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WIll Next-Gen Finally Deliver on Sports Gaming's Sim Promise?


A bad precedent was set back in 2005 when EA released the CGI-centric promo video for the Xbox 360 of Madden NFL 06, that set fans expectations extremely high and left them disappointed when the final retail version was spinning in their systems. We are not picking on EA per say, it is just that the infamous video they released back in 2005 basically summed up the sports gamers experience during this generation of over-promising and under-delivering. The life span of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 for sports gamers seemingly was “take one step forward, and two steps back” Gamers can be a fickle bunch, but at least in our humble opinion, they had legitimate reasons to be upset during this generation sport gaming.

Of course not every experience was a bad one, as we saw some wonderful titles drop during this generation: Sony’s MLB the Show, 2K’s NBA franchise, and EA’s FIFA and NHL series. It doesn't mean that the four titles mentioned were perfect, but they were part of a select few that were considered enjoyable by the masses. If you were a sports gamer though, it felt like every series this generation had its own set of issues, but certain developers found ways to deliver a great title consistently.

If we are being honest here, though, a lot of the issues and limitations were seemingly brought about by the hardware and the difficulty in which developers encountered while developing for each system. It is no secret that this generation of consoles presented a difficult internal architecture that most, if not all, developers struggled with. In fact, most companies never unleashed the full potential of either console, and the ones who did, didn’t accomplish this until the latter stages of each consoles life. Even though this generation has provided some true innovation in sports gaming, it seems to have come up short more times than not.

In this industry there has to be a mutual trust between the developer and the gamer, and to be blunt, that relationship has been extremely strained during this generation. The developers know that there is a built in skepticism that will be carried over from this generation, and they will have to break down barriers and build trust with gamers all over again.

So as one grabs the crisp new black controller of the PS4 or the Xbox One, and they hit the power up button and sit down to play the first sports title on the next-gen systems, what will be our expectations? Well, we can tell you personally that our expectations are pretty high, and this time we have legitimate reasons for harboring this inner hopefulness.

Based off of what we have seen so far in terms of actual gameplay and the multiple interviews we have scoured the internet for and listened to, it seems like this generation of sports gaming is starting off on much more level ground than the previous. This is seemingly a new beginning for all that are involved, including gamers and developers alike. Developer after developer has given insight to the ease of both new consoles and the ability to not only create games for them, but the amount of depth they can now add to their respective sports title.

When we reflect back upon the current gen, developers have relayed information to us personally on why certain titles like Tiger Woods 14, the limitations of the console has caused limitations of the game. Fans of Tiger Woods 14 can attest to the issues like strange out of bounds markers and Iron clad tree leafs that can kill your ball in its track. While playing this title, it feels like it is just an issue of bad coding, but according to the development team it has to do with the hardware, and will no longer be an issue once the new generation of consoles arrive. The Tiger Woods development team has even made the decision to not release a title for next year, and will focus on the year 2015 for its next release.

The promise for this upcoming generation of consoles, if fulfilled, should really take sports gaming to the next level – finally. Sports gamers should now experience a deeper product, with truly dynamic crowds, commentary and realistic stadium ambiance. We should see smarter AI that will start to show human-type characteristics in their decision making, and more importantly, their reactions and adjustments.

There has been a lot of blame laid on this generation of hardware from developers and publishers, who were supposedly handcuffed with their creativity. While most gamers are willing to buy into this, since it seems to be a universal claim by all developers, the gaming community will not be nearly as forgiving this generation.

Sports gaming, or gaming in general, is not a cheap venture, and consumers will want to see a true return of investment this time around. After the initial cost of the console, and just one game, gamers are looking at a minimum of almost $500, if they have chosen the PS4 route; that cost rises $100 with the Xbox One. This is assuming that the consumer only plans to play this single game, and not go online to do so. Once you add in multiple titles, the PSN Plus or Xbox Live cost, and a possible second controller, gamers can easily eclipse the $800 mark as an initial start-up cost – and that’s assuming they are just a one console household.

This generation should have gamers asking for quality and depth from the start, and being much less receptive to the we-can-patch-that-in mentality from developers. While we are very appreciative of developers having the ability to patch games, it was used as a crutch way too often. Hopefully this mentality is a thing of the past, and while patches will still be drawn upon to fix small bugs and glitches, the gamer will enjoy a much more complete experience right out of the box.

If the truth about the ease of development for both consoles is taken at face value, then sports gamers and developers have a real chance to leave a dark generation of sports gaming behind them. It is truly the dawning of a new age, and one that could greatly benefit all that are involved. Of course one must keep in mind that this year’s new sports titles are just the very first iteration, and most likely it will take until year three, before developers can fully maximize each consoles potential. Developers have promised that even though these are first year titles, they will be full feature titles, which is a huge step in the right direction, at least in comparison to the launch of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The developers know what they have to do in order to win the trust back from sports gamers, and now gamers must learn how to leave the past in the past and judge this new generation on their own merit. It is a different age, and one that is full of potential in ways we may not even be aware of yet.

Conservatively Embrace this genesis of sports gaming with an open mind and do not wait for the conditions to be perfect, because a new beginning makes the conditions perfect already.


Member Comments
# 1 TreyIM2 @ 07/12/13 12:55 PM
I really believe we have nothing to worry about come next gen altho the only thing that concerns me is the differences in the PS4 and Xbox One architectures could prove to have crab barrel effects such as what I believed may have happened current gen along with lack of static HDDs and no Blu-ray on the 360s.

Even with that, both next gen systems should have enough to finally 'bring it home' for us gamers from gameplay and graphics to the 'little' things.

I am more excited for next gen and my PS4 and games are already preordered and while I do expect some legacy issues, initially, the years to come should knock those out, easily.
 
# 2 seasprite @ 07/12/13 02:38 PM
I believe the hardware will be there, but I'm still not that confident that the software will be............I hoping I'm dead wrong.
 
# 3 BK_NC @ 07/12/13 03:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TreyIM2
I really believe we have nothing to worry about come next gen altho the only thing that concerns me is the differences in the PS4 and Xbox One architectures could prove to have crab barrel effects such as what I believed may have happened current gen along with lack of static HDDs and no Blu-ray on the 360s.

Even with that, both next gen systems should have enough to finally 'bring it home' for us gamers from gameplay and graphics to the 'little' things.

I am more excited for next gen and my PS4 and games are already preordered and while I do expect some legacy issues, initially, the years to come should knock those out, easily.
@TreyIM2 PS4 and Xbox One are both supposed to be using the AMD Jaguar APU (cpu/gpu on same chip) although the PS4 is rumor to use a faster version. So the hardware architectures are actually the same to a programmer. The main difference is the Kinect is bundled with each Xbox One while the EyeToy is optional for the PS4.

My hope for the next-gen is Madden and NCAA will push the envelope with innovations in physics, animation, and AI. That Madden in particular won't be complacent in the next-gen like they have been up until Madden 13 in the current era. Competition would be a great catalyst for this but I'm not hopeful as far as the NFL goes.

My other hope for the next-gen is that 2K will get back into the College Football and College Basketball game business now that EA no longer has exclusive rights. Not too hopeful on those fronts but thats a wish list.
 
# 4 elgreazy1 @ 07/12/13 03:47 PM
Simply put: No.

The reason? Ironically, lack of competition. Sports and athletes feed on it. It's what drives them to excel, to push their limits, and to aspire for more. Remember Nike's "My Better is Better than Your Better" campaign - it's all about competition.

The sports gaming industry lacks it. One professional football game option. One college football option.One professional baseball game option. One professional hockey game option. One pro golf option. One wrestling game option. No college basketball options. Two MMA-based games. Two soccer games.

The sports gamer is completely exploited. We have no options for games. What's worse, we are stuck on a yearly purchasing cycle simply for roster updates and minimal upgrades and innovations.
 
# 5 SHAKYR @ 07/12/13 06:21 PM
I believe we may run into the same problems, especially EA because many of their titles push graphics over gameplay and realism. EA false starts on NBA LIVE proves this and the handling the Fight Night series. Companies like EA need to separate the sim/realism from the arcade because many of the fans want their sport represented as real as possible.
EA is a very stubborn companies that needs to loosen up on it's franchises. It's not the systems as I'm told, it's the production and company visions that keep fans from what they want in a sports game. I can direct you to a Fight Night podcast where a producer told me why something wasn't the game because he felt like it shouldn't be there...( his decision)
 
# 6 The_Gaming_Disciple @ 07/12/13 07:28 PM
After seeing Madden 25 for PS4 I am very persuaded the next generation of sports games aside from 2k will be lacking at best.
 
# 7 4X49ER @ 07/12/13 08:24 PM
I guess I'm not understanding the whole vague disappointment trend, maybe it's just the cool thing to not like anything but not say why. I'm hopeful for the new systems. I'm looking forward to Madden 25 on the PS4. The new engines look good. I am not going to hold my breath for 2K to get back into football games, but I'd love to see it.
 
# 8 jmo2278 @ 07/13/13 04:43 AM
I say BS! How come only sports developers struggled with the current gen systems? I have had some of my most enjoyable gaming in 30 years this generation with non sport titles. And like the OP even said Nba2k and the Show proves that good sports games were possible this gen. The football titles in particular struggled from lack of vision and creativity, and maybe even just plain old laziness. No excuse for stripping features away or adding features and abandon them a year later. I'm sure the hardware presented obstacles but C'Mon man, the re-shuffling of the Madden and Live teams shows that there was also a problem with leadership and direction of certain series. Hopefully lessons were learned and next gen will be alot better.
 
# 9 jmo2278 @ 07/13/13 04:45 AM
P.S. So the current gen hardware is why there is no transaction list in CCM this year too?!? Yeah right lmao
 
# 10 [Icy] @ 07/13/13 07:15 AM
Hardware is more of a limitation for graphics that it is for AI, we have had the same AI since 1st generation consoles or maybe it was even deeper in GM modes than it is right now, as they keep stripping features to just improve graphics and online experience (where the money is right now) on each next gen jump.
 
# 11 tril @ 07/13/13 07:25 AM
personally,
I think this generation of sports games has delivered. Looking back, I can say that I have had no major issues as far as gaming goes.
My games off choice did not disappoint me. The ones game that disappointed me, was the Madden franchise, but even they delivered with Madden 13. not great, but they finally got me to believe in an EA product.
EA's issue with their football franchise has always, and will always be the ability to make games totally customizable. They do not offer enough sliders.
These developers have to strike a balance between sim style and casual style. It is obviously not profitable for console games to cater to a total sim experience, that is why a developer has not delivered on a total sim experience. It has nothing to do with system limitations. IT has to do with cost vs profit. The most profitable is obviously the current development/business model. (the one company that tried the total sim approach did not succeed, The folks that created Backbreaker)
 
# 12 ZoneBlitz @ 07/13/13 02:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by elgreazy1
Simply put: No.

The reason? Ironically, lack of competition. Sports and athletes feed on it. It's what drives them to excel, to push their limits, and to aspire for more. Remember Nike's "My Better is Better than Your Better" campaign - it's all about competition.

The sports gaming industry lacks it. One professional football game option. One college football option.One professional baseball game option. One professional hockey game option. One pro golf option. One wrestling game option. No college basketball options. Two MMA-based games. Two soccer games.

The sports gamer is completely exploited. We have no options for games. What's worse, we are stuck on a yearly purchasing cycle simply for roster updates and minimal upgrades and innovations.
Awesome point.
 
# 13 tbook24 @ 07/13/13 03:46 PM
hopefully the sim based community will have games tweaked more towards them. the current gen has more tweakings for the arcade/novice gamers. i want my online experience to be sim as well as my offline. there needs to be adjusters for the way you want to play.
 
# 14 synjin @ 07/15/13 03:53 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tril
personally,
I think this generation of sports games has delivered. Looking back, I can say that I have had no major issues as far as gaming goes.
My games off choice did not disappoint me. The ones game that disappointed me, was the Madden franchise, but even they delivered with Madden 13. not great, but they finally got me to believe in an EA product.
EA's issue with their football franchise has always, and will always be the ability to make games totally customizable. They do not offer enough sliders.
These developers have to strike a balance between sim style and casual style. It is obviously not profitable for console games to cater to a total sim experience, that is why a developer has not delivered on a total sim experience. It has nothing to do with system limitations. IT has to do with cost vs profit. The most profitable is obviously the current development/business model. (the one company that tried the total sim approach did not succeed, The folks that created Backbreaker)
Sports Interactive is a company that has enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success (and an amazing game series) and they went the total sim route. I just wish they would port the game into american football and hockey (again). The market is definitely there for this type of game.

OOTP is another great sim-only franchise for baseball.
 
# 15 10A25 @ 07/24/13 06:08 AM
I wish computer A.I. could be revolutionized with the introduction of a new gen but sadly that probably isn't the case just yet.
 
# 16 kostasre @ 08/31/13 11:56 AM
Really very interesting thread. It needs a lot of discussion
 
# 17 savoie2006 @ 08/31/13 09:32 PM
As for the post that said there is no competition, there were two baseball games 2K and the Show. Competition means nothing other than more options for the consumers. Most all the cases where there was competition, the reason there isn't anymore is because one was crap. Save for the NFL where EA own the exclusive. NHL 2K, NBA Live, and even MLB 2K are or were noticeably inferior products compared to their rivals. It wasn't just a year or two either, it was almost every year.

That said, this gen had better come through with the power the new consoles will have. It would be nice to see some competition, but it's tough out there financially for most, so I don't see that helping keep the competition alive if there is some.
 

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