Thursday, May 30, 2013

I Love Sports Games On My Xbox

It's no secret to anyone who knows me, I love sports games. From the first time I loaded up Tecmo Super Bowl on the original NES I was hooked. Subbing in backup players and turning them into stars, running my own team, deciding new fates in my own little world for stars I could only read about or watch on TV, I've always had a passion for these things, and it's never really stopped.

Games I Love


These days Sports games are infinitely more complex. Throughout the better part of the last decade, my main sports vice has been the Madden football series for both the original Xbox and Xbox360.

Logging over 300 hours on each year's edition only solidified the Madden franchise in both my heart, and the hearts of those who shared my love for sports simulation and came along for the ride with me. These days however, much has changed in the sports simulation landscape. Often times, "Franchise mode" remains an unfinished, stagnant from year to year project. Some sports games, such as MLB The Show, haven't made a serious franchise mode overhaul or bug fixing update in over 5 years.

The Latest Madden Franchise


Another route, is what the latest iteration of the Madden Franchise has shown, moving away from the overall feel of a General Manager, and focusing more on RPG-esque elements such as creating and managing your own coach and/or player. To put it bluntly, my personal enjoyment of the genre I have loved and been a loyal follower to for so many years is being put to the test. Recently, I have found hope in going to a slightly different, more intellectual route, and that is in the area of a text based simulation. Enter Out of the Park baseball for the PC. This is a virtual treasure trove of options and possibilities for an obsessive simulation freak like me. I have been enjoying it immensely.

NBA 2K13 - The Latest Release For Xbox


Also, the latest NBA 2K13 for the Xbox360, thankfully, has bucked this recent trend of ignoring the franchise mode, and has made improvements and refinements to it's already solid Association mode. How thankful I am for 2K games for recognizing this need among it's fan base to keep a tried and true method of satisfying gamers intact. There may come a day where I won't find the holy grail anymore, a perfect offline general manager franchise simulation, for any sports title. But until then, I'm grabbing on tight to what I have, enjoying the current titles to the fullest, with an optimistic look on the future.

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