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FirstCuts: Old Sports Games Live Forever

Apr 28, 2008, 8:05 PM UTC

It’s a bizarre pattern that is repeating itself over and over again in the video game industry:â†µâ†µOne studio makes a great and allegedly groundbreaking sports game. â†µ

â†µâ†µCompeting studio, which makes the allegedly inferior title, obtains an exclusive license for said sport. â†µ

â†µâ†µAllegedly superior title retains cult status and lives on in the consoles and/or PCs of a loyal legion of gamers.â†µ

â†µâ†µESPN NFL 2K5 for the Xbox is one of the first games to go through this whole process. The game was sold for about half the price of EA’s disappointing Madden offering, and it had better gameplay to boot. EA killed all that noise by landing the exclusive NFL license.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut an even more extreme example comes in the form of EA’s MVP Baseball 2005. Before getting into the details, I must point out two particular oddities in this case. 1. EA playing the valiant underdog is truly bizarre. 2. People still play sports titles on PCs? Not according to Peter Moore.â†µ

â†µâ†µBack to MVP Baseball (hardy tip of the hat to PC Gamer Magazine) has spawned such a following on the PC that old copies of the game go for more than $80 on eBay in some cases.â†µ

â†µâ†µThanks to the web site MVPMods.com, the old ‘05 title lives on in the form of extensive updates. Not only can you update 2005 to the current season -- down to every last uniform and roster detail -- but you can also play the 1956, 1961, 1964, 1978 and 1994 seasons.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe level of detail is nothing short of staggering, from uniforms and music appropriate to the era, according to PC Gamer Magazine.â†µ

â†µâ†µAfter speaking with a rep from 2K Sports at the Final Four in San Antonio, I was made aware that the company still maintains its online support for its last NFL title because there is still a loyal group of gamers playing the game across the country. With College Hoops 2K9 cancelled, leaving 2K8 as the last piece of the franchise, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the game live on for years to come through the 2K Share feature, which allows for roster updates and could eat into EA’s college hoops sales if the game doesn’t improve next year.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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