Sports fans of all types had something to see at this year’s E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. While other people were gawking at the Nintendo 3DS or Gears of War 3, the hoop stars weren’t disappointed either. Here are some of the notable sports games featured at the show.
NHL Slapshot with Mini Hockey Sticks
Many of the traditional sports titles released by EA Sports can appear very unapproachable or overwhelming for the uninitiated. The Madden series of NFL games, for instance, feature giant playbooks, complex control schemes, and a whole lot of strategy. What about people who just want to jump in and play?
To address this growing segment of sports fans, Electronic Arts has worked on a series of more approachable sports games. These started with the All-Play series and they continue with the revealing of NHL Slapshot for the Nintendo Wii.
You still get the full NHL license and plenty of deep gameplay, but the control scheme makes use of a fun mini hockey stick. The player control is done with the nunchuk’s analog stick, passes are completed with the “A” button, and many other moves are motion-based. These include cross checks, slap shots, and more. The pacing of the game appears much better than the similar “waggle” controls of NHL 2K10, so that’s a very good sign. And just in case you’re wondering, the core NHL franchise is being continued by EA with NHL 11 as well.
No Mistresses in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
Even though Tiger Woods was caught up in quite the scandal this year and lost many of his key sponsors, Electronic Arts stuck by his side and they will continue to do so with the latest addition to his ongoing golf game franchise.
With Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, you continue to get access to many real players, many real courses, and a remarkably realistic physics engine. It’s also good that you get a better read of the green for your approach shots, helping you determine which way you should aim.
Electronic Arts has paid a great deal of attention to detail. You can see the emotional movements of players as they watch their epic putts. They’ve also implemented the PlayStation Move controller, adding another level of realism and immersion in the game. It’ll be available on the other major consoles as well.
John Daly Plays Golf with Move Too
Not to be outdone, O Games is coming forward with quite the golf game of its own, turning to another legend of the links in John Daly. The “loud” pants of Daly are featured prominently in the game, as are several real PGA Tour courses.
Just like the Tiger variant, John Daly ProStroke Golf also makes use of the PlayStation Move controller. After setting your target direction by tilting the Move controller, you hit the main button to take some practice swings. The Move ball changes color and you can adjust your footing, as displayed on the screen.
Press the button again and the Move ball changes color to indicate you are in “live” swing mode. Take your swing and hope for the best. For the record, I was able to launch my ball over 350 yards. If only I could do that in real life.
NBA Jam Is on Fire!
Anyone who grew up in the arcades in the 1990s will know NBA Jam. The 2-on-2 legendary basketball title has been given new life with a total remake via Electronic Arts. Originally handled by Midway and ported by Acclaim, NBA Jam has been brought into the 21st century.
It still has that retro appeal and insane arcade-style action, as well as the “He’s on fire!” kind of commentary, but the graphics are vastly improved over the original. The real teams and players are intact, but NBA “legends” also make an appearance as “boss” characters. These include Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Clyde Drexler. Will his Royal Airness show up too?
Slang Offers First Lucha Libre Wrestler
Many wrestling games have graced the various home consoles over the years. While some have featured some real Mexican luchadores, none to my knowledge have focused solely on the Lucha Libre style. That is, until now. Slang and Konami proudly revealed AAA Lucha Libre: Heroes Del Ring at E3 2010. This is the first video game to be developed by a Mexican studio and it fully captures the Lucha Libre culture with real luchadores, real moves, and realistic storylines.
For instance, you can expect to go online in Hair vs. Mask matches. If you lose your hair, your created character will remain in his shaven form until you win three consecutive online matches. The same can be said about the all-important mask.
This focus on the mask continues through to the Create-A-Luchadore mode, allowing for a lot of customization for the look, features, and color scheme of the mask. I noticed Psicosis and La Parka for sure, as well as Konnan to guide you through training mode. AAA Lucha Libre: Heroes del Ring is slated for release on the Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as in an alternate form on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.
No Holds Barred Supremacy MMA
Yes, you may already know about the mixed martial arts franchises coming out of Electronic Arts and THQ, but do you know about 505 Games? They’ve nabbed some folks who had worked on previous MMA games to develop one of their own.
Supremacy MMA takes a different spin on the genre, however. It embraces the MMA culture, to be sure, but your created fighter actually starts out in “underground” venues with no refs, no doctors, and no managers. Oh, and no rules too. Expect extreme violence, irreversibly broken limbs, and brutal “X-ray” imagery of the damage. No release date was given, but we were told that Supremacy MMA would be made available on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
Kinect with Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
That whole Kinect thing for the Microsoft Xbox 360 is quite a big deal and it is starting show off some really interesting applications. If you don’t want to show off your moves in Dance Central, you might want to get fit with Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.
Developed by Ubisoft, this title for Xbox 360 Kinect is meant to get you in shape in a fun and innovative way. It offers a full body scan, recognizing your height and body shape, as well as superimposing that image with an approximated view of your skeleton and muscle systems.
Not surprisingly, a variety of activities are included. Shown here is one activity where you punch and kick virtual boxes as they appear on the screen. Remember that the glowing orange figure on the screen is a mirror image of your actual body in 3D space.
We also saw other activities that involved yoga forms and tai chi routines, among others. For these, the orange form is shown with a “stick figure” overlay. If the sticks are green, you have the right pose. If they’re not, you need to adjust accordingly.
Expect the launch of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved to coincide with that of the Xbox 360 Kinect system later this year.
CTA Digital Races with Inflatable Karts
This isn’t really a game and it’s debatable whether it’s a sport, but I just had to write about this thing. CTA Digital makes a variety of video game accessories, but the Inflatable Kart for Wii really takes the cake.
It’s exactly what you think it is. It’s an inflatable go-kart that has a Wii Wheel-like shell that can hold your Wii Remote. This gives it a relatively solid base (instead of holding the Wii Wheel freely in the air), as well as a reasonably comfortable seat.
The Inflatable Kart looks like it’s the right size for smaller children, but I saw a fully grown woman take to the wheel on this thing too. She looked happy. This is definitely an interesting way to play Mario Kart Wii, wouldn’t you say?
Take the Wheel, Club, or Fingerless Glove
Whether you like relaxing with some body-shaping yoga, going for slam dunks from the free throw line, or jumping off the top rope for a hurricanrana, there’s a new sports title coming down the chute for your gaming pleasure.
What else did we see at E3? Be sure to check back often for more articles here, as well as on the Futurelooks Twitter stream and YouTube channel. There’s a lot to see!
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E3 2010 – Sports Games and Accessories Across Platforms – Photo Gallery
