Growing up when i played video games with my freinds or my brothers I would always hear the statement that "this game is fake, its not real enough" but what I do not understand is why a person would want a video game to be so realistic because if a person really thought about it, it is a video game. Ten years ago, video games focused just on the sport of whatever game it was and was for fun, now video games are so realistic that it's unbelievable, as technology advanced, a video game in a sense can mirror reality, do you think that's bad or good?
"Games of the past focused exclusively on a single athletic contest, todays game's are invested in providing the entire experience from scouting to drafting to marketing and business decisions. Success on the court, as in the real world, is connceted to off-court decisions, providing a much more holistic experience" ( Leonard, 395). This goes to show how much video games have come on the fact that you can basically do everything a sports team does in real life on a game.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE57J73920090820: This article just talks about how more realistic a game can become. I do not know if there has been a study done on this but do you think that the more realistic the game is the more people would want to buy it?
Another thing that kind of bothers me is when a game comes out and a professional athlete says "that does not look like me" I mean seriously, it's lik they want the player to look just how they look in real life, they must fail to realize that it is a game and it is the video virtual version of them which some of them get upset about. In this day and time they can replicate the person's face but is that really a big deal. "The attention to realism and expansive of nature of virtual sports truly defines today's gaming industry" (Leonard, 396). I guess it's a priority.
Do you think that the realism of video games takes the fun out of the game? Im sure in the future the video games before its all said and done will probably be talking to you. What are yall take on it?
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I think that the realism of video games is good for the gaming community as well as the sporting world. With the realism only increasing, it is only a matter of time before the players will be able to fully communicate with the game they are playing.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that whether a player approves of himself in a certain version of a game affects whether it sells or not anyway. Madden 2010 is the newest and by far most realistic version so far. TJ Houshmandzedh who plays for the Seattle Seahawks, did not allow Madden to put him in their game because they rated him too low. It is absurd, because I know that all non-athletes would love to be a part of a hit game that will be played around the country.
In terms of making games more realistic over time, I think that the online capability of all of the new gaming systems is great. It allows gamers to play one another from across the world. The internet has become huge for gamers and sports fanatics alike (Real 171).
Sporting games are also very beneficial for the gaming market. As a whole, sports games have accounted for 30% of all gaming revenue (Leonard 394. The realism in games is a good thing for everyone, because it does make it more fun. It gives the gamer the sense that they are on the field, and maybe some day, video games will actually put the gamer on a virtual field. Now wouldn't that be fun.
To answer some of Evann’s questions, I feel that if the new video games weren’t so realistic no one would buy them. New technology is developing each day and the Madden games need to keep up to speed. If you were playing a 2D game on an HDTV television things just wouldn’t add up. Leonard agrees stating, “The growth in the sports game industry, in fact, is very much connected to the technological transformations that allow for almost identical recreations of sports games” (394). Creating these intensely defined games is meeting the higher and broader demand of the gaming community.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of this is the gamer’s main perspective. I don’t play them on a daily basis, but I know enough through my brother, that if the new Madden coming out doesn’t look any better than the old one, why buy it? The gamers want something to be new and different and by adding in things such as weather, sweat from the players, better facial features and reactions to plays, etc. gives the gamer a new feeling. One where maybe they feeling like they are playing right alongside of their favorite football star. Whatever the need may be having the real life game fits it. For instance I know my brother will play Madden with the Bucs against the team they will be playing later on in the week and see how close it comes to the actual score. This is another way in which a gamer can make their football fantasies come to life.
Mentioned in the Real article, “there are no more displaced sports fans anymore” or “the long-distance fan” (197), there’s a reason behind that. Even though this particular quote is talking about how the online sports plays a role I feel that it can go along with video games. Gamers that are fans of a team far away from them in almost any sport can buy the game and play it as though they were there at the game. It brings another field of connection to the fan, no matter the sport.
And on a final note, having the virtual effect so realistic helps promote safety. For instance, if a person wants to play a skiing game but lives where is doesn’t snow they can go through a virtual simulator. This also prevents real injuries from happening and possibly death, say if an avalanche were to occur. I know this is a stretch, but you get what I'm getting at. Leonard mentions, “a simulation of participation in sports stadiums without need for a stadium, a simulation of motor sports without the air pollution and all without the need to travel and the adverse environmental effects of that travel” (402).
Overall, I feel that having such realistic features to the game brings a more lifelike feel to playing the game. Therefore helping people who cannot make it to the games or afford it maybe feel like they are still a part of it my simulating their own game. Also the virtual effect from some games gives the gamers another more lifelike ability to participate in sports that they might not be able to because of health, location, age, or what have you. And who knows what’s to come, with the technology industry booming, things will only get better!
I love that video games are becoming so realistic. Like Becca said, technology is becoming more and more advanced so people don't want the "Nintendo 64" or "Playstation 2" graphics anymore. OF course I miss the classics like NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, or NBA Street where the games aren't realistic at all, but in this era, people want realism in their video games.
ReplyDeleteI recently did my "Assessing the Field" report on Digital gaming and they made many good points about video games being so real. In many of the recent Madden games, people can play a season as if they were an owner of a team, handling stadium revenue, player acquisitions, and dealing with player and coaches contracts. For instance in the article, "An Untapped Field: Exploring the World of Virtual Sports Gaming", they talk about the video game NBA Ballers. "While players may play basketball on NBA Ballers, the allure and focus of the game resides with the ability to live out the fantasy lifestyle of an NBA superstar". (Leonard, 399) There are many other games where you can build up a created player and take them through the stages of their career like in the NCAA Football series. Having the option to see what these stars go through in their every day lives is a really cool idea.
In the same article, a major point is made about the person playing the video game virtually becoming an athlete as well. "He considers how virtual reality can allow the spectator to be, virtually, placed within the activity and become an athlete as well." (Leonard, 401) Some kids don't have the athletic ability as others so they may struggle to make a high-school team whether it be hockey, football, basketball, soccer, or baseball. So video games almost act as a save haven for these kids to virtually become the athlete they never ever will be. With almost every sports game now having a "Create a Player" mode, these kids can create themselves and make them stars. With technology only getting better and better, you can only imagine they will take this further as well.
I think there is a slight distinction between a video game’s physical realism and its conceptual or content’s realism. The rapid and continuous advancements in video game and animation technology are expected by consumers. These advancements are specifically in the quality and realism of the physical characters or environments in the video games, such as individual athletes, the streets and buildings of various cities, or the intricate detail of a kickflip and the skateboard itself. Along with these physical improvements has come the increase of conceptual realism in many video game genres, especially in sports. However, I think this increase in content realism is only possible due to the advancements of physical technology because the technology allows for more detail and more data to be created and tracked easily and cheaply.
ReplyDeleteJust like being fans of sports and playing fantasy sports, people play video games for the same reasons; for entertainment, personal investment in something, and a sort of vicarious living through successes they achieve within the games (especially ones where they can create their own character, usually modeled after themselves). Also, “Fantasy sports leagues are one way fans can enjoy their favorite sports away from the stadium or arena” (Farquhar and Meeds). Video games are just yet another way for fans to continue with their favorite teams even in the off-season.
However, not all video games try to achieve the highest level of realism; some games exaggerate sports greatly such as NFL Blitz and NBA Street. “Using cartoonish figures, emphasizing the extreme, and embracing more comedic aspects of game culture, these games are marketed (geared) toward younger children” (Leonard, 398). These games clearly go against the typical progression of other sports games as becoming more realistic both physically and conceptually, yet they are extremely popular.
We could say that in general, video game players enjoy the games so much because how they can live vicariously through their virtual counterparts and live out their childhood fantasies of winning the Super Bowl or the World Series. Either that or people just use them to kill time.
Video games are ridiculous. They are ridiculous in the sense that you can see sweat running down a players face, they are ridiculous in the sense that you can recruit kids in high schools throughout the United States to come play football at the school that you are controlling, I could go on forever, but you get the point. It is a thriving market; people will never get bored of video games. I mean, there is a show on ESPN that houses Madden players and films them playing against each other. Come on.
ReplyDeleteAnd with technology rapidly improving things are only going to get better, and this is with Leonard saying that there is so much to learn. “As evident, the future directions of the study of sports games are limitless. The literature does not merely contain gaps requiring exploration; rather, the extent of the discourse itself is a major gap in the larger video games literature” (Leonoard 403)
I personally do not like how complicated games have become. I am an old school gamer, give me two or three buttons and I am good. I don’t need a “QB vision” or any of the nonsense that Madden is pulling these days. Don’t get me wrong, the graphics are insane but I don’t have the patience to get bent out of shape because I can’t figure out how a game works.
“Using cartoonish figures, emphasizing the extreme, and embracing more comedic aspects of game culture, these games are marketed (geared) toward younger children” (Leonard, 398). Leonard describes games for Nintendo Wii perfectly in the sentence above. I love the fact that the characters on Wii are like that…...damn….... does that make me a child?
I think there is one sentence in the Michael Real article that really sums up the debate about video games. “Its accessibility, interactivity, speed, and multimedia content are triggering a fundamental change in the delivery of mediated sports, a change for which no one can yet predict the outcome. (Real, 171) Even thought this article is talking about the World Wide Web, it’s also perfectly fitting for video games. No one knows how much more advanced these games we play today can get.
ReplyDeleteBoy, I remember one of the first sports video games I played, and still have, was World Cup 98. If I go back and look at the graphics for that, I almost have to laugh. I mean, when you look at a player, you sort of can tell who he is supposed to be, but compared to what they do today, that’s just insane. These days they do all kind of crazy things with video games.
A couple weeks ago I was at a friend’s house and we played either NBA Live ’10 or NBA 2k10, I can’t remember. But I remember watching the instructional video, and there were some crazy things you could do when connected with an Ethernet cord and playing live. The game actually collects data from real life, and everything in that game is based on what is going on in real live. When a player hasn’t been playing too well for a while in real life, he actually goes on cold streaks in the video game. It’s ridiculous. How much more advanced can they make these games?
Another game that I played the other day that was very advanced is FIFA 10. In this game you can take a head shot of yourself, put it on a flash drive, plug it into the back of your Xbox, and then you can upload that head shot to the game. You can then create a player that looks just like you. That’s just craziness to me. Not to mention how much more the Madden games are being advanced every year, and the article that Evann pointed out, where the game has hooked up with the weather channel. That’s all just too crazy for me.
One sentence of David Leonard’s article really got my attention: “The growth in the sports game industry, in fact, is very much connected with the technological transformation that allows for almost identical recreations of sports games.” (Leonard 394) So basically, sports games will continue to grow and come out every year as long as they can keep making the games more realistic. On the other hand, they will keep making the games more realistic as long as they come out with more and more sports games every year. There is truly no end in sight.
I like the fact that they are making the games more realistic. I mean, you can make a franchise, you can be the owner, or the manager, or the coach. You can do whatever you want. You can be in charge of money, and trade players, buy players, budget everything. I really like how these games let you do all these things now. It makes you feel more connected, and it lets you (in a way) feel what it is really like to be completely in charge of a team. Obviously if u go bankrupt, and your team is done, you can always start a new season, but it still gives you an idea of how things are run.
The other aspect of things, the face shots of players, the tricks, and the moves they can is also just an added bonus. I don’t see what’s wrong with making these games so realist. In the end it’s more fun, and it makes you feel more connected with the game.
-Robin Schuppert
I think that video games should be this realistic, and there's only room for improvement. My first video game system was a Sega Genesis my mom and dad bought me for my 5th birthday in 1994. The first sports game I had was Madden NFL 95. Looking back 15 years, it is unbelievable to think how far sports video games have gone, from a two-dimensional Jerry Rice catching a tiny oval football, to Adrian Peterson breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage and spinning his way towards a touchdown.
ReplyDeleteThe graphics are outstanding, but if there is somewhere to improve it would be in the accuracy of the gameplay. For instance, in "NCAA Basketball 09," I'll play sometimes as Quinnipiac. As I play the game at the inaccurately-named "Lender Court," I look and see balconies and floor seats that don't exist at the real TD Bank Sports Center. As for the in-game play itself, it often doesn't play like a college basketball game, but instead more like an NBA game in college uniforms. Also, Evann Baker's not getting dunked on by some kid from Sacred Heart.
The video game makers (in this case, EA Sports) hear the feedback and criticism of their game, and look to improve upon it the following season. For NCAA 10, EA has announced a new gameplay engine to make the game play more like a college game. Players may actually play fundamental basketball, something you would never see in the NBA. They've also added new ESPN and CBS graphics, and Gus Johnson. No one has ever made me excited for a video game like Gus Johnson.
For those who say the advancements in realism in sports games causes the "discourse" and the need to learn more about the games that Leonard brings up, I offer a counterargument. There are so many different genres of games, across multiple platforms (Video game consoles, Handhelds, PCs) that there really is something out there for everyone.
I definately think that the more a video game can resemble reality, the more it is going to sell. Now a days, with technology taking off the way it is, and with the popularity of sport, there is no wonder why today video games are so realistic. If a company wants to sell a video game and stay competitive in the industry, then it has no choice but to follow the lead of others. At the same time, one can't really deny the entertainment the old school games supply. Every once in awhile if I have the chance to play a sega genesis, there is no way I am going to pass that up, especially if NHL 94 or 95 is in the room, I'm just going to make it rain with Jeff Beukeboom or Adam Graves.
ReplyDeleteNow a days, it has turned in to much more than turning on a system, setting up a game, and playing a friend or playing the computer. Taking virtual tours of a stadium, playing the role of the coach when looking over scouting reviews, or even just making trades. "The game, in effect, monitors the progress of a franchise at the playing, financial, and marketing levels" (Leonard, 395). This goes to show that buying a video game isn't just about the playing field/court anymore.
Personally, I don't really spend much time on the extras added to the video game, I'm more old school. If a friends asks me to fire up an MLB game, I'm not going to insist that he sees my new staff that I recently hired to hand out peanuts in my newly created stadium. The realism does not only benefit the people that actually take the time to go over all the details, but they also benefit the game play as well, which I am a fan of. For example, in the new NHL games, you can use your right analog stick on your controller to actually handle the puck. Going back to my NHL 94 days on sega, if you tapped left on the D-pad, you went left. Now with this advancement, it is more realistic in creating up to date moves that the NHL stars actually do themselves, which draws a lot of attention. Scoring a slap shot from the blue line used to be fun back in the day, but now dangling a goalie with the triple deek, faking a shot and switching to the back hand, putting it top shelf (and knocking off the goalies water bottle sitting on top of the net, of course) is something that will make you feel good, and keep coming back for more.
Videogames should be as realistic as possible. It is what we look for in sports video game. We want to come as close as possible to being on the actual playing field. However, the massive majority of us will never be able to play professional sports, so these games create a fantasy for us to indulge into some good old escapism. With advances in technology, the players on the screen can do pretty much everything we see them do in reality. With Madden 2010, players can now have massive scrums and pileups. In FIFA 2010, players can go on curved runs to keep themselves onside. Really, it is the small things nowadays that are being added every year to make these games more and more realistic. However, if you look at games today, they are accumulations of these small improvements. It seems as if every year these games add more and more things. Just imagine how they'll be in another 5-10 years.
ReplyDeleteReally it comes down to the technology.“The growth in the sports game industry, in fact, is very much connected to the technological transformations that allow for almost identical recreations of sports games” (394) What I find very interesting about sports video games is how players are given number values to designate how good they are. It makes sense, because in a simulation, variables cant change. The technology simply isn't there yet. However, that is the biggest weakness in sports video games. No video game can randomly (as we've seen thousands of times in real life) predict a player having a huge game, playing above their head by a mile. Also, quantifying a player's talents are always going to be unfair. Tom Brady in Madden 2000 was probably considered too insignificant to even be in the game, yet that year he was one of the best quarterback in the NFL.