nitpick. Companies are greedy, they make their game seem amazing and realistic when they really don't have most of the fundamentals correct. I feel like companies don't live up to their own expectations.
Why don't they just say their going to release a series of arcade titles? Then we can't complain because their living up to their expectations. Instead they make it sound good and in doing so lie .. a lot.

Madden and MLB 2K are trainwrecks waiting to happen every year. Live/Elite was a disappointment compared to competition so they quit temporarily. I think Madden and MLB 2K should take notes, but Madden will never quit because it is too much money in putting a garbage product out every year. To answer the question directly, yes games can live up to expectations NBA 2k and The Show are the best examples of games living up to expectations on a regular basis and building a concrete name.