Author Bio
Dustin TomsHome Town: Washington State
Sports: Basketball, Tennis
Games: NBA 2K, NBA Jam, NCAA, Mass Effect
Teams: Tennessee Titans, Seattle Sonics, Seattle Mariners, New York Knicks
OS Username: DustinT
Tags:
Thursday, June 23, 2011
01:04 PM - June 23, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
We all know Fight Night and UFC are two rather successful franchises within the sports-gaming industry. These games give gamers a chance to create themselves in an environment that would be nothing more than a pipe dream if it were transferred to real life. Nevertheless, if you put your mind to it, worked your *** off and trained every day, your pipe dream could come true, and you could be in the ring or octagon before you could say Tito Ortiz.
But can you burn in Hell, put on a yellow mask and become Scorpion from Midway’s Mortal Kombat? Can you hop into an orange jumpsuit and bust out a Kamehameha wave and call yourself Goku? No, it won’t happen outside of your dreams.
The point is simple, an underlying lack of realism negates the opportunity for all fighting games to be considered sports games.
Read More - Why Fighting Games Should NOT be Considered Sports Games
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
05:50 PM - June 22, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Caley Roark
Baseball is one of the few sports with direct competition within our genre, and as with year's past (2010's version here) we have decided to do another grudge match to compare both of the top games for our national pastime. Our baseball reviewers for the past two years, Christian McLeod and Caley Roark, are joined by OS Staff Writer Dustin Toms to chime in on what they thought of each aspect of both games and which game is better overall. Check out their thoughts and let us know yours!!
Read More - MLB Grudge Match: The Show vs. MLB 2K
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
12:18 PM - June 21, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Caley Roark
Sports games progress like every other genre, and idea copying becomes a huge part of the development process. However, some ideas seem to get looked over by some development teams. Given the current state of the industry, what is the most important feature that has not yet made its way into most sports games?
Chris Sanner: The one thing all sports games need that none actually do involves dynamic player personalities.
Robert Kollars: There are a lot of features that should be absolutely standard in all sports games, but a complete editor tops the list for me.
Caley Roark: For me, the missing thing that frustrates me most is TV-style presentation, at least for major sports games.
Read More - OS Roundtable: What Feature Should be in Every Sports Game?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
02:29 PM - May 31, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
With the NBA Finals beginning Tuesday night in Miami, the questions around here revolve around what that means in NBA 2K11.
So we have been asking this question: Who would we want starting for us in the NBA 2K Finals? Forget about the bench players, screw the sixth man, who are the starters leading us to victory?
To answer that question, I did not just pick the top-rated players in the game. No, this team complements one another to the point where I can’t lose to even the best players I have played. This is the ultimate team that will ensure you a clean, four-game sweep of any opponent.
This is nothing but a starting five that you know will win you that Larry O’Brien Trophy.
(Also, just for clarification, classic rosters are not involved. Sorry MJ.)
Read More - NBA 2K11: Finals Starting Five
Friday, May 27, 2011
02:32 PM - May 27, 2011. Posted by ChaseB. Written by Dustin Toms
Every adolescent boy dreams about what it would be like to get paid to play video games. After all, it's an awesome dream and one that many even fantasize about into their teen and adult years. But what if it became reality? What if that payday came in the size of a whopping $1 million?
For Brian Kingrey, that dream came true.
Read More - Chatting It Up With MLB 2K11's Million-Dollar Winner
Thursday, May 19, 2011
03:40 PM - May 19, 2011. Posted by ChaseB. Written by Dustin Toms
Year after year EA Sports pumps out a new Madden game. The game faces the scrutiny of inconsistencies, but one thing stays constant: rookies. The newcomers to the NFL always find themselves as some of the most used players in the game.
Whether you’re a St. Louis Rams fan and want to see if Sam Bradford will lead you to the promised land, or if you just questioned why exactly your Houston Texans drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and Vince Young, all gamers share in their excitement to try out the new rookie class. So here is a list of the top five rookies to debut in Madden during this generation.
Read More - Top Five 'Next-Gen' Madden Rookies
07:15 PM - April 19, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Ridge Racer makes its debut on the 3DS as the first 3-D racing game available on the new handheld system. It does a decent job of giving racing games a good name, but it misses on a few aspects, specifically on the repetitiveness front.
Read More - Ridge Racer 3D Review (3DS)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
11:35 AM - April 14, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Madden developers get scrutiny from every corner of the nation, and with the release of Madden Football for the new Nintendo 3DS, the scrutiny is about to increase once more.
It’s always nice having a portable Madden title, but this particular version tends to get boring because of the lack of depth and the glaring flaws.
Read More - Madden NFL Football Review (3DS)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
04:32 PM - April 5, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Christian McLeod
1. Releasing a college basketball game in January instead of November would be a positive for a college hoops title.
Dustin Toms: Fact/Fiction. I feel like this is a loaded question. For the hardcore college hoops fan, this would be nothing short of a disappointment. You don't want to start playing halfway through the season, you want to take control once the actual season begins. But on the other hand, for the gaming companies, releasing closer to the tournament would probably make them more money in the long run. When it comes down to it, we all just want a new college hoops game.
Christian McLeod: Fact. I consider myself a college hoops fanatic -- the kicker is that outside of the early season tournaments, my interest level in the sport doesn't peak until mid/late January. Once college football is over and the NFL Playoffs come to an end, college basketball kicks into high gear. Also, by January interest in NBA gaming is beginning to tail off after a four month play period. Why not refine the NBA engine, polish up gameplay quirks, and even add some new features to the college game? In short, use the NBA game as a beta to perfect the college game, and then use the college game to use as a beta to perfect the next year's NBA game? Seems like a win-win for everyone involved to me.
Read More - OS Fact or Fiction: College Hoops Edition
Monday, April 4, 2011
05:13 PM - April 4, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
If there is one thing Nintendo is good at, it is executing creativity. And the creativity has been executed once again with the Nintendo 3DS.
When the system was announced, the skeptics came out in droves. How was 3-D supposed to work without the glasses? Why is Nintendo making another DS? Well, to answer those questions, the system works just fine without glasses, and Nintendo made another DS to make boatloads of cash off the new technology.
Read More - Nintendo 3DS Sports Gaming Impressions
Monday, March 28, 2011
04:07 PM - March 28, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Tennis has always been one of the go-to sports in my life, so of course I was as giddy as this guy when I first heard that the Top Spin franchise was returning for a fourth installment. But by no means did I expect Top Spin 4 to impress me as much as it has to this point. To put it quite simply, this is the best tennis simulation ever made.
Read More - Top Spin 4 Review (360)
Monday, March 21, 2011
11:56 PM - March 21, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Top Spin 4, thus far, has blown my mind. The game is very realistic, and like most 2K Sports games, it requires skill and practice to compete.
Gameplay
The one thing that stands out most to me is the artificial intelligence. The AI is, in one word, brilliant. It is smart, difficult and darn good at what it does. The best part about the AI is that it will switch up strategies in the middle of a match. For example, I was playing my fourth match, but it was the first time my opponent played the net. He ended up rocking me 1-6 in the first set, and I really had no chance.
After the first set I took a deep breath and switched up my game plan. It worked, and I won the second set 6-0. Now, here is where it got exciting, as my opponent changed his strategy for the third set, and it worked once again. He jumped out to a quick and easy 2-0, but I ended up winning 6-2. Basically, it's like one big chess match, and I'm Bobby Fischer.
Read More - Top Spin 4 First Impressions
Gameplay
The one thing that stands out most to me is the artificial intelligence. The AI is, in one word, brilliant. It is smart, difficult and darn good at what it does. The best part about the AI is that it will switch up strategies in the middle of a match. For example, I was playing my fourth match, but it was the first time my opponent played the net. He ended up rocking me 1-6 in the first set, and I really had no chance.
After the first set I took a deep breath and switched up my game plan. It worked, and I won the second set 6-0. Now, here is where it got exciting, as my opponent changed his strategy for the third set, and it worked once again. He jumped out to a quick and easy 2-0, but I ended up winning 6-2. Basically, it's like one big chess match, and I'm Bobby Fischer.
Read More - Top Spin 4 First Impressions
Monday, March 14, 2011
01:21 PM - March 14, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Bottom Line: Armed and Dangerous? Hardly dangerous, but slightly armed. The new DLC pack for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a big hit or miss. It adds two new online game modes, one that is brilliant and another that is practically a waste of money and time.
What's Here
Arms Race is the mode that we can all do without. All it offers is a few more weapons in your typical race. Sure it can make for a little bit more excitement, but not enough to really be worth any money. And that is literally all there is to say about Arms Race. Don’t waste your time.
Read More - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - Armed and Dangerous DLC Review
Thursday, March 10, 2011
05:40 PM - March 10, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Winning one million dollars can mean the world to someone. That someone could win it in the lottery, in a cereal box contest or, like Wade McGilberry, by playing MLB 2K10.
McGilberry is last year's winner of the MLB 2K10 Million Dollar Perfect Game Competition, which awarded him with one million dollars for being the first to pitch a perfect game in last year's game.
"I'm a pretty low key guy, I didn't really have a loud shout of joy," said McGilberry. "It was just like 'oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened.' It was a very unreal moment. The code appeared to enter online, and when I saw that, I knew I had to hurry and [enter the code] before someone else got to it."
In other words, he received a bank-load of money for being really damn good at playing a video game.
Surprisingly, 2K10 was the first game from the series McGilberry bought. Before 2K10, the last baseball game he played was from the All-Star Baseball series, which has been dead since 2005.
Read More - One Year Later: How One Man Won $1 Million in MLB 2K10
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
01:30 PM - January 18, 2011. Posted by RaychelSnr. Written by Dustin Toms
Anyone who spends any amount of time on Operation Sports most likely knows all about the "Madden Curse" and its legacy. The curse comes up every time a new Madden cover athlete is announced -- and with good reason. But now Electronic Arts is ready to take the curse to a whole new level. Madden Curse: The Movie.
The movie will follow a one-time Madden video game champion who is forced out of retirement just as he finds himself on the corner of the game's cover. With his face gracing that small corner, the curse hits him.
Let's be clear here: This premise makes absolutely no sense.
EA is attempting to turn this movie into a comedy, but how can someone watch a movie for 90 minutes when it is about some dude who is no longer good at Madden? The idea sounds fun enough at first I suppose -- and I'm sure most of us here would watch it -- but unless the folks at EA can think of something to spice up the plot a little bit, this movie will crash and burn.
So how can we make this movie better? Here are a few ideas to get people thinking.
Read More - Let's Chat: What should be done with the Madden movie?
Working...