My Sports Gaming Life - jaredsmith83's Blog

jaredsmith83's Blog

My Sports Gaming Life

Posted on April 18, 2014 at 02:21 PM.

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Hi all! Jared Smith here! I can sit and write about me for days, but lets get down to the brass tacks here. I love sports gaming. Which, for this website, is nothing new. There are THOUSANDS of you out there who love it as well. I mean why else would there be a website dedicated to sports gaming if it weren't for us and those who gamed before us? This may get long winded at times, and potentially bounce around more than a box full of ping pong balls, but you'll learn more about me.

My first experience with sports gaming was on the Atari that my parents had. Dad had the basketball game that, at the time, amazed me. I could play basketball on a video game. I just thought pong was the norm. Then Nintendo came about. I had experience with Double Dribble in a local arcade at a young age, but my love of sports gaming blossomed on the original NES. RBI Baseball and the NES Hockey were two games that offered countless hours of gaming. Blades of Steel, Double Dribble, Hoops, Jordan vs Bird, Golf, even Skate or Die and T&C Surf Designs became staples for me! For a young gamer with limited athletic ability (I did play multiple sports through high school, but was the bench warmer) this was a way to live out my sports dreams. Baseball seemed to be the route that I went with my gaming, which echoes my life. I'm a diehard baseball fan. The RBI Baseball series was great, as was Bases Loaded. But I remember Baseball Stars being rather revolutionary to me in the way that you can manage the team, much like you can now. Legends of the Diamond rocked because of its historical aspect and how much I wish I could have seen the greats like Babe, Gehrig and Clemente, among many. Even goofy games like Bad News Baseball and Dusty Diamond All-Star softball were amazing!

Then came Sega. That changed my gaming ways. Mortal Kombat was awesome, but then I discovered basketball when the NBA Live franchise debuted. I got NBA Jam as the first game I ever bought on Sega. I even remember the night my Dad let me cash in my birthday money at Wal-Mart and buy this new system. NBA Jam was awesome, but NBA Live 95 was the game changer. I had the 95 Magic at my control and I could dunk on people with Shaq and drop sweet dimes with Penny! Then 96 came out and, holy crap, I could create myself! I WAS NOW A STAR BASKETBALL PLAYER! I only owned two baseball games on Sega, being World Series Baseball (which was GREAT) and ESPN Baseball Tonight, because who doesn't love a "back back back back back GONE" home run call? But I owned all the NBA Live games that came out!

And that carried over to the Playstation. Live 98 and 99 were awesome and even better than the previous gaming generation. I think it was around 2003 or 2004 when the Playstation 2 came out that I quit buying every year. But another system was around, the Dreamcast, and it introduced what became the NBA 2K series. Playing as Allen Iverson, with the control of the dribble, and the look of the game had me immersed in the experience of NBA.

So to catch up, I now own both the Xbox 360 and PS3. I continue to buy the NBA 2k series, only skipping it in in 2010. I've owned all the MLB The Show games as well save for 2007. Its been quite a ride. I also enjoy UFC/MMA games, hockey games every now and then, even tennis and golf. The sports gaming experience is where I have found my home. Maybe its the athlete inside of me that needs to escape due to my own inabilities, or the fact that I can continue the game once its over on tv. Regardless, its where I have found my happy spot in the gaming world and where I will continue to play as I get older. So there you go. I'm Jared Smith. I'm a sports gamer. And I'm quite fine with that.