Editor's Note: The following is Part One of a Three Part Series taking a look at sports games' past, present and future.

Gamers are too spoiled nowadays. Every time a new game is released, my anticipation does not end once the game is in my possession -- I’m actually waiting to see what type of new and creative complaints these gamers will conjure up in their mind. I admit, some of this criticism is certainly warranted, but when I hear gamers moan about insignificant details such as, “Why isn't Kobe's arm sleeve the correct length?” or “LT is wearing the wrong helmet,” it makes me think that these guys will never be satisfied.

Rather than complain, you guys should be fortunate. I consider myself to be a veteran gamer, and I think I speak for everyone in my age demographic when I say, we never imagined that these capabilities would be possible as kids. I’m from the Nintendo Entertainment Syste generation, so I’ve seen the evolution first hand. In the early stages of sports gaming, rarely did you see any real sports stars -- likenesses obviously weren't close when authentic players did happen to make it into the game. Of course, there was Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, but he was the only real boxer in that game.

Despite not having real stars, we (gamers) had fun. There were many generic titles to choose from like Double Dribble, Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel. While those games were fun, they were only setting the stage for the NFL-licensed Tecmo Bowl.

"Wow, finally we can play as our favorite players and teams!" Ignore the fact that everyone looked the same; we now had the NFL in video game form.

While we had fun with our Nintendo, the 16-bit systems would usher in a new wave of sports gaming. Leading the charge was Electronic Arts with its John Madden Football Franchise. This was the game to have on your Sega Genesis if you liked football. Gone was the sideways camera of Tecmo Bowl, replaced by a three-fourths camera view that made it seem as though you were actually in the game. In addition, a new button layout allowed for more complicated gameplay. For once, you could actually choose which receiver to throw the ball to due to the three button controller (six buttons for Super Nintendo owners).

A lot of these features were implemented in EA Sports’ other sports simulations, such as NHL Hockey and the NBA Live series. The latter actually introduced signature moves in its earlier incarnations under a different name, where you could do actually Michael Jordan’s reverse layup, or Larry Bird’s fadeaway. Not only that, the players, while not looking exactly like themselves, were now distinguishable. Jordan was bald; Larry Bird was blonde, etc.

Not to be outdone by EA Sports, Midway, the makers of the Mortal Kombat series struck gold with its NBA Jam franchise. Using new digitized graphics incorporated in the MK series, you could now actually see the faces of the players! While it wasn’t a simulation like the EA Sports games, NBA Jam had a television-style presentation. From emotional commentary (I said emotional commentary Joe Montana Football) to score overlays, what NBA Jam did was unprecedented in the sports gaming world. Midway would also go on to make the over-the-top NFL Blitz that took full advantage of the advancing graphical technology.

A lot of these sports franchises would continue on next-generation systems, such as the original Playstation (first iteration brought about Franchise Mode) and Nintendo 64. With these systems came improved graphics and realism (real jerseys and play-by-play commentary). However, nothing would prepare us for the realism that the Sega Dreamcast was about to unleash on us.

When Visual Concepts unleashed its 2K series, it was the first time my jaw dropped watching video game sports. It was almost like watching a television broadcast if you glanced at it from a distance. Not only were the graphics impressive, but these games had television-style presentation, and commentary that made you believe there were little guys inside the system actually calling the games. Just to backtrack to the graphics, these games moved at a remarkable 60 frames per second, and their faces weren’t just photographs pasted on polygonal models. Because the characters were entirely made up of polygons, it allowed characters to show emotion rather than the same stale faces of the past.

I gave this brief history lesson not to call out you whipper snappers, but to simply give you some perspective. Next time you guys want to complain about these new games for no justifiable reason, I ask you to visit YouTube and type in the names of any of these old games, and recall how much fun we had playing THOSE games.

In the meantime, appreciate what we have right now, because if history serves us correctly, we will be in for a treat for years to come.