Welcome to the 2002 Stevie awards. The Stevie is the award given out to companies who excel in sports related video games in numerous categories that range from best sports game of the year, to the best console for sports gaming. Awards are given by the staff and the readers of our Forums. The Stevie is named after the owner of Operation Sports Steve Noah for his excellence in sports gaming coverage over the years. Or at least that is what we on the staff keep telling him ;). Now to the awards.

Football Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - NCAA Football 2003 (EA Sports)
2nd - NFL 2K3 (Sega Sports)
3rd - Madden 2003 (EA Sports)

Staff Pick
NCAA Football 2003 (EA Sports)

NCAA 2003 takes the crown by a WIDE margin as OS staff and its readers show that the college game, if done properly, will always be our first love!

Basketball Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - NBA 2K3 (Sega Sports)
2nd - NCAA College Basketball 2K3 (Sega Sports)
3rd - Inside Drive 2003 (Microsoft)

Staff Pick
NBA 2K3 (Sega Sports)

Sega Sports takes the top two spots with a solid ID 2003 coming in third. During most of the voting CB 2K3 was not even out. Just shows once again that the college game is looked highly upon with OS readers and staff.

Baseball Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - High Heat 2003 (3DO)
2nd - All Star Baseball 2003 (Acclaim)
3rd - World Series Baseball (Sega Sports)

Staff Pick
OOTP4 (OOTP Developments)

Just like the battle lines over the baseball games in our Forums, this one came down to the wire with High Heat barely edging out ASB. WSB fared well and OOTP was a solid 4th place with the readers, but the biggest hit with the staff! Not a single vote for Triple Play. Hopefully MVP Baseball 2003 can change that next year.

Hockey game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - NHL 2K3 (Sega Sports)
2nd - NHL Hitz 20-03 (Midway)
3rd - No other votes

Staff Pick
NHL 2K3 (Sega Sports)

This was no contest. NHL 2K3 takes the crown by a long shot with NHL Hitz 20-03 picking up a few votes. EA strikes out once again with NHL 2003 getting ZERO votes.

Racing Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Moto GP (THQ)
2nd - Nascar Thunder 2003 (EA Sports)
3rd - World Of Outlaws (Ratbag)

Staff Pick
Moto GP (THQ)

Looks like playing Moto GP on XBL pushed this one over the top from the readers comments.

Other Sports Game of the Year (Tennis, Golf, Soccer, Etc)

Readers Picks

1st - Tiger Woods 2003 (EA Sports)
2nd - Sega Soccer Slam (Sega Sports)
3rd - Hot Shots Golf 3 (Sony)

Staff Pick
Hot Shots Golf 3 (Sony)

Tiger Woods (PC & Console version) easily wins the readers vote where Hot Shots Golf 3 barely took the Staff vote over TW.

Extreme Sports Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (Activision)
2nd - Aggressive Inline (Acclaim)
3rd - Amped (Microsoft)

Staff Pick
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (Activision)

Yep, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is not really a shock but Aggressive Inline made some strides. Next year should be interesting.

Fighting Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Rocky (Ubi Soft)
2nd - Smackdown Shut Your Mouth (THQ)
3rd - Fire Pro Wrestling 2 (bam! entertainment)

Staff Pick
Rocky (Ubi Soft)

Rocky and Ubi Soft come through in a few of our categories. If you have not had a chance to play it at the very least, give this one a rent.

Sleeper Hit of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - (Tie) Deathrow (Ubi Soft) & Moto GP (THQ)
2nd - Rocky (Ubi Soft)
3rd - World Of Outlaws (Ratbag)

Staff Pick
Rocky (Ubi Soft)

Yo Adrian the staff really really likes my game. Deathrow, another Ubi Soft title, takes first along with Moto GP. Add Splinter Cell to the mix and Ubi Soft has definitely given gamers a really great winter of gaming.

Brightest Future

Readers Picks

1st - College Basketball 2K series (Sega Sports)
2nd - NCAA Football series (EA Sports)
3rd - Xbox Live

Staff Pick
Xbox Live

College Basketball, College Football and XBL... You just cant top that trio... Of course that would require EA to make NCAA 2004 online and put it on XBL (hint hint, nudge nudge)

Biggest Advance of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Xbox Live
2nd - NBA Live 2003 (EA Sports)
3rd - Sega Sports

Staff Pick
NBA Live 2003 (EA Sports)

The readers show the love for XBL as did the staff, but we chose NBA Live as our biggest advance of the year...

Disappointment of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - NCAA College Football 2K3 (Sega Sports)
2nd - NFL 2K3 (Sega Sports)
3rd - World Series Baseball (Sega Sports)

Staff Pick
NCAA College Football 2K3 (Sega Sports)

Yep, Sega draws a blank with the readers and staff on NCAA College Football 2K3. Sorry Sega but as you can see the readers love the college sports games and simply making a sloppy port of the NFL 2K2 engine won't cut the mustard here. At the very least, XBL compatibility would have healed some of the wounds since there were no college football games online.

Publisher of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Sega Sports
2nd - EA Sports
3rd - Ubi Soft (for Rocky)

Staff Pick
Sega Sports

Wow I guess OS is really just a bunch of Sega fanboys! Kidding of course...

Console of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - Xbox
2nd - PS2

Staff Pick
Xbox

The staff was almost unanimous with the Xbox while the reader race was a little closer. Xbox still takes the crown for 2002 with the Gamecube getting no votes.

Reviewer of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - John Griffin (fsquid)
2nd - Jim Cook (cookusu)
3rd - Terry Crouch (TCrouch)

Close race but John Griffin takes the crown by one vote over Jim Cook. And the one extra vote he got was from a reader who enjoyed his posts? I guess he did not understand the meaning of "reviewer".

Forum Poster of the Year (Voted on by the Staff)

Brian Krich (bkrich83)

It was a close race, but the man, the myth, the legend took the title as poster of the year. For those who did not win, please do not feel bad as BK is a Charger fan and needed something to cushion the choking of his Chargers the last two seasons.

Most Anticipated Game of the Year for 2003

Readers Picks

1st - NCAA 2004 (EA Sports)
2nd - College Basketball 2K4 (Sega Sports)
3rd - (Tie) NFL 2K4 (Sega Sports) & High Heat 2004 (3DO)

Staff Pick
High Heat 2004 (3DO)

Thankfully Trip went into his pocketbook to help save his own company, otherwise the staff would not know what to do with themselves in 2003. The readers take two college games as their top picks. Anyone noticing a trend here?

Game of the Year

Readers Picks

1st - NCAA Football 2003 (EA Sports)
2nd - (Tie) NFL 2K3 (Sega) & Madden 2003 (EA Sports)
3rd - NHL 2K3 (Sega Sports)

Staff Pick
NCAA Football 2003 (EA Sports)

It is rare that a college football game would beat out the professional game from the same publisher on most sites, but since we are dedicated to sports gaming we do not follow the same rules. NCAA Football 2003 dominated both the Football and the Game of the Year voting. Hats of to the guys at Tiburon for putting together an amazing college football game. If you guys can get NCAA 2004 online for the PS2 & Xbox there is no doubt in our mind you will see more Stevie's next year!