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118-526: Rugby League is a sports game video game developed by Sidhe Interactive and published by Tru Blu Entertainment. It was released in 2003 for Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 2 , and Xbox . In Australia the game was released under the National Rugby League (NRL) license, but it was released under the title Stacy Jones Rugby League in New Zealand and Super League Rugby League in

236-585: A basketball court , a crowd, cheerleaders , four periods, the ability to rough up an opponent, and big dunks capable of backboard shattering . Konami's Punk Shot (1990) is an arcade basketball game with an element of violence, allowing players to physically attack each other, which CU Amiga magazine compared to the film Rollerball (1975). The success of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America led to

354-631: A female sports game based on high-school track & field, The Undoukai , and a dirt track racing game Buggy Challenge , with a buggy . Other dirt racing games from that year were dirt bike games: Nintendo 's Excitebike and SNK 's motocross game Jumping Cross . Nintendo also released a four-player racquet sport game, VS. Tennis (the Nintendo VS. System version of Tennis ). That same year, ice hockey games were also released: Alpha Denshi's Bull Fighter and Data East's Fighting Ice Hockey . Data East also released

472-441: A lawn sports game Haro Gate Ball , based on croquet , while Nichibutsu released a game based on roller derby , Roller Jammer . Meanwhile, Technos Japan released a game based on sumo wrestling, Syusse Oozumou , and the first martial arts combat-sport game, Karate Champ , considered one of the most influential fighting games. In 1985, Nintendo released an arm wrestling game, Arm Wrestling , while Konami released

590-447: A table tennis game that attempted to accurately reflect the sport, Konami's Ping Pong . On home consoles, Mattel released Intellivision World Series Baseball ( IWSB ), designed by Don Daglow and Eddie Dombrower , in late 1983. It is considered the earliest sports video game to use multiple camera angles to show the action in a manner resembling a sports television broadcast. Earlier sports games prior to this had displayed

708-509: A brand name used for sports games they produced. EA Sports created several ongoing series, with a new version released each year to reflect the changes in the sport and its teams since the previous release. Sega launched its own competing NFL series on the Sega Genesis. The gameplay of Sega's earlier 1987 Master System title Great Football (1987) was the basis for Joe Montana Football (1991), developed by EA and published by Sega for

826-409: A continuous action. For example, football games may distinguish between short and the long passes based on how long the player holds a button. Golf games often initiate the backswing with one button-push, and the swing itself is initiated by a subsequent push. Arcade sports games have traditionally been very popular arcade games . The competitive nature of sports lends itself well to the arcades where

944-546: A first). It is the first game since NBA 2K3 to be released on a Nintendo platform. Kobe Bryant(LAL) is the game's cover athlete. Fans were able to vote for which image they favored out of four to be used on the cover. The game features a reincarnated career mode titled MyPlayer, which would become a staple of the future games in the series, later being retitled as MyCareer. Harlan and Kellogg return as commentators, while Doris Burke replaces Miller as sideline reporter. The licensed soundtrack consists of 30 songs. In addition to

1062-476: A former Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade , who played for MIA in 2003–2016, 2018–2019. It is also the first game in the series to include all 12 WNBA teams. The guest commentator roster of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Bill Simmons all return for 2K20 . Following Bryant's death , he was removed from the roster, leaving Garnett and Simmons. NBA 2K21 was released on September 4, 2020. The cover athlete for

1180-858: A game called Tennis for Two , a competitive two-player tennis game played on an oscilloscope . The players would select the angle at which to put their racket, and pressed a button to return it. Although this game was incredibly simple, it demonstrated how an action game (rather than previous puzzles) could be played on a computer. Video games prior to the late 1970s were primarily played on university mainframe computers under timesharing systems that supported multiple computer terminals on school campuses. The two dominant systems in this era were Digital Equipment Corporation 's PDP-10 and Control Data Corporation 's PLATO . Both could only display text, and not graphics, originally printed on teleprinters and line printers , but later printed on single-color CRT screens . Ralph Baer developed Table Tennis for

1298-561: A game. NBA 2K11 also introduces historic NBA teams and players. The game features the same presenters as NBA 2K10 . The soundtrack consists of 27 licensed songs. NBA 2K12 was released in October 2011 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Windows, and, for the first time, iOS . This was the final game to be released for the PlayStation 2. With three different covers, NBA 2K12

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1416-604: A horizontal side-scrolling format, depicting one or two tracks at a time, a large scoreboard that displayed world records and current runs, and a packed audience in the background. Despite the industry's hype for laserdisc games at the time, Track & Field became the most well-received game at the Amusement Machine Show (AM Show) in Tokyo and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in

1534-613: A menu where players may select a strategy while play is temporarily suspended. Association football video games sometimes shift gameplay modes when it is time for the player to attempt a penalty kick, a free shot at goal from the penalty spot, taken by a single player. Some sports games also require players to shift roles between the athletes and the coach or manager. These mode switches are more intuitive than other game genres because they reflect actual sports. Older 2D sports games sometimes used an unrealistic graphical scale, where athletes appeared to be quite large in order to be visible to

1652-499: A number of actions, including a back heel, power kick , high kick, sliding tackle , super shot, and fouling other players (kicking, punching, and pulling shirts), which the player can get away with if the referee isn't looking, or get a yellow or red penalty card for if he is. In 1991, the American football game Tecmo Super Bowl was the first mainstream sports game to feature both the league and player association licenses of

1770-503: A season mode with nearly the entire NFL roster. Tecmo Super Bowl is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential games of all time, as it was the first mainstream sports video game with both the league and player association licenses, with ESPN ranking it the greatest sports video game of all time. Sega also developed American football games for their competing Master System console, Great Football in 1987 and American Pro Football ( Walter Payton Football ) in 1989,

1888-589: A second commentator, Michele Tafoya as a sideline reporter. NBA 2K6 was initially released in September 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and, for the first time, Xbox 360 . It is the first game in the series to be published by 2K Sports. Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat serves as the game's cover athlete; he was also involved in some of the game's motion capture development. In NBA 2K6 , Kevin Harlan

2006-496: A simpler " arcade-style " approach to its gameplay, ISS Pro introduced more complex simulation gameplay emphasizing tactics and improvisation, enabled by tactical variety such as nine in-match strategy options. In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that sports games accounted for roughly 50% of console software sales. At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, extreme sport video games began to appear more frequently. Namco 's Alpine Racer (1994)

2124-527: A single game. NBA 2K12 featured the NBA's Greatest mode, where the player can play with past NBA players, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Julius Erving , and Bill Russell . The PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , and Microsoft Windows versions of NBA 2K14 featured a mode titled Path to Greatness; similar to the Jordan Challenge mode, it focuses on the career of LeBron James . All twenty-four of

2242-462: A single game. Wii Sports and Nintendo Switch Sports are recent examples. A popular sub-genre are Olympic video games , including Track & Field and other similar titles. Multi-sport tournaments are becoming the basis for computer games. Sports video games have origins in sports electro-mechanical games (EM games), which were arcade games manufactured using a mixture of electrical and mechanical components, for amusement arcades between

2360-521: A stadium or arena with clear boundaries. Sports games often provide play-by-play and color commentary through the use of recorded audio. Sports games sometimes make use of different modes for different parts of the game. This is especially true in games about American football such as the Madden NFL series, where executing a pass play requires six different gameplay modes in the span of approximately 45 seconds. Sometimes, other sports games offer

2478-412: A trend where presentation would play an increasingly important role in sports games. Magic Johnson's Fast Break (1988) by Arcadia Systems had detailed characters and audio clips of Magic Johnson 's voice. Midway, who had not released a basketball game in sixteen years since Taito's TV Basketball in 1974, released Arch Rivals (1989), a two-on-two game featuring large players with distinct looks,

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2596-638: Is Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, while the cover athlete for the Michael Jordan Edition and Championship Edition is Michael Jordan . The game reintroduces the "Jordan Challenges" from NBA 2K11 . The Arcade Edition was released for Apple Arcade on October 18, 2022. NBA 2K24 was released on September 8, 2023. You can participate in games, upgrade your player's skills, and make decisions that shape their journey. The game introduces

2714-468: Is card packs; the player purchases a card pack, which features random items the player can use in the mode, including players. In addition to compiling a select group of players, the player can also customize their team's jerseys and court, among other things. The game mode progressed even further on NBA 2K19 , with a MyTeam tournament between the best Xbox and PS4 players for a prize of $ 250,000 occurring. Other online-focused modes have also been featured in

2832-514: Is considered to be the first video game to accurately emulate American football ; it also popularized the use of a trackball, with the game's developers mentioning it was inspired by an earlier Japanese association football game that used a trackball. Atari Football was the second highest-earning arcade video game of 1979 in the United States, below only Taito's shoot 'em up blockbuster Space Invaders (1978), though Atari Football

2950-579: Is not part of the main series, but a spin-off title. It is available for PlayStation VR , HTC Vive , Oculus Rift , and Samsung Gear VR and the user plays as LeBron James . This title uses Unreal Engine 4 . NBA Playgrounds was released on May 9, 2017. NBA 2K18 was released in September 2017. It is the first game in the series to be released for the Nintendo Switch ; it was also released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, iOS, and Microsoft Windows. Kyrie Irving

3068-629: Is often titled Association; the most recent games in the series feature the MyGM and MyLeague modes. In the modes, the player controls virtually all aspects of a team, rather than just playing games with the team. As the player simulates through seasons, they must satisfy the needs of the team's personnel and the owner. MyTeam mode, which was introduced in NBA 2K13 , focuses on building a team of players and competing against other players' teams online. The player's primary venue for acquiring players for their team

3186-533: Is present in the next three games in the series. A demo of NBA 2K12 was released prior to the release of the main game. The soundtrack consists of 28 licensed songs. Regarding the soundtrack, a contest was held, the winners of which would contribute to the soundtrack with an original song. NBA 2K13 was initially released in September/October 2012 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, iOS, Android , and Microsoft Windows. It

3304-529: Is structured in the typical style of street basketball. MyPark consists of an open area filled with players who can join different games on different courts. Several games in the series feature a mode which allows the player to hold a slam dunk contest . Several games in the series have featured game modes that are exclusive to that particular game. NBA 2K11 featured the Jordan Challenge mode, in which players are tasked with recreating some of Michael Jordan 's most memorable feats, such as scoring 69 points in

3422-669: Is the cover athlete. The Legend Edition/Legend Edition Gold versions of the game, which include various physical and digital extras, features Shaquille O'Neal as the cover athlete. The Canadian version of the game features DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors as its cover athlete. The Neighborhood makes its debut in NBA 2K18 . The game's soundtrack consists of 49 licensed songs. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett appear as guest commentators. NBA 2K18 adds seventeen new classic teams as well as an 'All-Time Team' for each franchise. This

3540-402: Is the first game in the series to feature multiple cover athletes. The cover athletes are Magic Johnson , Larry Bird , and Michael Jordan (for the second straight year). The game introduces the "NBA's Greatest" mode, where players use a wide range of historic players and teams. Steve Kerr joins Harlan and Kellogg in the commentary booth, and Burke returns as sideline reporter. The same team

3658-614: Is the game's cover athlete. The game introduces the Slam Dunk Contest game mode. The soundtrack consists of 23 licensed songs. In June 2008, 2K Sports announced that they were partnering with Tencent to release an online version of NBA 2K for the Chinese market. Since then the game has expanded to other markets in Asia. NBA 2K9 was initially released in October 2008 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and, for

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3776-466: Is the last game in the series to be published by Sega Sports before the company sold Visual Concepts to Take Two Interactive, forming 2K Sports. Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons replaced Iverson as the cover athlete. It is the third and final in the series to feature ESPN branding. The game features Stuart Scott as a presenter, Bob Fitzgerald as a play-by-play commentator, Bill Walton as

3894-434: Is the play-by-play commentator, Kenny Smith is the color commentator, and Craig Sager is the sideline reporter. The next two installments in the series feature the same team. NBA 2K7 was initially released in September 2006 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 , Xbox, and Xbox 360. It is the first game in the series to be released for the PlayStation 3 and the last to be released for the original Xbox. O'Neal returns as

4012-458: Is the second and final time of the game in the series to be released for the GameCube. Allen Iverson of the 76ers made his fourth appearance as the cover athlete. ESPN NBA Basketball was released in October and November 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. Allen Iverson made his fifth and final appearance as the cover athlete. The game introduces a 24/7 mode, a career mode in which

4130-563: The Sensible Soccer series (1992 debut). Several sports laserdisc games were released for arcades in 1984, including Universal 's Top Gear which displayed 3D animated race car driving, while Sega's GP World and Taito's Laser Grand Prix displayed live-action footage. Sega also produced a bullfighting game, Bull Fight , and a multiple-watersports game Water Match (published by Bally Midway ), which included swimming, kayaking and boat racing ; while Taito released

4248-520: The NBA 2K series feature commentary from fictional announcers Bob Steele and Rod West, portrayed by Bob Fitzgerald and Rod Brooks, respectively. NBA 2K1 was initially released in October 2000 for the Dreamcast. Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers returns as the cover athlete. NBA 2K1 , among other things, introduces a mode which focuses on street basketball , and a mode which allows

4366-520: The National Basketball Association , and present slight improvements over the previous installments. As such, gameplay simulates a typical game of basketball, with the player controlling an entire team or a select player; objectives coincide with the rules of basketball and presentation resembles actual televised NBA games. Various game modes have been featured in the series, allowing for gameplay variety. Numerous elements of

4484-433: The Nintendo VS. System titles VS. Tennis and VS. Baseball , Taito's golf game Birdie King II , and Data East 's Tag Team Wrestling . 10-Yard Fight in 1983 had a career mode , where the player progresses from high school , to college , professional , playoff , and Super Bowl , as the difficulty increases with each step. Irem's waterskiing game Tropical Angel had a female player character , and

4602-501: The PlayStation console. The following year, Square 's popular role-playing video game , Final Fantasy VII , included a snowboarding minigame that was later released as an independent snowboarding game, Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding , for mobile phones. In 2000, SSX was released. Based around boardercross , the game featured fast downhill races, avoiding various objects whilst using others to perform jumps and increase

4720-491: The Pong market crashed around the mid-1970s. Sports video games would not regain the same level of success until the 1980s. In 1976, Sega released an early combat sport game, Heavyweight Champ , based on boxing and now considered the first fighting game . In March 1978, Sega released World Cup , an association football game with a trackball controller. In October 1978, Atari released Atari Football , which

4838-428: The arcade video game industry, so they began turning to sports games. The arcade industry began producing sports games at levels not seen since the days of Pong and its clones, which played a role in the recovery of the arcade market by the mid-1980s. There were initially high expectations for laserdisc games to help revive the arcade industry in 1983, but it was instead non-laserdisc sports games that ended up being

Rugby League (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-587: The highest-grossing arcade sports game of all time. FIFA International Soccer (1993), the first game in EA's FIFA series of association football video games , released on the Sega Mega Drive and became the best-selling home video game of 1993 in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the top-down perspective of earlier association football games, FIFA introduced an isometric perspective to

5074-624: The history of the Nintendo Entertainment System , as they were the earliest NES games released in North America, initially in the arcades and then with the console's launch. Nintendo's arcade version VS. Baseball (1984) was competing with Sega's earlier hit Champion Baseball in the arcades. On home computers, Track & Field spawned similar hit Olympic games for computer platforms, such as Ocean Software 's Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984). Electronic Arts produced their first sports game for home computers,

5192-400: The wrestling game Tag Team Wrestling . In the field of association football games , Alpha Denshi's Exciting Soccer (1983) featured digitized voices and a top-down overhead perspective, which was later popularized by Tehkan World Cup (1985) from Tehkan (later Tecmo). Tehkan World Cup was a multiplayer association football game with a trackball controller, where a button

5310-664: The "Mamba Moments". This was also the first game in the series to offer crossplay between Xbox and PlayStation. The Arcade Edition was released for Apple Arcade on October 24, 2023. NBA 2K25 was released on September 4, 2024. The cover athletes are Jayson Tatum and A'ja Wilson . The NBA 2K series has achieved consistent critical and commercial success. Elements of the series that are frequently praised include its presentation, specifically its commentary, attention to detail, and soundtrack, its abundance of content, its overall gameplay, and its consistency in terms of yearly releases without any drastic dips in quality. In recent years,

5428-661: The 1940s and 1970s. Examples include boxing games such as International Mutoscope Reel Company 's K.O. Champ (1955), bowling games such as Bally Manufacturing 's Bally Bowler and Chicago Coin 's Corvette from 1966, baseball games such as Midway Manufacturing 's Little League (1966) and Chicago Coin's All Stars Baseball (1968), other team sport games such as Taito 's Crown Soccer Special (1967) and Crown Basketball (1968), and air hockey type games such as Sega 's MotoPolo (1968) and Air Hockey (1972) by Brunswick Billiards . The earliest sports video game dates backs to 1958, when William Higinbotham created

5546-539: The Best 150 Games of All Time, the highest ranking sports game on the list. International Superstar Soccer Pro ( ISS Pro ), released for the PlayStation in 1997, was considered a "game-changer" for association football games, which had been largely dominated by rival FIFA on home systems for the last several years. Developed by Konami Tokyo , ISS Pro introduced a new 3D engine capable of better graphics and more sophisticated gameplay than its rival. Whereas FIFA had

5664-511: The Genesis. Sega then released their own sequel without EA's involvement, Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football (1991), which became the first American football game with audio commentary. After Sega acquired the NFL license, they shortened the title to NFL Sports Talk Football Starring Joe Montana , which later became known as Sega's NFL series. Due to strong competition from Madden , the series

5782-596: The Mattel Intellivoice module. The game was sophisticated for its time, but was a commercial failure, released around the time of the video game crash of 1983 when the North American home video game market collapsed. Nintendo released a series of highly successful sports games for the Nintendo Entertainment System console and the arcade Nintendo VS. System , starting with Baseball (1983) and Tennis (1984). They played an important role in

5900-497: The NBA Playoffs (1989), the latter ported to the Genesis in 1991, which added more simulation aspects to the subgenre. In the arcades, Midway followed Arch Rivals with NBA Jam (1993), which introduced digitized sprites similar to their fighting game Mortal Kombat (1992), combined with a gameplay formula similar to Arch Rivals . In its first twelve months of release, NBA Jam generated over $ 1 billion to become

6018-520: The NBA. Key events in the player's career are depicted, such as the draft and their retirement ceremony. A storyline is often present in the modes, and high school and college -level basketball has also been depicted. The player upgrades their player's attributes as they play, and can participate in off-court activities. Another mainstay of the series is a mode allowing the player to assume control of an NBA franchise, acting as general manager. The mode has been featured in numerous NBA 2K games and

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6136-487: The UK. It is the first rugby league video game in the series. It was followed by Rugby League 2 . Sports game Sports games involve physical and tactical challenges, and test the player's precision and accuracy. Most sports games attempt to model the athletic characteristics required by that sport, including speed, strength, acceleration, accuracy, and so on. As with their respective sports, these games take place in

6254-620: The United States, the best-selling arcade video game of 1973 was Pong , followed by several of its clones and variants, including Pro Tennis from Williams Electronics , Winner from Midway Manufacturing , Super Soccer and Tennis Tourney from Allied Leisure (later called Centuri), and TV Tennis from Chicago Coin . In Japan, arcade manufacturers such as Taito initially avoided video games as they found Pong to be simplistic compared to more complex EM games, but after Sega successfully tested-marketed Pong in Japan, Sega and Taito released

6372-788: The United States. The game sold 38,000 arcade units in Japan, became one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 in the United States, and the top-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the United Kingdom. It was also the basis for an organized video game competition that drew more than a million players in 1984. The success of Track & Field spawned other similar Olympic video games . Numerous sports video games were subsequently released in arcades after Track & Field , including American football games such as 10-Yard Fight (1983) by Irem and Goal to Go (1984) by Stern Electronics , boxing video games such as Nintendo's Punch-Out! (1984), martial arts sports fighting games such as Technōs Japan 's Karate Champ (1984),

6490-589: The announcer roster. NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 was released on October 16, 2018. NBA 2K Mobile was released in November 2018 for iOS and Android. The game was developed by Cat Daddy Games . NBA 2K20 was released on September 6, 2019. The game's standard and deluxe editions' cover athletes are Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers , while the cover athlete for the Legend Edition is

6608-433: The arcades, and subsequently served as the prototype for later baseball video games . It had a split-screen format, displaying the playfield from two camera angles , one from the outfield and another close-up shot of the player and batter, while also giving players the option of selecting relief pitchers or pinch hitters, while an umpire looks on attentively to make the game calls. The game also had digitized voices for

6726-429: The basketball title Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One (1983), which was the first licensed sports game based on the names and likenesses of famous athletes; the inclusion of famous real world athletes would become one of the most important selling points for sports games. One on One became Electronic Arts' best-selling game, and the highest-selling computer sports game, having sold 400,000 copies by late 1988. In

6844-499: The clones Pong Tron and Elepong , respectively, in July 1973, before the official Japanese release of Pong by Atari Japan (later part of Namco ) in November 1973. Tomohiro Nishikado 's four-player Pong variant Soccer was released by Taito in November 1973, with a green background to simulate an association football playfield along with a goal on each side. Another Taito variant, Pro Hockey (1973), set boundaries around

6962-608: The cover athlete. NBA 2K7 is the first game in the series to feature a licensed soundtrack; the previous games featured music produced exclusively for the games. The soundtrack, which was compiled by Dan the Automator , consists of 13 songs, and was also released in CD format as Dan the Automator Presents 2K7 . NBA 2K8 was initially released in October 2007 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Chris Paul

7080-494: The early 2000s. A rivalry subsequently emerged between FIFA and PES , considered the "greatest rivalry" in the history of sports video games. PES became known for having "faster-paced tactical play" and more varied emergent gameplay , while FIFA was known for having more licenses. The FIFA series had sold over 16 million units by 2000, while the PES series had sold more than 10 million units by 2002. The sales gap between

7198-629: The emphasis being more on realism than on how fun the game is to pick up and play based from the competitive seasons of each sport. The simulation-style tends to be slower and more accurate with normal rules while arcade games tend to be fast and can have all kinds of ad-hoc rules and ideas thrown in, especially pre-2000s. Examples of this include the EA Sports FC , NHL , EA Sports WRC , F1 , MotoGP , PGA Tour , PGA Tour 2K , MLB The Show , Madden NFL , EA Sports College Football and NBA 2K series. A sports management game puts

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7316-405: The entire field on screen, or scrolled across static top-down fields to show the action. IWSB mimicked television baseball coverage by showing the batter from a modified "center field" camera, the baserunners in corner insets and defensive plays from a camera behind the batter. It was also one of the first sports video games to feature audibly speaking digitized voices (as opposed to text), using

7434-495: The fast-growing Sega Genesis. In 1990, Orr and Hilleman released Madden Football . They focused on producing a head-to-head two-player game with an intuitive interface and responsive controls. Electronic Arts had only expected to sell around 75,000 units, but instead the title sold around 400,000 units. In 1990, Taito released Football Champ , an association football game that allows up to four players in both competitive and cooperative gameplay . It also let players perform

7552-472: The first video game console , the Magnavox Odyssey , released in 1972. While the console had other sports-themed game cards, they required the use of television overlays while playing similarly to board games or card games . Table Tennis was the only Odyssey game that was entirely electronic and did not require an overlay, introducing a ball-and-paddle game design that showcased the potential of

7670-528: The first time in the series, Microsoft Windows . Kevin Garnett(BOS) is featured as the game's cover athlete. The commentary team consists of Harlan and Clark Kellogg , with Cheryl Miller serving as sideline reporter. The soundtrack consists of 24 licensed songs and one original song. NBA 2K10 was initially released in October 2009 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable (a first), Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Wii (also

7788-649: The first time that a version of the game was not made for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 since those consoles released. The game's standard edition cover athlete is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks , while the cover athlete for the Australian and New Zealand version of the game is Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers . In addition, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett both return as guest commentators, with analyst Bill Simmons being added to

7906-417: The following year. Ramtek later released Baseball in October 1974, similarly featuring the use of character graphics. In 1975, Nintendo released EVR-Race , a horse racing simulation game with support for up to six players. It was a mixture between a video game and an electro-mechanical game, and played back video footage from a video tape . After the market became flooded with Pong clones,

8024-407: The game; among other things, he curated the soundtrack, which consists of 24 songs. NBA 2K14 was initially released in October and November 2013 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 , Xbox 360, Xbox One , Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android. LeBron James serves as cover athlete; he also curated the soundtrack, which features 20 licensed songs. NBA 2K14 introduces EuroLeague teams. NBA 2K14

8142-444: The games feature customizable options. Each game features the teams and players from the current NBA season; historic NBA teams and players have also been featured, as have EuroLeague teams and (starting with NBA 2K20 ) WNBA teams. Fictional players and teams can also be created and compiled. A staple of the series is its career mode , which has been described as a sports-themed role-playing video game . ESPN NBA Basketball

8260-593: The genre. International Superstar Soccer (1994), the first game in Konami 's International Superstar Soccer ( ISS ) series, released for the SNES. A rivalry subsequently emerged between the FIFA and ISS franchises. In the 1990s, 3D graphics were introduced in sports games. Early uses of flat-shaded polygons date back to 1991, with home computer games such as 4D Sports Boxing and Winter Challenge . However, it

8378-485: The lack of innovations in several installments. Specifically concerning sales, the NBA 2K series has established itself as one of the better-selling video game franchises . A May 2014 earnings call reported that games in the series have sold over 17 million copies worldwide. A report in February 2017, however, suggested that games in the franchise have sold in excess of 68 million copies. According to one analyst,

8496-462: The late 1980s, basketball video games gained popularity in arcades. Konami's Double Dribble (1986) featured colorful graphics, five-on-five gameplay, cutaway animations for slam dunks , and a digitized version of " The Star-Spangled Banner " theme. It was considered the most realistic basketball game upon release, with fast-paced action, detailed players, a large side-scrolling court, innovative cinematic dunks, and detailed sound effects, beginning

8614-510: The latter very well received by critics at the time. The late 1980s is considered the "Golden Age" of baseball video games . Namco 's R.B.I. Baseball (1986) and the Atlus title Major League Baseball (1988) for the NES were the first fully licensed baseball video games. SNK 's Baseball Stars (1989) was a popular arcade-style NES game, while Jaleco 's NES title Bases Loaded (1987)

8732-511: The main objective is usually to obtain a high score . The arcade style of play is generally more unrealistic and focuses on a quicker gameplay experience. However the competitive nature of sports and being able to gain a high score while competing against friends for free online, has made online sports games very popular. Examples of this include the NFL Blitz and NBA Jam series. Simulation games are more realistic than arcade games, with

8850-439: The most recent entries in the series average at least four million copies sold. The best-selling game in the series is NBA 2K14 , which sold over seven million copies; it is also Take-Two Interactive 's best-selling sports game. NBA 2K16 is the fastest-selling title in the series, shipping over four million copies within its first week of release. NBA 2K16 sold over 10   million units in 2017. As of December 2018,

8968-469: The most well-received hits at amusement arcade shows by late 1983. In March 1983, Sega released Alpha Denshi 's arcade game Champion Baseball , which became a blockbuster success in Japanese arcades, with Sega comparing its impact on Japanese arcades to that of Space Invaders . Champion Baseball was a departure from the " space games " and "cartoon" action games that had previously dominated

9086-415: The new video game medium. This provided the basis for the first commercially successful video game, Pong (1972), released as an arcade video game by Atari, Inc. Numerous ball-and-paddle games that were either clones or variants of Pong were released for arcades in 1973. Atari themselves released a four-player cooperative multiplayer variant, Pong Doubles (1973), based on tennis doubles . In

9204-488: The platform becoming a major platform for American sports video games. Basketball games included a port of Double Dribble , with a halo mechanic signifying the optimum release for shots, and Tecmo NBA Basketball (1992). American football video games included Tecmo Bowl (1987), which was ported to the NES with the NFL Players Association license, and Tecmo Super Bowl (1991), which introduced

9322-480: The player can create a customizable character and use them to compete in basketball tournaments and other competitions. Online game modes are also present, and each player has a unique facial design, also a first. The game features a commentary team consisting of Bob Fitzgerald and Tom Tolbert ; Kevin Frazier hosts pre-game shows. ESPN NBA 2K5 was first released in September 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It

9440-465: The player in the role of team manager . Whereas some games are played online against other players, management games usually pit the player against AI controlled teams in the same league . Players are expected to handle strategy, tactics, transfers, and financial issues. Various examples of these games can be found in the sports management category . Since Track & Field (1983), various multi-sport video games have combined multiple sports into

9558-596: The player is now able to scan their own face into the game. The soundtrack, which consists of 27 licensed songs, was curated by Pharrell Williams . NBA 2K16 was released worldwide on September 29, 2015, for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A version for Android and iOS was released on October 14, 2015. The game features seven different covers with eight cover athletes: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Michael Jordan, Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol, Dennis Schröder, and Tony Parker. NBA 2K16 ' s mid-game commentary team remains

9676-412: The player to act as the general manager of a team; most of the game's successors feature variations of the two modes. This was also the first game in the series to allow for online play, allowing for 8 people to play together online. NBA 2K2 was released in late 2001 and early 2002 for Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 , Xbox , and GameCube . Allen Iverson again returned as the cover athlete. In addition to

9794-490: The player to compete in activities related to the main game's MyPlayer mode. NBA 2K11 was released in October 2010 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Windows. Michael Jordan is the game's cover athlete, and the game features several modes focusing on Jordan. One such mode is "The Jordan Challenge", a mode in which the player must recreate ten of Jordan's most memorable career achievements, such as scoring 69 points in

9912-423: The player's speed. In 1997, Sega released one of the first mainstream skateboarding games, Top Skater , in the arcades, where it introduced a skateboard controller interface. Top Skater served as a basic foundation for later skateboarding games. The following year saw the release of the console skateboarding game Street Sk8er , developed by Atelier Double and published by Electronic Arts . In 1999,

10030-532: The player. As sports games have evolved, players have come to expect a realistic graphical scale with a high degree of verisimilitude. Sports games often simplify the game physics for ease of play, and ignore factors such as a player's inertia. Games typically take place with a highly accurate time-scale, although they usually allow players to play quick sessions with shorter game quarters or periods. Sports games sometimes treat button-pushes as continuous signals rather than discrete moves, in order to initiate and end

10148-458: The players and the baskets, and attempted to simulate basketball . Each player controls two team members, a forward and a guard ; the ball can be passed between team members before shooting, and the ball has to fall into the opposing team's basket to score a point. The game was released in North America by Midway as TV Basketball , selling 1,400 arcade cabinets in the United States, a production record for Midway up until they released Wheels

10266-425: The regular players and teams from the 2001–02 NBA season , NBA 2K2 features several past players and their respective teams, including Bill Russell , Julius Erving , Magic Johnson , and Larry Bird . NBA 2K2 is the first game in the series to be released for multiple platforms, and the last to be released for Dreamcast. NBA 2K3 was initially released in October 2002 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It

10384-463: The same, except Kerr has been replaced by Greg Anthony . The pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows now feature the returning Kenny Smith, in addition to Johnson and O'Neal. Director Spike Lee worked on the MyCareer mode. The soundtrack, which features 50 songs, was curated by DJ Khaled , DJ Premier , and DJ Mustard . A companion app featuring Paul George and developed by Cat Daddy Games

10502-479: The screen and only a small gap for the goal. Tomohiro Nishikado wanted to move beyond simple rectangles to character graphics, resulting in his development of a basketball game, Taito's TV Basketball , released in April 1974. It was the earliest use of character sprites to represent human characters in a video game. While the gameplay was similar to earlier ball-and-paddle games, it displayed images both for

10620-467: The second highest ranking for any sports game in that 1981–1996 period (after FPS Football ). The 1990s began in the 16-bit era , as a wave of fourth generation video game consoles were created to handle more complex games and graphics. The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in particular became renowned for its sports video games, as it was more powerful than the NES and with Sega targeting an older audience than Nintendo's typically younger target demographic at

10738-448: The series has been seen by some critics as superior to other basketball games, specifically in comparison with EA Sports ' NBA Live series . Conversely, later installments have been criticized for their technical issues, particularly in regards to the online components; the introduction of microtransactions ; and the quality of some of the more story-focused incarnations of the MyCareer mode. The series has also been criticized for

10856-484: The series has sold over 90   million units worldwide, making it the best-selling NBA video game series. Games in the NBA 2K series have been nominated for multiple awards, from events such as the Spike Video Game Awards , The Game Awards , and the D.I.C.E. Awards , usually related to being the best sports game of the year. However, there are 2 games in the series that have been met with

10974-414: The series is currently published by 2K (previously under the 2K Sports sub-label). As of 2024, the series consists of twenty-five main installments and several spinoff titles across eighteen different platforms. An official eSports league, the NBA 2K League , launched in 2018. Until 2018, the series' primary rival was EA Sports ' NBA Live series. Each installment in the NBA 2K series emulates

11092-460: The series main installments have been developed by Visual Concepts . The first six games were published by Sega Sports , before the company sold Visual Concepts to Take Two Interactive , thus forming 2K Sports . The original NBA 2K game was initially released in November 1999 for the Dreamcast , featuring Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers as the cover athlete. The first four games in

11210-462: The series, such as Pro-Am, which focuses on players building a team together with their custom players. In addition to regulation NBA games, street basketball has been featured in numerous games in the series. Created players and real players can be used in such modes; additionally, some celebrities have made appearances as playable characters in the series. In more recent games, the street basketball modes are titled Blacktop and MyPark. Blacktop

11328-468: The sport it emulated; previous titles either had one license or the other, but Tecmo Super Bowl was the first to feature real NFL players on real teams. Orr joined EA full-time in 1991 after the success of Madden on the Sega Genesis, and began a ten-year period of his career where he personally supervised the production of the Madden Football series. During this time EA formed EA Sports ,

11446-503: The standard edition is Luka Dončić . with Candace Parker featured on the WNBA 25th Anniversary Edition and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant on the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition. The Arcade Edition was released for Apple Arcade on October 19, 2021. NBA 2K23 was released on September 9, 2022. The primary cover athlete for the standard and Digital Deluxe Edition

11564-418: The standard edition on the current console generation is Damian Lillard . Zion Williamson is the cover athlete for the standard version of the next console generation , and Kobe Bryant is the cover athlete for the Legend Edition cover for both console generations. The Arcade Edition was released for Apple Arcade on April 2, 2021. NBA 2K22 was released on September 10, 2021. The cover athlete for

11682-479: The standard release, a limited edition version of the game, titled NBA 2K10: Anniversary Edition , was also released; it included several bonuses, such as a Bryant figurine manufactured by McFarlane Toys . A demo of sorts was released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live prior to the release of the main game in August 2009, titled NBA 2K10 Draft Combine . It features Derrick Rose as its cover athlete and allows

11800-510: The subgenre was further popularized by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater , an arcade-like skateboarding game where players were challenged to execute elaborate tricks or collect a series of elements hidden throughout the level. Tony Hawk's went on to be one of the most popular sports game franchises. Association football games became more popular in the 2000s. Konami's ISS series spawned the Pro Evolution Soccer ( PES ) series in

11918-634: The time. Basketball video games included EA's Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1991), which launched the NBA Live series. World Series Baseball (1994) introduced the "catcher-cam" perspective, launching the World Series Baseball series and becoming the first game in the Sega Sports line. In 1989, Electronic Arts producer Richard Hilleman hired GameStar's Scott Orr to re-design John Madden Football for

12036-425: The two franchises had narrowed by the mid-2000s. NBA 2K NBA 2K is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball Association . The series was originally published by Sega . Beginning with 2005's NBA 2K6 ,

12154-494: The umpire, and individual player statistics. Sports games became more popular across arcades worldwide with the arrival of Konami 's Track & Field , known as Hyper Olympic in Japan, introduced in September 1983. It was an Olympic-themed athletics game that had multiple Olympic track-and-field events (including the 100-meter dash, long jump , javelin throw , 110-meter hurdles , hammer throw , and high jump ) and allowed up to four players to compete. It had

12272-416: Was a simulation game with statistics. In 1988, EA released Earl Weaver Baseball , developed by Don Daglow and Eddie Dombrower, which for the first time combined a highly accurate simulation game with high quality graphics. This was also the first game in which an actual baseball manager provided the computer AI . In 1996 Computer Gaming World named EWB the 25th of its Best 150 Games of All Time,

12390-478: Was a skiing winter sports simulator that became a major success in arcades during the mid-1990s. This led to a wave of similar sports games capitalizing on its success during the late 1990s, from companies such as Sega , Namco, Konami and Innovative Concepts. In 1996, two snowboarding video games were released: Namco 's Alpine Surfer in the arcades, and the UEP Systems game Cool Boarders for

12508-558: Was also the first year they introduced "The Park" as an additional mode to take your myplayer to the streets along with other users and play with them on a variety of courts. NBA 2K15 was initially released in October 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Android, and iOS. Kevin Durant(OKC) serves as the cover athlete. NBA 2K15 introduces pre-game shows presented by Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal . One new feature concerns player creation;

12626-460: Was also the last game to be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. NBA 2K Online 2 is the second release of the title focusing on the Asian market. NBA 2K19 was released on September 11, 2018, while the 20th Anniversary Edition (which was one year away), featuring the cover athlete LeBron James , was released on September 7, the same day as the release of NBA Live 19 . This game marks

12744-530: Was cancelled in 1997. Licensed basketball games began becoming more common by the early 1990s, including Sega's Pat Riley Basketball (1990) and Acme Interactive 's David Robinson's Supreme Court (1992) for the Sega Genesis, and Hudson Soft 's Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball (1991) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). EA followed Jordan vs. Bird: One on One (1988) with Lakers versus Celtics and

12862-424: Was compiled by Michael B. Jordan , Grimes , Imagine Dragons , and Noah Shebib , and features 50 songs. A demo of sorts, titled The Prelude , was released prior to the release of the main game. A companion app featuring Karl-Anthony Towns was also released. On November 22, 2016, a virtual reality NBA 2K title was released. Titled NBA 2KVR Experience , the game is a collection of basketball mini-games and

12980-516: Was featured in the Intellivision ads, which showed the parallel games side by side. Both Atari and Intellivision fielded at least one game for baseball, American football, hockey, basketball and association football. Atari's sports games included Activision Tennis (1981). Sports video games experienced a resurgence from 1983. As the golden age of arcade video games came to an end, arcade manufacturers began looking for ways to reinvigorate

13098-477: Was not until the mid-1990s that 3D polygons were popularized in sports games. Sega 's arcade title Virtua Striker (1994) was the first association football game to use 3D graphics, and was also notable for its early use of texture mapping . Meanwhile, Sierra Online released American football title Front Page Sports Football in 1995 for the PC. The following year, Computer Gaming World named it twelfth of

13216-490: Was one of the two most well-received games at the September 1983 AM Show (along with Hyper Olympic ) for its graphics and gameplay. Another sports game with female player characters was Taito's Joshi Volleyball ( Big Spikers ) , which topped the Japanese table arcade cabinet chart in December 1983. Kaneko 's Roller Aces was a roller skating game played from a third-person perspective, while Technōs Japan released

13334-722: Was released alongside the game. NBA 2K17 was released worldwide in September 2016 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Android, and iOS. The game features four different cover athletes, Paul George, Kobe Bryant, Danilo Gallinari , and Pau Gasol. NBA 2K17 still features a three-person commentary team and one sideline reporter, but the personnel has been overhauled. Seven different commentators are present, namely Kevin Harlan , Clark Kellogg , Greg Anthony , Brent Barry , Chris Webber , and Steve Smith , while David Aldridge replaces Burke as sideline reporter. The pre-game, halftime, and post-game presentation trio remains unchanged. The game's soundtrack

13452-560: Was released for the ZX Spectrum computer in 1982. Between 1981 and 1983, the Atari's VCS (2600) and Mattel's Intellivision waged a series of high-stakes TV advertising campaigns promoting their respective systems, marking the start of the first console wars . Atari prevailed in arcade games and had a larger customer base due to its lower price, while Intellivision touted its visually superior sports games. Sports writer George Plimpton

13570-554: Was the final game to be released on the PlayStation Portable and Wii. A version for Wii U was released as a launch title in November 2012 and in PAL regions the following month. The game's cover features Blake Griffin , Kevin Durant , and Derrick Rose . MyTeam makes its debut in NBA 2K13 , the mode focuses on building your very own fantasy team and compete against other people. Jay Z is credited as executive producer of

13688-423: Was the first game in the series to feature such a mode, but it wasn't until NBA 2K10 and its successors that the mode became a more integral part of the series. The mode was initially titled 24/7, before being changed to MyPlayer, and settling on MyCareer. The modes center on the basketball career of the player's created player; the player customizes several aspects of their player and plays through their career in

13806-565: Was the only sports game among the top ten highest-earners. In 1980, Mattel 's Basketball for the Intellivision was the first basketball video game to be licensed by the National Basketball Association (NBA). On home computers, Microsoft 's Olympic Decathlon (1980) was one of the first sports-related programs to mix game and simulation elements, and was an early example of an Olympic track-and-field game. The first association football management simulation, Football Manager ,

13924-466: Was used for kicking the ball and the trackball used for the direction and speed of the shot, with gameplay that was fairly realistic. It was a landmark title for association football games, considered revolutionary for its trackball control system, its top-down perspective that allows players to see more of the pitch, and its trackball-based game physics . It provided the basis for later association football games such as MicroProse Soccer (1988) and

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