Splicetoday

Digital
May 29, 2008, 01:10PM

The Worst (And Best) Sports Video Game Innovations

Whether you're a committed gamer or an occasional enthusiast, the sports video game has become a crucial component of the typical American male lifestyle. ESPN has documented some of the silliest ideas to ever make their way onto the digital playing field.

"Licensed Soundtracks
What do digital pigskin and Green Day have in common?

Your guess is as good as ours. It's bad enough that sports games are increasingly suffused with corporate advertising. Must our ears be assailed by some record company's multi-platform marketing strategy, too? Adding insult to aural injury, "Madden" already features the only licensed music any football game ever needs: authentic NFL Films songs, including "A Golden Boy Again" and the inarguably transcendent "The Autumn Wind." Too bad you have to turn off Yellowcard and Sum 41 to actually hear them.

Sweat
The Xbox 360 debuted at $399. The PlayStation 3 launched at $599. So what feature did the sports games on these super-priced supersystems tout above all others? Realistic player physics? Deep Blue-shaming CPU smarts? Fresh, innovative controls? Nope. Think sweat, glistening and glorious, running in rivulets down virtual Kevin Garnett's high-res, texture-mapped forehead. Nothing embodies the most depressing trend of next-gen sports gaming -- graphics over game play, shiny normal-mapped paint whitewashing hoary, same ol' game engines -- more than the inexplicable emphasis on painstakingly modeled perspiration. Never mind that "NBA 2K6's" players looked like glazed doughnuts, or that "NBA Live 06's" players appeared to be running a marathon during a monsoon. Just look at their jerseys -- they're wet, too! What more could a gamer ask for? Are you not entertained?

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