Video games are a very popular form of entertainment and come in a variety of genres, such as action, first-person shooter, survivor, massive multiplayer online, sports and so much more. Video games related to sports have also proven to be popular, especially among athletes.
Sports games cover a variety of sports and leagues such as the NBA, PGA, NCAA and a plethora of other real life sports leagues. According to FOX Sports, the top five sports video games to date include “FIFA ’07,” “NBA 2K17,” “Backyard Baseball,” “Mario Kart 64,” and “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.”
Business management major and men’s tennis player CJ LaMantia is fond of a variety of sports games, such as “NBA 2K,” “Madden NFL” and “NHL” as well as a bunch of tennis related games.
He likes playing these games because he says it is really fun when he does it with friends. To him, the games can get intense and competitive; however, LaMantia is more fond of playing sports in real life rather than in the digital world.
“I’m a super competitive kid who loves to go out and play a nice competitive game of basketball,” LaMantia said. “You don’t get the same feeling if you are just sitting down playing a game in the sense of entertainment level.”
In addition, LaMantia feels that all sports games are the same in terms of gameplay and the updated graphics are the only changes he sees.
Writing major and theatre minor Johnny Myers, a former baseball, basketball and football player, also likes to play “Madden NFL” and “NBA 2K.” He’s especially fond of “NBA 2k18” because of its more immersive story mode called “MyCareer,” as well as the customization options for his character.
“You have an entire online world to explore with clothing shops, tattoo parlors, barbershops, music studios and more,” Myers said. “It’s really fun to play online and upgrade my player. My friends and I get super competitive.”
Myers is and has been looking forward to a couple of new sports games that are coming out soon, such as “MLB The Show 18,” which will be released on March 27, 2018, and “Madden NFL 18,” which was released on August 25, 2017. He is excited to play them because he loved playing these sports in real life and they have nostalgic value to him.
Senior marketing and finance major Brandon Weaver is also very fond of “NBA 2k18” and “Madden NHL” and loves to play them with his friends; however, like LaMantia, he prefers to play sports in real life than on a console, as he grew up playing sports such as baseball, basketball and football.
“I love my video games, but I prefer to play sports in real life,” Weaver said. “Half the reason that I’m playing is that I love that sport.”
Despite athletes preferring to play sports physically instead of digitally, it appears that athletes and average gamers are very fond of sports video games. In addition, it appears that Madden and NBA 2k are the most popular out of all the sports games series.
“I like being able to play with the greatest athletes in the world,” Weaver said.
Video by Kait D’ambrosio.
