Three Sports Games That Are Begging to be Made in 2012 - RaychelSnr's Blog

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Three Sports Games That Are Begging to be Made in 2012 Stuck

Posted on December 18, 2012 at 06:19 PM.

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In the year 2012, we're getting used to having less sports games and not more. In the past few years, we've seen support for more niche and 'off-the-beaten' path games wane significantly.

With the rise of more mainstream gaming devices which require less detailed development work, it's becoming clear there is a new market for sports games if the folks holding the licenses are willing to part with them for more reasonable prices or if developers who want to take a risk on an unlicensed customizable title are willing to take a risk.

Here are three games that would make great additions to a gaming lineup on a mobile device or as a free-to-play online type of game or even as a big box console title near you:

1)NCAA Hoops - What did you expect? We haven't had a college basketball game for two years now, and we're going to enter a third, fourth, and fifth if nothing changes soon. If someone could just mirror the Legacy Mode and some of the gameplay of older (but good) basketball titles, this would be a worthy type of game on the more niche devices. Good luck getting licensing though.

2)Gymnastics - Call me whatever you want, but my favorite Olympic Sport is Gymnastics, and creating a game around the sport could be done by a creative but niche development group. You'd have to create your character (male or female) you'd have to grow their skillsets in an RPG fashion and you'd have to have some sort of a routine mechanic that was a strange mixture of QTEs, Rock Band, and a turn-based strategy game. If you did it right, and made it an MMO type of game where you compete against others -- it's so crazy it might just work.

3)High School Football - High School football is one of the most attended sports in America, it's incredibly popular, it captures our imaginations via cinema and television and many folks who play NCAA Football dare call the High School football mode a highlight. I'm not sure if I'd want High School football to be a niche or a big box title, but I think the passion and camaraderie of communities against each other in friendly (or sometimes not so friendly) sport would be a joy to play. Thus far, it seems most gaming companies feel I'm in the minority. But imagine the money that could be made off of State School packs in a free to play game -- or better yet a roster/school sharing center which charged a monthly fee for access. I'm just saying.

Sound off: What sports do you think are screaming for games currently?

Comments

# 1 ELDoro @ Dec 18

High School football game that has a mode similar to EA's Ultimate or The Show's Diamond Dynasty would be awesome! And yep a NCAA bball game is needed for sure with the same feature!

# 2 Jimbo614 @ Dec 18

I'm thinking... American School Systems are short on funds,How much could a High School or State get for allowing licsensed High Schools to be used for DLC content?
I live in Greater Cincinnati; We have some pretty good teams around here. I would love to be able to download Moeller, St Xm Elder, Highlans, Beechwood and my own school Dixie Heights.
Perhaps a DLC package would be of entire Districts or Leagues.
I think you're on to something Chris

# 3 drae2 @ Dec 18

NFL 2K Whatever football!!!

# 4 Gramps91 @ Dec 18

I would pay $100 for a college basketball game, no questions asked.

# 5 tarek @ Dec 18

More than anything I think there is a potential big market for remakes on smartphones.
For example, games like Grand Theft Auto - Vice City and Baldur's Gate have recently been re-released on smartphones/tablets.

Couldn't this happen to some extent with sports games? The first obvious problem is that the 'rosters' would be extremely outdated. But couldn't that be fun?

Having said that, I think that quality sports games need to make their way onto the mainstream smartphone market. And I'm sick of gimmicky, cash in options that exist, I mean games of substance.

Fifa does it well. Football manager handheld does it well. iOOTP does it well. NBA Jam was alright. But we need more, and with more variety too.

# 6 DirtyJerz32 @ Dec 18

High school football would definitely be awesome. I'm in my 3 season on my high school online dynasty from NCAA 13 with 11 other friends. We're all in the Bug East and have made that conference the new SEC.

# 7 JohnDoh @ Dec 18

I would love to see a BMX racing video game. BMX freestyle games have been made and that genre has kind of ran its route, but a BMX racing game would be balls! I really enjoy Trials Evolution on the Xbox and a BMX game done right with physics and real skills needed to traverse a BMX Supercross track would be amazing!

# 8 SkillzKillz719 @ Dec 19

I think a college basketball game will never be released again. I've just lost so much hope... I'm mentally fatigued of getting my hopes up.

A high school game would have to be unlicensed and the overall generic-ness would be it's undoing. I think everyone would make their high school and stuff but of the... what? Tens of thousands of high schools? Just not close enough to be good. Especially for the ****** gamer... they wouldn't know to download those teams. They would be stuck with a bland experience.
When I see the future of video games, I see black and grey. Not until the recession is TOTALLY done (or at least back to normal) there will be zero creativity.
And if there is a miracle and some one takes a chance, we need to support it, no matter what.

# 9 ven0m43 @ Dec 19

I still play my college hoops game and have been wait for a new one to come out ever since 08. I would play/buy a high school football game if it was fun to play and had gameplay comparable to nfl2k5. Madden is not fun for more to play anymore. I had more fun on the pc version and any of these current gen versions. It will prob be another 4 years before I try/buy another madden game.

# 10 bhurst99 @ Dec 19

I'd like to see a PS3/Xbox 360 skiing game with licensed skiers and licensed courses with a full fledged career mode (Think Top Spin 4 but skiing instead of tennis). It seems like skiing is popular enough to have a least one game in this genre. I'm surprised it's never happened (to my knowledge)

# 11 Thrash13 @ Dec 19

I'd be happy to see a new college basketball game made, and I think the chances are at least decent we will see another one eventually.

That being said, the two I'd like to see the most are a new college baseball game and a Major League Soccer game. The college baseball one is very unlikely, since EA Sports already tried and gave up on it after only two years. The Major League Soccer game is also unlikely because the MLS is already included in FIFA. It probably wouldn't sell very well, but it sure would be nice to have a game with all the stadiums, supporter chants, etc. I'd buy both of them, I know that for sure.

# 12 eye guy @ Dec 21

If we're limited to three, here are my wants/needs...

1. Surfing. I'm not the biggest surfing fan, but Kelly Slater surfing had me playing until the current gen. It's market may not be the same as basketball or football (soccer), but debs need to look at the success of titles like Rockstars Table Tennis.

2. Boxing NEEDS to make a triumphant return. EA had it's turn, but it's now time for someone like 2K/VC to step up and deliver something closer to sim. In my opinion, arcade style game just won't work and us sim fans definitely deserve a game.

3. BMX also needs to make a return. An open world title like EA's Skate, would be more successful than a title limited only to racing.

# 13 Reed1417 @ Dec 22

I would love love love a new College Basketball game. Prefer it would be made by 2k but beggars can't be choosers now can we? An updated version of 2k8 would be lovely and if they could somehow mimic the CBS/ESPN style presentation of the EA Sports game it would be perfect. All sounds good in the head of course.

# 14 Chad0034 @ Dec 24

Like many others, I used the old 2K Servers for College Hoops to get new rosters and play, but now that thats offline, playing updated college ball is nearly impossible.

I was discussing this with a couple of my Xbox Live friends. NCAA Basketball has potential to be one of the top sports games out there.

Imagine playing Online Dynasty with friends, and watching the NCAA Tournament Announcement show together?

The length of the season is perfect for online gamer's, and the recruiting aspect is perfect as well. Only about 3-5 scholarships go out every year, so it'll be a brutal competition unlike NCAA Football where theres plenty of scholarships to go around.

I can't believe no one has jumped on this opportunity.