Sports Games of the Decade: Basketball Game of the Decade

College Hoops 2K8. It is hard to pinpoint why this game is so great. The gameplay was wonderful; the depth was even better; Legacy mode to this day still makes me scream with happiness and despair; recruiting was nearly flawless; and the presentation has only been topped by NCAA Basketball 10 because of the CBS and ESPN integration included in that title. CHoops 2K8 was the most complete basketball game ever made let alone the past decade. The only problem with this game was the fact that it did not have a predecessor. This game single-handedly brought college basketball to life in the virtual world. It's just a shame that it was the last of its kind.


Silver: NBA 2K1

Visual Concepts redefined NBA sports gaming with NBA 2K1. With their second effort in the now successful NBA 2K franchise, the developers completely remolded what the game had been the year prior. Gone were the 1,000 blocks per game, the terrible passing that nearly forced your center to run the point at times, and the animations were not as terrible. The game still had its problems. The post game was broken, steals happened too often for an NBA game and off-ball movement was left to the chopping block before retail hit. But the good outweighed the bad in this one. This was when 2K first started separating players from teams. Rasheed Wallace was a monster in the game because of his ability to stretch the floor; Kobe was coming into his own as well. All in all, NBA 2K1's release was the moment one of the most successful sports gaming franchises in history came into its own.

Readers' Choice: College Hoops 2K8

College Hoops 2K8 ran away with the competition with NBA 2K10 a distant second-place finisher. Both games combined for over 70 percent of the total votes, with College Hoops 2K8 being far and away the bigger vote getter of the two, getting nearly 50 percent of the total votes. Is this a case for 2K trying to get back into the college basketball race?