Thinking Aloud towards the Sports Game of the Year... - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Thinking Aloud towards the Sports Game of the Year... Stuck

Posted on December 11, 2012 at 11:40 AM.

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As we march onwards towards what is ultimately going to be the Sports Game of the Year Awards for 2012 (assuming the world doesn't end first), I'm left wondering how in the world are we going to select the game this year?

This year is harder than most, with a whole slew of titles at the top of the mountain. You have NBA 2K13 which is probably the voting public's favorite this year (just my guess), and the game was a phenomenal game.

Likewise, MLB '13: The Show was incredible -- just it released seven months prior to NBA 2K13. So the problem is, and will continue to be for The Show that people's memories are short and they don't quite remember a game that might've been more than seven games ago for some folks.

FIFA Soccer 13 was last year's champ, and the only thing FIFA did this year was get better. Everything within FIFA was more refined and simply better in this gaming editor's eyes, but FIFA's margin of victory last year was so small I can't find a realistic way it can repeat.

NHL 13 is the only hockey some people are going to get this year, and that's just fine thank you. NHL's new skating engine really amped up the realism on the ice but it also changed a lot of the gameplay dynamics -- and the new GM Connected mode continued sports games' trend online.

But then you have the wildcards, games like SSX and WWE '13 which reviewed quite well and were fan favorites. There are so many people who simply didn't play those games but they are both quality enough to be considered amongst the rest of the pack, just unless either jived with enough OS'ers neither will even sniff a spot at the podium.

So you see? This year's Sports Game of the Year is a challenge. As we near the end of our current console generation, the quality of games in our genre has really begun to rise -- which makes our jobs both tougher and more fun all at the same time.

Pre-Voting Sound Off: Which games are good enough to be considered for Sports Game of the Year in 2012?