"High fly ball into right field, she is gone!" Those are the famous words spoken by legendary commentator Vin Scully. Those words made one of the biggest home runs hit in World Series history memorable to every baseball fan. There is no doubt, even without the commentary, Kirk Gibson's shot off of Dennis Eckersley would be remembered today and replayed numerous times every October. But there is something about the calmness as the bat connects, the excitement as the ball leaves the park, and the silence as Gibson rounds the bases. The entire moment was handled perfectly by Scully.

When we speak about that moment we do the best we can as fans to describe every moment as it happened. Listeners to our tales have to know where we were, what we were thinking, and how we felt as the impossible became history. And most of that emotion is driven by the commentary of Vin Scully.

For years the human voice has delivered the emotion of the game. It has added depth to the visuals and entertained fans listening on the radio while driving home. It is the strongest audio connection we have to a game besides the crack of the bat or the swoosh of a made basket.

It is no mistake that sports gamers value the resources developers put into crafting and fine tuning the commentary in their games. It brings the gamer closer to the action and helps recreate everything we love about listening to our favorite sports on television and radio.

The evolution of play-by-play and color commentary in sports games has been a decade long experiment. The earliest titles featuring commentary stuck with traditional play-by-play announcing highlighting only player names and the end result of plays. NFL Sports Talk Football '93 was highly-regarded for it's deep commentary featuring over 500 different phrases despite Montana's name being the only player's name announced. Running commentary became the standard in a short time as developers tried to find new ways to open up the audio.

In the late '90s, Electronic Arts was one of the first to introduce deep color commentary alongside their play-by-play. EA's Triple Play series is well-known for expanding on color-commentary by having analyst's Buck Martinez and Jim Houston tell funny stories during the game, offer random facts about players, and even read advertisements for fake companies in-between innings.

The many advancements to commentary have continued into the next-generation of consoles. Two-man booths are now the standard with three man-booths offering more depth. Some developers have even included pre-game shows, post-game highlights with commentary, and studio analysts offering additional insight. Surely, fans love every second of their favorite commentators speaking about their favorite players and teams.

Sports fans continue to credit the SCEA team and their MLB: The Show franchise for their excellent commentary. While not all of the commentary is brand new, the team spends a lot of time with broadcasters Matt Vasgersian, Dave Campbell, and Red Hudler. It has allowed the commentary to remain fresh and touch upon specific game play moments other titles have ignored. The depth of the commentary is definitely a factor in why gamers credit the quality of the atmosphere and overall experience of The Show. The little things mentioned by the broadcasting team brings the game to life just like any live broadcast would.

Unfortunately, that does not always seem to be the case in sports gaming. As titles continue to concentrate on other features, commentary has taken a back seat. Fans, once wishing for the day that running commentary was the norm in sports gaming, immediately search for the option to mute the announcing team or bump up their radio to cloud the extra noise.

It would appear that the love for commentary in sports gaming has died down. Gamers have become someone complacent with the feature as they now recognize commentary as a standard inclusion and no longer a much wanted addition. The excitement of hearing a great analyst speak the name of the best players in the league is lost. Commentary is a part of the game and unless more development teams can open up commentary and breathe new life into it, gamers will continue to overlook it as a reason for purchase.

Recycled lines and limited phrases are perhaps the greatest culprits to gamers not caring about commentary in games anymore. The commitment to popular sports broadcasters with tight schedules limits recording time and prevents dialogue from being fresh in games. The practice is noticeable when gamers can recite lines immediately upon playing the first game of the newly released title.

EA Sports hopes to change that trend by reintroducing commentary in it's Madden franchise thsi season. After a short hiatus Madden 09 is bringing along the new two-man booth of Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth. The two may not be the top choice amongst avid NFL fans but at least sports gamers will know that all commentary will be recorded for the first time this year. Whether the commentary will utilize the full power of next-generation consoles or not remains to be seen but we can only hope that EA will focus on expanding it's commentary with their broadcasting team.

Commentary is like most features in sports gaming. Gamers want to know that developers are working hard to improve on it's depth while also concentrating on other features of their favorite title. However, when commentary is ignored gamers will grow tired of repeated lines and boring dialogue, going as far as tuning out the speakers. All gamers have great recollections of their top sports moments and performances. If sports gaming can bring the life Vin Scully brought to the amazing visual of Gibson limping around the base paths, then perhaps it would help create more memorable moments for gamers.