I have been playing sports games ever since Triple Play 2000 was released on the N64. We all know that the game developers who make these games come out with new features and better graphics every year in an attempt to make a better game that will sell just as well, if not better then the previous years' game. Now obviously if this wasn't the case, then how would they advertise next years game? "Buy MLB 2K8! With new updated rosters, this is a can't miss game for baseball fans!" Obviously it just wouldn't sell and game developers like EA Sports or 2K Sports would go bankrupt. So the question is, if companies like Take-Two or Electronic Arts advertises that this years game is better than last years, they clearly didn't put their full effort into making last years game a truly great one. And more likely than not, it will be the exact same as this years sports game, and then the next, and so forth.

Over the years I've seen games that were actually stripped of its features that was included in its previous years game. Just to name a few examples, when EA Sports took the leap to the world of next-gen consoles with Madden 06, they left off literally everything that made Madden NFL 2005 a good game. Gone is the deep franchise and owner mode, "Playmaker" control, Create-a-fan, Create-a-player, etc. etc. Make no doubt about it, NBA 2K8 is a fantastic basketball game in many aspects. Over its predecessor, it features much improved graphics and textures, more solid and tight gameplay, and overall a more realistic and fun experience. However, gone from NBA 2K7 is the much-loved 24/7 mode where you create a baller and play through a fully developed storyline in street mode where you try to prove that you belong among the NBA's elite. I'll admit, it wasn't exactly a great feature; there was bad voice acting and a lack of immersive feel but is that not what the sports game industry is known for? Improving upon its previous years' game? Which is the reason why I, as well as I'm sure many others, expected this to be the year that 2K got it right. Guess not as they completely removed it.

This is not to say that the sports game industry is at wrong here. After all, who can blame them? They need to make sales somehow and if they came out with every feature imaginable that would make nit-picky customers like me happy, then most people would complain that next years game is simply a roster update with no new features. I guess it is just one of the few flaws to the industry and, quite frankly, there doesn't seem to be a fix for it. I guess it's just been sort of a pet peeve of mine that these companies don't truly come out with a game that they truly believe they cannot improve on any further. I just finished reading up Gamespot's Q&A with Ben Brinkman on MLB 2K8's new features and he clearly states that while 2K7 was a better game than 2K6, it still came up short. Here's just one part of the interview:

Ben Brinkman: With 2K7, we knew we had a long way to go from 2K6 to get to where we wanted this game to be. The late release of 2K6 also left us with a shortened development cycle for 2K7, so it was important not to get too ambitious. The main thing we wanted to accomplish was to get the gameplay headed in the right direction, and I think we did just that. 2K6 had a lot of issues with user responsiveness and just bugs, where, for instance, sometimes you could throw the ball to a base and the player would just not catch the ball for no discernable reason. We wanted to make sure the game played a good, solid game of baseball and that our customers wouldn't have to purchase new controllers after chucking their old one across the room in frustration.

One part where we felt 2K7 may have come up a little bit short was the realism aspect. This is, after all, a simulation sports game, but 2K7 didn't always feel like playing a true-to-life game of baseball. Three aspects of this are really easy to point to: too many home runs, too many spectacular wall-climbing catches, and too easy to pinpoint your pitches. The goal for 2K8 was to create not just a fun game of baseball, but also a very realistic one. And we are very pleased with the results.

If you read the entire Q&A, Brinkman basically believes that this is the year where they got absolutely everything correct. I'm not much of a gambler but I'd be willing to bet that he'll say the exact same thing this time next year.