OS Awards: Best Presentation - Operation Sports

Feature Article

OS Awards: Best Presentation

Submitted on: 12/28/2009 by

Presentation is the part of a game where we are literally presented with a developer's vision of a sport. Be it NCAA Basketball's TV-style broadcast integration, NBA 2K10's sweeping NBA Today presentation or the baseball euphoria that washes over you when you play MLB '09: The Show, developers have to have stunning presentation to even have their games considered as all-time greats in this day and age.

With that in mind, our winner this year took huge steps forward in the presentation department while receiving mixed reviews in the gameplay department. Perhaps gameplay is still the most fundamentally important aspect of a game, but a lot of people have forgiven NCAA Basketball 10's gameplay woes due to its outstanding presentation, and that is why it wins our Best Presentation of 2009 Award.

Best Presentation: NCAA Basketball 10

Dustin Toms: NCAA Basketball 10. I have been praying for telecast integration for the past few years, and EA finally answered those prayers. Not only is the CBS and ESPN presentation awesome, the separate commentators for each broadcast really brings your gaming experience to life.

Christian Mcleod: The gameplay may have been lacking in NCAA Basketball 10, but the presentation certainly was not. NCAA 10 truly raised the bar for television integration, and it adds so much to the game that it allows me to overlook many of its shortcomings. I can only hope EA decides to integrate this same type of broadcast presentation into all of its sports titles moving forward. It could be a revolutionary 2010 if the folks at EA decide to do just that.

Jayson Young: As great as the CBS/ESPN integration looked in NCAA Basketball 10, I just cannot give that game my vote due to the lifeless crowds and poor in-game commentary. NBA 2K10 may not have had an official network affiliation, but I thought it was still able to create a "TV broadcast" feel with lots of stat overlays and the best commentary of any game I played this year.

Matthew Coe - I am actually going vote for NCAA Basketball 10 in the Best Presentation category because I feel that it is the first of the EA Sports games to truly capitalize on what the fans have always wanted when it comes to presentation in sports games. We want to play what we see on TV. The fact that there were authentic CBS and ESPN overlays with swipes, audio and commercial cuts was absolutely critical to the value of the presentation. The commentary has a long way to go to keep up with the graphical presentation, but I think it can get there.

Reader's Choice

Winner: NCAA Basketball 10

Voting Results: NCAA Basketball 10 (33%), NBA 2K10 (30%), MLB '09: The Show (28%)

Reader Comments: NCAA Basketball 10. The commentary is pedestrian, but the graphics and music are absolutely amazing. The only game with licensed presentation equals the best presentation. -- WeAreAllWitnesses

NBA 2K10. NCAA Basketball 10 may have had the dual-network presentation, and yes, it is amazing in some respects, but it just felt soulless to me -- the bland, repetitive commentary has a lot to do with it. Next year will be the year, hopefully, that EA makes strides, but NBA 2K10's dynamic commentary and stat overlays are among the best I have ever seen in a sports title. -- CarrytheWeight

I agree with NCAA Basketball 10 for best and most innovative presentation -- with two commentary teams, it has to win. MLB '09: The Show comes in second as well. -- SeanHazz1

NBA 2K10 is hands down the best at presentation this year. The presentation elements also carry over to the NBA Today exhibition games, so you can kind of keep up with the real season that way. It is great stuff, and I hope other games incorporate the same type of presentation. -- BKRich83

NCAA Basketball 10 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 spankdatazz22 @ 12/28/09 06:15 PM

Ridiculous vote imo. I think the message being given is it's more important to sign television exclusives, add their music and screen wipes, and your game is instantly considered to have great presentation. It wasn't ESPN that made NFL2K5 presentation great, it was how everything was implemented on the whole. While I think the two commentary teams is something innovative in itself, as someone noted during the voting - the commentary itself for the two teams is bland. So it just comes down to presenting the appropriate tv wipes and pop ups. Even the crowds don't react as they should. I think more emphasis was put on having exclusive tv licenses than on actual content. Pitiful.

Just unfortunate because I think there's no other game doing what NBA2K10 is doing presentation-wise on a technical level for all the reasons noted in the actual voting thread - and there were MANY reasons listed, not just that EA managed to sign exclusives to two networks and implemented two commentary teams. Even The Show developers have admitted that they're trying to make take their game more in the direction 2K already is at with realtime presentation.

# 2 JkA3 @ 12/28/09 08:42 PM

I don't really feel this one. This game, overall, seems to lack immersion because of the 'lack' of "REAL" presentation.

But, I think they did do a good job on this catagory.

# 3 jyoung @ 12/28/09 09:25 PM

I agree that NCAA Basketball may have had the right "look" this year, but it certainly didn't have the right "feel."

The close proximity of voting percentages seems to show that, even though NCAA Basketball won both the staff and reader awards, not everyone was drinking the CBS/ESPN kool aid.

# 4 Shinyhubcaps @ 12/29/09 01:06 AM

I certainly disagree with the reader quote that "The only game with licensed presentation equals the best presentation." I mean, that's how it turned out, but it shouldn't sound like a cause-and-effect. If NHL 10 had Versus wipes, its presentation would still be pretty bad. And to that effect, NBA 2K10 has very good (albeit somewhat annoying) presentation that wouldn't be much better if it said TNT or NBATV on it.

# 5 johnprestonevans @ 12/29/09 08:20 AM

I have yet to play NCAA Basketball 10, but im smitten on presentation. I think it should be the goal of every development team to not only duplicate the way players look, behave and control, but also to replicate the sport the WAY we see it on TV. NBA2K10 is fantastic. MLB09 The Show sounds like a real broadcast. I hope that EA's other franchises will take note and follow the lead set by these 3 bohemaths.

# 6 spankdatazz22 @ 12/29/09 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shinyhubcaps


	I certainly disagree with the reader quote that "The only game with licensed presentation equals the best presentation." I mean, that's how it turned out, but it shouldn't sound like a cause-and-effect. If NHL 10 had Versus wipes, its presentation would still be pretty bad. And to that effect, NBA 2K10 has very good (albeit somewhat annoying) presentation that wouldn't be much better if it said TNT or NBATV on it.

Then I'm not understanding how NCAA Basketball won this award. I agree with you, if I'm understanding what you said. But it seems like licensing played more into NCAA Basketball winning than the actual content. Seems like everybody that's voted for the game says in some way "it feels just like a tv broadcast, without mentioning anything about the actual content.

I don't own the game but from what I've heard and seen in video, though there are two commentary teams in NCAA both are stale and somewhat bland. And I'm POSITIVE the game is doing nothing on the level of replays, "wipes", stat displays (with NBA Today, 2K10 is displaying real life updated stats, they have holiday-themed displays/commentary, etc.), etc... In 2K10 a player can actually interact with the bench, coaches, referees, a few of the people at the baselines. You have cheerleaders and mascots doing varying routines in realtime. And I'm not even mentioning everything. I'd invite someone to make the argument why NCAA deserved it over that but I'm sure I'll hear "But... it has real ESPN and CBS music. That's awewome!"

Now let's sit back and watch as other sports devs spend money rushing to sign other networks to exclusivity, since the supposed smartest sports site out there thinks that's what's most important

# 7 Bumble14 @ 12/29/09 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spankdatazz22


	Then I'm not understanding how NCAA Basketball won this award. I agree with you, if I'm understanding what you said. But it seems like licensing played more into NCAA Basketball winning than the actual content. Seems like everybody that's voted for the game says in some way "it feels just like a tv broadcast, without mentioning anything about the actual content. I don't own the game but from what I've heard and seen in video, though there are two commentary teams in NCAA both are stale and somewhat bland. And I'm POSITIVE the game is doing nothing on the level of replays, "wipes", stat displays (with NBA Today, 2K10 is displaying real life updated stats, they have holiday-themed displays/commentary, etc.), etc... In 2K10 a player can actually interact with the bench, coaches, referees, a few of the people at the baselines. You have cheerleaders and mascots doing varying routines in realtime. And I'm not even mentioning everything. I'd invite someone to make the argument why NCAA deserved it over that but I'm sure I'll hear "But... it has real ESPN and CBS music. That's awewome!" Now let's sit back and watch as other sports devs spend money rushing to sign other networks to exclusivity, since the supposed smartest sports site out there thinks that's what's most important

I think you should play NCAA 10 for a decent amount of time before passing judgement on it. The presentation has to be fully experienced to be understood. It is much much more than licensed wipes and two "bland" announcing crews.

I'm a huge fan of 2K10's NBA Today, but NCAA 10's presentation is out of this world.

# 8 spankdatazz22 @ 01/08/10 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumble14


	I think you should play NCAA 10 for a decent amount of time before passing judgement on it. The presentation has to be fully experienced to be understood. It is much much more than licensed wipes and two "bland" announcing crews. I'm a huge fan of 2K10's NBA Today, but NCAA 10's presentation is out of this world.

The gameplay isn't for me. I tried the demo though. And watched some movies that another person felt "redefined gameplay presentation in sports games" as he put it. I saw/heard nothing that came close to NFL2K5, let alone comes close to the attention to detail and little things that is in NBA2K10. But I'm not going to argue it; on a board where Madden is meriting serious sports game of the year/most realistic gameplay consideration I'll just accept that my sensibilities are more at odds than in line with the general consensus here.

# 9 videlsports @ 01/11/10 01:48 AM

NBA2k10 should have won this award. NBA today is outstanding. and the commentary is fresh everytime. March madness has decent presentation with CBS/ espn. But the dynamic updates still are not as impressive as NBA today.

# 10 eDotd @ 01/12/10 07:01 AM

Bleh. 2K10 got ripped off.

# 11 Skyboxer @ 01/15/10 08:43 PM

Rediculous choice as the winner....

More Links