Favorite sports game

[sky_skyler]

Whats your favorite sports games that are out right now and why?

Ill have to go with:

NBA 09 : Because of how real the game is. Along with The Life mode.

Madden: Football season. Just makes you want to play.

NCAA 09: Same as Madden. Online play is a blast.

[Nikhil]

Topspin3. I love playing tennis, and Topspin3 is the closest thing that comes to it on the couch.

[Nicarlo]

tennis is pretty good but right now im in love with the NHL 09.

Fifa 09 is not bad also though

[sky_skyler]

Topspin3. I love playing tennis, and Topspin3 is the closest thing that comes to it on the couch.

Thats cool. I like Tennis also but feel as if its better on wii. More real! If its on PS3 im more into basketball,football games.

tennis is pretty good but right now im in love with the NHL 09.

Fifa 09 is not bad also though

I havent heard much about Fifa 09. Ive heard NHL 09 is great though. I guess they have a mode on there thats alot of fun and real life like???
Have you had a chance to play NBA 09 The Inside? If you like Sports/story line games,, you will prob. love "The Life" mode on this game.

Please don't double post, just use the edit button if you want to add to your last post~Nikhil

[Sauberbmw]

Fifa 08 : because i love soccer (so do 4 billion+ other people)

heard fifa 09 was glitchey so im staying away from it for now

F1 championship edition: yes i know its old but its the only f1 game right now

[hotfiyah]

Madden 09" (its a given because we are a madden nation =P )
NBA live 09" (I've always liked the live series, and now I have even more realistic stats)
and my favorite sport game on the ps3 right now
FIFA 09" (don't knock it until u tried it, simply amazing game to all those who know the football leagues in europe)

[Nicarlo]

I have to update my choice, NHL 09 is all I play now

[Peter Skerritt]

NHL 09 is the Sports Game of the Year. Hands down. MLB 08: The Show was a close second.

[Joshua]

Virtua Tennis and TW PGA tour 09

as far as football, i've always been a fan of the 2k series, so i was really bummed when EA monopolized football



question: is NHL 09 still good if you're not necessarily a big hockey fan?

[sky_skyler]

NHL 09 is the Sports Game of the Year. Hands down. MLB 08: The Show was a close second.

Oops. Forgot baseball.

For baseball, I'll go with MLB '08: The Show...until '09 comes out, that is :)

[Joshua]

I really hope Backbreaker revolutionizes the football gaming and shows EA that they can't just expect to throw their weight around in order to succeed. It sounds like they are going to be doing some interesting things with that game


Ask the Developer

This month’s Ask the Developer question addresses Backbreaker’s control system. (The information below is not yet in the public domain, it’s a Backbreaker forum special.)

Developing a control system is one of the most important design processes during the development of a game. Although its by no means the very first design task undertaken during preproduction, as part of the ‘core gameplay’, establishing a satisfying control and movement system for the player character is imperative if the game has any hope of being fun. If controlling and moving your character around the game world is more of a duty than a delight, then the foundation of your game is essentially broken and the remainder of the design (however brilliant or otherwise) is largely irrelevant.
Basically, if you mess the control system up, you mess the game up.

When we began to think about the control system for Backbreaker we established a number of design goals that were directly derived from our ‘game statement’ (that is, a high level description of Backbreaker that defines the creative direction the game will take). We wanted to create a system that fused the accessibility of a pick-up-and-play system, while achieving unprecedented ‘depth-of-skill’ for the experienced players. Part of this remit also involved resisting the tendency to map an action to every available button on the game pad. And we wanted to achieve all this while still allowing the player to adopt the role of any player on the offense or defence and support all the expected actions for each individual role.

After several iterations of the control system, we managed to develop one which satisfied all of the above design goals and crucially, also felt great to play. The scheme we have opted for is one which utilizes the two analog sticks of the controller with the left allowing control of the player characters’ movement , while the right analog stick is used to perform all in-game actions (tackling, passing, evading etc) using an intuitive gesture system. In addition to the analog sticks we utilize the two trigger/shoulder buttons and a single context sensitive face button for specific actions within the game.

Furthermore, the control system is split into two distinct modes which we term AGILE and AGGRESSIVE. Whilst in the default agile mode the player can perform actions such as juking, spinning, jumping etc and is primarily used when the player wants to avoid confrontation with an opposing player. In this mode the player also has a higher level of agility and can turn and change direction more quickly, also supporting the concept of avoidance.

The opposing aggressive mode is one in which the player commits to performing a confrontational action such as stiff arming, trucking and of course, tackling. In aggressive mode the player isn’t quite as agile, but can run faster and is more likely to withstand contact from another player.

To put this in context lets take an example. Imagine you’re a wide receiver who has just received the ball and there are two linebackers heading directly at you. You remain in agile mode and by performing a semi-circular gesture on the right analog stick, spin around the first linebacker. There’s a lot of traffic ahead and you only need a few yards for a 1st down, so you switch into aggressive mode by holding down the right trigger. The camera moves closer behind the character and the sound design changes to highlight the threats in the vicinity of the ball carrier as he begins to pick up speed. A well-timed stiff-arm executed by tapping the right analog stick in the relevant direction thrusts the arm of the ball carrier into the face mask of the linebacker, putting him down. Releasing the right trigger the player switches back to agile mode and a tap up on the right analog stick allows him to jump over a low tackle from the left before he’s taken down from the right by a safety.

So the resulting control system is one in which the player is continually evaluating the game situation and how best to approach it. To reinforce the different modes, we’re also doing some pretty cool stuff with the camera and sound design which helps communicate your chosen state and the threats around you.

A final word on why we’ve developed a system different to Madden etc. The controls of existing football games are largely historical, dating back to the early 90s when gamepads had no sticks and players were just sprites. Over time and versions, more control features were added and therefore more buttons were used and the design of the system became a slave to its heritage. This is perfectly fine, but we felt that people are missing out. This is especially true given that we have euphoria and morpheme giving us incredible fidelity and depth, which simply wouldn’t be accessible through simple button presses. Consider the player’s movement, for example. In Backbreaker, the left stick determines the player’s direction and speed. Push it forward a little, and the player starts jogging – push it further, and the player sprints. But the speed at which you move the stick is being monitored too: ease it back, and the player slows down to jogging speed – or if you suddenly flip it back, the player does an emergency stop. Equally, sprint forward and ease the stick to the left, and you’re banking left. Flick it to the left, however, and the player does a cut turn.

This degree of player control is unachievable with old-style control systems. In Backbreaker, it allows us to give experienced players an incredibly deep skill differential to explore, whereas casual players can pick it up and play, without having to remember lots of buttons.

[sky_skyler]

Wow. Backbreaker looks sick.

I wonder if it will have the same depth for football that the show has for baseball.

[TonySoprano]

Oops. Forgot baseball.

For baseball, I'll go with MLB '08: The Show...until '09 comes out, that is :)

MLB 09 - March 3rd; I've already got the pre-order ticket in my wallet!

Sony's MLB franchise is sick; granted, I'm biased, as I usually play baseball games more than other sports titles, but I really do feel like MLB The Show may be the best sports franchise out there right now. Madden has declined over the past couple of years, and that was probably the closest contender, even though it's football.

[lloyd]

I don't really like sports games, although I will check out reviews for the new UFC when it comes out. Don't have high hopes for it though. Anyway, the only sports game I play is Madden, and I only go out and rent that when the mood strikes me.

[fLoOn34]

Triple Play '98. Get the code to play as or against the EA allstars.. you wont find anything funnier.

[TonySoprano]

Triple Play '98?!? Where would I even find a working copy of that nowadays, other than maybe eBay or a pawn shop?

I think I'll stick with my MLB '09 pre-order - it's shiny, and I loves me some fancy-schmancy graphics. :) Plus, if I want funny, '09 comes with a custom music feature - I'll just make the steroid freaks like Bonds walk up to the plate to something like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".

[EIN]

Lol does UFC count? Its a kinda sport!
just kidding, the games they make are garbage
FIFA 09 Baby