Sega Shows Its Sporting Side

Sega stopped by our offices on Tuesday to give us a closer look at three of its upcoming Dreamcast sports games: NFL 2000, NBA 2000, and Cart Racing. Here's what we found.

NFL Football 2000

If there is one thing that's obvious about NFL Football 2000 at first glance is its visual authenticity. The game looks more like the real thing than any other football game before it. Visual Concepts has been working on the game for the past two years and has really taken console football games, at least visually, to the next level.

The visual detail is truly amazing; the players look and move in incredible lifelike motions. The effect is intentional, as several members of the San Francisco Forty Niners were brought in for motion-capture sessions to make player animation as real as possible. Furthermore, Visual Concepts decided to use only position-specific animations. This means animation used in the game for the positions of quarterback, wide receiver, and linemen were captured not only from real players but from the real players who actually play those positions.

To give the game even more authenticity, the development team analyzed actual game footage to see what accessories players wore during play and added them to their virtual counterparts. So as you watch players wearing "breathe right" nasal strips, visors, wrist pads, and such - they're doing so because that particular player wears those accessories in real life.

As far as the gameplay goes, NFL 2000 almost feels like Gameday, with its precise, tight controls. Playing defense is a whole lot of fun, thanks to a number of reasons. One is that the game is so detailed you can actually see a hole in the offensive line open up, making going after the quarterback great. If the quarterback does throw a pass, you can even jump up in the air and get a hand on it.

Offensively, NFL 2000 is pretty straightforward stuff. The game features icon passing, which we've seen before, although the development team may still add a total-control-type passing feature that lets you throw the ball exactly where you want.

The game is full of little features that are just unbelievable. Take the intelligent weather system for instance: When you play a season game, the weather will be decided by a few things, like location. For example: If you're playing a late season game in Green Bay, it will more than likely be snowing. Weather determines a number of things, like what the players will be wearing; if it's cold you'll see the players with hand warmers and turtlenecks. The field will also react differently, and the turf will show wear as the game progresses.

For the football extremist, NFL 2000 will feature an arcade mode that turns off the out-of-bound calls and penalties, yet it won't be a Blitz mode. It will add a little something extra to those who like to play on the wild side.

We're interested in seeing how the AI and other tweaks turn out in the final version of NFL 2000, which is expected to ship this September.

NBA 2000

As with their football game the team working on building NBA 2000 has tried to re-create real-life basketball with polygons like never before. Even in this current stage of development, one can easily say NBA 2000 is on its way to becoming a Dreamcast favorite.

The game features more than 1,500 motion-captured animations, including about a hundred different dunks. An arcade mode will be included in the game, but it will only turn off penalties and out-of-bound calls. The game originally had an NBA Jam-type mode planned, but the idea was scrapped to allow more development time on the simulation mode.

The game definitely looks incredible; the players look ridiculously close to their real-life counterparts. Players possess a complete range of facial expressions, like sneering and smiling. In addition, not only do the player's heads track the ball, but their eyes do as well. You can zoom in with the camera and actually see their eyes blinking and looking around. It actually looks kind of creepy, since it really seems to give them a life all their own.

The game has a multitude of offensive and defensive plays that have been submitted by actual NBA players and coaches. Although the game still has a way to go in the AI department, right now the game is a simple dunkfest. We were told that the AI is being worked on, and it is improving daily.

The create-a-player mode wasn't in the game yet, although we were told that it is literally a game within a game and sounds incredibly in-depth. One of the options even lets you change the size of a player's nose in three different places.

We'll have to wait and see how the game turns out, although it looks as though it's well on its way to becoming one of the most exciting basketball video games ever.

Cart Racing

We've played the Japanese version of this game before, and little has changed. It looks as though the AI will be bumped up for US gamers, but other than that it looks to be the same. The game will feature 27 teams and drivers, 19 real tracks, full pit crews and fully customizable cars. For more information, check out our Japanese review of the game.