You may have noticed that 2KSports came out with it’s highly anticipated NBA 2K11 release earlier this month, featuring a Michael Jordan ‘legend’ mode, where a gamer can replicate historic moments from MJ’s career, as well as draft him on to one’s current favorite team.

I have not personally opened the game up yet (will do a personal review in due time), but by all accounts the new title is playing to extremely high reviews, rivaling the hype of any sports video game ever.

Also just released is one new EA title, an updated version of the NBA Jam title made popular in the 16-bit days of the mid 1990′s. The game is basically arcade-style basketball, with two players on each team. Various Easter Eggs and challenges hidden in the game also allow gamers to unlock hidden players past and present, along with celebrity players and certain politicians.

One screen-shot even shows Barack Hussein Obama dunking on Sarah Palin. Any chance that Christine O’Donnell can be added on by November?? I hear the Tea Party claiming they can play some serious lock-down D on Barack.

With these two titles out, one thinks that EA’s NBA Live 11 cannot be far behind…

Well, not quite.

First off, the NBA Live franchise has been retired. It was to be replaced by an overhauled product that was to be known this year as NBA Elite 11, and to also be available as a bundle with NBA Jam.

Problem is, the development did not go well. In fact the demo released in advance of the game was such a fail (including game freezes) that EA has decided to delay the Elite 11 release at least past the Christmas season and into 2011. One source has March 31, 2011 as the new release date, which happens to be the final day of EA’s fiscal year.

Considering that would be towards the end of the NBA’s regular season, logic dictates that EA is likely to simply skip this year and work towards an NBA Elite 12 title. EA has also announced that those who own NBA Live 10 will be able to get updated 2010-11 rosters through the upcoming season.

Whatever happens, what is not in doubt is that EA has lost millions scuttling it’s NBA effort this year. And even if the title comes out the bad pub will no doubt lead to sluggish sales, and it could be years before the title catches up with the Take Two (2KSports) product.

Also, if you’re looking for a college basketball title from EA, or anyone else, you are also out of luck for the time being.

EA announced back in February that they had canceled its NCAA basketall title – official company line was that they were reviewing the future of our college basketball business’. Recent versions of that game had played to below average reviews. 2KSports discontinued it’s ‘College Hoops’ title (which I thought was an outstanding game) after the 2008 season, leaving college basketball as the lone major North American college/pro sport to not be represented in the video game landscape.

All of this leaves one to wonder about the road sports video gaming is going in general.

2KSports only produced it’s NHL hockey title for Wii for 2011. Its recent titles had struggled against the EA Sports version, which was considered the more authentic product in the Canadian marketplace. But even EA’s NHL 2011 title has been criticized for a General Manager/Franchise mode not having the depth or being realistic enough for the finicky hockey gamer. Meanwhile word is the Wii 2K11 title is not worth it, while you may be able to utilize the controller much like an actual hockey stick, there are bugs such as easily being able to score wrap-around goals (think EA’s NHL 95/96 back in the day).

EA has spent time, even in the US, promoting FIFA 11. The title that is anticipated in Europe and the rest of the soccer world as much as Madden is in the States – as evidenced by it’s logo being placed during Premiere League matches on television. EA’s NASCAR title was retired two years ago simply because there was not much left to do with the franchise, it’s simply the same drivers and the same tracks. They had already developed career modes where gamers could develop from the lower ranks of racing on up – along with a rival mode where any competitor a gamer wrecks becomes a target for retaliation in subsequent races.

The Tiger Woods franchise still has legs, and hit a new niche last year by being by far the best game available for the Wii, where gamers are able to incorporate actual golf swings. The fact that new golf courses are integrated through the years has also helped. What hurts is that, unlike other sports, the game is not licensed by a players association per see, and not all top golfers are included. For instance Phil Mickelson has never been included simply because, well, he’s not tight with TW himself. This year’s title added a ‘Ryder Cup mode’ which in my opinion also does not add much. In my opinion the point is coming very soon where the Tiger Woods franchise will face diminishing returns. Another negative, there will never be a snowball’s chance that Augusta National would ever allow EA to use it’s course in the product.

Even the highly touted Madden 2011 title does not come without flaws and failures in attention to detail, such as quarterback throwing an interception, with the next scene showing him chest-bumping with teammates in celebration.

As EA locked competitors out with exclusive contracts with the NFL and NCAA football, 2KSports and Sony did likewise driving EA out of the baseball business. Take Two did develop a nice product with MLB 2K10 this year, a vast improvement from the bug-filled 2K9 title and the embarrassing ‘Front Office Manager’ game that was put out.

Much of the blame for the decline in quality goes with, guess what – the economy. Last November EA laid off 1,500 workers at its Canadian plants, accounting for 16 percent of it’s entire global workforce. The previous year EA planned to lay off 500 workers, but doubled that to 1,000 pink slips after a slow holiday season. Earlier this year reports had Take Two cutting potentially 20 percent of it’s workforce, a report that was denied by the company, saying that cuts were only occurring at a ‘corporate level’

Whatever is going on, it’s clearly hurting the final product, and eventually even the most loyal consumers (many strapped themselves economically) are going to think twice about plunking $60 down for the current year’s product. As acclaimed as the NBA 2K11 product has been so far, it should also be noted that the NBA 2K10 product was considered to be a step down from 2K9 title. In this era, demanding gamers should have every reason to expect the games to improve by leaps and bounds per year.

And this doesn’t start to address EA and others asking for extra $$$ for extra features and add-ons, between Madden, NCAA Football, and then NBA/NHL, gaming has quickly become an expensive hobby for the hard-core sports gamers.

And the producers better hope that the addiction doesn’t really die off anytime soon…

• Five tips to improve your NBA 2K11 game (from FHM magazine)
• NBA 2K11 ‘Great Basketball‘ – but My Player Mode thin + on-line hiccups (Detroit News)
• Like Jordan, 2K11 ‘true legend’ – Notes the use of old arenas and acquiring rights to use retired players (Charleston Gazette)

On Friday nights before the real games are played, I have been playing the Green Bay Packers on Franchise Mode in Madden, this weekend playing the Washington Redskins. Of course the composition of my personal team is a little different now than the current Packers. Ryan Grant is still active in my imaginary world, never mind that a gain of one out of him is a moral victory. Also I made a couple of other free agent acquisitions before the season.

But the Madden games I have been playing lately have been proving to be alarming precursors to the actual games themselves. Two weeks ago I played against the Bears. Mason Crosby biffs a field goal, and the turning point came when Aaron Rodgers gets popped while trying to get off a pass in the red zone. The ball is grabbed out of mid-air by Freddie Roach who runs 90 yards while my vibrator keeps going off, not even allowing me to find a man to run down Freddie. Bears end up winning on Robbie Gould FG, just as he did for real a few nights later.

Then came my game v. the Skins.

Midway through the third quarter, I have Clay Matthews as my rover, shadowing an open receiver as Donovan McNabb checks down to him. I lay my hit stick on him and hold him to a five yard gain, but it came with an expensive price tag.

The next scene shows Clay jumping onto a stretcher on top of a golf cart – two plays later the game tells me Matthews had broken his collarbone and would be out 11 weeks.

And now the real kicker. I lost 16-13 in overtime. I kid you not.

The script was slightly different. I got Rodgers to finally throw a TD pass to tie the game, but the Skins had enough time to drive down the field for Graham Gano to attempt a game-winning FG on the last play in regulation..like he did for real in the fourth quarter Sunday, he missed. Undeterred, I lose the coin toss and the Skins drive right down my Matthews-less defense again, culminating with Gano saving his job kicking the game-winner.

Now my Madden team is out of playoff contention and Clay is basically out the rest of the season.

Of course I could have hit the reset button the second Clay went down – but where would be the fun and frustration in that?? In my book that would be something called cheating.

And it isn’t like the real game of professional football gives anyone a mulligan and un-does anyone’s misfortune.

***

All of this leads me to the current in-the-flesh version of the Green Bay Packers, whose season is quickly unraveling.

It had gotten bad enough during the week. Every time I ran an errand and came home and turned on the TV or computer someone else had gone down. I fioud out that Nick Barnett was now in need of season-ending surgery for an injury he played through the previous Sunday. A few minutes later comes word that Brandon Chillar is also out, then tackle Mark Tauscher.

Sunday couldn’t come soon enough before anyone else went through an MRI machine and was found done for the year. It personally was reminding me of taking the car to the mechanic (‘You really need that hose fixed, I swear, it’s going to blow any second…’).

Then the game starts and it gets worse. Jermichael Finley goes down trying to run down a defender after an early interception. Then second-string TE Donald Lee is hurt catching a TD pass. Then the Matthews injury. It seemed like FOX was playing it’s ‘depression-themed musical score’ (which the network first trotted out the week after play resumed in 2001 following 9/11) every time going to commercial.

Worse yet, the Packers showed the exact same tendency they did in Chicago two weeks earlier, and could not put away the opposition when they had a chance, and everyone knew how this movie would end – again, culminating with another devastating pick by Rodgers in overtime. BTW, #12 is reminding me a hell of a lot of #4 in critical situations. Game on his stick and he can’t seal the deal; Aaron is a lot like Favre (lately) in that regard till he proves otherwise.

Win McNamee - Getty Images

Then the worst, I order a pizza and come back a half-hour later, turn on Twitter, and find out that Rodgers is concussed, leading to the very real possibility that for the first time since Don Majkowski started against the Bengals in 1992 that someone other than #4 or #12 might be under center next Sunday.

Yes, Packer Nation, you can hold off on ordering Super Bowl tickets (like some folks on Twitter were claiming to have done during the first half of the Monday Night Game).

Actually, I’m surprised it took Rodgers this long to go down – considering how heavily this offense is weighted towards the pass.

All of this obviously goes back to the Ryan Grant deal, and Ted Thompson (as is his character) not trading a third-round draft pick for Marshawn Lynch, a player that Rodgers publicly stated he would welcome on board.

It wasn’t like Brandon Jackson had a bad game Sunday, in fact he had a career high 115 yards on ten carries. Even after throwing out his 71-yard burst, 9 carries for 34 yards is acceptable.

But the fact that Jackson only had ten carries is exactly the point, 10-15 carries is the absolute most the coaching staff trusts him with. Along with throwing the occasional bone to fullback John Kuhn.

So ten carries for Jackson along with three for Kuhn. That’s 13 runs v. 54 pass attempts (Rodgers 46 passes + four Rodgers scrambles + 4 QB sacks).

That’s over an 80 percent pass ratio. Maybe Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Red Raiders can get away with that in college football, but at the next level that is not a recipe for keeping your quarterback upright for a reasonable period of time.

Mike Sweeney - Sideline Exchange

Which leads me to General Manager Ted Thompson, the target of scorn within Green Bay Nation last week once Lynch became a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

Look, maybe this season becomes such a lost cause with injuries that three years from now Packers fans look at hanging on to that third rounder as the best thing that ever happened. And Ted has scored often enough with mid and even late round draft picks.

But for a team supposedly deemed a ‘Super Bowl contender’ back in August, wouldn’t it had been nice if Ted made a bold move once in a while. What if Ted Thompson, and not Ron Wolf, had taken over the Packers in late 1991?? I remember fans disapproving when Wolf traded that late first-round pick for an unproven QB selected in the second round the year before with possible character issues (and still has character issues). Well at least that worked out, and in part led to the signing of Reggie White a year later that completely changed the face and dynamimcs of the franchise.

The way Thompson continues to operate, at least he won’t run the Packers into the ground. This isn’t like what Matt Millen did in Detroit. The team will continue to contend. But will they ever win it all?? I feel a bit of a Lee Westwood comparison here, that would be the golfer who seemingly finishes second or third in every single major, which in the near future should be enough to finally get him ranked #1 in the world. I guess being ranked #1 over a period of time is fine, but being the bridesmaid but never the bride is not.

That’s where I have to at least give the Minnesota Vikings credit with signing Favre and now trading for Randy Moss. There are no shortage of opinions on those moves, and yes, I think there is a terrific chance the soap opera may detonate right in the Vikings faces. Or maybe they could actually win it all and prove everyone wrong.

At least they’re putting their chips in the middle of table. Meanwhile Ted Thompson could be holding a hand, only to fold every time someone raises on him. Maybe Ted is as good as Phil Hellmuth in dodging bullets. The philosophy keeps Ted at the table for a while, but like in poker, one is usually up against it once short on chips.

Fans can scream and cry about injuries all they want, but no team or coaching staff, or management – especially at the professional level, will ever use injuries as an excuse, as they shouldn’t.

But in a year with no dominant team in the NFL, a year that has seen every single team lose at least once just four games into the season, it would had been nice to seen what was a potentially special team attempt to fill the final pieces of this puzzle.

Uplifting Athletes Event Wednesday July 30th

Being an avid NCAA Football ’09 player myself, I could see this coming. The game is absolutely incredible this year (including tOSU’s 99 overall team rating) and the 8.4 out of 10 IGN rating is good but modest considering many gamers/reviewers just use it as a new football game fix before the Madden August release.

Sorry, I got ahead of myself. The article above is about THE Ohio State Football team putting on a charity event for cancer at the Eddie George Grill in Columbus. You come. Make a donation. Watch the players go nuts over an incredible college football video game in the playoff match ups. Then get yourself autographs and pictures with the players. Sounds fun considering this was the first event planned in a few short days before practice starts. Junior cornerback, Donald Washington was the winner of their NCAA ’09 tourney and safety Kurt Coleman is Vice President of the non-profit-with-hundred-dollar-hand-shakes organization called Uplifting Athletes.

As I finish up my first dynasty year, I will post a blog soon on manual recruiting in dynasty mode since you can’t trust your incoming freshman to the computer AI. It’s tricky and time consuming (phone calls, campus visits, AND offseason in-home visits) if you want to guarantee a class without walk-ons and 2 star dipshits from Indiana and Canada. Though if you are recruiting kids from Indiana you probably think the 10 hour phone call limit per week is horribly low. Sorry no way of cheating in the game Hoosiers, but I will give you the best advice on the net.

Time to go check my underpants, I farted 7 times while writing this,

-KVB