Operation Sports - Press Row Podcast: Episode 1

[Steve_OS]

Welcome to the Press Row Podcast.

Operation Sports is proud to present episode 1 of the Press Row Podcast. Featuring an All-Star lineup of the industry’s best sports video game writers, it’s a show dedicated to the games we love from the perspective of the people who make their living writing and talking about them.

And when we say All-Star cast, we mean it. For our inaugural show, we’ve got Owen Good from Kotaku, Samit Sarkar from Polygon, our own Steve Noah from Operation Sports, and host Richard Grisham from GamesRadar. If you’ve been tuned into sports game journalism the past few years, chances are you’ll be as excited as we are that we’ve gotten these personalities from multiple sites all together on one show.

Being the first episode, of course, we’re still finding our footing and there are a few audio issues here and there. But that’s OK – we hope that this is the start of something big and bold, and there will always be bumps along the way.

What’s most important, though, is to get YOUR feedback. The Press Row Podcast is about creating conversations about the games we love so much, and we want to hear from you. Got topics you’d like us to discuss? Specific questions about a current or past franchise? Thoughtful criticism? Fire it to us and we’ll talk about it on the next episode. Here’s how:

1) Follow the show on Twitter at @PressRowPodcast and send us some Tweets while you’re there.

2) Email the show at [email protected]

3) Leave a comment here.

We’ll have the show available through the iTunes store in the coming weeks, but for now your one-stop shop to listen and download is right here at Operation Sports, or press play on the embedded player below.

Show Details

Run Time: 1 hour, 2 minutes

Panel Guests:

• Owen Good, Kotaku (@owengood)
• Samit Sarkar, Polygon (@SamitSarkar)
• Steve Noah, Operation Sports (@Steve_OS)
• Richard Grisham, GamesRadar (@RichGrisham)

Enjoy the show!

[SHAKYR]

I have a lot of respect for writers, but they shouldn't praise games or make excuse for a company. A company only gets better if you call an rotten egg what it is and what caused it.

[b2th3m1th]

no bad, Steve get more aggressive in there! I cant wait for the next one.

[Cletus]

There is no way this is the golden age of sports gaming. Even though games get high scores, there's nothing to compare them too. Sure a game may be playable because it's the only one available. The question you end up asking yourself is, is this game worth missing out on for another year? There have been a few Madden's where I don't know why my roommate bought it and MLB 2k was a horrible, horrible unplayable mess for a few years. Good show though, I'm going to listen to the 2nd half now!

[Cletus]

Here's my thoughts on the 2nd half that I listened to. I don't play video games to recreate what league I'm in, I play video games to basically escape to a world that isn't an option to me in the real world. For example, in NHL 13, I am playing Be a GM as Tampa Bay, I will never be GM of Tampa, I will never skate or shoot like Stamkos. That's why I play them in a video game. Does that make me less of a sim gamer? Maybe, but a lot of times people box themselves into corners. You will never, ever create what a human does with a computer. Each human has different things going on in their brain. Some have flaws, some are better. It's how it is. People play different games for different reasons, I wished developers gave us more options.

As far as digital downloads go. Look at the XBOX games on Demand, most are MSRP, they rarely have sales and I never see anyone talking about downloading them until they have sales. Also, it's never the publisher rewarding returning customers with discounts, it's always an outside business doing trade ins. Digital downloads won't take off until it's our only option. Sorry for being longwinded, it was a good show by plenty of articulate guys, so there's your feedback :P

[Steve_OS]

Appreciate the feedback!

[SHAKYR]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cletus

Here's my thoughts on the 2nd half that I listened to. I don't play video games to recreate what league I'm in, I play video games to basically escape to a world that isn't an option to me in the real world. For example, in NHL 13, I am playing Be a GM as Tampa Bay, I will never be GM of Tampa, I will never skate or shoot like Stamkos. That's why I play them in a video game. Does that make me less of a sim gamer? Maybe, but a lot of times people box themselves into corners. You will never, ever create what a human does with a computer. Each human has different things going on in their brain. Some have flaws, some are better. It's how it is. People play different games for different reasons, I wished developers gave us more options. As far as digital downloads go. Look at the XBOX games on Demand, most are MSRP, they rarely have sales and I never see anyone talking about downloading them until they have sales. Also, it's never the publisher rewarding returning customers with discounts, it's always an outside business doing trade ins. Digital downloads won't take off until it's our only option. Sorry for being longwinded, it was a good show by plenty of articulate guys, so there's your feedback :P

I think what a human does can be replicated as close as 90% to 95%. Everything in the world is mathematics and logic. Many things like tendencies, capabilities, movements, reactions, logistics, perimeters, etc. I would never put anything pass science. We went from wired house phones to cordless, from sitting on the couch to Wii, MOVE, and Kinetic.

....and to your statement about sim, sim is gameplay and functionability to what happens in the sport. You playing GM(which I do) doesn't make the gaming experience less sim.


* to Steve like one of you spoke on in the show, hardcore gamers not sports fans that play game make it hard for companies. The hardcore sports fans wants a game to capture the sport realistically and don't care about a crazy control configuration to function like something in the sport. On the other hand Hardcore gamers beg for this to make the game more challenging!
The challenge should be within the sport not the controls. The controls should not be a huge factor if it's going to be extreme. It should be functional and responsive to get what you want to happen without opening a safe.